Religious Beliefs of Dong and Miao Villages in Mo Bin

Dong society has not formed a unified religion and believes in many gods. The animism and immortality of the soul are the ideological basis of their religious beliefs, including the worship of nature, the worship of soul and ancestors, and the worship of Sazi (goddess). At the beginning of the 20th century, although Catholicism and Protestantism were introduced into some areas, the inherent religious beliefs of this nation remained popular.

Dong people's religious sacrificial activities are generally presided over by ghost teachers, who are also called wizards. When diseases, disasters, restless homes and natural disasters occur, people think that different ghosts and gods are at work. So please ask the ghost master to exorcise ghosts. Ghosts consult witchcraft books or use divination to judge where ghosts are causing trouble and what to use. Those who are seriously ill for a long time think that ghosts have stolen their souls, and they should ask the ghost teacher to "chase ghosts". If there is an epidemic or fire in the village, the ghost Lord will also sweep the village. Some ghost teachers are hereditary, and some are Zhai Lao's part-time job. The ghost Lord "exorcises ghosts" and receives offerings as a reward.

Worship of natural gods: Dong people believe in animism and believe that all kinds of things and natural phenomena in nature are dominated by gods and affect people's production and life. So worship many gods:

Land gods: there are several types: bridgehead land, zhaitou land and ravine land. Most villages have shrines, only memorial tablets, no statues; Some offer stones, and some hang pig chin bones. People think that the land god is in charge of the prosperity of people and animals, the peace of places and the fear of wild animals. During holidays or natural disasters, pigs, sheep and chickens must be sacrificed to pray for a bumper harvest and peace. Before hunting, the hunting leader must go to the stream to catch three small fish as offerings, burn incense and paper to worship the land god, and then lead his team up the mountain. After hunting, thank the land god.

Water god: at the age of 20, worship the water god first. On this day, when women go to fetch water by the river or the well, they must first light incense and burn paper by the river or the well before they can fetch water home. Women in Chezhai, Rongjiang County also jointly organized wine and food to worship at the well, surrounded it and sang praises to it, wishing it full and sweet all the year round.

Cow God: Sacrificing to the cow god on the eighth day of April or the sixth day of June in the lunar calendar is called "Niuchen Festival" or "washing the cow body". Let the cows rest on the festival day, set up a box next to the cowshed and put sacrifices such as chickens and ducks. Some also feed the cows with special black glutinous rice to express their gratitude to the cows for ploughing the fields.

Ancestor worship: In addition to female ancestors, male ancestors and heroes of the same family, each family and family also worships its own ancestors, while women worship Langjia God and Waijia God respectively.

Sabing: the female ancestor worshipped by the Dong people is considered as the highest protector of the nation. Dong villages in Liping, Congjiang, Rongjiang, Tongdao, Sanjiang and other counties all have shrines, which are called "spreading temples", "tangsa" or "ransa". Some are in the temple, others are in the open air. The altar in the temple is a pile of white stones with a diameter of about 1 m, with half-open and half-closed black paper umbrellas and net-shaped paper cuts hanging on it; There are small white stone piles of 12 or 24, or small wooden stakes of 12 or 24 around the stone piles, and the net paper-cut surrounds the altar as a guardian of the ice. The open-air altar is a circular mound made of stone, with a diameter of more than 3 meters and a height of 1 meter, surrounded by plantains or thorns. On the mound, there are two large iron pots covered up and down. There are clothes, silverware and other utensils in the pot, and there is a woman's head carved in ebony. Poplar trees are planted on the mound, which symbolizes Saping's eternal life. Place an altar to offer rich sacrifices, and the ghost teacher will preside over the sacrifices. The person in charge of Sabin shrine affairs is called Densa, and is usually held by an elderly woman. On the first and fifteenth day of the first lunar month, incense, paper and tea are burned. The third or seventh day of the first lunar month, the seventh day of February (before spring planting) and the seventh day of August (before autumn harvest) are grand sacrificial days. In some places, it takes three days to raise the village flag every time. During this period, a group entertainment activity called "Yesa" will be held. Young men and women like to sing and dance, and sing songs such as "Song of Ancestor Sacrifice" and "Dong Genesis". In the festival year, in some places, Densa will dress up as the goddess Sabin and travel to the countryside and villages.

Sanrong God: the male ancestor worshipped by Dong people in Huangbai area of Tongdao Dong Autonomous County, Hunan Province. In the second and fifth years, on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, a cattle-driving ceremony (using bulls bought from other places) will be held to pray for population growth and village prosperity. At that time, the ghost teacher will recite the words of "offering sacrifices to cows", then drive the cows into a deep pool and drown them, and cut off the external genitals for the three gods. Then cut the meat, which is called "sacrificing cattle to God and meat to heaven". At the same time, use this day to discuss collectively. After the ceremony, the old beef in the village was distributed to all families. Miao people respect their ancestors, not the king and the teacher. In the shrines of the main hall, most of them are only dedicated to the memorial tablet of Ancestors of the Temple of XX, but rarely to "Heaven and Earth". The Xiaomaopo Camp in Enshi is quite special, and its ancestral tablets are enshrined in the fire pit and the firewood tail side, and shall not be violated at will. However, the shrine in the main hall only enshrines a broken bamboo basket. It is said that when his ancestors fled, they hid in a thatched cottage with a broken bamboo basket and survived without being discovered by the enemy, so they offered a broken bamboo basket to show that they did not forget their ancestors' sufferings. Miao people believe in ghosts and gods, and every time a population is born or dies, a ceremony of "entering the spectrum" or "leaving the spectrum" is held. The so-called genealogy is a piece of green cloth wrapped in a bamboo tube. Whenever a child is born or a new wife enters the door, the green cloth turns clockwise twice and is counted in the spectrum; On the other hand, every time a person dies, the blue cloth is reversed twice, which is to calculate the spectrum. In order to exorcise ghosts and pray, Miao people often reward gods with "ox wish", "Nuo wish" and "pig wish". For example, when they still wish for a cow, they erect a "general column" in the yard and tie the cow to the column, and the relatives who wish for it form a cow killer. Before killing cattle, you should play "monkey drum", sing Miao songs and dance Miao dances. Then, the cattle-killing gunmen rushed to kill the cattle, and each gunman could get a leg of the cow. After the rest of the beef is cooked, it is placed on a long table. People around the table are dancing and singing, drinking and eating meat. And they eat with their hands instead of chopsticks, so excited that they can stay up all night.