The customs and habits of the Yi people.

In the long-term historical development, the Lisu people have created rich and colorful cultures.

Etiquette and custom festival culture is full of characteristics. Lisu people call the annual festival "Kuanshi". Before the founding of New China, the Lisu people in Nujiang mainly decided the time of Chinese New Year by observing phenology, so there was no unified date, generally from the fifth day of December in the summer calendar to the tenth day of the first month of the following year, that is, the cherry blossom season. During the Chinese New Year, it is customary to mash glutinous rice and waxy corn to make mellow water wine. In order to pray for good weather and abundant crops in the coming year, every household should sprinkle a little bit of the first mortar of indica rice on peach, pear and other fruit trees; In some places, a small bowl is served to the dog before eating, which is said to be a reward for the dog bringing seeds to the world. On the first day of the new year, young men and women from all over the country will dress up and gather in public places in their villages-playing games and holding activities such as shooting crossbows, dancing and singing. This is a good opportunity for young men and women to talk about their love and make friends. Young men often win girls' love with superb archery, while some young men and women express their love with beautiful dancing and melodious singing. Once you have a good impression on each other, you should give gifts to each other. It is through this activity that many young men and women began their lives.

During the Spring Festival, Lisu people in Nujiang Gorge still have the fashion of "spring bath". Wherever there are hot springs on both sides of the river, people gather to bathe. People who go to the "spring bath" should set up bamboo sheds not far from the hot springs, or find a cave to rest with new year's goods and luggage. Most people stay in hot springs for three to five days, and some take a bath as many as five or six times a day. They think that only in this way can they eliminate diseases, enhance their immunity, and have plenty of energy to put into labor production in the new year. In the hot spring area near Liuku, a mass "Tangquan Poetry Competition" was formed as early as 100 years ago. At that time, singers from more than ten miles and dozens of miles nearby will gather here to compete for poems and songs. People compete for poems and songs, while enjoying the wine and food brought by each other. "Broad season" has been designated as a national festival celebrated by Lisu people in Nujiang Prefecture, and the time is 65438+February 20th in Gregorian calendar every year. During the festival, there are singing competitions, crossbow shooting competitions, rope crossing competitions, mountain fire performances and the annual "bath party".

The Yi people in Dehong and Tengchong celebrate the "Knife and Pole Festival" on February 17 of the lunar calendar every year. The activity is divided into two days. On the first day, I burned a lot of coal with chestnut wood. At the beginning of the performance, five people jumped out, danced barefoot around the charcoal fire, and then "struck a light and rolled", that is, rolled on the charcoal fire; "Wash your face with fire" means to lift your face with charcoal; Finally, the chain burned in charcoal goes around in your hand, called "zipper", and people dance together after the performance. The next day, when I arrived at Daoshan, I tied 32 sharpened long knives horizontally to two 4-foot-high thick chestnut poles to form a ladder shape with red flags and firecrackers hanging on it, and began to perform in the sound of firecrackers and gongs and drums.

Harvest Festival is also an important festival for Lisu people. Every year from September to October in the lunar calendar, new grain and corn begin to be harvested, and every household should try shochu. Men, women and children gathered in the village square, burning bonfires, and the old people played pipa and Qin Yue, singing and dancing, telling the ancient history; Young men and women danced in groups in a circle, drinking while dancing, singing and dancing, and breaking up happily.

As Christians, some Lisu people celebrate Easter in April, Thanksgiving in June and Christmas in February. Influenced by other ethnic groups around, the festivals of Lisu people in inland areas are similar to those of Han, Yi, Bai and Naxi people nearby. In the first month of the lunar calendar, people should first feed salt to cows to show their respect for their hard work for a year. Torch Festival is celebrated in June and Mid-Autumn Festival in August.

Before the founding of New China, many customs taboos were formed in Lisu area. For example, Lisu women can't burn firewood after pregnancy, otherwise the child will grow rabbit lips; Back firewood can't be combined with pig grass, otherwise it will give birth to water; Don't eat cucumber seeds, or children will grow colorful spots; You can't cross the rope tied to the horse with your feet, otherwise the child will not be born, and so on. Because Lisu people can't calculate the date of birth of babies, many children are born in fields and fields. If it is delivered at home, it is usually delivered by the maternal mother. If the mother is old or dead, the mother-in-law will deliver the baby. In the absence of the mother-in-law, it will be sent by the elder sister of the man or woman. If my sister doesn't, I'll find a suitable old man among my relatives to deliver the baby. The baby's placenta is considered to be the dirtiest and should be kept away from 1 immediately. Now, with the progress of society and the improvement of medical and health conditions, these taboos have gradually lost their influence.

The basic form of Lisu marriage and family is monogamy. It has unique characteristics in form and technology. Young men and women enjoy greater social freedom before marriage. In populous villages, it is customary to use newly-built empty rooms or build shacks to facilitate the social activities of young men and women. At night, young men and women can play black boy and sing freely in this room, and everyone lies around the fireplace until late at night. Sometimes, such social activities can also be carried out in shacks guarding crops. Girls will wear a dress ceremony when they are thirteen or fourteen years old, and they can participate in such social activities after the dress ceremony.

In the past, men and women were generally engaged when they were young, and some even referred to marriage. The dowry is heavy. The priority right of marriage between uncles and aunts is also very popular. Lisu people have a saying: "The biggest tree is fir, and the biggest person is uncle." Therefore, the habit of "women ask their uncles first" was formed. Today, young Lisu men and women can get married freely, and their marriage and family are based on free love.

Individual family is the basic unit of Lisu society. A family generally includes two generations of parents and unmarried children, and the son will build a house from the date of marriage or a year later. According to the custom of Lisu nationality, the youngest son and the only son are not separated from their parents and enjoy the final inheritance right of their parents. Therefore, the eldest son and the second son must be separated from their parents in order to create preconditions for the younger son's inheritance. Older couples without children can adopt children. Generally, close relatives are the main ones, and some people are allowed to recruit other clans. Adopted children can enjoy the right to inherit property; If there are no children after old age, the property belongs to the nearest family; Daughters have no right to inherit property. If they are adopted by their husbands, they can inherit property with the consent of the clan. For example, when a daughter marries abroad, she can only get her mother's 1 string of beads and some decorations.

Lisu people will be buried after death, and those who die abnormally will be cremated. After the old man died, the whole village stopped working for two or three days. Residents and family members of this village brought wine, meat and food to the home of the deceased to show their respect and help the deceased wash his face, comb his hair and put on new clothes. The body of the deceased stays at home for a day or two, up to seven days at the longest. During the parking period, three bowls of rice, meat and cold water should be served three times a day. Before burial, people in the village will go to the deceased's home to dance for the deceased ("stone dance lights").

The date of burial is generally chosen for rats, rabbits, snakes, monkeys, chickens and pigs. At the funeral, the body was carried by four people and placed on the trunk of chestnuts, including 9 men and 7 women. Two young men opened the way with knives in front, and their families returned in the middle of the funeral. Villages and families have public cemeteries. Choose a flat land in a public cemetery, dig a grave and put boards around it. The body will be put aside, head held high, facing the source of the sun, and filled with soil, so as not to build a grave. In some areas, influenced by other ethnic groups, tombs have been built.

The arrangement order of tombs is male left and female right, from right to left according to seniority, and the deceased are also arranged backwards according to seniority. The shape of the tomb is a long road, one high and one wide, one low and one narrow. The size of the grave depends on the age of the deceased. If the deceased is male, machete, crossbow, quiver, tobacco pouch, etc. Used before death should be hung as funerary objects; If it is a woman, hang the linen knitting tools, linen bags, needlework, cookers, etc. she used before her death from the tomb.

The costumes of Lisu men and women are full of national and regional characteristics. Before the founding of New China, most Lisu men and women in Nujiang area wore self-made linen clothes, and only a few wealthy households and elites wore cotton-padded clothes. The tools for weaving hemp are very simple. The loom is just made up of four sticks, two horizontal and two straight. Some use four wooden posts to insert into the ground, and the upper end is tied with two wooden sticks, which is the "textile machine". A handy woman can weave linen about 5 inches wide and 6 feet long every day.

The clothes of Lisu women are very beautiful and generous. There are two styles of clothing: one is to wear a coat, the other is to wear a skirt, which is ankle-long and has many wrinkles; The other is wearing a coat and trousers, with a small apron on the front and a small apron on the back. Women's shirts are waist-length, double-breasted, round neck, flat collar, no buttons, and plain clothes are open. When it is cold, cover it with your hands, or press it with necklaces, shells, mussels and other ornaments. Some are trimmed with black cloth, and the clothes are white. Black and white collocation is very beautiful. Due to the different colors of linen worn in different places, it can be divided into three types: black, white and beautiful. White and black Lisu women living in Nujiang usually wear right-handed tops and linen dresses; Married women wear large copper rings with long shoulders and their heads are decorated with corals and beads. Young girls like to braid their hair with red lines decorated with small white shells; Some women also like to wear a string of agates, shells or silver coins on their chests, which Lisu people call "Bai La Li Di". The "black charm" woman in the green water area does not wear a long skirt, but has a right skirt, a small apron around her waist, trousers, a green cloth bun and small coral ornaments on her ears. The "beautiful flowers" in Yongsheng and Dehong areas are bright and beautiful. Women like to embroider a lot of lace on tops and long skirts, with floral headscarves on their heads and big copper or silver earrings. The skirt reaches the ground and swings when walking, making it look graceful. When women in Dechang, Sichuan Province were young, there were three apical hairs on their heads, which increased year by year until 15 years old. A hat made of wool woven belt on the top of the head is called "my bottom" in Lisu language, and two braids are tied under it; A hole has been pierced in both the left ear and the right ear. When getting married, each ear is equipped with a silver earring, and the coat is made of self-woven dyed cloth with 7 to 20 neckties; Wearing a skirt, the bottom of the skirt is glued with a piece of white cloth, which is 5 inches wide, tied with 6 circles of flowers, and tied with a red and black belt made of wool at the waist.

Before the founding of New China, the clothes of Lisu men were linen robes or blouses, trousers and knees. Some of them are covered with green cloth, while others are braided. The head man or a well-off man wears a string of red corals on his left ear to show his social status. All adult men like to carry a machete on their left waist and an quiver on their right waist. Arrow bags are mostly made of bearskin monkey skin. The Lisu man in Dechang left a small bundle of hair on his head, which others felt unlucky. The clothes under the trousers are made of linen. Since the founding of New China, especially since the reform and opening up, the clothing raw materials of Lisu people have undergone fundamental changes, and flax has almost disappeared.

Lisu houses have different architectural forms in different areas. The houses of Lisu people in Nujiang area and Yanbian area in Sichuan are mainly bamboo buildings and wooden houses. The houses in Lijiang, Dehong and Xichang in Sichuan are mainly civil structures. Bamboo House is also called "Thousand Foot Landing House". When building, dozens of wooden stakes are erected on the slope, covered with wooden boards, surrounded by bamboo fences, and covered with thatch or wooden boards. The general room is divided into two rooms. The first room that enters the door is the guest room. There is a big fire pit in the center of the room, and an iron triangle or three stones are placed on the fire pit as a support for cooking. The guests sat around the fire. The second bedroom is shared by men and women, and outsiders are generally not allowed to enter. When children get married, some will build new houses, and some will expand the housing area. Parents live in the back room and children live in the outhouse. Under the bamboo house, it is generally used as a stable.

Most Lisu people scattered in Lanping and Weixi like to live in wooden houses. This house is shaped like a big wooden box, surrounded by wooden beams about 5 meters long and 20 centimeters thick. The method is: break the two ends of logs with the same length into concave and convex shapes, then overlap them into rectangles as walls, support the beams on four walls and fix them with cross bars. The whole house can be used without an inch of nails and no gaps, which can be described as ingenuity. The bigger house is divided into two rooms, and the smaller one has only one room. Often open the door on the side, with a fire pit in the middle, and the family will lie around the fire pit. The roof is covered with boards, and the boards are pressed tightly with stones to prevent them from slipping.

Influenced by Han, Bai, Naxi and other ethnic groups, most Lisu people in mainland China use more durable earth-walled houses. It is a pillar made of wood, surrounded by mud walls. There is usually a small window, and the roof is covered with grass or boards. The four walls of the earth wall house are made of red soil mixed with straw, which can be used for decades because of its strong robustness under impact. Some roof panels and tiles have long been damaged, but the earth walls are still as hard as iron.

The natural calendar of Lisu nationality has strong national and regional characteristics. With the help of the changes of natural phenomena such as the opening of mountain flowers, bird singing and heavy snow, the phenology of production season can be judged. Lisu people divide a year into dry season and rainy season. The dry season generally starts from the rainy season in the first year of Gregorian calendar 165438+ 10 to the rainy season in February of the following year, and the rainy season lasts from March of Gregorian calendar to 65438+ 10, which is a period of rising temperature, rainy weather and high humidity. A year is divided into: flowering month (March), birdsong month (April), volcano burning month (May), hunger month (June), collection month (July and August), harvest month (September, 65438+1October) and wine boiling month (16544).

Lisu is a nation that can sing and dance well. Literature, music and dance created by people in their long-term struggle with nature and the ruling class and in their daily work and love life are full of distinctive national characteristics and rich flavor of life. Through these carriers, the history and important production and life experiences of the Lisu people have been passed down from generation to generation and become an important part of their spiritual life.

Folk songs are the favorite artistic activities of Lisu people. In Lisu's own words, it means "no salt, no singing." Folk songs have almost become the "second language" of Lisu people. No matter in various production activities or at weddings, Lisu people have to sing, even complain about lawsuits or mediate disputes, and often solve them by singing tunes.

According to its genre and form, Lisu folk songs can be roughly divided into six categories: (1) ancient songs (called "papaya cloth" in Lisu language), which are widely circulated, and the more famous tunes are "production tune", "ancient war tune", "bridge tune" and "escape from marriage tune". (2) Love songs are songs sung by young men and women in groups, and also songs sung by young lovers during their tryst, which are called "foliage". Tunes include "Kouxiandiao" and "Pipa Diaodiao", accompanied by pipa or Kouxiandiao, and played by young men and women during a break in the fields. (3) Seg is an impromptu song sung by young men and women during the Spring Festival or at parties, and the tune likes to use cheerful and unrestrained "worship" or "wood scraping fever"; (4) Sacrificial songs are tunes sung when offering sacrifices to ancestors or ghosts and gods; (5) coronach is a song sung in memory of the dead, with touching lyrics and sad tunes. According to different funerals, there are also "crying songs", "sending soul songs" and "elegies" in customs; (6) Ode is a folk song created by Lisu people after the founding of New China, which mostly expresses Lisu people's love for the new society in the form of comparing the old with the new. Lisu folk songs keep their own style in singing. They often use vibrato in short notes, but sing straight and simple in long notes, which makes people feel a deep inner strength.

Musical instruments are an important part of Lisu music life. The most popular musical instruments are pipa and oral string. Pipa is an ancient musical instrument popular among Lisu people and one of people's favorite musical instruments. The shape is roughly the same as that of the Han Pipa, with a smaller body (some are square). There is no fixed phoneme division on the handle, only a little rosin is used as the phoneme mark of 1, and four metal strings are used. Play with your thumb and forefinger. Kouxian is also a traditional musical instrument of Lisu nationality, which is deeply loved by every young man and woman. The string body is made of bamboo pieces about 3 inches long and half an inch wide, with springs carved in the middle. The player gently blows into his mouth to make the sound of shrapnel ring in his mouth, and then the timbre becomes soft and melodious with the adjustment of breath. Although the volume of the oral string is small, it is very beautiful, especially when it is played in the dead of night, accompanied by soft chanting or singing, it is even more beautiful.

The forms of dance are rich and colorful, reflecting the daily working life of Lisu people, the process of fighting against nature and the open-minded spirit. For example, there are monkey boxing dances, pigeon drinking dances and bird king martial dances that imitate animal movements and habits; Wedding dance, laundry dance, heel dance, etc. These dances are accompanied by pipa and string. Some dances are silent dances without accompaniment, such as heel dance and production dance. Most of these dances are expressed by the movements of the lower limbs, and the movements of the arms are less. Two people touch the heels in pairs and grasp the rhythm by the impact of the heels. Because the dance is vivid and vivid, the dance moves are varied, the dancers are full of joy and emotion, and the whole scene is very warm.

Most Lisu dances are group dances, such as production dance and heel dance. Men and women form a circle, and the dance steps are performed in a circle, with accompaniment in the middle (the accompanist also dances with it). Sometimes two people jump opposite each other, but the movements are the same, just one in and one out. The steps of wedding dance and millet cutting dance are slightly different. Men and women stand in a row separately, and the March is not based on a circle. Rows of men and women sometimes March side by side, cross, and sometimes echo each other. Most Lisu dances are inseparable from these two forms. The Lisu people's dance movements are vigorous and vigorous, lively and changeable. All kinds of dance accompaniment are mostly combined with the dance content, and the rhythm of two beats or a mixture of two beats and three beats with strong rhythm is adopted, so they are passionate and full of pungent and rough passion, showing the distinctive national characteristics of Lisu dance.

Lisu people have also created many colorful and distinctive folk literature works, mainly oral literature, which are passed down from mouth to mouth by singing and telling. The works involve myths and historical legends, such as the history of entrepreneurship, our ancestors, the legend of Hengduan Mountains and the story of creation. It reproduces the face of Lisu ancient society from different aspects, records Lisu people's various explanations and views on the universe and human society in their childhood, and also has praise words. The narrative poems of Lisu nationality are rich in themes and contents, usually with complete plots and vivid characters. For example, the Rough Gua (Reunion Tune) has more than 1500 lines, which profoundly exposes and forcefully accuses the feudal buying and selling marriage with realistic techniques and vivid language. Riddles, proverbs, two-part allegorical sayings and children's songs are also part of Lisu folk literature. Because it usually has the function of teaching production and life experience and educating people to deal with others, it is loved by Lisu people and passed down from generation to generation.

Lisu people generally believe in primitive religion, based on nature worship and soul concept, and exist in Lisu areas in the form of sacrifice when encountering diseases and disasters. Since modern times, Christianity and Catholicism have been introduced into Nujiang area, some Lisu people have converted to Christianity, and a few believe in Catholicism.

The Lisu people are popular in animistic nature worship. In their concept, mountains, rivers, sun, moon and stars, animals and plants are all dominated by "gods" or "ghosts". Therefore, there are mountain gods in the mountains, tree ghosts in the trees and water gods in the water. Almost all natural phenomena have become the objects of their belief and worship. They divided ghosts and gods into several categories. The main ghosts and gods are Yuanba Ghost (Wushani), House Ghost (Haikuoni), Shan Gui (Misini), Water Ghost (Ai Du Sydney), Dream Ghost (Migani), Blood Ghost (Chenni) and Road Ghost (Gaguni). These are all false reactions in people's minds from the external compulsion that rules people in daily life. It is also a weak expression of Lisu ancestors in the historical period of fighting against nature and society.

In the long-term primitive religious activities, a number of witches who are not divorced from labor have gradually formed among the Lisu people. Wizards are divided into "Pani" and "Pani". The only difference between the two is that the former can "see" ghosts and use spells to "exorcise" or "kill" ghosts, so it has a high social status. Some leaders are also "Pani". In addition to hosting sacrifices, it also carries out divination and divination for people. There are more than 0/0 kinds of shrines, such as bamboo stick shrines, sheep bone shrines, shellfish shrines, chicken shrines, pig liver shrines, etc. When some wizards are engaged in sacrificial activities, they should sing various sacrificial songs according to the size, residence and hobbies of ghosts and gods. When the wizard is engaged in sacrificial activities, he wears a linen robe, a big hat with two mountain corners, and a long knife on his back. The long Dao is covered with 1 piece of felt or linen, and 1 long bamboo pole is waved in his hand.

Lisu people's concept of ghosts and gods is simple, but unique. On the one hand, they believe that everything in the world has gods and that everything in the universe is dominated and controlled by gods (Mis) and elves (Ni), so they fear Mis and "Ni" and worship them; On the other hand, in the process of sacrifice, there is also an attitude of contempt for ghosts and gods, such as severely cracking down on "Ni" with words. If there is drought, the Dragon Boat Festival will pray for rain first. If there is drought again, a ceremony will be held to curse the dragon. If someone is sick, pray for "Ni" first. If he doesn't recover, he will scold "Ni" and drive "Ni" to cure the disease.

There are more than 20 clan totems of Lisu people in Yunnan, such as tiger, bear, monkey, sheep, snake, bird, fish, bee, buckwheat, hemp, tea, bamboo, teak, frost and fire. Lisu people also worship fire and frost as totems. Although some clans are named after animals and plants, they do not regard them as objects of worship. For example, the fish clan is named after its members who are good at fishing; Joe and Ma are famous for being good at planting Joe and Ma. After entering the class society, totem worship gradually weakened, or only some symbolic residual forms remained.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Christianity and Catholicism were introduced into the Lisu area of Nujiang River by British and French missionaries. Because it has a unified classic and a relatively complete form of etiquette, some commandments and creeds advocated by it are consistent with the traditional ethics of the Lisu people, so it has gradually spread among the Lisu people in Nujiang. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh China Producers' Party, the people's government advocated the freedom of religious belief under the premise of "three-self patriotism", so Christianity was widely spread. Christianity has become a religion widely trusted by most Lisu people in Nujiang area.