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Brief introduction of nationalities

Miao nationality has a long history. In China's ancient books, there are records of Miao ancestors more than 5,000 years ago. The ancestors of Miao people can be traced back to the Chiyou tribe, which was active in the Central Plains in primitive society. During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Miao ancestors began to establish "Three Miao Countries" in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and engaged in agricultural rice cultivation. Miao people have migrated many times in history, and the general route is from the Yellow River valley to Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan. Miao nationality has its own language, belonging to the Miao branch of Miao Yao language family of Sino-Tibetan language family. It turns out that Miao people have their own national characters. The ancient songs of the Miao nationality recorded that the ancestors of the Miao nationality were exposed to the enemy because they fled the war, the imperial court pursued them, and the secrets of national cultural migration, so they had to burn and erase their words. Those intellectuals died, and there were no words left, only words written on clothes and Miao people's silver clothes.

At the end of 1950s, Miao people began to create Latin phonetic characters. Nowadays, most people use Chinese. Miao people have a long history of music and dance, and Lusheng dance, which is deeply loved by the masses, is highly skilled. Miao people's arts and crafts, such as flower picking, embroidery, brocade, batik and jewelry making, are colorful and enjoy a high reputation in the world. There are many Miao festivals, such as Huashan Festival, April 8th and Dragon Boat Festival.

Miao people are used to calling themselves Mu, Meng, Mo and Mao, and some areas call themselves Gan 'ao, Guo Xiong, Lao Dai and Guinea Bissau. He called them "long skirt seedlings", "short skirt seedlings", "red seedlings", "white seedlings", "green seedlings" and "flower seedlings" and so on. After the founding of New China, it was collectively called Miao.

Among them, young Miao people are proficient in herbs, black Miao people are good at raising poison, and there are ancient women among them.

Religious custom

Miao people used to believe in animism, worship nature and worship their ancestors. Tibetan calendar festival is the biggest sacrifice activity of Miao nationality. Generally, a small sacrifice lasts for seven years and a big sacrifice lasts for thirteen years. It is held on the second day of October to November in the lunar calendar. At that time, a roe deer will be killed and a Lusheng dance will be performed to commemorate the ancestors. Invite friends and relatives to get together during meals to enhance feelings and family harmony.

The main beliefs of Miao nationality are primitive religious forms such as nature worship, totem worship and ancestor worship. Traditional Miao society is superstitious about ghosts and gods, and witchcraft prevails. Some Miao people also believe in Christianity and Catholicism. Few Miao people believe in Buddhism and Taoism.

Traditionally, Miao people often regard some giant or strange natural objects as spiritual manifestations, so they worship them and offer sacrifices to them. Among them, the typical objects of nature worship are boulders (strange rocks), caves, trees and mountains. In addition, Miao people think that some natural phenomena or objects are gods or ghosts, and Miao language often does not distinguish between ghosts and gods, or uses both words. In most cases, ghosts are regarded as abandoned or wronged souls and tools, which often bring disasters, diseases, plagues or other misfortunes to mankind. For example, the so-called oriental ghosts, western ghosts, sow ghosts, cannibals and tiger ghosts are called evil ghosts. Natural phenomena with spirituality are often regarded as good ghosts and have certain divinity, such as mountain gods, valley gods, cotton gods, wind gods, Raytheon, rain gods, sun gods and moon gods. Miao people worship good ghosts and evil ghosts in different ways. Good ghosts are greeted by courtesy and sacrificed sincerely. Evil spirits must be bribed and cajoled until they are driven away.

In many areas, Miao people also believe that there are many monsters in nature. For example, cows put shit on their bodies or spin around in the stables, step on the shit in a circle, pigs eat piglets or lie in the trough, ducks eat duck eggs, tigers enter the arena, meet two snakes, and hens crow cocks.

In some Miao areas, artificial objects worship land bodhisattvas, land milk, family gods, sacrificial bridges, wells and so on. The Miao language of the Land Goddess and Bodhisattva is called Land Ghost, which is generally composed of several stones. Land houses are mostly made of wood or three stone slabs, which are extremely simple and located at the intersection next to the village or the pedestrian rest place on the roadside. The belief in family gods exists in some Miao people in Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan dialects, that is, setting up "family gods" idols at home. Sacrificial bridge is popular in most areas of southeastern Guizhou. Dragon is also the object of worship and sacrifice by Miao people everywhere.

Totem worship. Many Miao and Yao people in the east worship Pan Hu (a kind of god dog). They have been told the story of "Goddess, Mother, Dog Dad" for generations, and regarded Pan Hu as their ancestor. Some Miao people in the central region think that their ancestor Jiang Yang originated from the heart of maple, so they regard maple as a totem. In other areas, the Miao people worship buffalo and bamboo as totem objects.

Generally speaking, ancestor worship plays a very important role in Miao society. They believe that although their ancestors died, their souls will always be with their children and grandchildren, and they will be worshipped with wine and meat on festivals, even in their daily diet. In many areas, ancestor worship ceremonies are held regularly or irregularly. There are "beating pig sticks" and "beating cattle to worship ancestors" in western Hunan, "eating shit" in southeastern Guizhou, "knocking Balang" in central Guizhou, and the custom of beating old cattle in northwestern Guizhou and northeastern Yunnan. Among them, the phenomenon of eating dirty meat is still prevalent in Qiandongnan Prefecture, which is the most typical. Eating dirty is also called drum festival, drum club festival and drum storage festival, which is held every seven or thirteen years with the clan (drum club) as the unit. They believe that the ancestors' souls live in wooden drums, and the sacrificial drum is to tap the wooden drum to summon the ancestors' souls to enjoy the sacrifices of future generations. Priests are called dirty heads, and the sacrificed dirty cows are specially raised for this purpose. Each sacrificial activity lasts for three years.

Most Miao people believe in witchcraft. The main witchcraft activities are yin-crossing, divination, divine judgment and offering sacrifices to ghosts. In addition to magic. Witchcraft activities are presided over by wizards. Wizards are mostly unprofessional. They play the role of hosts in the above-mentioned primary worship and witchcraft activities, and some local wizards also serve as village elders. In addition to being familiar with the ways of offering sacrifices, wizards can mostly tell the genealogy of their clan, major historical events of their nation and the route of migration sources, and are familiar with all kinds of myths and legends, ancient songs and folk stories. Some wizards also have the functions of singers and dancers. Therefore, wizards are important inheritors of Miao traditional culture and play the role of intellectuals in Miao society. In addition, wizards also have certain medical skills and know some herbs. While exorcising ghosts, it is supplemented by scientific medical means.

In addition to these traditional beliefs, in modern times, as western missionaries went deep into China to preach, some Miao people in Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan Border Region, Kaili, Guizhou, Yuanling, Hunan and other places converted to Christianity, and a few Miao people in southeastern Yunnan believed in Catholicism. Especially in northeast Yunnan and northwest Guizhou, Christian belief once had a strong momentum and great influence. Foreign missions or missionaries have set up many primary and secondary schools and medical institutions in Miao areas, and even implemented some economic development projects, which have played an indelible role in the social progress and political status of Miao people. Famous monks include Dang Juren of Anshun, Bai Geli, Zhang Daohui and Wang Shude, all of whom died in Miao areas.

After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the influence of Christianity and Catholicism once declined, but in recent years, it has a certain recovery trend. However, Christianity and Catholicism now practice the "three self", which is different from the Christian belief before 1950 in social organization, social influence and even belief content.

Miao people abroad, a few Miao people in Vietnam and Laos believe in Catholicism. Miao people in the United States, France and other western countries also believe in Christianity and Catholicism. Miao people in Laos and Thailand are also influenced by Buddhist culture. Nevertheless, in their society, the traditional ancestor worship and soul concept are still largely preserved.