Religious customs, national festivals and eating habits of Miao people

Miao people have their own religious beliefs for a long time. After a long period of historical development, the religious beliefs of Miao people in different regions are different.

Same. In some Miao areas, due to traffic jams, Miao people believe in primitive religions; There are also a few Miao areas, such as Weining, Shimenkan and Yuanling in western Hunan, which converted to Catholicism and Christianity in modern times due to the influence of foreign missionaries. But on the whole, most Miao people still believe in primitive religions that have been formed for a long time, including nature worship, totem worship, ghost worship and ancestor worship.

? (1) Nature worship

The main natural worship objects of Miao nationality are heaven, earth, sun, moon, boulder, trees, bamboo, rocks and bridges. In Malipo, Jinping, Yunnan, whenever crops are heading, some Miao people sacrifice to "Heaven and Earth" to pray for a bumper harvest, which is the relic of Miao people's worship of Heaven and Earth.

? (2) Totem worship

Miao ancestors have their own totems. Because of the wide distribution of Miao branches, they worship many totems. Such as Phoenix, Maple, Butterfly, Shenquan (Pan Hu), Dragon, Bird, Eagle, Bamboo, etc. Miao ancestors in southeastern Guizhou worshipped maple as a totem and believed that their ancestors originated from maple. In addition, they also regard butterflies as totems and think that their ancestor Jiang Yang was born by "Mother Butterfly". Miao ancestors in the border areas of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Guizhou still take Pan Hu as their totem. Up to now, there are still many Pan Hu temples and Xinnugong in this area. Miao people in western Guizhou take birds as totems.

? (3) Ancestor worship

? Today, ancestor worship is still very popular among Miao people. The Miao people in southeastern Guizhou have changed from the earliest reverence for maple butterflies to the reverence for Jiang Yang, the ancestor of mankind, and Jiang Yang is regarded as the ancestor of the Miao people. Each drum club has set up a "drum cave" dedicated to "Yang Gong" and "Yangpo". The ancestors of Miao worship in western Hunan are Nuo Gong and Nuo Mu. In order to pray for the protection of ancestors, there are large-scale activities to kill cattle and worship ancestors everywhere, such as the Drum Music Festival in southeastern Guizhou, which is called "eating cattle" or "bending cattle" in Tongren and Songtao, and "cutting cattle" in southwestern Guizhou, Anshun and Zhenning. There is a "return to Nuo wish" in western Hunan, offering sacrifices to Nuo male and Nuo mother. On festivals, Miao people also hold ancestor worship ceremonies. In many Miao areas, there is an ancestral tablet in the middle of every hall, and there are sacrifices every day.

(4) Nuo culture

Miao people's belief in ghosts and gods has a long history, and it is still very common after the founding of New China. There are dozens of ghosts and gods they believe in. They divide ghosts into good and evil: they think that good gods can protect people, so they should always offer sacrifices, while evil spirits cooperate with people and pray for expulsion. It is believed that to achieve this goal, it is necessary to practice witchcraft through wizards. Wizards are intermediaries between people and ghosts and gods. They have a high cultural accomplishment and are respected by the Miao people. Witchcraft practiced by wizards mainly includes divination, divination and evocation.

2. National festivals

Miao nationality is rich in ancient civilization and pays attention to etiquette. The 20-year-old festival is unique and distinctive. Miao traditional festivals are divided into:

? (1) Agricultural Activities Festival;

? (2) Quality Exchange Festival;

? (3) Festivals for men and women to socialize, fall in love and choose their spouses;

? (4) Sacrificial festivals;

? (5) Commemorating and celebrating festivals.

In chronological order, a year is divided into twelve months, and each month has more than one festival.

1-15th (from the first child day to the second cloudy day) of the lunar month, in which1day is the day of the year, and the Miao people do not go out (far away); The 1 ugly day is the annual festival of the earth. During the period from 1 ugly day to the second ugly day (2- 14), people visited relatives and friends, congratulated each other on the New Year, sang duets, played with dragon lanterns and played with lions. The second day of the second lunar month (15) is the last year (burning dragon lanterns). The first ugly day of the partial moon (bull moon or ugly moon) is the friendship day, also known as the dragon head festival. Miao people sacrifice to the land gods and collect dragons safely. The first day of June+10 (Tiger Moon or silver moon) in 5438 was a festival of material exchange and social interaction between men and women (China called the Third Street Festival on March). The first Sunday in February (Rabbit Month or Uzuki) is the Ox King's Day (called April 8th in China), when men and women get together to celebrate the Buddha's birthday. The first and second days of March (Dragon Moon or Chen Yue) are the Dragon Boat Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival respectively. The Dragon Boat Festival was later called Qu Yuan Festival, also known as Qu Yuan Festival and Songshi Festival, in memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan (whose surname is Qu Shi). April 1 day (Snake Moon or Mitsuki) is the Dragon Festival (called June 6th and June Field in China), and it is also a new eating festival (barley ripening). The 1 sub-day in May (horse month or noon month) is the Small Year Festival (called Seven Sisters in Miao language, namely the Big Dipper). ? The second day of June is the Duck Festival, and the second day is the Mid-Autumn Festival. July 1 Shenri (Monkey Moon or Shenyue) is the wine festival (harvesting glutinous rice to make sweet wine and rice wine). August (chicken moon or full moon) is a festival of sacrifice (mainly for ancestor worship, eating pigs, jumping incense, mourning, Anlong and other activities). ). September (dog month or full moon) hunting festival, choose a day to worship the three gods of Meishan and start hunting. 10 (Year of the Pig or Haiyue) is the festival of eating pigs and soaking pigs (killing pigs in that year), the festival of kitchen gods (offering sacrifices to kitchen gods) and New Year's Eve (called October Miao Spring Festival in Chinese).

In addition, due to different branches and regional cultural differences, Miao people also have some festivals unique to their own branches, such as Huashan Festival.

3. Eating habits?

Miao people's dietary customs have their own characteristics. The Miao people in Rongshui, Southeast Guizhou, Xiangxi and Guangxi of Hainan Island take rice as their staple food, as well as corn, sweet potato, millet and other miscellaneous grains. Miao people in northwest Guizhou, south Sichuan and northeast Yunnan live on corn, potatoes, buckwheat and oats. There are many kinds of non-staple food, besides collecting wild vegetables and engaging in fishing and hunting, there are also livestock, poultry, fish, beans, vegetables, fruits and so on. Hot and sour taste is an indispensable thing in Miao life. In the past, due to the lack of salt in mountainous areas, many Miao people lived on light food all the year round and could only use hot and sour seasoning. Over time, they formed a habit.

Miao people especially like to eat sour food. Almost every household cooks sour soup, sauerkraut and hot and sour fish. The fish in Miao sour soup is tender and delicious, and it is famous far and near. Miao people like to drink. After work at ordinary times, drink a little wine to relax muscles, promote blood circulation and eliminate fatigue; When relatives and friends visit, on holidays, weddings, funerals and weddings, they all treat them with wine. For a long time, they have formed a set of traditional drinking customs and etiquette. In many places, Miao people have the custom of singing wine songs while feasting and toasting. Camellia oleifera is also deeply loved by Miao people in the border areas of Hunan, Guangxi and Guizhou. It is not only a necessary food for Miao people to entertain guests, but also a special drink before and after meals. Some places even eat it with camellia oleifera. In western Hunan, northeastern Guizhou and southern Chongqing, fried rice tea is used as a high-grade beverage for drinking and entertaining relatives and friends during the Spring Festival. ?

? (1) Sour soup

Sour soup is rice soup or tofu water, fermented in a crock for 3-5 days, and then used to cook fish and vegetables. The food preservation of Miao people generally adopts pickling method, and vegetables, chickens, ducks and fish like to be pickled into sour taste. Almost every Miao family has a jar for curing food, which is collectively called a sour jar. Miao nationality has a long history of brewing, and has a set of techniques from koji making, fermentation, distillation, blending and cellar storage. Camellia oleifera is the most common daily drink. Miao people in Xiangxi also specially made a kind of scented tea. Sour soup is also a common drink. In some areas, Miao people surnamed Yang have taboos such as not eating pig hearts. Moreover, Miao people don't have too many dietary taboos and requirements. Typical foods of Miao people in China mainly include: blood soup, chili bone, turtle chicken soup in Miaoxiang, cotton vegetable cake, insect tea, scented tea, fish paste, fish in sour soup, etc.

? (2) Glutinous rice

Glutinous rice is one of the staple foods of Miao people and plays an important role in their lives. It is a favorite food for men, women and children. People think that glutinous rice is not hungry or tasteless, and can be eaten without food or chopsticks. It is very convenient to eat it with your hands. Gifts for visiting relatives and friends and staple foods for various festivals (Sister's Day) are mostly various foods made of glutinous rice. There are colorful steamed glutinous rice, colorful colored glutinous rice, pillow-shaped and triangular zongzi, glutinous rice cakes, wine makers, people who travel long distances or work in the mountains, and most of them are carried around in bamboo boxes.

(3) Stewed chicken with Lindera root

In Miao village, as long as there are distinguished guests at home, a delicious little black medicine chicken will be stewed for the guests to taste. This delicious food is not only unique in flavor and rich in nutrition, but also "clearing away lung heat and toxic materials, dispelling cold and relieving cough, nourishing yin and tonifying kidney, promoting blood circulation and dredging channels", which has always been regarded by the Miao compatriots in Qiubei as a good hospitality and a nourishing medicine for serious illness and weakness. Black medicine, also known as grass triangle maple, is a perennial herb, which grows in cool and humid mountainous areas. Its roots, stems and leaves can be used as medicine, and Miao compatriots often use it to treat diseases such as kidney deficiency, low back pain and asthma. Stewed chicken not only has unique flavor, tender meat and fresh soup, but also has special effects of nourishing and treating diseases. Important food for Miao pregnant women after delivery.