What are the customs and basic conditions of the Barrow people?

The traditional life customs of the Barrow nationality are related to the clan system and patriarchal family structure of the Barrow nationality, and also closely related to the religious beliefs of the Barrow nationality. The traditional life customs of the Barrow nationality are mainly reflected in the aspects of room architecture, room decoration, life etiquette and taboos. The traditional long houses (houses), public houses for men and women, dry fence buildings, folk houses and decorative customs of Barrow nationality have distinct national and regional characteristics. Today, with the economic development and social changes, the life customs of the Barrow nationality are undergoing profound changes.

First, myths and legends and the early customs of Barrow people.

The formation of human living habits has gone through a long historical process. In the early days of human development, in order to avoid wind and rain, resist the harm of cold and wild animals, ancestors used caves or trees as their habitat, which was called "cave nests". The myths and legends of the Barrow nationality provide clues for us to pursue and explore their ancient way of life.

There is a myth named Maidong Haiyi circulating in Barrow Minrong tribe, which mainly tells the process of Maidong Haiyi's marriage with his mother. According to the myth, when Ophiopogon japonicus and his son got married, they both felt very shy. "From then on, they refused to go out of the forest and just lived in the forest like monkeys." To some extent, this myth reflects the history of early human arboreal.

The Barrow people in the east of Medog said in the myth of "the origin of Langcuo Lake" that there was a big cave on the high mountain in the west of Immovable Village. A long time ago, the Barrow people lived in this cave. Later, people came out of the cave to see the scenery outside. The legend of the Daemu tribe also says that their ancestors came out of caves and were quite disciplined in the palace. These myths and legends more or less reflect the history of the ancient ancestors of the Barrow people living in caves. However, in the real life of the Barrow people, we can still find traces of nesting in caves. According to the survey, in the 1960s, some people in the individual tribes of the Barrow nationality still lived in caves or built tree nests.

"Wind Fence" is a simple residential building built by early humans. This ancient way of life is still intact in the Sulong tribe of the Barrow nationality. Sulong tribe is a tribe with slow development in Barrow national society. Until the 1960s, it was unknown to grow crops and make a living by gathering and hunting. Their house is called "distillation column". "Zheng" means room, and "tower" means sitting. Other tribes call it "Abo", which means "not like a hut in a house". "Rectifier Tower" is a residential building with inclined bamboo structure, which is slightly higher than people. During construction, two or three wooden posts with forks are erected near the steep hillside ridge, and then two wooden beams are placed obliquely. One end of the beam is placed on the ridge of the hillside, and the other end is placed on the Mu Cha. A few bamboo sticks are placed between the two wooden beams, covered with thatched leaves as the top, and the other three are surrounded by scaffolding and bound branches, leaves and bamboo sticks as walls. There is a small door for people to enter and exit on one wall, and three pieces are placed in the middle of the room. This simple house is very suitable for gathering and hunting life in Su Long, where there is no fixed place to live. When they collected wild plants such as "giant salamander" and "giant salamander" near their residence, and there was no big harvest from hunting, the family took simple cooking utensils and other things to build another "correction tower" elsewhere. This ancient living form of Sulong people, like living fossils, has certain reference value for studying the development and evolution of human residential buildings.

Second, the types and characteristics of housing

The residential buildings of the Barrow nationality are closely related to the clan system, family structure and belief in ghosts and gods of the Barrow nationality, which is an important embodiment of the family form and religious concept of the Barrow nationality.

In Luo Yu, it is rainy and humid, and the houses of Barrow ethnic groups are generally built on the slopes on both sides of rivers and streams, which can not only reduce humidity and water accumulation, but also avoid the threat of mountain torrents. The doors of the houses of the Barrow nationality are generally facing the hillside, and the houses do not open windows. It is said that it is afraid of "evil spirits" entering, but it also leaves some small holes for archery holes and information transmission.

There are two types of traditional houses in Barrow nationality: one is an I-shaped long house that adapts to the whole family or serves as a public house; One is a small independent house for a single family to live in.

Patriarchal family building layout

Before the 1960s, Barrow society was still a clan tribal society with the patriarchal family as the basic unit. Male parents are the center of the family, and everything is decided by parents. Male parents have absolute authority in the family and clan. The longhouse of clan and patriarchal clan has different names in different tribal dialects. Long houses are arranged in zigzag, ranging from several to dozens, and the length can reach tens of meters. Usually several small families of the same family live in a long house. Each small family occupies a bedroom and exists independently. Some tribes and a family live in a long house.

The patriarchal clan house of Bengni tribe is called "South Tower", which is a bamboo-wood structure with three floors. The first floor is called "Inner Palace", which is used to pile firewood and circle pigs and cows. The person who lives on the second floor is called "Ji Guo"; The third floor is the ceiling for storing tools and sundries. The construction of "South Tower" is to erect dozens of log columns on the ground as the underframe, put several beams and battens at the height of 1.5-2 meters, tie them firmly with rattan ropes, and spread bamboo sheets and mats to build a rectangular platform, which is the floor for people to live in. The construction of suspended ceiling also uses bamboo and wood as frame beams and floors. The roof is herringbone, covered with "big" rattan leaves, banana leaves or straw, and tied with bamboo or rattan ropes. There is no fence on the first and third floors, and the first floor is tied with bamboo and wood to form a shed to enclose pigs and cows. The wall on the second floor is a big bamboo mat made of banana leaves sandwiched between two layers of bamboo, which is surrounded by a circle (where the door is left) and tied to a wooden column with rattan. The entrance on the second floor is made of logs or thick bamboo to build a balcony, through which you can enter the room.

The longhouse is divided into several rooms according to the size of the family for family members to live in. Each room is an independent living unit. The walls are separated by bamboo boards or wooden boards, only four fifths apart, and houses can communicate with each other. Every room has a fire pit. The fireplace is in the center of the house. Its structure is to leave a square hole in the center of the house, in which a wooden box is hung with rattan, covered with mud, and three kitchen stones are placed on the shelf. There is a small door on the wall in front of each room, and a fence is tied outside the wall to make a henhouse. There is also a small door on the back wall of the room, and a small warehouse called "Goose Ridge" is built outside the wall to store your own food and clothes. The granaries are collectively built on the edge of the village far away from the houses in case of burning in case of fire.

The passage between the whole longhouse and the outside world is a carved wooden ladder standing next to the balcony. People are going up and down the wooden ladder. The allocation of longhouse rooms is as follows: people enter the corridor of the house through the balcony, the first room next to the balcony is occupied by male parents, the second room is the guest room, and the rest are occupied by each wife and her children, arranged in the order of marriage. Many wives, many rooms. Each wife and her children form a living unit. The last room is the collective room of domestic slaves. If there are male and female domestic slaves, an additional room will be added according to gender.

Each room is divided into four different positions centered on the fireplace: the right side of the entrance direction is called "Babu", which is where the male host sits and lies; The lower right of Ba Bu is called "Weak Deng", which is usually the place where the hostess sits and lies, and the guests also sit here when they come. The left side of the entrance direction is called "material element", which is the position where ordinary family members sit and lie; The place close to the facade and backed by the door is called the "crossing", which is usually the seat of the domestic slave. The name of the Baurgard tribe is different from this, but the nature is roughly the same.

Another kind of longhouse of Barrow nationality is a hotel where unmarried teenagers spend the night together. Different tribes have different names, such as "Bongo" for Damme, "Dre" for civilians, and "Moshup" for Badam people.

Mohup is a public place for male teenagers to spend the night in Badam. Built in the center of the village, it can observe and guard the road leading to the village. Moxiupu is also a dry-column building, which was built collectively by villagers. Badam and other tribes live in a big village, and the residential areas are divided according to clan or family. Single boys in the same residential area live in Moxiupu, with a fireplace. In a Moshupu long house, there are many fire pits, the number of which is the same as the number of residential areas in the village. There is generally no partition between fire pits, occasionally there is a partition, and the partition is also very rough. Every fire pit has an entrance, a platform or a scaffold for putting things. There is a shelf above the fireplace, and the collective line on it no longer exists. Today, people live in houses of monogamous families. This is the most profound change in the customs of Barrow's national life.

Because Loba people have lived in the deep mountain valley in the southeast of Himalaya for a long time, their living standard is very low because of the restriction of natural conditions and the development level of social productive forces. Building a house is not easy for an ordinary family. It takes a long time to prepare and even devote a lifetime of efforts to prepare the property needed to build a house. Therefore, most of Barrow's previous housing buildings were low and simple. After the peaceful liberation of Tibet, with the care of the Party and the government and the help of people in Xizang, in order to solve the housing problem of the Lhoba people, the government allocated special funds to help the Lhoba people build new houses, and made unified planning in places where conditions permit, focusing on the construction of "new villages" for the Lhoba people. 1985, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and the Xizang Autonomous Region Ethnic Affairs Commission invested 460,000 yuan to build Loba New Village in Milin County. The new village houses are tall and spacious, with relatively complete facilities, which fundamentally solve the housing problem of the local Lhoba people and greatly improve their living conditions. In recent years, with the development of economy, the income of Barrow people has been greatly improved. Among them, the economic development in Milinan region is particularly rapid, with the per capita net income reaching 2 195 yuan in 2000. Many people have built new houses. Nowadays, people use modern building materials such as steel, cement and glass in addition to traditional bamboo and wood building materials. It has long been history for Loba people to build houses with banana leaves as roofs. The remarkable improvement of living conditions is an important aspect of the change of Barro national life.

The traditional bedroom furnishings and daily necessities of Barrow nationality are extremely simple, but now they are greatly enriched. In terms of daily utensils, most of the cooking utensils in the past were pottery pots or copper pots. Now, pottery pots have long been eliminated. Although the copper pot is reserved, its function has changed, and it is less used as a cooker and mainly used as an ornament. At present, the cookers are mainly various types of aluminum pot, iron pots and pressure cookers, and some have already used modern cookers such as rice cookers. Plastic, glass, stainless steel and other products have become household necessities. In the past, people lacked bedding, and the whole family slept on the floor around the fireplace at night. Now people have long been used to using beds and bedding. In the past, cooking and heating in the room were all fire pits made of triangular stoves and stones. Now every household is made of iron, or has a flue, and some people use liquefied gas stoves. Skulls and teeth of animals captured in hunting. Men have lived in Mohup since 10 years old. They eat and work in their own homes during the day. Every day after dinner, teenagers from various residential areas in the village come to Moxiupu one after another and sleep by their fireplaces. Young people are responsible for making fires, and the firewood used is collectively harvested by all members who use the same fireplace. Every fire pit is kept in order by an elderly and prestigious person, who has the right to punish those who violate discipline. Each fire pit also arranges its own hunting, which is guided by experienced old hunters and trains young people who lack hunting skills and experience. They will live in Mohup until they get married and have their own new house.

Moxiupu is not only a place for unmarried young men to stay, but also a place for unmarried men, old and weak male members and foreign men in the village to stay. Not far from the fireplace used by teenagers, there is another attached fireplace named "Josseaume", which is specially used for the elderly, the weak and other male members.

Moshup longhouse is also a place where various types of village committees are held. In case of major events, all clan members are concentrated in Mohupu, which will be settled through negotiation. Some large-scale collective sacrificial ceremonies and festivals are also held here. Usually women are not allowed to enter Mohup, and only girls are allowed to dance in some festivals.

The public houses where unmarried women live are called "Sister Jin Lang" by Bumbo tribe and "Yasheng" by Badam people. There are two kinds of public houses for women: long houses and square houses. Yasheng in Badam is a square house built with the help of experienced old people in the village. A fire pit was built in the center of public houses, and people sat around it. During the day, "Yasheng" was empty. After dinner, the young women in the village came to "Yasheng" belonging to their own clan. Every "Yasheng" is supervised and managed by an older and experienced woman, and those who disobey discipline and advice will be punished by her. Yasheng is also a place where girls fall in love with young people of the opposite sex. The women in The Sage are very free and friendly. Girls can freely accept their favorite boys in Yasheng, and others will not interfere and blame them.

"Mohupu" and "Yasheng" are no different from the training center and life preparation school for young men and women of Luoba nationality. Here, they can not only learn the traditional culture of their own nation and their ability to shoulder the heavy responsibility of life in the future, but also cultivate strict organizational discipline and collectivism spirit of unity and mutual assistance, which undoubtedly plays an important role in maintaining the survival and development of clans and tribes.

Small family building

Although there are quite a few polygamous families in Barrow society, the overall situation of their family forms is still monogamous individual families. Therefore, while there are long houses, all tribes have built small houses for monogamous families to live in, and some tribes even give priority to small houses. There are two types of individual family houses of Barrow nationality, one is small dry-column house, and the other is land-dwelling bamboo-wood structure house.

Small houses are square or rectangular, and Benny tribe is called "South Vertical" or "South Vertical Buduo", and Baurgard tribe is called "Ugu". This kind of house is similar to the "South Tower" in material and structure, but it is different in room distribution and structure. Take the "Ugu" of Baurgard tribe as an example. During construction, first erect vertical timber at the bottom, erect cross beams at the second floor and ceiling, and lay battens on the cross beams. The roof is built in a herringbone shape and covered with wooden boards and banana leaves. The walls and floors were covered with contempt seats. Firewood is piled on the ground floor of the house to make a pigsty, people live on the second floor, and peppers and other sundries are piled on the top floor. The door generally faces the hillside, and there is a balcony outside the door. There are men's and women's toilets at both ends of the balcony near the door A large family divides the living room into two or three rooms, each with a fire pit, which is divided by married children or slaves. Generally, people build another wing near the door of the house to put cattle and sheep, and build a warehouse near the house to store food.

The most typical residential building is the "miscellaneous correction" of Sulong people. "Miscellaneous rectification" is a big step forward than the construction of "rectification tower" mentioned above. The construction process is as follows: firstly, three pillars are erected outside the two gables, the higher one in the middle is the main beam, and the lower pillars on both sides of the roof frame the eaves beam. Put a number of wooden sticks between the main beam and the eaves beam, covered with banana leaves and thatch, and tied with vines in a herringbone shape. Enclose a shed with bamboo chips or thick bamboo mats, and then tie a wall with rattan. Spread bamboo mats or wooden blocks indoors. There is a fire pit in the center of the house, and a wooden frame is hung above the fire pit for baking firewood and barbecue. Stronger and wider than the "rectification tower". It is a residence built by Sulong people in Daxie, Da Qiao, bamboo forests or hunting grounds. They lived for several months or half a year and then moved to another place. When they return next time, they can still use some well-built miscellaneous corrections.

Third, the bedroom furnishings and decoration

The interior furnishings of Barrow ethnic room are simple. There is a fire pit in the center of the house, and a three-story wooden frame is hung above it. The layer highest from the fire pit is usually made of wooden boards and hung from the ceiling, which is mainly used to dry rice grains. The floor closest to the fire pit is used to smoke dried grilled fish and meat, and the middle floor is used to put barbecue or other food. Put a clay pot or copper pot on the fireplace stone, and put bamboo lunch boxes, wooden spoons, drinking utensils and other things next to it. Around the fireplace are places where people sleep and eat. Generally, bamboo mats, rattan or animal skins are spread on the floor, and they sleep near the fireplace to keep warm at night. Most tribes lie on the floor. Some Baurgard people near Tibetan areas in northern Luo Yu have already used bamboo low beds, which are covered with animal skins and covered with long woolen cloth or cotton blankets. Production tools, bamboo baskets, wine bottles and other things are generally placed against the wall and in the corner of the room.

Compared with the simple furnishings of Barrow nationality, the house decoration of Barrow nationality is very striking and unique, that is, the decoration of animal horns and bones can be seen everywhere. Rows of animal skulls can be seen under the eaves in front of the house and behind the house, whether it is the house of Loba patriarch or a small building. People hang the skulls and chin bones of wild animals such as tigers, leopards, bison, bears and wild boars in a conspicuous position in the corridor under the eaves in front of the door, and some people hang the skulls of monkeys above the lintel. The skulls of these beasts are indispensable decorations in the whole house, and such decorations are hung in every household in Loba. Some also hang the skulls of domestic cows and the chin bones of pigs on the walls. In the club of Barrow nationality, hanging horns and bones shows the bravery, strength and superb hunting skills of the owner, and is also a symbol of wealth, which shows the worship and boast of strength and courage of Barrow people. For the Barrow people in the clan society, strength and courage are undoubtedly the guarantee of life and the source of wealth.

Fourth, daily customs and taboos.

Barrow people have many customs and taboos in building houses, daily life and moving. Many tribes must be discussed and approved by village committees before building long houses or small houses, especially when people from other villages come to settle in their villages. In the process of selecting foundation and preparing building materials, we should pray and sacrifice to the elves living in the sky, underground, forest and water to protect them. After the date of building is determined, both public houses and individual houses are collectively built in the whole village. After the house is completed, a ceremony for the completion of the new house will be held. In the ceremony, the first thing to do is to kill the chicken to see the liver and sacrifice the ghost. Then the villagers will drink, sing, dance and celebrate for a few days.

People's daily seating has strict rules. With the fireplace as the center, people with different identities are divided into different seats, and they usually live in their own places, and they are not allowed to sit or lie down casually. Many tribes of the Barrow nationality are divided into four different positions around the fire pond. The four locations of the Baurgard tribe are: the opposite side of the door is called "Banggu", which is the place where the male host sits and lies; The left side of the door is called "guest", which is the location of the hostess and women; On the right is called "Guangdong", where the guests are located; The position near the door is called "Lu Niu", which is the seat of "Niba" (domestic slave). There are only three positions of the Sulong people, that is, "upright man", "upright Asia" and "upright flower". "Zhengren" is where parents sit and lie, "Zhengya" is where older children or visitors sit and lie, and "Zhenghua" is where younger children sit and lie. During menstruation, women at home can't move in a "upright" and "elegant" posture, sleep at night, or sleep in "flowers" or live in a shed called "Zhengbo" temporarily built by big leaf grass outside the house.

Because the Sulong tribe lived a life of gathering and hunting, they often moved from a few days to a few months, and their customs were very distinctive. When moving, the father or eldest son goes out first with the skull of the beast he hunted in the past, with the child in the middle and the mother at the end. As soon as the person in front goes out, shout the name of the last person: "Let's go". The last person who went out said loudly as he walked, "Let's go, everyone goes back to their hometown!" " "On the way to the fork in the road, mother or other women will pick up a leaf, then spit on it, put the tip of the leaf on the ground and walk in the direction. When you meet rocks, caves, lakes and springs, you should also pick up the leaves and put them in the above way. When moving, men mainly carry the skulls of wild animals, while women carry other belongings. If women carry the skull of a beast, they are forbidden to cross it. When you get to your new house, hang the animal's skull indoors and no one is allowed to touch it. Before entering the new house, you need to roast the prey indoors, wipe it on the indoor wall with wool ash, and say, "There will be more prey in the future. "Then move into a new house. In daily life, the biggest taboo is the taboo of fireplace and animal bone decoration. Fire brings warmth and light to Barrow people, so Barrow people worship fire very much and regard fire pits as solemn places and sacred things. The Mikuba tribe believes that there is a kitchen god living in the fire pit. It is said that the kitchen god was changed from a dog who lived alone with people. People usually worship the kitchen god very devoutly. Whenever eating, housewives should throw some food, wine and meat by the fireplace first. The night before the hunter goes hunting and when he leaves, he should kill the chicken and sacrifice it, praying for the kitchen god to protect the hunting safety and get more prey; Whenever you build a new house, you should carefully build a fire pit, take some of all the food and meat in the house (the more kinds, the better), cook it on the newly built stove, then scoop some into the fire pit and pray while sprinkling, so as to sacrifice to the new stove. The taboos of Barrow people on the fire pit mainly include: it is forbidden to cross or hang sundries above the fire pit; It is forbidden to cut the wooden frame around the fire pit with a knife; It is forbidden to burn poultry, dead animals and dead animal hair in the fire pit; It is forbidden to sweep the floor in the direction of the kitchen pool; No spitting in the fire pit; It is forbidden to sit with your back to the kitchen pond ... this shows the sacredness of the kitchen pond and the extent to which Barrow people worship it.

The animal bone decoration of Barrow nationality is also sacred, and no one can touch it casually. They don't want to throw away animal bones. Even if they move, they have to move all the animal bones to another residence and hang them under the eaves, hoping to get more wild animals.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) changes in life customs

After the peaceful liberation of Tibet, especially since the reform and opening up, the Barrow society has undergone tremendous changes. With the economic development and social changes, great changes have taken place in the life customs of the Barrow nationality.

After the 1960s, the Lhoba people living in Chayu, Zi Long, Medog, Milin and other places under China's actual control have crossed several historical stages from clan society to socialist society. With the profound changes in society and the disintegration of patriarchal clan system, the traditional longhouse of Barro nationality has lost its social foundation. Therefore, the longhouse, a typical traditional living form of the Lhoba people, no longer exists in today's Lhoba society. Today, people live in houses of monogamous families. This is the most profound change in the customs of Barrow's national life.

Because the Barrow people have lived in the deep mountain valleys in the southeast of the Himalayas for a long time, their living standards are very low due to the constraints of natural conditions and the development level of social productive forces. Building a house is not easy for an ordinary family. It takes a long time to prepare and even devote a lifetime of efforts to prepare the property needed to build a house. Therefore, most of the houses of the Barrow nationality in the past were low and simple. After the peaceful liberation of Tibet, with the care of the Party and the government and the help of people in Xizang, in order to solve the housing problem of the Lhoba people, the government allocated special funds to help the Lhoba people build new houses, made unified planning in places where conditions permit, and concentrated on building "new villages" for the Lhoba people. The State Ethnic Affairs Commission and the Xizang Autonomous Region Ethnic Affairs Commission invested 460,000 yuan to build Barrow New Village in Milin County. The new village houses are tall and spacious, and the facilities are relatively complete, which fundamentally solves the housing problem of the local Lhoba people and greatly improves the living conditions of the Lhoba people. In recent years, with the development of economy, the income of Barrow people has been greatly improved. Among them, the economic development in Milinan region is particularly rapid, with the per capita net income reaching 2 195 yuan in 2000. Many people have built new houses. Nowadays, people use modern building materials such as steel, cement and glass in addition to traditional bamboo and wood building materials. Barrow people have a long history of building houses with banana leaves. The remarkable improvement of living conditions is an important aspect of the change of people's life in Barrow.

The traditional bedroom furnishings and daily necessities of Barrow nationality are extremely simple, but now they are greatly enriched. In terms of daily utensils, most of the cooking utensils in the past were pottery pots or copper pots. Now, pottery pots have long been eliminated. Although the copper pot is reserved, its function has changed, and it is less used as a cooker and mainly used as an ornament. At present, the cookers are mainly various types of aluminum pot, iron pots and pressure cookers, and some have already used modern cookers such as rice cookers. Plastic, glass, stainless steel and other products have become household necessities. In the past, people lacked bedding, and the whole family slept on the floor around the fireplace at night. Now people have long been used to using beds and bedding. In the past, cooking and heating in the room were all fire pits made of triangular stoves and stones. Now every household is made of iron, or has a flue, and some people use liquefied gas stoves. There used to be no furniture in the living room, but now every family has a complete set of furniture such as boxes, cabinets, tables and chairs. And radio, tape recorder, TV, DVD player, stereo and other household appliances have also entered the ordinary Loba family. In decoration, traditional animal heads and bones have been hung less, replaced by leaders, stars or other fashion posters, full of the flavor of the times. The quality of rural life has improved significantly.

There are also many changes in living customs and etiquette. In the past, Barrow people believed in primitive witchcraft, from foundation selection to construction, construction, completion and relocation, and there were countless ceremonies to kill chickens, see the liver and ask ghosts. Now, most of these ceremonies have been simplified, and some have disappeared. In the past, Kitchen God was greatly worshipped and revered. Although people still have many taboos about kitchen stoves, this reverence has weakened, especially among young people. Similarly, people pay less attention to the decoration of animal horns and bones than before. The popularity of radio, television and telephone, the improvement of traffic conditions and the expansion of external contacts have greatly expanded people's access to information. The development of society, the spread of scientific knowledge and the entry of modern information have a profound impact on people's lifestyles and concepts, and the customs of Barrow people are undergoing profound changes.