The Yi people’s eighteen-month calendar divides a month into twenty days and a year into eighteen months, plus a five-day “sacrifice day”. The days of the month and the months of the year have names. The special names of the eighteen months of the year are: January, the Wind Blowing Moon; February, the Birdsong Moon; March, the Bud Moon; April, the Flowering Month; May, the Fruiting Month; June, the Sky Stem Moon; July, the Insect Moon; August is the rain month; September is the grass month; October is the bird's nest month; November is the river moon; December is the insect moon; 13 is the clear sky month; 14 is the insect-free month; 15 is the dry grass month; 16 is the leaf month. The moon falls; the frost approaches the moon in the 17th month; the festival month takes place in the 18th month (the end of the festival plus five days, there are exactly 365 days in a year). The names of the twenty days of a month are: 1. The day when the sky opens; 2. The day when the earth opens; 3. The day when men open the sky; 4. The day when women open the earth; 5. The day when the sky is dark; 6. The day when the sky is red; 7. The day when the sky is purple Day; 8. Day of fire; 9. Day of cold water; 10. Day of flood; 11. Day of gourd; 12. Day of Emperor Fuxi; 13. Day of Fuxi sisters; 14. Day of seeking people; 15. Day of wild bee; 16. Bee Day; 17; day of birth; 18, day of narrow sky; 19, day of wide sky; 20, day of shrinking earth. Since the Yi people have a long history of forming the 18-month calendar, which dates back tens of thousands of years, there are many theories about the formation of the 18-month solar calendar. Most of them are accepted by people as counting the number of their own feet and hands. That is to say, the first counters used by humans were human organs, feet and hands, and the total number was exactly twenty. There are three world calendars: solar calendar, lunar calendar and lunisolar calendar. The eighteen-month calendar of the Yi people in Tanhua Township is a natural calendar, and its essence is also a solar calendar, but it transforms direct observation of the sun into observation of all things affected by the sun. Primitive people observe the phenology closely related to their lives. Over time, he finally discovered the cyclical changes in phenology in nature, arranged and combined them, and arranged his own life and production according to this arrangement and combination sequence, thus forming the ancient eighteenth-month calendar. The calendar is an important symbol of human civilization and scientific and technological progress. Due to its ancient nature, the 18-month calendar provides an important reference for human beings to understand their own scientific and technological development.

The culture of the Yi people is very rich, which is reflected in all aspects of food, clothing, housing, transportation, and weddings and funerals. Among them, the festival culture of "Flower Arrangement Festival", the residential culture of "Stacked Wood Houses, Hemp Straw Houses, and Flash Houses" ", the "named wine" of wedding customs culture are all very famous

(1), food culture

The unique customs of the Yi people and the unique regional environment have formed Tanhua's unique characteristics flavored food, among which the most ethnic foods mainly include whole lamb soup pot and tartary buckwheat cake. The whole sheep soup pot mainly uses fat black goats. After slaughtering, the hair is removed from the soup, the internal organs are disemboweled, the skin of the sheep's head and feet is burned with fire, roasted yellow on the charcoal fire, then the internal bones are crushed with a hammer, and finally the sheep blood, All the tripe is cut into pieces and cooked in one pot. When the aroma overflows, move to low heat and cook slowly. When the meat is cooked, you can eat while cooking. No other condiments are added except salt when cooking. When eating, add pepper, chili powder, mint, etc. as a side. The advantage of this way of eating is that it has no smell, the soup is white, rich, meaty and nutritious. In Tanhua Yi Village, a large number of whole sheep soup pots will be on the market during festival gatherings or mountain walks. Those who are busy walking or dancing, tired of walking or singing, sit on the pine fur next to the food stall, eat a bowl of soup, taste one or two taels of wine, and eat a piece of buckwheat cake. Something pleasant. The Yi people have special feelings for buckwheat. They believe that buckwheat is the king of grains. Legend has it that there were no crops during the flood era. A turtle dove flew to Tanhua Mountain and died with two tartary buckwheat seeds in its stomach. People planted it in the ground and planted it in March. It grew up in July and the seeds were sown again. The first crops were produced. In the past, tartary buckwheat was the staple food of the Tanhua Yi people. Due to low yields, the planting area has become smaller and smaller. Now it has become a flavor food that the Yi people only serve during New Years and festivals and when entertaining guests. Tartary buckwheat noodles are rich in nutrients, cool and good for the stomach. The method of making it is to dilute the buckwheat noodles with water, then pour them into a hot pot over low heat to form a cake naturally, and then bake them by the fire or heat them in the ashes, and dip them in honey. It is characterized by sweet fragrance, delicate and aftertaste, and is easy to carry and eat.

(2) Clothing culture

The daily attire of Yi villagers in Tanhua Township is still mostly traditional Yi costumes. Men wear blue cloth short-breasted jackets, which are short to the abdomen, with narrow sleeves, and two rows of knotted cloth buttons on the placket. In order to make it more varied, white thread is usually used to sew it into double threads, and two brightly colored flowers are embroidered on the right chest and the two lower pockets or a lace is tied on the edge of the skirt. The trousers are made of black fabric and are made into trousers, which are fat and short, and some only reach the calves. Wear an extra pair of cloth sandals sewn with lace and decorated with red and green pompoms on your feet. A green cloth turban is wrapped around the head, and a black sheepskin jacket is put on. The shoulder bag is a sheepskin shoulder bag called "piliged bottom". The production of "Pili grid" is very particular. It uses fine sheepskin to remove wool, and then sews it after repeatedly rubbing it with egg yolk to make it bright. Some are also decorated with leather fringes and beads. In the eyes of Yi men, having a dark and shiny sheepskin jacket with no stray hairs, and a well-made "pig bottom" is equivalent to having a set of famous brand clothes. Women's clothing pays more attention to keeping warm. They usually wear blue and black cloth buns on their heads and no other accessories. The right lapel of the upper body is decorated with multiple layers of cloth and embroidery lace of varying widths on the collar, cuffs and edges of the skirt. In addition to being embroidered with colored cloth, the apron also has very exquisite embroidery in the middle, and is tied around the neck with a silver chain. The ribbon behind the waist is made of white or colored cloth with exquisite patterns embroidered on it, which looks very fresh and beautiful. .

Back cloth bags are mostly made of green cloth, and some use fireweed velvet as satchels. The cloth bags are embroidered with their favorite patterns, which are beautiful in style, solid and durable. Wear blue cloth trousers without lace. Wearing embroidered shoes and a sheepskin jacket with fur facing outward. It looks like the whole color is bright and solemn. Necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, silver bells, silver medals, and silver bubbles are mainly used for decoration. There are also jade ornaments, mostly used as bracelets and earrings. The embroidery methods used by Yi women include rowing flowers, threading flowers, pressing flowers, stacking flowers, buttoning flowers, cutting needle flowers, appliqués, etc. The edging includes inlay, flowing edge, locking edge, etc. Patterns are usually made on small pieces of cloth or satin and then sewn onto clothing, including flowers, plants, birds and animals, pavilions, characters, etc.

(3) Living culture

Most of the Tanhua Yi villages are built on the mountains, located on sunny and leeward slopes with trees and water and beautiful environment. The convenience of firewood and water is convenient for arranging life. Generally, a village consists of twenty to thirty to fifty or sixty households. Most of the houses in the village are distributed according to the terrain, with scattered heights, simple charm and no fixed pattern. The traditional Yi people's stacked wooden houses, flash houses and hemp straw houses are all relatively intact in Tanhua. The construction method is that the four walls are made of logs that are trimmed and tenoned and piled up, which is called a stacked wood house; the roof is paved with pieces of bark or wooden boards, which is called a flash house; and the roof is paved with hemp straw. It's called the hemp straw house. Some houses have good thermal insulation properties. Now, because it has become common sense among villagers not to cut down trees, newly built houses no longer use wood, bark and hemp straw as materials, but earth tiles. However, when people build houses, they still use the stacking method of building houses, pounding the soil into sections and stacking them upwards, retaining the unique stacking characteristics of Yi folk houses. Most of the houses are courtyard-style, with the main room occupied by people, and the two wings mostly used as main rooms, mills and stables. The main house is generally divided into three rooms: left, middle and right. The right room is for people, the left room is the kitchen, and the middle room is the main room. The main room usually has a fire pond, and the fire in the pond is kept alive all year round. The Yi people have the custom of worshiping fire and regard the fire pond as holy. Therefore, when visiting a Yi family, one is generally not allowed to step over the fire pit, spit or throw filth into the fire pit. Place an iron tripod on the fire pit to support the pot, or put down the hanging pot for cooking. The main room is the place where families eat, receive guests, and hold sacrifices. On the upper side of the main room, there are usually couches for male heads of family. In front of the wall directly above the main room, there is a table for worshiping ancestors. A hole is dug in the wall above the altar, and the ancestral spirit is built inside. Ordinary people are not allowed to look at the ancestral spirits. At the front of the main house, there is a building, which is used for household chores.

(4) Travel culture

Tanhua Township is a town in an alpine mountainous area. Most of the Yi people live in the mountains. The main means of transportation are mules and horses. Each household has a toy Two mules and horses are used to transport production and living supplies. Men, women, old and young can ride mules and horses, and they are as stable on the slopes as on the flat ground.

(5). The 18-month solar calendar of the Yi people.

The 18-month solar calendar of the Yi people was dictated by Bimo Li Jiacai (male, born in 1935) of Yagugeng Village, Tanhua Township. It was compiled by Professor Liu Yaohan, Director of the Yunnan Yi Culture Research Institute, and Associate Researcher Zhu Juyuan, Director of the Yi Ancient Books Office, after three visits on April 12, 1990, July 13, and March 23, 1991.

The Yi people’s 18-month solar calendar divides a month into 20 days and a year into 18 months, plus a five-day “sacrifice day”. The days of the month and the months of the year have names. The special names of the eighteen months of the year are: January, the Wind Blowing Moon; February, the Birdsong Moon; March, the Bud Moon; April, the Flowering Month; May, the Fruiting Month; June, the Sky Stem Moon; July, the Insect Moon; August is the rain month; September is the grass month; October is the bird's nest month; November is the river moon; December is the insect month; 13 is the clear sky month; 14 is the insect-free month; 15 is the grass month; 16 is the leaf month. The moon falls; the frost approaches the moon in the 17th month; the festival month occurs in the 18th month (the end of the festival plus five days, there are exactly 365 days in a year). The names of the twenty days of a month are: 1. The day when the sky opens; 2. The day when the earth opens; 3. The day when men open the sky; 4. The day when women open the earth; 5. The day when the sky is dark; 6. The day when the sky is red; 7. The day when the sky is purple Day; 8. Day of fire; 9. Day of cold water; 10. Day of flood; 11. Day of gourd; 12. Day of Emperor Fuxi; 13. Day of Fuxi sisters; 14. Day of seeking people; 15. Day of wild bee; 16. Bee Day; 17; day of birth; 18, day of narrow sky; 19, day of wide sky; 20, day of shrinking earth.

(6) Festival culture

Tanhua Yi people have many traditional festivals, and there is a festival almost every month. In addition to the Yi New Year and the Torch Festival, which are unique to the Yi people, the most representative one is the Flower Arrangement Festival held on the eighth day of the second lunar month at Tanhua Mountain in Tanhua Township. There are many legends among the Yi people about the origin of the Flower Arrangement Festival. There are two most representative ones, one of which is: Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a beautiful Yi girl named Mi Yilu in Tanhua Mountain, who fell in love with the young hunter Chao Lieruo. There is a cruel native official in Tanhua Mountain who plans to occupy Miyilu. Mi Yilu designed to poison the local officials with highly toxic White Horse Sakura wine, and sacrificed her young life. Chao Lieruo felt extremely sad for the death of his lover. He shed tears and shed blood. The blood dyed the horse cherry blossoms all over the mountains and fields red. In order to commemorate this Yi girl who dedicated her life to fighting violence, on the eighth day of the second lunar month every year, the local Yi people picked Ma Yinghua flowers dyed red with blood from Chao Lieruo and put them on their heads and inserted them on the door to express their resistance to violence and evil, good luck and happiness. Another legend is: According to legend, the "Flower Arrangement Festival" originated from the ancient prehistoric era, when floods submerged everything, leaving only two brothers and a sister. In order to reproduce the offspring, the golden turtle old man arranged for them to get married.

After getting married, my sister gave birth to a big lump of flesh and blood. The old man with a golden turtle split the big lump of flesh with his sword. Fifty boys and fifty virgins were wrapped in the flesh. The golden turtle threw his flesh and blood on the branches. On the eighth day of February, the flesh and blood on the branches turned into red and bright horse cherry blossoms. So fifty boys and girls got married under the horse cherry blossom tree. From then on, gradually Produced humans. From then on, the people of Tanhua Mountain designated the eighth day of February as a festival to commemorate their ancestors. At that time, they would gather under the horse cherry tree to dance for entertainment, and then pick the horse cherry flowers home and insert them on the ancestor's tablet.

The annual "Flower Arrangement Festival" is held at 1:00 noon in Qianbolin, the ruins of Tanhua Temple next to the township government. A simple and warm opening ceremony is held at the venue. On the rostrum, a flower-filled Ma Yinghua tree was temporarily planted. Bimo presided over the ceremony to pay homage to the Ma Yinghua tree and select the Ma Yinghua girl of the year. This was followed by folk songs and dances, sports performances, sacrifices and incantations. Most of the Yi people participating in the Flower Arrangement Festival, regardless of age or gender, wore national costumes.

(7) Marriage customs and culture

Yi young men and women have a unique and important place in their love life - Caolou. "Thatched building" is also called "girl's room" in other townships in Dayao County. Due to poverty, the buildings built above the livestock pens were called "thatched buildings." "Girls' rooms" or "thatched cottages" are generally independent rooms. Each room can have as many beds as you like. The girls can move there at will, and they can also place furniture and appliances according to their own preferences. When Yi girls reach adulthood, they can live alone in the "girl's room" or "thatched building", interact with "outsiders", and enjoy their own free love life. From then on, the parents did not care about what happened in the room. The more young men and young girls coming and going, the more capable and charming the girl is. This interesting way of falling in love has a romantic name: "Climbing the Grass Building" or "Going to the Girl's Room". The Yi people have their own set of ethics and morals of "going to girls' houses" to restrain lovers. It is by no means "sexual indulgence" or "one-night stand" as imagined by ignorant people. The Yi people, like most ethnic groups, take pride in openly marrying and having children, and despise girls who get pregnant while still living in the "girls' room." Therefore, both men and women know that a single "girl's room" cannot be used for a long time. When the young men and women think that the conditions are ripe, the young men will use love as the backing to choose a bright and fresh morning and muster up the courage to go back to the woman's house with their lover early. The most common way of expressing this is to quickly fill up the water tank at home. , and then go out to work with my lover. Within a few days, the two of them moved back to the woman's house and bid farewell to the "girl's room" life. In a few days, I have to go back to my husband’s house to stay for a while. Just living in this way, taking care of both families, usually only deciding where to live is when she is pregnant with a child. In their home life, the Yi people in Tanhua Township do not get married without any fuss or even hold a wedding ceremony. They believe that marriage and love are purely personal matters, but they are particularly interested in having children. When the newborn is one month old, they will invite all relatives and friends from far and near to get married. Feast and celebrate. This is also the best time for men and women to announce their marriage and start a family.

(8), "Meige"

"Meige" is one of the five creation epics of the Yi people, the other four are "Chamu" and "Axi's Xianji" (spread in Yunnan); "Oletei" (spread in Sichuan); "Song of the Ancestors of the World" (spread in Guizhou).

"Mei Ge" is mainly spread among the Yi people in Dayao, Yao'an and Yongren areas of Chuxiong, Yunnan. In particular, the Tanhua area in Dayao County and the Mayou area in Yao'an County are the most widely spread and have the greatest influence. The word "Meige" is the transliteration of Yi language. "Mei" in Yi language means "mouth, singing, speaking"; "Ge" means "past, history". "Maegor" means "speak of the past." Among the Yi people in Dayao and Yao'an areas, a kind of folk song used to sing about the past history is called "Meige tune". "Singing Meige" has become a rap-like folk art form of the local Yi people. Slowness has evolved into a national music genre. As a tune name, "Megor" has many arias. The "Mei Ge" in Tanhua Township is generally divided into two categories, namely "Red Mei Ge" and "Fumei Ge". "Red Mei Ge" is "Bei Diao", commonly known as "Ai Diao", also known as "Gu Mei Ge". "Fumei Ge" is a happy tune, mostly used in weddings, sowing, harvest and other festive festivals. Tanhua Township is the main place where Mei Ge is sung. The author once observed on the street during the market day in Tanhua Township and found that wherever audio-visual products were sold, VCDs with "Mei Ge tune" were sold. The author stopped to watch for a long time and found that there were many people buying them, but the buyers were from In terms of age, most of them are middle-aged and elderly people. The author also spent ten yuan to buy two discs and found that the tapes were recorded by locals themselves.

(9) Religious culture

The religious culture of Tanhua Township is mainly primitive religion. There are still ruins of Tanhua Temple next to the township government, but after investigation, no Buddhist believers were found. The original religious beliefs in Tanhua Township include nature worship, animal and plant worship, totem worship, ancestor worship, reproductive worship, etc.

The Yi people in Tanhua Township worship the gods of heaven, mountains, fire, earth, water, grains, trees, kings and fire pond dragons.

The Yi people in Tanhua Township routinely offer sacrifices to the gods during every year and festival. They build a sacrificial tent in the mountains and forests near the village to worship the gods. The god idol is a bamboo tube about a foot long, with the upper end sharpened, and the tube is filled with wool, grass roots, and rice grains.

It means to pray that the gods and ghosts will not forget the people, animals, grass, and trees in the world, and provide sunshine and nectar to make people, animals, grass, and trees prosperous. The Tanhua Yi people have a Tuzhu temple dedicated to worshiping the earth god. Lord idol. Every spring sowing or autumn harvest season, villagers go to the Tuzhu Temple to burn incense as an offering to the Tuzhu God, and pray to the Earth Mother God to bless the grain harvest. The Yi people in Tanhua Township believe that high mountains are the residence of gods, the way to the gods, and the pillars supporting the sky. In the primitive religious concepts of the Yi people, the mountain is the incarnation of the mountain god. The mountain god has the power to support the sky. Among the gods of nature, the mountain god is the most powerful and can subdue all ghosts and evil spirits. The mountain god is used as the local protector to carry out mountain worship activities. A simple mountain temple is built. Stones and branches are used as symbols of the mountain god and are offered in the temple. Chickens are killed and sacrificed on the first day of the fourth lunar month to pray to the mountain god to bless the prosperity of people and animals in the village. In the worship of animals and plants, the Yi people in Tanhua Township also worship black tigers and hang tiger head portraits on their door lintels during ancestor worship ceremonies. The Yi people are accustomed to wearing tiger-head hats and tiger-head shoes, believing that they can ward off evil spirits and regard tigers as their protective gods. Among plant worship, the most prominent one is tree worship. There is a set of rituals for worshiping the sacred tree of the sacred forest. The rituals generally use pigs, chickens, cows, and sheep as sacrifices, and there are even strict regulations on the gender and color of the sacrifices. In totem worship, some use tigers and eagles as their totems, while others use pine trees, buffaloes, sheep, blue sheep, white chickens, green turtle doves, deer, toads, etc. as the names of their ancestors. The Yi people worship ancestor gods the most. The ancestor worship of the Yi people in Tanhua Township is reflected in two aspects: First, the ancestral spirit tablets. The spiritual tablets are generally offered to the five generations. When the descendants of the fifth generation die, they are placed on the coffin and taken to the cemetery for burning. The second is the Tu Zhu. The so-called Tu Zhu is a more prestigious person in the village. People who have done good things for the villagers are worshiped as the Tu Zhu God after their death. The Tuzhu Temple of Yagugeng Village, Tanhua Township, rides a white buffalo, similar to the Tuzhu Temple of Bainiu Tuzhu Temple in Weishan County. Reproductive worship is also popular in Tanhua Township. There are two strange things on a deep cliff in Tanhua Mountain. A thick stone pillar about 1.2 meters protruding from the wall, which looks like a male genitalia. A fat body protrudes from the opposite rock. The deep concave shape in the middle of the buttocks resembles a female genitalia. They are the sacrifices worshiped by the ancients. For many years, newly married Yi couples, not afraid of high mountains and long distances, endured untold hardships, brought incense paper and carried sacrifices to the reproductive cliff next to Lazhamo Village in Tanhua Mountain to worship and offer sacrifices, so as to protect the health of mother and child and ensure early birth. Takako. Married women who cannot have children should turn away from others and secretly go to the reproductive cliff to pray and ask the gods to bless them and give birth to children as soon as possible.

(10), Yi Opera

The birthplace of Chinese Yi Opera is Tanhua Township in Dayao County. Yang Sen is the founder of Yi opera. He founded the first Yi opera troupe - Tanhua Ma Straw Fang Club. In 1957, all members of the Ma Chaofang Senior Cooperative in Tanhua Township were farmers of the Yi ethnic group. At that time, only two or three of the 220 people in the village knew how to write for the first time. 18 students established the Literary Ancestor. The publicity team headed by Yang Sen, the founder of Yi opera, wrote the short play "The Sheep Crying at Midnight", sung to the tune of the Yi people, and exposed the true feelings of stealing sheep to eat, which had a great education and influence among the members. The club also compiled "Sheep in the Forest". In addition, the masses themselves used "Meige" to promote the policies of the time. The club started from scratch and blossomed in all directions. In December 1958, the Ministry of Culture held the "Southwestern Region Ethnic Culture Work Conference" in Dali. After the Yi operas "Sheep Crying at Midnight" and "Youth's Heart" were performed at the meeting, they were affirmed by the comrades present and became famous with "Midnight Sheep". The Yi drama represented by "Calling" was officially named Yi Opera.