Yi people's Spring Festival custom

The first important thing is to kill pigs and eat pig-killing rice

No matter how many pigs are prepared, Yi people must have a white or black male castrated pig. In the first year of Chinese New Year, I chose it and read "This is the pig for Chinese New Year", but I asked the Bodhisattva to bless the healthy growth of the pig for Chinese New Year. It is very solemn for the Yi people to kill pigs in the New Year.

First of all, it is necessary to determine when your family will kill pigs in the twelfth lunar month, and then determine a specific day during this period. Killing pigs in the Yi nationality is a very solemn custom and cannot be arbitrary.

People must be invited to kill pigs, commonly known as "eat pig-killing rice", ranging from two or three tables to more than a dozen tables. The guests invited are basically the elders, relatives and friends in the village. A few days before the Year-old Pig was killed, the host's family would invite guests from the family, relatives and friends, saying, "One day, at some time, our family will kill the Year-old Pig, and then the whole family will come to give birth to a pillar of liver."

When you kill Nian pig, you should drink "Kill Pig Wine" first, and every strong man who takes part in Killing Nian pig must take a sip. Then put red-hot stones, golden bamboo and clear water in a wooden ladle or bowl, and purify them with pure steam to remove all evil spirits from pigs last year, which shows sincere worship to ancestors and gods.

two bowls are essential for killing pigs. First, the old fat, without this dish, what is the killing pig rice? Second, the liver is raw. Knock the pork liver with the back of a knife, extract the essence, stir with wine, pepper, pepper, Amomum tsaoko, star anise and other ingredients, cook it with pork loin, tear it open, stir it carefully, then slowly bake it in a small pot until it is crispy and delicious, then pour in all the ingredients such as pork liver and stir it evenly, and add ingredients such as onion and ginger to make it mellow and fragrant. Eating another meal the next morning is the end of killing pigs.

In the activity of killing pigs, the Yi people have special requirements:

A new rope about 6 meters long must be prepared for trapping and lifting pigs.

prepare a handful of dried fern and chicken grass for cooking pigs. Yi people like to burn meat with dried fern grass on the mountain, because fern grass is auspicious, flammable and delicious. After burning the hair of the pig with fern grass and roasting the yellow pig skin, the pork is smeared with charcoal ash and water and scraped clean. This kind of pork has no moisture, is tender and delicious.

pork can't be stored in old utensils. Before the new year, 6-8 new baskets of different sizes were woven with fresh bamboo sticks to store pork, viscera, tofu and so on. It is also necessary to weave a 2×1.5-meter-long bamboo basketry with wide bamboo sticks to cut pigs. When using the bamboo basketry, it is necessary to distinguish the head and tail, the front and the back, with the head facing up and the front facing up, so as not to turn upside down.

In addition to killing pigs, there are some customs of the Yi people during the Spring Festival:

The main thing is to prepare dry fine wood and dried bamboo poles so as to cook vegetables quickly and conveniently during the New Year. In addition, prepare a few large packages of firewood, which will burn in the hall fire kang day and night during the Chinese New Year, and must not be extinguished.

Prepare rice, dried noodles, buckwheat noodles, oat noodles, eggs and wine before the Chinese New Year, and the quantity is not limited according to the needs of each family. With the improvement of material life, new year's goods are more colorful.

prepare several large and small bamboo brooms. The big broom is used to sweep the house inside and outside, and the small broom is used to scrub the pots and pans.

all the knives must be sharpened on the first day of the new year.

Every Yi family must make tofu during the Spring Festival, and make tofu 1-2 days in advance, depending on the needs of each family. In the process of making tofu, outsiders are not allowed to come in when ordering alkali. The hardness of tofu indicates good luck and peace in the coming year, otherwise it will be the opposite.

1-2 days before the Spring Festival, every household must clean the roof, eaves, indoor and outdoor, garden dam, furniture, bedding, kitchen utensils, etc. to show farewell to the old and welcome the new.

During the Spring Festival, women are exempted from all housework on the first day of the Lunar New Year to show their gratitude for their hard work in the past year.

On New Year's Eve, a pine tree will be erected in front of every family, which means to get rid of the old and welcome the new, and avoid disasters. The ground of the main room is covered with a thick layer of pine needles, which is used to sit on it and eat the New Year's dinner.

On New Year's Eve, adult men must stay up all night. During the vigil, several men got together and talked about family history while drinking, and now some people play poker. The purpose of vigil is mainly to show respect for ancestors, but also to get back the first load of water and prepare meals before dawn, so that you can eat once dawn.