Yi culture is very rich, which is reflected in all aspects of food, clothing, housing and transportation, weddings and funerals. Among them, the "Flower Arrangement Festival" of festival culture, the "Wooden House, Straw House and Flash Room" of residential culture, and the "Named Wine" of marriage custom culture are all very famous
(1). The unique Yi customs and unique regional environment of food culture have formed the unique characteristics of Tanhua. The whole sheep soup pot is mainly made of fat black goats. After slaughter, the soup loses its hair, gut it, remove the fur from the sheep's head and feet with fire, brown it on charcoal fire, and crush the inner bones with a hammer. Finally, even the sheep's blood and stomach are cut into pieces and cooked in one pot. When the fragrance overflows, move to low heat and cook slowly. When the meat is cooked, you can eat it while cooking. When cooking, do not put other condiments except salt, and when eating, add pepper, Chili noodles, mint and so on. The advantages of this way of eating are no smell, white soup, strong taste, fragrant meat and rich nutrition. In Tanhua Yijiashanzhai, there will be a large number of whole sheep soup pots on the market every holiday gathering or catching the mountain street. It's very pleasant for people who are busy with the streets and who are tired of walking and singing to sit on the pine ground next to the food stall, eat a bowl of soup, taste one or two glasses of wine and eat a piece of buckwheat Baba. Yi people have special feelings for buckwheat. They think buckwheat is the king of grains. Legend has it that there were no crops in the flood era, and a turtledove flew to Tanhua Mountain and died. There were two tartary buckwheat seeds in its stomach. People planted it in the ground, planted it in March, grew up in July, sowed the seeds and planted the earliest crops. In the past, tartary buckwheat used to be the staple food of the Yi people in Tanhua. Because of its low yield and smaller planting area, it has now become a flavor food for the Yi people to celebrate the New Year and entertain guests. Tartary buckwheat noodles are nutritious, cool and beneficial to the stomach. Its preparation method is to dilute buckwheat noodles with water, pour them into a hot pot and naturally make cakes with low fire, then bake them in a fire pond or heat them in ashes, and dip them in honey. It is characterized by sweet fragrance, delicacy and aftertaste, and is easy to carry and eat.
(2) Clothing culture
The daily clothes of the Yi villagers in Tanhua Township are still mostly traditional Yi costumes. The man wore a pair-breasted jacket of blue cloth, which was short to the abdomen, with narrow sleeves and two rows of buttons nailed to his skirt. In order to make it rich in variety, white thread is used to sew it into double thread, and two colorful flowers are embroidered on the right chest and the two pockets below or a lace is tied on the edge of the skirt. Pants are made of black cloth, which are fat and short, and some only reach the legs. Wear a pair of cloth sandals sewn with lace and decorated with red and green velvet balls. It is wrapped with a green cloth head, and then covered with a black sheepskin jacket. The satchel is a sheepskin satchel called "Pirigdi". The production of "Pirigdi" is very particular. It is depilated with good sheepskin, sewn after repeated rubbing with egg yolk, and some of them are decorated with leather tassels and beaded. In the eyes of Yi men, having a shiny, dark sheepskin jacket with no foreign hair and a well-made "Pirigdi" is equivalent to having a set of brand-name clothes. Women's clothing pays more attention to keeping warm. Generally, the head is covered with blue and black cloth, and there are no other ornaments. On the upper body, there are many layers of cloth and embroidered lace at the collar, cuffs and skirt edge. In addition to being embroidered with colored cloth, there is also very exquisite embroidery in the middle of the waist, which is tied around the neck with a silver chain. The ribbon at the back of the waist is made of white cloth or colored cloth embroidered with exquisite patterns, which looks very fresh and beautiful. Back cloth bags are mostly made of green cloth, and some are made of fire grass flannel. The cloth bags are embroidered with their favorite patterns, which are beautiful in style, solid and durable. Wear blue trousers without lace. Embroidered shoes, sheepskin jacket with outward fur. It seems that the whole color is gorgeous and dignified. Necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, silver bells, silver medals and silver bubbles are mainly decorated with silverware, and there are also jade ornaments, mostly bracelets and earrings. The embroidery methods of Yi women are divided into arranging flowers, wearing flowers, pressing flowers, stacking flowers, buttoning flowers, cutting needles and sticking flowers. There are inlays, flowing edges, locking edges and so on. Patterns are usually made on small pieces of cloth or satin first, and then sewn on clothes, including flowers and plants, birds and animals, pavilions and figures.
(3) Living culture
Most of the Yi villages in Tanhua are built by mountains, which are located in the lee of the sun, with trees and water and beautiful environment, so it is beneficial to arrange their lives by taking advantage of their firewood and water. Generally, twenty or thirty households to fifty or sixty households are one village. The houses in the village are mostly distributed according to the terrain, with a patchwork of high and low, simple charm and no fixed pattern. The traditional houses of the Yi people, such as stacked wooden houses, flash houses and straw houses, have been preserved relatively completely in Tanhua. The construction method is that the four walls are made of logs after finishing and tenoning, which is called a wooden crib; The roof is called a flash room paved with pieces of bark or boards; The roof is covered with hemp straw and is called hemp straw house. Some houses have good thermal insulation. Now, because not cutting down trees has become the villagers' knowledge, the newly built houses no longer use wood, bark and hemp straw as materials, but use mud tiles. However, when people build houses, they still use the method of piling wood to build houses, and the soil is piled up one by one, retaining the unique piling characteristics of Yi people's houses. Most of the houses are courtyard-style, with the principal rooms occupied by people, and the hatchbacks are mostly used as halls, mills and stables. The main room is generally divided into three rooms: left, middle and right. The right room is occupied by people, the left room is intercropped with the kitchen, and the middle room is a hall. Generally, there is a fire pit in the hall, and the fire in the pond is endless for many years. The Yi people have the custom of worshipping fire and regard the fire pond as holy. Therefore, when you are a guest in the Yi family, you can't cross the fireplace, spit or throw filth into the fireplace. Put iron feet on the fireplace to support the pot, or put down the hanging pot to cook. The hall is a place for family dining, meeting guests and holding sacrifices. On the upper side of the hall, there are many beds for male parents, and in front of the wall just above the hall, there is a table for ancestor worship. Dig a hole in the wall above the altar and put the ancestral spirits inside. Zuling is generally not allowed to watch. The front of the main house is connected with a mansion for housework and chores.
(4) Travel culture
Tanhua Township belongs to a town in the alpine mountain area. Most of the Yi people live in the mountains, and the means of transportation are mainly mules and horses. Every family has one or two mules and horses to transport production and living materials. Men, women and children can ride mules and horses, and they are stable on slopes.
(5) Yi people's solar calendar in August
The Yi people's solar calendar in August was dictated by Li Jiacai (male, born in 1935) of Bimo Village, Yaguheng Village, Tanhua Township. In the meantime, it was compiled by Professor Liu Yaohan, director of Yunnan Yi Culture Institute, and Associate Professor Zhu Yuanyuan, director of Yi Ancient Books Room, after three visits on April 12, 199, July 13 and March 23, 1991.
The Yi people's solar calendar in August divides a month into twenty days, a year into eighteen months, and five days as a "sacrificial day". Every day of a month, every month of a year has its name. The proper name of eighteen months of the year is: January winds blow the moon; Birds sing the moon in February; March budding month; April flowering month; May bearing month; June is a dry month; In July, insects come out of the moon; August rainy month; September grass month; October bird's nest month; In November, the river rose to the moon; In December, insects sing the moon; It's sunny in March; Insect-free month in April; The grass withered in may; Leaves fall in the moon in June; Frost comes to the moon in July; Festive month in August (five days after the end of the festival, a year is exactly 365 days). The names of 2 days in a month are: 1. Kaitian; 2. Ground-breaking Day; 3, men open the day; 4. Women's groundbreaking day; 5, dark days; 6, Tianhong Day 7, Tianzi Day; 8, burning the sun; 9. Water cooling day; 1. Flood Day; 11. Gourd Day; 12. Fuxi Emperor Day; 13. Fuxi Sisters Day; 14, looking for people; 15. Wild Bee Day; 16. Bee Day; 17； Out of the day; 18, the day is narrow; 19, the sky is wide; 2, the ground shrinks.
(6) Festival culture
There are many traditional festivals of the Yi people in Tanhua, and there is a festival almost every month. In addition to the Yi Year and Torch Festival held by the Yi people, the most representative is the Flower Arrangement Festival held in Tanhua Mountain, Tanhua Township on the eighth day of the second lunar month. There are many legends about the origin of the Flower Arrangement Festival among the Yi people. Among them, there are two most representative ones, one of which is: It is said that there was a beautiful Yi girl named Mi Yilu in Tanhua Mountain in ancient times, and she fell in love with the young hunter Chao Lieruo. There was a cruel local official in Tanhua Mountain who attempted to occupy Miyilu. Miyilu designed to poison the local officials with the highly toxic white horse cherry blossom wine, and she also gave her young life. Chaolie Ruo was deeply saddened by the death of his lover, and shed tears and blood, which dyed red the cherry blossoms all over the mountains. In memory of this Yi girl who devoted herself to eliminating violence, on the eighth day of the second lunar month, the local Yi people collected the red cherry blossoms from Chaolie, put them on their heads, and put them on the doors to show their good luck and happiness. Another legend is that, according to legend, the "Flower Arrangement Festival" originated from the ancient flood era, when the flood flooded everything, leaving only two brothers and sisters. In order to reproduce, the old scarab married her. After the marriage, my sister gave birth to a mass of flesh and blood, and the old man, the beetle, split the flesh and blood with his sword, which contained fifty boys and fifty girls. The old man threw his flesh and blood on the branch. On the eighth day of February, the flesh and blood that fell on the branch turned into red cherry blossoms, so fifty boys and girls got married under the cherry blossom tree, and gradually multiplied human beings. In the future, 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 cherry blossom tree and have fun, and then they would take the cherry blossom home and put it on the ancestral tablet.
The annual "Flower Arrangement Festival" is held at 1: noon in Qianberlin, the site of Tanhua Temple next to the township government, and a simple and warm opening ceremony is held at the venue. On the rostrum, a cherry blossom tree full of flowers was planted temporarily, and Bimo presided over the memorial ceremony for the cherry blossom and selected the female cherry blossom of that year, followed by folk songs and dances, sports performances, and sacrifices to recite spells. The Yi people who participated in the Flower Arrangement Festival, regardless of gender, age and age, mostly wore national costumes.
(7) Marriage custom culture
Young men and women of Yi nationality have a strange and important place in love-Caolou. "Caolou" is also called "Girls' Room" in other townships in Dayao County. Because of poverty, what is built above the barn is called "grass house". "Girls' rooms" or "grass houses" are generally independent rooms, and the number of beds in each room can be placed at will. Girls can move extemporaneously or place furniture and appliances according to their own preferences. When Yi girls reach adulthood, they can live alone in the "girls' room" or "grass house", associate with "outsiders" and enjoy their own free love life. Since then, parents don't care what happens in the room. The more boys and girls come and go, the more capable and attractive the girl is. This interesting way of love has a romantic name "climbing the grass floor" or "string girls' room" Yi people have their own set of ethics and morality of "hooking up with girls" to restrain lovers, which is by no means "sexual indulgence" or "one-night stand" imagined by ignorant people. Yi people, like most ethnic groups, are proud of giving birth to children after openly marrying their families, and despise girls who are pregnant when they still live in "girls' houses". Therefore, both men and women know well that a single "girl's room" can't stay long. When young men and women think that the conditions are ripe, young men will choose a bright and fresh morning with love as the backing, summon up the courage to go back to the woman's house early with their lover. The most common way of expression is to quickly fill the water tank at home and then go out to work with their lover. After a few days, the two moved back to the woman's house and bid farewell to the "girl room" life. In a few days, I have to go back to the man's house to stay. In this way, we live together and take care of both families. Generally, we are pregnant with children before we decide where to live. In their home life, the Yi people in Tanhua Township don't get married in a noisy way, or even hold a wedding ceremony. They think that marriage and love are purely personal matters, but they are especially interested in having children. When the newborn is full moon, all distant relatives and neighbors should be invited to have a banquet to celebrate. This time is also the best standard for men and women to declare their families and careers.
(8), Meige
Meige is one of the five major creation epics of the Yi people, and the other four are Cham and the Prerequisite of Axi (spread in Yunnan); "Otteryi" (circulated in Sichuan); Song of the Ancestors in the World (circulated in Guizhou).
Meige is mainly spread among the Yi people in Dayao, Yao 'an and Yongren areas of Chuxiong, Yunnan. In particular, Tanhua area in Dayao county and Mayou area in yaoan have the widest spread and the greatest influence. The word "Meige" is a transliteration of Yi language. Yi language "Mei" means "mouth, singing and speaking"; "Ge" means "past, history". "Meg" means "rap about the past" Among the Yi people in Dayao and Yao 'an, a folk song tune used to sing about the past history is called "Meige tune", and "singing Meige" has become a rap form of the local Yi people, and it has gradually evolved into a national genre. As a tune name, "Meige" has many vocals. Mei Ge in Tanhua Township can be generally divided into two categories, namely, Chi Mei Ge and Fu Mei Ge. Chi Mei Ge is "sad tone", commonly known as "sad tone" or "ancient tone", which is mostly used for funerals and sacrifices. "Plum-assisted Ge" is a favorite tune, which is often used for wedding, sowing and harvest festivals. Tanhua Township is the main singing place of Mei Ge. The author used the market day in Tanhua Township to observe on the street, and found that VCDs with "Meige Tune" were sold in all places selling audio-visual products. The author stopped to watch for a long time and found that there were still many buyers, but most of them were middle-aged and elderly people in terms of age. The author also spent ten yuan to buy two discs and found that the tapes were recorded by local people themselves.
(9), religious culture
Tanhua Township