The traditional festival customs of the Oroqen people The traditional festival arts of the Oroqen people

The Oroqen people are one of the smallest ethnic groups in the northeastern region of my country. Because they are a hunting people, they show the characteristics of a hunting people in many aspects. So the traditions of the Oroqen people How are the festivals and customs different from ours? I found a lot of relevant information about the Oroqen people on the Internet. Let’s take a look together!

Traditional festival customs of the Oroqen people

There are not many traditional festivals of the Oroqen people, only the Spring Festival, the clan's Mokun Conference and the religious activity Ominaren, and the Bonfire Festival. The main festival is the Lunar New Year

In modern times, the social organizational structure of the Oroqen people has undergone fundamental changes, and religious beliefs have faded out of the thinking of the Oroqen people. The Mokun Conference and Ominaren have been replaced by the Bonfire Festival replaced. Influenced by other ethnic groups, the Oroqen people also celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, New Year and other festivals. For the Oroqen people, the Spring Festival is a festive day to celebrate hunting and harvest, to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Therefore, the Oroqen people attach great importance to the Spring Festival.

Every June 18th is the traditional festival of the Oroqen people - the Bonfire Festival. On this day, the Oroqen people will light bonfires, sing and dance, and celebrate their own national festivals

- Bonfire Festival

The Oroqen people have a long history of worshiping the God of Fire. They believed that fire had the effect of driving away evil spirits and removing dirt. Placing utensils and clothes on the fire to dry them was considered to make them clean. There is also the custom of sending the God of Fire to heaven on the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month. On the morning of the Spring Festival, sacrifices are made to the God of Fire and kowtow to the bonfire to pray for blessings. Whenever guests come to visit during the Spring Festival, they must first worship the God of Fire.

When they light a bonfire, the branches and sticks must be arranged evenly and are strictly prohibited from being placed randomly. When using firewood, be careful not to use firewood that may explode to avoid damaging the Vulcan's eyes. Whenever people move, they are not allowed to use water to extinguish fire. Fire must be carried from one place to another. In the primitive hunting era, fire was an important condition for the survival of hunters for the Oroqen people. Fire was used not only for cooking and keeping warm, but also as a defense against wild beasts. Therefore, the ancient Oroqen people greatly respected and believed in fire and the god of fire. They used a fungus that grew on birch poles as a tool to preserve fire. This fungus is shaped like a mushroom and becomes powdery inside after drying. It has a dense and hard fiber structure and is small in size, making it difficult for rainwater to penetrate. It is an ideal fire storage material. Whenever hunting or moving, the hunter would pick out a piece of red hot coal from the fire pit, put it in the fungus, tie it with a leather rope, insert it on a wooden stick and carry it around his back waist. When the hunters arrived at the new camp, they buried the fire in the fire pit in the immortal pillar (meaning wooden pole house in Oroqen language, called Zuoluozi in Chinese, which is the house where the Oroqen people lived during hunting) and held a simple fire ceremony. Only then can you add firewood for cooking.

The ancestors of Oroqen had an indissoluble bond with fire. They hunted in the deep mountains and old forests all year round. In their struggle with nature, they survived and multiplied from generation to generation because of fire. live. Therefore, we have a special affection for fire and are extremely close to bonfires.

The traditional festival customs and habits of the Oroqen people

1. Food

In the past, the diet of the Oroqen people was mainly animal meat, supplemented by fish and wild vegetables. Rice noodles were introduced. Oroqen people like to eat roe deer, deer, wild boar, bear meat, as well as small animals and birds. The main cooking methods include cooking meat, roasting meat, roasting meat, stewing meat soup, drying dried meat, mixed cauliflower, filling with serum, bone marrow oil, raw roe deer liver and kidneys, etc. Rice noodles mainly include noodles, oil noodles, baked noodles, roasted noodles, noodle soup, fried noodles, meat porridge, thick plum porridge, sticky rice, etc. The Oroqen language calls oily dough pieces tuhurie. Dip the rolled dough pieces into boiling water, take them out, mix them with cooked meat slices, salt, wild leek flowers and other seasonings, and pour in heated wild boar oil or bear oil. oil, mix well and serve. Thick plum porridge is a special way of eating for the Oroqen people. The thick plums are boiled in the porridge and then burst into pink color before eating. It is bright in color and delicious.

The Oroqen people like to drink schisandra soup and birch sap. Every spring in May and June, cut a small hole at the base of a birch tree, and the birch sap will gush out, clear and sweet, and delicious. Oroqen people also drink a kind of birch sap called Dierguse. They peel off the outer bark of the birch tree and gently scrape the milky white viscous sap on the trunk with a hunting knife. Its taste is sweet and refreshing.

2. Marriage customs

The traditional marriage of the Oroqen people is arranged by their parents, and they practice monogamous clan exogamy. They also practice indirect cross-cousin marriage, through proposal and recognition of relatives. , through the process of bride price and marriage, the bride price is mainly horses. Endogamy or sexual intercourse within the clan is strictly prohibited. Most marriages between men and women are done by the man asking a matchmaker to propose marriage. It usually takes three times to propose, and the third time is particularly critical. After the request is successful, the date for recognizing the bride and paying the bride price is agreed upon. On the day of acknowledgment, the man must stay at the woman's home for 20 days to a month. The woman should put the future groom into new clothes trimmed with black leather and a red cloth waistcoat (with cloud patterns embroidered on the back and shoulders). The future bride should comb her hair into two braids and wrap them around her head. This is for the engagement. logo. On the wedding day, the groom and his friends enter the bride's residence in the form of a horse race. After a series of ceremonies, the groom stays at the bride's house that night. The next day the bride was taken to the groom's residence. The groom's hat has a mink tail and four embroidered ribbons. The bride wears ornaments on her head. Both men and women wear hunting knives. The bride's head is covered with floral cloth when she worships heaven and earth. The current form of marriage is basically the same as that of the Han people.

3. Etiquette

The etiquette of the Oroqen people is centered on respecting the elderly. The main etiquette is to kneel down and kowtow. People of younger generations should greet their elders with greetings, and people of the same generation should greet each other with greetings when they meet. The kowtow ceremony is performed on solemn occasions such as praying to gods and worshiping ancestors, weddings, funerals, and festivals. Oroqen people respect the elderly and elders very much. The younger generation should be respectful in front of their elders, behave in an orderly manner, and behave appropriately. Before going on a long journey and after coming back, you should pay respects to your elders. When you meet an elder when going out or hunting, you should dismount your horse far away and walk up to greet you. You can only ride on horseback after the elder has passed by. Oroqen people are hospitable and treat people with sincerity, and hospitality must be done with sincerity. Guests will stay overnight. There are differences between men and women among the Oroqen people. Male guests cannot sit on the daughter-in-law's or girl's bunks, and female guests cannot sit on the men's bunks. Oroqen families have the etiquette of visiting each other.

The taboos of the Oroqen people mainly include production taboos, women's taboos, life taboos, natural taboos, animal taboos, etc. For example, you cannot tell how many prey you can catch before hunting, otherwise you will not catch anything; women are not allowed to sit on the road; women are not allowed to spread bear skins; you cannot call a bear a bear, but weighing it too close; you cannot use a knife or iron tool to make a fire. , otherwise it will offend the god of fire; young people cannot call their elders by their names, etc.

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Traditional festival arts of the Oroqen people

1 , Music

The music of the Oroqen people is mainly based on the tunes of Zandawen folk songs, which are high-pitched and clear, accompanied by extended tones and vibrato, and are beautiful and beautiful. Zandawin's lyrics are improvised, with simple language and strong emotions. The only musical instrument is the harmonica called pennuha or kamuskan. Although the volume is weak, it can play various tunes.

The musical instruments include pennuhua (a kind of harmonica made of iron) and Wentuwen (tambourine). Deer whistles and roe deer whistles were both production tools and early musical instruments. When the Oroqen people sing and dance, they are often accompanied by these musical instruments.

2. Dance

The dances of the Oroqen people are divided into three categories: ritual dance, entertainment dance, and religious dance. The most common feature is that they sing and dance at the same time. The movements start from slow to fast, and end at the climax. Representative dances include Yihenanen, Yihanen, black bear fighting dance, etc. Yihe Nenen is a clan dance performed every three years at the clan meeting. There are more than a dozen people in a group, with one person in the center and the rest holding hands and dancing in a circle. In the past, this dance was performed when a clan gathered together to pass down family trees and genealogy. The black bear fighting dance performed by three people in the Oroqen Autonomous Banner imitates the content of black bears fighting and playing, and is very characteristic of the traditional culture of the Oroqen people. During the performance, they yelled "Hammer, Hammer" at each other. First, two people performed a fight, and finally a third person came up to persuade them.

3. Arts and crafts

Oroqen women are good at embroidery. Everything from their heads to their feet are embroidered with patterns of flowers, birds, fish, insects and small animals. , showing their rich imagination and superb artistic creativity. Oroqen people, especially women, are also good at making various daily necessities and handicrafts from birch bark. These items are not only light and durable, but also the carved patterns are realistic and beautiful.

Skin-cutting is a very unique art form created by Oroqen women. It uses birch bark and animal skin to cut figures, animals and other images as children's toys; in order to make the edges and corners of leather robes, hats, pockets and gloves beautiful and durable, some patterns are also cut and made of roe deer tendons. , deer tendon thread is sewn on it and becomes an artistic decoration. Mythological stories, human figures, animal figures, decorative patterns, etc. are the themes of skin-cutting art. The art of skin-cutting reflects the Oroqen people's aesthetic values ??and pursuit of beauty formed in their hunting life.

Carving is part of the manual processing of the Oroqen people, and is also used for religious items. It is divided into two types: relief and round carving. Reliefs are mainly carved on birch bark vessels, but also include carvings on scabbards, saddles, deer whistles, and wooden boxes. Round carvings are three-dimensional carvings made of wood, pine bark, animal bones, etc. with hunting knives. They are very delicate. The carving patterns mainly include cloud patterns, fret patterns, geometric patterns, wavy patterns, ring patterns, cross patterns, group flowers, etc. The main patterns include Kuiye Keyin flower, Zhuledu flower, Nanchuoluo flower, etc.