What are the customs of the Miao people?

The customs and habits of the Miao people include production customs, living customs, seasonal customs, marriage customs, birth customs, funeral customs, etc. The customs and habits of the Miao people are actually intangible cultural heritage carried by and dependent on material culture. Some are embodied as materialized culture, and some are embodied as non-materialized cultural phenomena.

1. Production customs

Agriculture is the most important production industry for the Miao people in the territory to provide material means of life, and it embodies the essence of the Miao rice farming civilization. Among the agricultural production customs of the Miao people, the "living road head" system, the "land sealing and groundbreaking" system, the "opening and closing of the seedling gate" system and the sacrificial system are the main agricultural production customs.

The "live road head" system is one of the farming civilizations created by the Miao people in the long history of development. It was widely implemented before the 1970s. "Huolutou" is the natural leader in the village who is responsible for commanding and arranging farm work production tasks. It is usually a male farmer who is proficient in farm work technology, understands the seasonal climate, and has rich experience. "Liulutou" is compulsory in nature, and there are two types: hereditary and public recommendation. With the development of society and the advancement of science and technology, the Miao "live road" system only leaves vague memories in the minds of middle-aged people.

The systems of "breaking soil" and "sealing soil" are also important farming systems of the Miao people. "Breaking Ground" is a ceremony hosted by "Huolutou" at the beginning of spring plowing. It is usually held in the natural village on the first "Mao" day or "Chen" day after the Spring Festival. After the "groundbreaking", playing the Lusheng was prohibited in the village, and the ban was only lifted after the "New Year". "Filling the soil" is a ceremony held after a year of farming and harvesting. It is usually held on the twelfth day after the "Miao Year". On this day, the "Huolutou" sacrificial ceremony came to the field where the "ground-breaking" ceremony was held and offered sacrifices in a specific ceremony to "seal the soil." After that, no one in the village could work in the fields anymore. Since the 1950s, this custom has basically disappeared. The Miao people's "land sealing" is generally limited to paddy fields. During the "land sealing" period, dry land can still be cultivated.

"Opening the rice-planting gate" and "closing the rice-planting gate" are the main folk customs of the Miao people's agricultural planting industry. "Opening the rice seedling gate" is an important ceremony for the Miao people when transplanting rice. It is usually held on the third "Mao" day, "Chen" day or "Wu" day after sowing. No one is allowed to plant rice in advance before "opening the rice-seeding gate". During the ceremony, every household collected leaves, wild flowers, etc. to dye the glutinous rice into "colorful glutinous rice" to celebrate. On the day of "opening the rice-planting gate", "Huolutou" came first to the field to offer sacrifices. He planted a piece of thatch and then a few rice seedlings at the head of the field to "open the rice-planting gate". "Closing the rice field gate" is a ceremony at the end of a season of rice transplanting. The date is usually chosen on the third "Mao" day or "Chen" day after the "opening of the rice field door". On that day, every household made rice dumplings, prepared wine and vegetables, planted the fields, inserted sticks tied with rice dumplings wrapped with rice dumpling leaves, peppers, white thorn roots, thorn bracts, and rice straw bags, and washed all kinds of plants. Utensils, home offerings and celebrations.

2. Seasonal customs

The Spring Festival is a traditional festival of the Chinese nation. Except for the Leigong Mountain and Moon Mountain areas, most of the Miao people in the territory worship the Kitchen God on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month and the Kitchen God on the 25th of the twelfth lunar month. On the 29th day of the lunar month, pigs are killed, glutinous rice cakes are made and Spring Festival couplets are pasted on New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve is observed, and wealth is opened on the first day of the Lunar New Year. On the early morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, families with boys send their boys to the front and back of the house to collect some firewood before anyone enters the house, which is called "opening the firewood (wealth) door". On the first day of the Lunar New Year, boys go to relatives' homes to pay New Year greetings to their elders, which is called "stepping on the New Year." The elders reward them with glutinous rice cakes, coins and other items. The Miao people in Lushan, Huangping, Shibing and other places in Kaili regard the thirteenth day of the first lunar month as the New Year and the fourteenth day of the first lunar month as the New Year. Customs such as New Year greetings are all carried out in the morning of the fourteenth day of the first lunar month. "Guaqing" is an important folk activity in spring. Sacrifices such as bacon, eggs, fish, glutinous rice, wine and incense paper are offered to ancestors' tombs to offer sacrifices and sweep the tombs. "April 8th" is one of the main summer festivals of the Miao people. The main customs include eating black glutinous rice and banning cattle farming. During the Dragon Boat Festival, there is a custom of eating rice dumplings, hanging mugwort leaves and hanging calamus. The Miao people in Kaili have the custom of mountain climbing, and the Miao people in Huangping Jiuzhou, Shibing, Taijiang, Jianhe, Jinping, Zhenyuan and other places have the custom of dragon boat racing. "June 6th" is the main custom day in summer. The Miao people have customs such as collecting herbs for medicine, drying medicine, and drying books. The Miao people in Danzhai Paidiao, Rongjiang Bakai, Congjiang Jiujiu and other places have a custom of collecting potions boiled with herbs for "medicinal bathing" on this day. The Miao people in Danzhai Kongqing, Leishan Datang and other places still have the custom of using herbs to make small medicine packets and hang them on children on June 6th to "ward off evil spirits".

Autumn festival customs are mainly concentrated on festivals such as July and Half, August Mid-Autumn Festival, and September Double Ninth Festival.

During the half of July, the Miao people in Kaili, Huangping, Shibing, Leishan, Danzhai, Majiang and other places have the custom of "burning buns". During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Miao people in Kaili, Huangping, Shibing, Zhenyuan, Jinping, Leishan, Danzhai, Majiang and other places have the custom of cooking moon rice, eating moon cakes, and boiling edamame. In the seventh month of the lunar calendar or at the turn of July and August, on the autumn night when the rice flowers are blooming, young men and women of the Miao ethnic group in Leishan, Danzhai, Taijiang, Jianhe, Kaili, Majiang and other places dance "Rice Flower God" and "Seven Sisters". "Custom. On a moonlit night when the rice flowers are blooming and the autumn breeze is cool, young men and women gather together, light a few sticks of incense and burn a few pieces of paper money. One or several young men and women cover their faces with towels and sit on stools, while several people use dustpans. The wind is fanned to make it fall into a comatose state, and one or several people sing duets with it, which is called dancing to the "rice flower god". It is said that after being fanned by the dustpan wind, the human soul can ascend to heaven and visit the place where the ancestors lived. People can pass through this person Use the mouth to consult about fortune, fortune, marriage, marriage and other major events.

What are the traditional musical instruments of the Miao people?

Wind instruments: Lusheng, mangtong, night flute, sister flute, flute, suona, etc.

String instruments: mostly accompaniment instruments, mainly including erhu, guqin, yueqin, etc.

Percussion instruments: bronze drums, wooden drums and leather drums.

The Lusheng is one of the ancient musical instruments particularly loved by ethnic minorities and is a must-have musical instrument in ethnic festivals. The Lusheng is a traditional reed instrument of the Miao ethnic group and is widely circulated in the Miao ethnic area. Lusheng is a symbol of Miao culture. The performance of Miao Lusheng integrates lyrics, music and dance, maintaining the originality and simplicity of Miao history, culture and art.

The Mang Tong is a single-reed air-sounding musical instrument of the Miao, Dong, Shui, Yao and other ethnic groups. It is also called the Di Tong, Mang Tong, and Lusheng Tong. In Miao language, it is called Guodong or Dongguomu, which means tube reed pipe. In Dong language, it is called Tongbu or Dong, which means big bamboo tube. Popular in Guizhou, Guangxi, Hunan and other provinces.

The night flute, called "Liao" in the Miao language, is named after it is often played at night. It is a unique single-reed air-sounding instrument of the Miao people. It is made of a knotless thin bamboo tube with a length of about 50 cm, an outer diameter of about 11 mm, and an inner diameter of about 7 mm. There are 4 sound holes at the lower end of the tube, and a mouthpiece at the upper end for vertical blowing. On the front of the mouthpiece, there is a rectangular gap for clamping the reed. The reed is mostly made of thin bamboo or reed sheets. There is a semi-arc notch on the back of the mouthpiece. When playing, the airflow enters the tube from the arc-shaped gap and vibrates the reed to produce sound. When making night flutes, the bamboos used are of different lengths and the diameters of the pipes are different, so they are also divided into high, medium and bass. However, because the flute pipe is so small, it can only be played gently, and it can blow out two octaves.