Looking for plateau tribesmen
In the beautiful southern border of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, under the green shade of the mysterious primeval forest, there lives a branch of the Yi people who call themselves the Luo people. Although they have television transmission lines to communicate with the outside world, they still have no contact with the outside world. Foreign marriage. This is still a pure land where no items are picked up on the road or locked at night. Kindness, hard work, and intelligence are reflected in every Luo villager. Even women from the Luo Village who don't know a word can weave floral dresses into dresses with bright and harmonious colors and vivid and beautiful patterns without the need for drawings. Through the colorful patterns on the skirts, without asking, the people in Luo Village know who is the girl who has never been in love, who is the new wife, who has given birth to a child, and who is the "old man" (grandmother). There are many interesting customs. Children in Ruozhai have the custom of shaving their hair before they are ten years old. The boy shaved his head, leaving only a tuft of hair on the back of his head to show that he was underage. When girls shave their heads, they shave off all their hair, leaving only a handful of hair about two inches long on their foreheads to show their femininity. This strange initiation ceremony makes people feel the mystery and age of the ancient village. What is even more strange is the unique way of life and production of the plateau people, and the fact that not a single ugly man or woman was seen in the whole village.
I am the first non-local writer to go to Luo Village twice to experience life and conduct interviews. The first time I interviewed Luo Ren was completely by chance.
On October 21, 1999, after the International Dongba Culture Academic Seminar in Lijiang, Yunnan, the participants and I came down from the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and prepared to transfer from Lijiang to Kunming. The bus arrived in Kunming. In order to complete the data collection and photography of "Chinese Miao Folk Customs and Rice Culture" that I have painstakingly researched for many years, I planned to visit Qiubei County in Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, and boarded the overnight long-distance bus to Wenshan Prefecture that night. When talking to tourists about the Miao people in Wenshan Prefecture, they all told me that Malipo County is the only county in Wenshan Prefecture where people wear ethnic costumes in both urban and rural areas. So, I immediately revised my plan and drove more than 450 kilometers on the mountain road to Wenshan Prefecture, and then drove more than 80 kilometers non-stop to Malipo County. When the relevant county departments understood the intention of my visit, they enthusiastically told me that the most distinctive Miao people are in Xinzhai Township, which is more than 120 miles away from the county seat. There is also a branch of the Yi people called the Luoluo people. Although the road was quite far, and I had traveled more than a thousand kilometers in three consecutive days, I immediately decided to go to Xinzhai Township to investigate and collect customs. The results of the interview excited me for several months. Half a year later, I took advantage of the opportunity to attend the international academic conference on "Sino-Japanese Folk Customs and Rice Culture" in Kunming and once again rushed to the Luo Village thousands of miles away to collect folk customs.
The Luo Village appears and disappears under the lush green trees. There is an ancient forest in front of the village and behind it. Not even three or two people can hug each ancient tree. It’s true: towering ancient trees cover the farmhouse, making it even greener when the sun is light and the moon is dark. Women and children wearing simple and original national costumes are playing in small groups in front of the house. This harmony between man and nature unfolds before our eyes like a fairy tale.
The Yunnan Luo people are a branch of the Yi ethnic group. Their ethnic customs and language are different from other branches of the ethnic group, and they still inherit many primitive living customs and rice farming culture. Luo people are their own name to the outside world, and they are distributed in Malipo, Guangnan, Xichou and other counties in southeastern Yunnan. There are Bailuo and Hualuo in Malipo County (recently, some scholars believe that Hualuo is Zhanheiluo). Bailuo live in Xinzhai Township, Xinzhai Village and Chengzhai Village, with 306 households and 1,682 people; Hualuo live in Mabeng, Yongli and Zheda Villages in Dongqian Town, with 85 households and 410 people. The people of the Luo village do not intermarry with outsiders. They only marry between Luo people within the village. One of the few ethnic minorities in my country whose language and living habits are original, complete and unique.
As for the historical origins of the Luo people, in the 11th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1885), the engraving of "Hunan Tongzhi" Volume 81 "Wubei Zhi Miao Fangyi" recorded that "Miao had Luo, Yao, Tong, There are three types of Ghou, Lao, Ling and Liao: those who live in Guangxi are called children, those who live in Yunnan are called Luo; those who live in Huguang, Lingling and Baoqing are called Yao." ("Hunan Local Chronicles of Minorities", page 5, Yuelu Publishing House, September 1991 edition), in the excerpt "Borderlands and Development of Sichuan" in the "Historical Materials Collection of Minorities in Southeast Sichuan", it also contains "4. Population and Race: In Han nationality, there are native and foreign In Tibetan terms, there are Tanggu Te, Xifan, Di, Qiang, Luo Yi Fang, and Miao; and among the Luo Yi, there are black and white Yi." (Sichuan Ethnic Publishing House, 1995 edition) . On the outskirts of Malipo County, Lu Shixiang, director of the County Cultural Center, took us to see a Neolithic site called "Dawang Rock Cliff Painting". I once stood in front of the cliff painting and admired the wisdom of the ancestors of Malipo in ancient times. Marvel at the cliff paintings showing people, cows and other animals. Now that I think about it, can’t we say that the history of the Luoluo people has nothing to do with the Dawang Cliff Paintings? In November 1999, when I visited the Nanning Museum, I discovered that the museum contained the ancient Luo script "The Original Text of Luo Jing" recorded in hieroglyphics. Can an ethnic group with its own hieroglyphics say it has a recent history?
The most unique thing in the world: a house split with an ax
In Luo Village, they are all built in a stilt-style two-story wooden building style, with the first floor and the bottom, and the second floor When building a building, the ground floor is not fully enclosed, and the floor ladder is installed on the front of the house. On both sides of the ladder are simple wooden strips or flower railing corridors. The building is divided into several rooms with board walls. The family eats and sleeps upstairs, while livestock and sundries are stored downstairs. Bailuo usually does not set up a bed, but lays down on cowhide and straw mats on both sides of the fire pit. They make their beds in the evening and put them away early. Nowadays, some young people use wooden squares to build a bed frame about two feet above the floor of the building to make a bed.
The strange thing about Luo people's housing architecture is that, except for the "windows" that we think are just ventilation holes and no windows, there are 56 or 66 pillars that look simple but are actually art and are exquisite. What's amazing is that in Luo Village, no matter how large the building area is, the men in Bailuo don't use woodworking tools such as saws, chisels, adzes, and pushers. With all the building materials for a house, you can also make a beautifully crafted flower corridor. The unique appearance of each residential building is that there is an extra cornice on the east and west sides.
Ancient tribes have ancient legends. During the interview, we learned that this is because it is said that the ancestors of the Xiu people were not mortals, but fairy birds that flew from the Tianshan Mountains. In order to commemorate their ancestors, later generations built an extra cornice on the east and west sides of the house when building the house, which symbolized the wings of the ancestor's sacred bird.
Luo people living in the same place have different architectural styles of their houses. The Luo people who live in remote and isolated places still live in primitive "pillar-less herringbone huts" in some places, such as the Luo branch of the Yi ethnic group in Munaki Village, Zhetai Township, Guangnan County. Most of these houses have half-walls that are not rounded, with thatched roofs, and are low and humid.
Primitive National Sacrifice and Buckwheat Festival
The primitive relics shown in the lives of the Luozhai people also lie in their unique national and religious sacrificial rituals.
The people of Luo Village worship the sun, believe in the worship of multiple gods, and believe in animism. They believe that disasters are caused by gods and ghosts, and they need to ask wizards to drive away ghosts and gods. Therefore, each household has a sacred house and the village has an ancestral hall. During festivals and festivals, people have to fast and worship their ancestors.
Although the sacred room in Luo Village is very simple, just a simple tent frame, it is very grand and grand during sacrifices, especially during festivals and customs. The sacrificial ceremony was presided over by the village elder. In Luo language, it is said: Gai. The village elder is not a specific person, but an old man over 60 years old, who is male. (In the interview, I learned that the average age of men in Luozhai is about 65 years old, and the average age of women is about 70 years old. The oldest person I saw in Xinzhai is a 91-year-old old lady) Watch Feng Shui in the village and send Bodhisattvas , the sacrificial rituals are all presided over by the village elders.
The second time I interviewed Luo Village, I went to the village with Dr. Yuan Li from the Institute of Ethnic Minority Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Xinzhai Township Armed Forces Minister Chen Guangming is also a Ribo cadre trained by the party and government.
When he and the village director Lu Xiangguang accompanied us into the village, they pointed to the small piles of stones under the towering old beech trees in front of the village and said to us: "We most worship the sacred tree, also called the dragon tree. The few stones under the tree are how we worship Nagarjuna and our ancestors. "I have been studying the folk customs and rice farming culture of the rice people for many years, and I have done some research on the tree circle worship of various ethnic groups in the south. Knowing the sacrificial etiquette is an important point in the folk rituals of an ethnic minority. However, the sacrifices of many ethnic groups are similar. Usually during festivals, sacrificial food is brought to the tree and incense is burned to worship. However, like the Luo people, they only pile stones under the tree to worship during sacrifices, and they also worship their ancestors under the tree. They believe that the souls of their ancestors are attached to the sacred tree and worship the sacred tree on the top. The way of sacrifice is that each family It was the first time I saw a few stones piled under the ancient tree I chose.
The Luo people’s sacrifices are very solemn. In the God's room, first bake two large cakes in a large pot, put them through a fire sieve, and place them in front of the sacrificial table. Then put a large bowl of rice and a bowl of meat and vegetables, and pour three large glasses of wine. Put away three pairs of chopsticks and prepare for the sacrifice. Outdoors, a few middle-aged men blew cows and conches. After the sacrifices in the shrine, the men beat gongs and drums and came to the woods. The women had already used long wooden boards as tables on the ground and filled bowls with rice and vegetables. Put the wine on and wait for the men to drink. At the same time, a woman put on a mask of ghosts and gods to participate in the sacrifice. At this time, the sacrificial activities have turned to entertainment activities. Sacrifice is the climax of the festival.
The most popular festival among the Luoluo people is the "Buckwheat Festival". The Buckwheat Festival is also called "Celebrating the Buckwheat Year" locally. That is, the Buckwheat Festival is held on the first Dragon Day of April in the lunar calendar every year. The Buckwheat Festival of the Luo people is regarded as the Chinese New Year. It is a grand national festival to worship ancestors and entertain gods and people.
Sacrificing ancestors is called "Meitang" in Luo language, which means sacrificing ancestors. Worshiping ancestors and celebrating the Buckwheat Festival originate from an ancient folk story. Legend has it that a fire broke out in the village where the ancestors of the Luo people lived. The entire village was burned to ashes, and no houses, furniture, farm tools or food were spared. The grief-stricken people were helpless. One person found a bowl flopping on the abandoned foundation. When he opened it, he found that the bowl was covered with some buckwheat seeds. People were surprised to sow buckwheat seeds in the ground. After the buckwheat sprouted, it was exposed to the wind and matured in April and May when there was no harvest, allowing the people of Luo Village to survive the famine. Therefore, in order to thank buckwheat, people designated the first Dragon Day in April as the Buckwheat Festival. This festival custom has been passed down in this way. On this day every day, future generations would organize people to go to the vegetable field to call the buckwheat soul home and send it upstairs to invite the buckwheat soul to enjoy the joy of the festival with their ancestors.
On the Buckwheat Festival, the women and children of Luo Village, who are usually well-behaved, can enjoy the joy of the festival together with the men. The men, women, and children in Luo Village will put on their own hand-sewn, beautiful and colorful national costumes, go out of their houses, and celebrate the Buckwheat New Year in the ancient woods. The men waved their strong hands and beat the huge bronze drum; the girls danced gracefully with their hands and waists to the cheerful drumbeats; the children chirped like swallows and jumped in the crowd; the old people Busy chatting about daily life, busy making sacrifices. The joy of the festival lasts all night, day and night. What is obviously different from other places is that during the festival, the people of Luozhai enjoy the joy of heaven and earth, and people, gods and ghosts rejoice together. The masks worn by these ghosts not only have weird facial shapes and colors like African zebras, but they are also mostly dressed as women. The whole story is worth studying. Judging from this primitive national sacrificial ritual in which humans and gods enjoy themselves together, the Luozhai people are a very ancient tribe.
Women in Luo Village: Innate Aesthetics
Being in Luo Village twice, I always have a strong impression of the beauty and harmony of the women and children in Luo Village. Handwoven fabric dress in harmonious colors. When we entered the Luo Village, we neither celebrated the New Year nor encountered any festivals. However, the women and children we met in the Luo Village were wearing ethnic-style clothes with embroidered edges on their upper bodies, and the same color on their lower bodies. Beautiful dress. Moreover, no matter who I see, there is a very comfortable and beautiful feeling. After careful observation, I found that the colors of the lace on their dresses were so harmoniously matched and had a strong sense of aesthetics.
For example, the marriage customs, clothing, diet, production, festival customs, etc. of the Luo Village people are very mysterious and novel, and are of great research and development value. Over the past half century, the state has made great efforts to install electricity in Luo Village, the grain harvest has been guaranteed despite droughts and floods, and every household has a TV. Although the world outside on TV is exciting, the Luo branch of the Yi ethnic group still inherits too many primitive local customs. The most direct manifestation is that they still do not intermarry with other branches of the Yi ethnic group, including the Yi ethnic group and other branches of the Yi ethnic group. . Only marriages between Luo people and Luo people. Even the Luo people who have now left the village, have jobs, and become state cadres can only and consciously intermarry with members of their own clan. Whether this folklore phenomenon has any impact on the economic development of the nation is of great research value.
In today's cultural connotation of developing regional economy, I think if the ancient and excellent folk culture of the Luo people, a branch of the Yi ethnic group, are sorted out and processed, wouldn't the many strange customs and natural scenery of the Luo village be exactly the same? Is it another way to make money through national economic development?
In 1995, among the young people in Xinzhai and Chengzhai, less than ten Luoluo people left the Luozhai to work. In 1999, the last year of the twentieth century, 70 to 80 people from the Luo village finally left the village and went to work in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other places. What they bring back is not only wages, but also the colorful world outside.