What are the customs and habits of Mongolians?
The survival of nomadic people depends on raw storage, while the reproductive survival of raw storage depends on grassland. Nomadic people who live on aquatic plants do not graze on the vast grassland at will, but must be influenced by environmental conditions and obey the laws of nature. The growth of grassland has obvious periodicity, so there are many forms of nomadism. Now it is mainly moved twice a year, winter camp and summer camp. Generally speaking, the rules, time allocation, route delineation and scope of homeless camps in each season are relatively fixed. But it also depends on whether aquatic plants are abundant. Another way is to go to the "otter", which means going nomadic. Taking "Autel" means choosing other pastures for nomadism except the destination. Its purpose is to better grasp the fat. In the new year, in order to have good weather and grassland, herders will be respected and loved by them. The most lively "chagan sari" in a year has the custom of "five animals pay New Year greetings", which is a remarkable feature of nomadic culture. Nomadic culture nourishes nomadic people's feelings for nature. The feelings of aquatic plants mean that people who love nature live in harmony with nature. Such as tea, beef and mutton, wine, rice, dairy products and so on. They are all prepared for the annual "Five Stories Spring Festival". On New Year's Eve, be sure to pack up your own calf pen and sheepfold. (Generally, there is no fixed place to sweep graves. On New Year's Eve, every household counts the number of their livestock, and there is no shortage of livestock. If you lose something, you must find it back. Of course, other people's livestock are not allowed to spend the night at home. Drink all the livestock, feed them as much as possible, order some pines and cypresses around the warehouse, and some herders also order zola (burning oil to keep the fire alive). On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, when offering sacrifices to heaven, herders will light Zola named after "Five Pastures" (the fire of life). They are Zola of sheep, Zola of cattle, Zola of horse and Zola of camel. On the first morning, you can't yell at the livestock, let alone beat the horses and beat the livestock. Herdsmen wear festive costumes, and put fresh milk and cream on the heads of cows, horses, sheep and camels, which are called the mounts of God, and hold a "Milla ceremony" to wish people prosperity and happiness. The herdsmen slowly drove their livestock to the playground, where five animals were eating grass. At night, when farmers go home, they will win back their livestock. The host and elders are holding dairy products in their hands and chanting greetings.
For nomadic people living on the vast grassland, the ecological environment endows them with animal husbandry as their main means of livelihood, so that they can put all their efforts, emotions, technologies and expectations into it, so as to obtain emotional satisfaction, spiritual enjoyment and economic gains. On the surface, the Mongols crossed Baiyue, which is the degree of * * * between people and livestock. In fact, they have reached a high level in spirit. People and livestock are both animal categories. Of course, people are advanced animals and cannot be equated with livestock. But they also have something in common, that is, they all want to live and eat, but the way of living and eating is different. People have thoughts and ideas, which is the difference between people and animals. Therefore, people's civilization in protecting the ecological environment is not only implemented in action, but also manifested in the sustenance of consciousness and spirit. Nomads are forbidden to raise glasses and sing, pick up bowls to eat, and even eat fruits. When they taste snacks, they should first respect the sky, the land and their ancestors, otherwise they will be considered as "bald-tailed donkeys, toothless pigs and animals." As we all know, when the Mongolians raise their glasses, they should first order the wine in the small glass three times with their ring fingers to show their respect for heaven, earth and ancestors. Similarly, nomadic people must respect the sky, land and ancestors before drinking tea and having three meals a day. They use this action to convey their ideas. Human civilization tells us that nomadic children love nature from the day they are born. They think that the land where I was born is like gold, and the water that raised me is like divine water. The children watched their elders grow up with practical actions to protect the environment. Therefore, they have a sense of gratitude to the heavens, the earth and their ancestors. I have unconsciously contributed to natural environmental protection all my life. Year after year, day after day, they planted the seeds of environmental awareness in people's hearts through psychological elaborate expression, and then infiltrated into practical actions from the image. This is also the concrete feeling of Mongolian nomadic culture, psychological quality and aesthetic concept cultivated by Mongolian plateau and natural ecological environment. It is bound to make them worship heaven and earth and their ancestors, and it is also a spiritual symbol of the national spirit, psychology and aesthetic value orientation of Mongolian nomads.
Second, from the perspective of "Five Livestock Happy New Year", the material basis of nomadic people is scattered. Its basic economic form is nomadic people scattered all the year round, and most or most of them go with the flow with their families. Nomadic economy needs regular migration and combination. Mongolian nomads are sparsely populated and closed for a long time. Interpersonal communication is not very close. Strengthen social collective consciousness by gathering and communicating information. Strengthened national cohesion. Therefore, the folk festival customs of Mongolian nomads are the traditional reflection of social group consciousness. It also has the function of maintaining, regulating and strengthening social ties. "All life on the grassland, including people, storage and grass, thrives and survives in interdependence. Grassland breeds life, and herders call for the reproduction of life. " Therefore, animal husbandry is the source of material culture for the growth, reproduction and inheritance of Mongolian herders.
The etiquette and custom of "New Year greetings for five animals" is a specific behavior pattern and moral norm of nomadic culture. Although there is no written legal provision, it is something that everyone should follow. Praise the herdsmen through the folk festival custom of "five stories for the New Year" and thank them for their hard work over the past year. There is a custom of "five stories to celebrate the New Year" in Hexigten Banner and Chahar area of Inner Mongolia. "Five Stories for the New Year" is an auspicious day in the first month of the lunar calendar. "Five Stories for the New Year" is not just a matter for one or two farmers, but several or even a dozen herders unite to hold a celebration. The elders among the herdsmen took the lead in discussing the location of the "Five Stories of the New Year". For nomadic people, if they come into contact with the lush local aquatic plants, they can hoard more, and the place where they live, their economic life and material foundation simply depend on the lush natural environment. The "Five Stories of Chinese New Year" is generally held on the grass where aquatic plants grow. The social boundaries of nomadic people are constantly changing. Some people may be completely independent and scattered in a certain period, but in a certain festival, a place must unite with others to form a powerful group, thus avoiding various conflict factors, increasing entertainment projects and establishing a wide range of contacts.
The custom of "five animals pay New Year greetings" proves this point. Herdsmen brought tea, meat, wine, rice and dairy products prepared before the festival, and led horses to drive Lele carts with temporary tents. Before sunrise, everyone will gather at the designated place. First set the iron pot, and then everyone put the tea they brought into the freshly melted ice water to cook milk tea. When the tea party was about to open, the cattle herders and camel herders came to the herdsmen in turn, and all the herdsmen who participated in the celebration also gathered in the assembly area. Outside the makeshift tent, the elders lit pine and cypress branches, held milk tea and dairy product "Deji" in their hands, and read the words of blessing: "1000 sheep, 10000 horses, 10000 Qian Qian, 10000 Qian Qian, fat and strong". Then everyone respects heaven and earth, east and west, south and north, and so on. After the ceremony, shepherds, shepherds, cattle herders and camel herders came in droves. Let's meet and say "Happy New Year to the livestock"? What about the cattle? The herder replied: "Good! All right! Happy new year! "After greeting each other, everyone will sit side by side on the cowhide mat according to their age. After drinking tea in the wild, Deji picked up the cooked meat, worshiped heaven, Buddha and ancestors, and performed the ceremony of Sakhalin Island. He prayed that in the new year, the weather will be good, the sun will be shining, flowers will bloom, the grass will be green and the livestock will flourish. Everyone made jiaozi, steamed buns, mutton soup and millet porridge.
After eating and drinking, the elders took the lead to mount the horse with harness, followed by teenagers, each with a lucky sword, a lucky bag, Hada, dairy products and so on. The teenagers shouted along with their elders: "Get it! Grab it! 8 Fuxing ingenious ways! Grab it! Grab it! Five kinds of animals thrive! Grab it! Go get it! " Everyone sang in unison, rode clockwise around the five beasts, returned to their original places, and drove the head horse and sheep and the animal named Shenshan home. The custom of "New Year greetings for five animals" also has entertainment function. After the blessing ceremony, the "Three Skills for Men" competition began. They wrestle, shoot arrows and race horses in the snow, and the winner wins prizes. At the same time, men and women, old and young, enjoy themselves, sing and indulge in wine, relax fatigue, get rid of troubles, and make people happy. The herdsmen are ready to go home at sunset. Bring Wu Xu back from the grassland where the celebration was held and light the pine and cypress. Some elders raised their swords and bags and kept chanting greetings. Turn around the fifth store three times clockwise before going home. Herdsmen attach great importance to this custom of "five stories to celebrate the New Year", so everyone who takes part in the celebration should wear holiday clothes, and everyone should smile and bless each other. People attending the celebration should not go against Europe. No taboos. The New Year's Day is the most respected day for herders. Please invite them to sit at the main table. Deji invited all the tea and rice to the herdsmen to taste, and at the same time gave them some "good luck" wishes.
When we went home, everyone took home the "Five Livestock for the New Year" and the rest of the offerings. When the herdsmen attending the celebration want to go home, the family goes out to welcome "Five Livestock for the New Year?" The newcomer replied, "Happy New Year!" "This year's health reserve will be prosperous and strong, and future generations will definitely be stronger." From this question and answer, we can know that life and storage are a kind of wealth for nomadic people. Money is also a special means of production for herders. Livestock is different from land, because land does not have the performance of expanding reproduction, while storage has this performance. Expanding reproduction mainly depends on the reproduction of productive livestock. Livestock is a recycled product, not a final product. As a means of production, nomadic people have a strong demand for the number of livestock. They need vast territory, and raising livestock has become the only pursuit of nomadic people. Mongolians call the Spring Festival "Chagansa Day".
Third, the conclusion
Mongolian nomads find their own position through their own culture and choose their own behavior patterns on this basis. Nomadic people's worship of nature has effectively suppressed the wanton destruction of the ecological environment by human beings and integrated man and nature.
Nomads do not use scientific figures to describe, understand and study nature. They only think that everything is animistic since ancient times, that is, from the process of the emergence, development and change of nomadic culture, they have given full respect to everything in nature. The custom of "New Year greetings from five animals" is the concentrated expression of this respect. It is not only a respect for livestock, but also a worship of nature, which integrates man and nature and emphasizes the special existence of human beings in nature. Therefore, when we study folklore and trace the intangible culture of national tradition, we should comprehensively and deeply grasp the cultural characteristics of our nation. In particular, nomadic society has always had a set of relatively complete and very specific, systematic and scientific customary laws, which have effectively played a practical role in modern society.
Precautions:
①: "Chagan Sari" means "Spring Festival" in Mongolian.
②: "Zola", that is, a buttered burning Buddha lamp, is also called "ever-burning lamp".
③: "Zola Sheep", goats and sheep among the five animals belong to the same sheep, so a lamp is used to worship them.
④: "Milla ceremony", that is, smearing etiquette, is a ceremony held by nomadic people to express their gratitude to livestock and hope to get God's blessing and protection.
⑤: "greetings", which are sung with rhythm, mainly express good wishes.
⑥: "Deji" refers to the first part of Mongolian food.
⑦: "Sakhalin Island", offering wine, fresh milk and other items to heaven, earth, mountains and rivers, gods and animals.
⑧: "Get" means blessing, and rap with rhythm.