Miao people, with a population of 7.4 million, are mainly distributed in Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Hubei, Hainan, Guangxi and other provinces (regions).
Miaoling Mountain and Wuling Mountain, where Miao people live together, have mild climate, and are surrounded by mountains and waters, with large and small dams scattered all over the place. Mainly produces rice, corn, millet, wheat, cotton, flue-cured tobacco, rape, tung oil and so on. In addition, there are abundant timber resources and mineral resources.
The ancestors of Miao people can be traced back to the Chiyou tribe, which was active in the Central Plains in primitive society. During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Miao ancestors began to establish "Three Miao Countries" in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and engaged in agricultural rice cultivation. Miao people have migrated many times in history, and the general route is from the Yellow River valley to Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan.
Miao nationality has its own language, belonging to the Miao branch of Miao Yao language family of Sino-Tibetan language family. Originally, there were no national characters, but Latin pinyin characters were created in the late 1950s. Nowadays, most people use Chinese.
Miao people have a long history of music and dance, and Lusheng dance, which is deeply loved by the masses, is highly skilled. Miao people's arts and crafts, such as flower picking, embroidery, brocade, batik and jewelry making, are colorful and enjoy a high reputation in the world. Miao people have many festivals, such as Miao Year, April 8th, Dragon Boat Festival.
[Introduction to Nationality]
Miao nationality, with a population of 7398035, is mainly distributed in Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Hubei, Hainan, Guangxi and other provinces (regions). Miaoling Mountain and Wuling Mountain, where Miao people live together, have mild climate, and are surrounded by mountains and waters, with large and small dams scattered all over the place. Mainly produces rice, corn, millet, wheat, cotton, flue-cured tobacco, rape, tung oil and so on. In addition, there are abundant timber resources and mineral resources. The ancestors of Miao people can be traced back to the Chiyou tribe, which was active in the Central Plains in primitive society. During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Miao ancestors began to establish "Three Miao Countries" in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and engaged in agricultural rice cultivation. Miao people have migrated many times in history, and the general route is from the Yellow River valley to Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan. Miao nationality has its own language, belonging to the Miao branch of Miao Yao language family of Sino-Tibetan language family. Originally, there were no national characters, but Latin pinyin characters were created in the late 1950s. Nowadays, most people use Chinese. Miao people have a long history of music and dance, and Lusheng dance, which is deeply loved by the masses, is highly skilled. Miao people's arts and crafts, such as flower picking, embroidery, brocade, batik and jewelry making, are colorful and enjoy a high reputation in the world. Miao people have many festivals, such as Miao Year, April 8th, Dragon Boat Festival.
[Religious custom]
Miao people used to believe in animism, worship nature and worship their ancestors. Drum Music Festival is the biggest ritual activity of Miao nationality. Generally, a small sacrifice lasts for seven years and a big sacrifice lasts for thirteen years. It is held on the second day of October to November in the lunar calendar. At that time, a roe deer will be killed and a Lusheng dance will be performed to commemorate the ancestors. Invite friends and relatives to get together during meals to enhance feelings and family harmony.
The main beliefs of Miao nationality are primitive religious forms such as nature worship, totem worship and ancestor worship. Traditional Miao society is superstitious about ghosts and gods, and witchcraft prevails. Some Miao people also believe in Christianity and Catholicism. Few Miao people believe in Buddhism and Taoism.
Traditionally, Miao people often regard some giant or strange natural objects as spiritual manifestations, so they worship them and offer sacrifices to them. Among them, the typical objects of nature worship are boulders (strange rocks), caves, trees and mountains. In addition, Miao people think that some natural phenomena or objects are gods or ghosts, and Miao language often does not distinguish between ghosts and gods, or uses both words. In most cases, ghosts are regarded as abandoned or wronged souls and tools, which often bring disasters, diseases, plagues or other misfortunes to mankind. For example, the so-called oriental ghosts, western ghosts, sow ghosts, cannibals and tiger ghosts are called evil ghosts. Natural phenomena with spirituality are often regarded as good ghosts and have certain divinity, such as mountain gods, valley gods, cotton gods, wind gods, Raytheon, rain gods, sun gods and moon gods. Miao people worship good ghosts and evil ghosts in different ways. Good ghosts are greeted by courtesy and sacrificed sincerely. Evil spirits must be bribed and cajoled until they are driven away.
In many areas, Miao people also believe that there are many monsters in nature. For example, cows put shit on their bodies or spin around in the stables, trample the shit in circles, pigs eat piglets or lie in the trough, ducks eat duck eggs, tigers enter the arena, meet two snakes, and hens crow cocks.
In some Miao areas, artificial objects worship land bodhisattvas, land milk, family gods, sacrificial bridges, wells and so on. The Miao language of the Land Goddess and Bodhisattva is called Land Ghost, which is generally composed of several stones. Land houses are mostly made of wood or three stone slabs, which are extremely simple and located at the intersection next to the village or the pedestrian rest place on the roadside. The belief in family gods exists in some Miao people in Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan dialects, that is, setting up "family gods" idols at home. Sacrificial bridge is popular in most areas of southeastern Guizhou. Dragon is also the object of worship and sacrifice by Miao people everywhere.
Totem worship. Many Miao and Yao people in the east worship Pan Hu (a kind of god dog). They have been told the story of "Goddess, Mother, Dog Dad" for generations, and regarded Pan Hu as their ancestor. Some Miao people in the central region think that their ancestor Jiang Yang originated from the heart of maple, so they regard maple as a totem. In other areas, the Miao people worship buffalo and bamboo as totem objects.
Generally speaking, ancestor worship plays a very important role in Miao society. They believe that although their ancestors died, their souls will always be with their children and grandchildren, and they will be worshipped with wine and meat on festivals, even in their daily diet. In many areas, ancestor worship ceremonies are held regularly or irregularly. There are "beating pig sticks" and "beating cattle to worship ancestors" in western Hunan, "eating shit" in southeastern Guizhou, "knocking Balang" in central Guizhou, and the custom of beating old cattle in northwestern Guizhou and northeastern Yunnan. Among them, the phenomenon of eating dirty meat is still prevalent in Qiandongnan Prefecture, which is the most typical. Eating dirty is also called drum festival, drum club festival and drum storage festival, which is held every seven or thirteen years with the clan (drum club) as the unit. They believe that the ancestors' souls live in wooden drums, and the sacrificial drum is to tap the wooden drum to summon the ancestors' souls to enjoy the sacrifices of future generations. Priests are called dirty heads, and the sacrificed dirty cows are specially raised for this purpose. Each sacrificial activity lasts for three years.
Most Miao people believe in witchcraft. The main witchcraft activities are yin-crossing, divination, divine judgment and offering sacrifices to ghosts. In addition to magic. Witchcraft activities are presided over by wizards. Wizards are mostly unprofessional. They play the role of hosts in the above-mentioned primary worship and witchcraft activities, and some local wizards also serve as village elders. In addition to being familiar with the ways of offering sacrifices, wizards can mostly tell the genealogy of their clan, major historical events of their nation and the route of migration sources, and are familiar with all kinds of myths and legends, ancient songs and folk stories. Some wizards also have the functions of singers and dancers. Therefore, wizards are important inheritors of Miao traditional culture and play the role of intellectuals in Miao society. In addition, wizards also have certain medical skills and know some herbs. While exorcising ghosts, it is supplemented by scientific medical means.
In addition to these traditional beliefs, in modern times, as western missionaries went deep into China to preach, some Miao people in Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan Border Region, Kaili, Guizhou, Yuanling, Hunan and other places converted to Christianity, and a few Miao people in southeastern Yunnan believed in Catholicism. Especially in northeast Yunnan and northwest Guizhou, Christian belief once had a strong momentum and great influence. Foreign missions or missionaries have set up many primary and secondary schools and medical institutions in Miao areas, and even implemented some economic development projects, which have played an indelible role in the social progress and political status of Miao people. Famous monks include Dang Juren of Anshun, Bai Geli, Zhang Daohui and Wang Shude, all of whom died in Miao areas.
After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the influence of Christianity and Catholicism once declined, but in recent years, it has a certain recovery trend. However, Christianity and Catholicism now practice the "three self", which is different from the Christian belief before 1950 in social organization, social influence and even belief content.
Miao people abroad, a few Miao people in Vietnam and Laos believe in Catholicism. Miao people in the United States, France and other western countries also believe in Christianity and Catholicism. Miao people in Laos and Thailand are also influenced by Buddhist culture. Nevertheless, in their society, the traditional ancestor worship and soul concept are still largely preserved.
[Eating habits]
In most areas, Miao people have three meals a day, and rice is the staple food. Fried Baba is the most common fried food. If you add some fresh meat and sauerkraut as stuffing, the taste will be more delicious. Most meat comes from livestock and poultry farming. Miao people in Sichuan and Yunnan all like to eat dog meat, and there is a saying that "Miao's dog is Yi's wine". In addition to animal oil, Miao people's edible oils are mostly tea oil and vegetable oil. Pepper is the main condiment, and in some areas there is even a saying that it is inseparable from pepper. There are many kinds of Miao vegetables. Common vegetables are beans, melons, greens and radishes. Most Miao people are good at making bean products. Miao people everywhere generally like to eat sauerkraut, and sour soup is a must for every family. Sour soup is rice soup or tofu water, fermented in a crock for 3-5 days, and then used to cook fish and vegetables. The food preservation of Miao people generally adopts pickling method, and vegetables, chickens, ducks and fish like to be pickled into sour taste. Almost every Miao family has a jar for curing food, which is collectively called a sour jar. Miao nationality has a long history of brewing, and has a set of techniques from koji making, fermentation, distillation, blending and cellar storage. Camellia oleifera is the most common daily drink. Miao people in Xiangxi also specially made a kind of scented tea. Sour soup is also a common drink. Typical foods mainly include: blood soup, Chili bone, Miaoxiang Guifeng soup, cotton vegetable cake, insect tea, scented tea, fish paste, sour soup fish and so on.
[Wedding and funeral custom]
Glutinous rice is also an essential food for young men and women to fall in love and get married. Miao people in Chengbu, Hunan Province gave each other glutinous rice cakes painted with mandarin ducks as souvenirs. When the wedding is held, the bride and groom should make a toast, and the person in charge of the wedding also invites the bride and groom to eat glutinous rice cakes painted with dragons, phoenixes and dolls.
[Clothing features]
If the well-dressed Miao girls get together, it will definitely become a beautiful silver world. It is the nature of Miao girls to like to wear silver ornaments. They put them in a bun, about 2 0 cm high, and made beautiful silver crowns. There are six jagged silver wings inserted in front of the crown, most of which are the patterns of Ssangyong playing beads. In some areas, in addition to silver pieces, silver horns with a height of about 1 m are inserted into the silver crown, and the tips of the horns float in color, which makes them more noble and rich. There is a silver ribbon at the lower edge of the silver crown, and a row of small silver pendants hang down. The silver collar worn around the neck has several layers, mostly made of silver pieces and small silver rings. Wearing a silver lock and a silver collar on his chest, wearing a silver cloak on his chest and back, and hanging many small silver bells. Earrings and bracelets are all made of silver. Only the two sleeves are embroidered with lux as the main tone, but the cuffs are also inlaid with a wide circle of silver ornaments. The costumes of Miao girls often weigh several kilograms, and some have been accumulated and passed down by generations. Known as "a fairy dressed in strange clothes and wrapped in white." The craftsmanship of Miao silver ornaments is gorgeous, exquisite and ingenious, which fully shows the wisdom and talent of Miao people. Miao girls' skirts are called pleated skirts, but in fact, there are more than five pleats on a skirt, and there are many layers, some as many as thirty or forty layers. These skirts, from weaving, dyeing, sewing to final drawing and embroidery, were all done by the girls themselves. Coupled with hand embroidered belt and flower chest pocket, it is really colorful and beautiful.