The Li nationality originated from the ancient "Baiyue" and settled in Hainan Island from Guangdong and Guangxi as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties. "Li" began in the late Tang Dynasty and has been in use ever since.
Li nationality has its own language, belonging to the Zhuang-Dong language family of Sino-Tibetan language family, and has no written language, so Chinese is widely used.
The religious belief of Li nationality is mainly ancestor worship, mixed with nature worship, and there are still traces of totem worship in some areas.
The boat-shaped house is named after it looks like an inverted ship, and it is a traditional house of the Li nationality. Li people call it "cloth Long Ting pole", which means "bamboo shack". There are three types of "bronze poles": auxiliary terrain, elevated shape and transitional gold shape. Their common features are thatched roofs, wooden columns or bamboo columns, bamboo plastering walls, bamboo strip walls or coconut leaf walls; There is a fire stove in the room, a bamboo raft is hung above the stove to dry food, and a skylight is opened on one side of the roof. "Bronte Pavilion" has no space and beds, and residents usually sleep on the floor by the fire. Now this kind of house is rare in the Li nationality area, most of the living rooms have been replaced by golden roofs, and Li people near the town have lived in tile houses.
Li's clothes are made of cotton and linen. Li people mostly wear double-breasted collarless tops, while women wear double-breasted sleeveless chest tops and skirts embroidered with various patterns. Li Jin is the most famous textile handicraft of Li nationality. It is famous for its exquisite workmanship, bright colors and rich characteristics, and has high artistic aesthetic value.
Chewing betel nut is a hobby of Li people, and betel nut is an essential product for hospitality and engagement. It is said that betel nut is helpful for digestion, expelling tapeworms, lowering blood pressure, refreshing and invigorating the stomach.
During the holiday break, Li people like to dance "bamboo dance", usually in the yard or on the threshing floor. When dancing, there are four people squatting on each side, each holding one end of the bamboo pole horizontally with his hand and beating it according to the rhythm. With the opening and closing of bamboo poles, dancers keep jumping up and down with their feet and make all kinds of wonderful movements. The dance is quite enthusiastic and fascinating.
"March 3rd" is a traditional festival of Li nationality. On the festival day, all villages will hold ancestor worship ceremonies. Young men and women will get together in costumes and invite lovers outside the family in the form of duets. Then couples will be scattered in the jungle and bamboo forest or by the river, telling each other their worries. At night, people light bonfires and enjoy games and entertainment. At dawn, men and women in love say goodbye to each other, give each other tokens of love, and meet on March 3 next year.
festival
In the process of historical development, Li people have formed their own festivals, which are an integral part of Li people's customs and a side of Li people's social, cultural and psychological state.
Li's festivals are closely related to his own calendar. Before liberation, the festivals of the Li nationality were mostly based on the lunar calendar in neighboring Han areas and areas where Li and Han nationalities lived together, and the festivals were the same as those of the Han nationality. For example, Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Ghost Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Winter Solstice and New Year's Eve. As far as Li nationality is concerned, the most grand and common festivals are Spring Festival and March 3rd.
"Spring Festival"
In the Li nationality area, the Spring Festival usually lasts from the first day of the first month to the fifteenth day. At that time, every household should clean the courtyard, trim the "boathouse", paste red couplets, wash clothes and utensils, mash rice dumplings, and paste red paper on doors, rattan baskets and horns to show good luck. Adults prepare firecrackers and buy fireworks for children. Men, women and children put on new clothes, clean and beaming, which is a festive scene. On the first day of New Year's Day, we pay New Year greetings to each other early in the morning and meet outside to say "Congratulations on getting rich, having a bumper harvest every year and being happy". The children jumped and jumped with joy. They compete to celebrate the New Year with adults and get candy, cakes, zongzi and copper coins. Adults drink and sing all day and stay up all night. Others still follow traditional habits. Since the Lunar New Year, men have hunted collectively and the whole village has enjoyed their prey.
March 3
The third day of the third month of the lunar calendar is the most solemn and lively traditional festival of the Li people, who commemorate their ancestors and heroes through the tradition of "March 3".
Now the scale of commemorative activities is getting bigger and bigger, with thousands or even tens of thousands of people. The activities are rich and colorful, and there are many kinds of theme songs, including love songs, farm songs, fairy tales, toast songs and ancient songs about today. In addition to singing duets, there are "firewood dance", swinging, soil gun shooting, archery, wrestling and other programs.
"Lucky" and "Bull Moon"
Li compatriots in harmonious areas have other special festivals with national characteristics. For example, after transplanting rice in March every year, a "blessing ceremony" should be held collectively in October. At that time, men, women and children will gather in the "Wood" home to collectively dance "Zhao Fu Dance" and "Li Jiale", beating gongs and drums and staying up all night. On the day of "Cow Day", cows mainly drink a kind of wine soaked in "Cow Soul Stone" to show their wishes to cows, and build a cowshed to cultivate them, and it is forbidden to kill them.
Like the Han nationality, the Li family is a small patriarchal clan system. However, small families in harmonious areas have obvious characteristics. Until liberation, it had not become a completely independent production unit. Its economic function is mainly to participate in the production and distribution of mu, manage handicrafts and sideline, plant fences and small gardens, and deal with the relationship between private property and its own debts.
The marriage system implements monogamy. Usually arranged by parents, engaged since childhood; Aunt doesn't get married, and the same family doesn't get married. "Appropriate" classes have become a habit. Hiring money often requires a few cows and a lot of money.
"Release squatters"
The custom of "letting squatters live" is widespread in Li nationality areas. Every village has one or several "squatters", which are called "Bulong boudoir" in Li language, and the daughter will live there when she grows up. Men of different blood types can "bloom" to find lovers, play flute and sing, and pour out their love, which embodies the social freedom of unmarried young men and women of Li nationality; On the other hand, there is an abnormal relationship between men and women in the activity of "letting people go out". At the same time, married men and women also take part in the activities of "letting out the squatters", which has great influence on production, family harmony and health. The custom of "staying in the husband's family" after marriage is quite common in Li nationality areas. Children born out of wedlock are generally not discriminated against, and divorce and widow remarriage are relatively free.
Most Li people live with the same surname. Houses in harmonious areas are mostly "boathouses", and houses in general areas are gold-shaped.
Appellation and surname
The kinship terms and surnames of the Li nationality are very distinctive. Li people call each other according to their religious relations. For example, no matter how young their uncle's children are, no matter how old their uncle's children are, they should call their uncle's children brothers or sisters. Therefore, in Li society, it is often heard that the elder is called 12-year-old brother or sister. When addressing someone in society, you can only call him by his first name, not by his first name.
The Li nationality in Dongfang County was originally five blood clans, each with a surname. Each blood type is divided into Dagong, Zhonggong and Gong Wei, which are called five surnames and fifteen surnames. Five surnames can be married, but fifteen men can't. After several generations, you can get married in cycles. The same Li surname group belongs to several Han surnames in different regions. Although Han people have different surnames, they can't get married.
Dress
In terms of clothing, women wear a bun at the back of their heads, tie them with bone needles, embroider headscarves, unbutton their clothes and open their chests. In some places, they wear "halter tops" and skirts. Most women like to wear earrings, collars and bracelets, and some still keep the habit of tattooing and tattooing. Men wear manes, some on their foreheads, some on the back of their heads, wrapped in their heads, and their coats are open to their chests without collars.
funeral
Funeral ceremonies vary from place to place. In harmonious areas, if someone dies, the whole village or cave will come to mourn, and they will not eat staple food or do heavy work for three days. Generally, a single wooden coffin is used, and the coffin does not stop. It is buried on the same day and no tomb is built. If the deceased is a man and buried in a public cemetery in the village, if the woman marries a foreign village, she must be carried back to her parents' home to arrange a funeral and buried in her father's public cemetery. Other areas have the habit of superstitious geomantic omen, stopping coffins and fasting, and choosing sites to build tombs.
Diligence and thrift, respecting the old and loving the young are the virtues of the working people of the Li nationality. Whether old people or children, they can always find something they can do, and few people take time off to live. Li people are very hospitable. They warmly entertain guests with alcohol and tobacco.
taboo
Some festivals of the Li nationality have many taboos and belong to superstition. But it has a certain connection with production and life. For example, swearing and unlucky words are forbidden during the Spring Festival; It is forbidden to wash clothes and sweep the floor during the Chinese New Year, saying that it is afraid that all the money at home will be washed away and swept away. Li people in harmonious areas are forbidden to work in the fields from the first day to the fifth day of the new year, and they are not allowed to work in the fields on the days of cattle, insects and chickens, saying that they are afraid that the seedlings will be harmed by birds and animals. People who want to hunt in the mountains on New Year's Day should also avoid sweeping the floor, otherwise they will not be able to catch wild animals. Be sure to choose auspicious days such as Dragon Day, Horse Day and Rabbit Day to cut hedges, and you can't sleep during the day, otherwise the crops can't stand the wind and rain. It is forbidden to kill cattle during the festival on March 8, and give them a wine soaked in cattle soul stone to ensure a bumper harvest next year. People are not allowed to cross the stove, step on the stove with their feet, cut the stove with a knife, etc. If it is illegal, it is said that "Kitchen God" will get angry and make his family sick.
language
Lang.
Li nationality has its own language, belonging to Li branch of Zhuang and Dong language family of Sino-Tibetan language family, and there are differences in dialects in different regions. Because Li nationality has a close relationship with Han nationality in history, the development of Li language is greatly influenced by Chinese. In mixed ethnic areas, Li people generally speak Chinese (Hainan dialect) and also absorb many Chinese words in Li language. Now the Li nationality has its own script, which is a Li language based on Latin letters.
Residential characteristics
Li people choose small plains, valley terraces or flat slopes in the valley as village sites. The principle of land selection is; Close to cultivated land, close to rivers and streams; The terrain should be high and the terrain has a certain slope; The place should be "clean", that is, there should be fewer wild animals and not too close to the main roads. The geological surface layer is mostly sandy clay layer and the bottom layer is mostly gravel layer. The soil quality is generally good, and the bearing capacity can meet the building requirements.
Most of Li's villages are surrounded by tall broad-leaved forests and shrubs. Therefore, there are no houses outside the village, and the subtropical rural scenery is the common landscape feature of the houses of Li compatriots.
"boathouse"
Boat-style residence is a traditional residence of Li nationality and a "dry fence" left over from ancient times. Before the "pyramid" houses of the Han nationality were introduced into the Li nationality area, the boathouse was once the main living form of the Li nationality in Hainan Island. Because most of these houses tend to be semi-overhead or low-overhead, they can also be called the derivative type of Gan Lan architecture, which is a traditional residential type of Li nationality with national and local characteristics.
The boathouse is characterized by a vertical rectangle, and the whole house consists of a front porch and a living room. The whole roof is like a boat. It is made of bamboo and wood, tied with rattan, covered with thatch and connected to the ground. There is no compartment in the house, and the door is opposite. The eaves on the door extend, and the eaves are places for rest and storage. There are usually no windows. It is said that opening a window will cause "evil spirits" to enter the house, causing trouble to people and animals and causing diseases. So the whole room is dark, and the ventilation and lighting are not good. In a word, the boathouse has the advantages of windproof and rainproof, warm in winter and cool in summer, and slightly ventilated. At present, boathouses are still popular in parts of counties such as Baisha, Changjiang, Dongfang, Ledong, Baoting and Qiongzhong.
Pyramid house
Not the primitive Li nationality, but the Li nationality learned it from the Han nationality. Its advantages are labor and material saving, good ventilation and lighting, easy drainage and so on. It is characterized in that the whole room is rectangular, the roof is replaced by a dome-shaped ship roof, the eaves are very high, and the main entrance is in front of the house, with single room, double room, three rooms, four rooms and courtyard style.
The golden house consists of front porch, living room (also called hall or living room), bedroom and kitchen. After entering the door is the hall, and on both sides of the hall are the bedroom and kitchen. The lobby is the largest room, generally about 15 square meters, the bedroom is about 10 square meters, and the kitchen is about 8 square meters. The lobby is the center of daily life, and there are many shrines or shelves dedicated to ancestors in the middle of the back wall. There are wooden or bamboo beds in the bedroom, and the kitchen is equipped with stoves, water tanks, cookers, clothes racks and so on.
In addition, Li people also live in brick houses, which are similar to family dormitories in the mainland.
Sanshizao
The stoves (also known as Pinzi stoves and horseshoe stoves) in the Li nationality area are located indoors. The main reasons are as follows: Li nationality was backward in economy and culture in the past, and had to make a fire in the room to keep warm in winter; There are many mosquitoes and malaria diseases in Li nationality area, and indoor smoking can repel mosquitoes and avoid epidemics; There is also the need to control the fire. Li people's houses, no matter from which aspect, all belong to the same system and have the same origin, but there are some differences, and each dialect area has its own characteristics.
scientific knowledge
In the long-term development process, the Li people in Hainan Island have accumulated rich experience and knowledge in production and life. In agricultural production, the Li people have mastered all kinds of knowledge about crop growth, soil identification, cultivated land selection and agricultural arrangements. For example, rice can be divided into more than 20 varieties in different places, and different suitable places and sowing dates can be selected according to its growth characteristics. In production practice, Li people have accumulated a lot of knowledge about weather forecasting according to the laws of local animal activities and natural phenomena.
Li people are good at hunting. According to the living habits of different wild animals, they can choose appropriate hunting methods, such as rounding up, tracking, ambush, digging traps, nailing bamboo tips, burying guns, hanging bullets, fire attack and poisoning, and the results are good.
Women are good at spinning, especially kapok. Pedal spinning machines use rotating wheels and conveyor belts. Li women can use wild plant dyes to make cloth. The yarn is dyed in various colors, such as cyan, black, yellow, yellow, red and so on. In addition, valine staining method has been created in some areas, and the process is complicated. The thin thread is tied into various patterns on the light yarn, and after dyeing, the thin thread is disassembled to expose the white pattern, and then woven into colored weft yarns to complete the fabric with exquisite patterns. These are the results of Li people's long-term observation and practice, and they have a good understanding of plant kingdom and weaving and dyeing technology.
Li people have mastered pottery-making technology for a long time, and can make pottery pots, pots, wine bottles, bowls, bottles, pots and so on. Li people near the Han area can also burn kilns like the Han people and make all kinds of pottery with smooth color and beautiful patterns. These pottery wares are loved by the people of neighboring nationalities, and foreign businessmen also buy them in large quantities from Li nationality areas and transport them to the mainland for sale.
Li people also have a deep understanding of medical knowledge. Many Chinese medicine practitioners know the properties of 100 herbs, and can use hot compress, sweating, fire moxibustion and other treatment methods according to different situations. There are many specific drugs for poisonous snakes and mad dogs. Li people have accumulated rich medical knowledge in the process of treating diseases and saving lives, and they have become the best in conquering the "land of boils", so Li medicine has become a part of the treasure house of Chinese herbal medicines. Li's basic method of treating diseases is similar to that of Han Chinese medicine, which can be divided into listening, hearing and asking questions.
Among the Li people, there is still a primitive calendar. Generally, the sun and the moon are calculated according to the "Twelve Earthly Branches" in similar Han areas, and the twelfth day is a cycle. Animals are called days, such as chicken day, dog day, pig day, ox day and insect day.
Most Li people use the weights and measures of the Han nationality, but the valley and Mu areas have always used their own calculation methods. For example, the smallest unit of rice is a bundle, six bundles are one, six bundles are one, and two pairs are even. The second law is a thumb. Save as many acres as you plant. When buying and selling cattle, the size is calculated by horn length or body length, regardless of weight. The concept of number is weak, and abacus is rarely used. Calculate complex numbers, often taking rice stalks or firewood as entities.
oral literature
Since the Li nationality does not have its own written language, it is mainly oral literature, including ancient myths, stories and legends, ballads, proverbs and riddles. In these folk literature, many of them have distinct people's nature and are full of life breath. Through the artistic mode of literature, they describe the customs of the Li nationality, record the deeds of the working people conquering nature, and praise the ideal heroes in people's minds.
Flood stories and gourd melons are the most popular myths and legends, reflecting the life and struggle scenes of the ancient Li people, especially the plot of "brother and sister getting married" reflecting some remnants of the original marriage system. The story of Hercules is very similar to the myth of "Houyi shooting at the sun" of the Han nationality. In many legends and stories, such as "Tiangou" and "Yoga Shira", dogs, birds and other animals often appear as positive images of truth, goodness and beauty. There are Five Sisters, Biography of the South Snake, Bamboo Treasure Management, etc., which reflect the clear distinction between class love and hatred; Criticism of parents' arranged marriage includes Love Story of a Girl and Xiaolong and Brave Towing, all of which are widely circulated.
religion
Li nationality has not yet formed a complete religious system, but feudal superstition is very heavy, ancestor worship and nature worship are prevalent, and ancestor worship is the main one. This is due to the ignorance of people with extremely low productivity in ancient times and the influence of Buddhism and Taoism. Li people's religious beliefs are diverse, permeating all aspects of social life and belonging to primitive religious types.
Li people used to think that there were two different worlds, Yin and Yang. They accumulated virtue and did good deeds in the world of Yang, and then went to the underworld to return to their ancestors. If a person's virtue is bad, he will be punished by all kinds of hard labor after death.
Li people are not familiar with Buddhism and Taoism, but the moral concept of reincarnation of Buddhism has deeply influenced people's thinking. For example, people's fortune is destiny takes a hand; Previous lives were sinful, and later generations suffered; Only by working hard and accumulating virtues in this world can we enjoy ourselves in the afterlife and so on.
Generally, there is a village kitchen god in Licunkou, which is one of the primitive gods sacrificed by villagers. It is said that the kitchen god in the village was once a hero who defended the village.
Maybe it's because they are too superstitious about ghosts and gods. Before liberation, Li people had frequent activities of offering sacrifices to ghosts and gods and praying to God in their daily lives, such as marriage, funeral, exorcism, wishing to have children and naming names. And they all have to ask Taoist priests to chant Buddhist scripture.
Li people's burial customs in areas where Li and Han live together or near Han areas are especially superstitious about Yin and Yang Feng Shui, which is related to their worship of nature. Witchcraft is the main superstitious activity of Li people, among which there are various divination methods, including cup divination, chicken bone divination and egg divination, all of which have local characteristics. Chicken divination, egg divination and killing animals as ghosts are all used in disasters and mountain hunting, reflecting the ecological environment where the plague raged in Hainan Island and the traditional life history of Li nationality.
Witches of the Li nationality are called "ghosts" and witches are called "Niang". They are responsible for the communication between people and ghosts, and act as intermediaries to convey the will of ghosts and gods, but they are not divorced from production. The utensils and sacrifices are mostly bamboo and rattan, sunflower and palm leaf rain hat, pheasant feathers, rice, betel nut, glutinous rice wine and so on. It has the local color of Hainan Island.
Influenced by Taoism, a few people believe in "Huaguang", "Five Raytheons" and "Tian Xuan God" in places near the Han nationality area. Christianity was also introduced into Lebanon. A few people believe in "God", go to church on Sundays, and recite the Bible when their family members are sick. But in places influenced by Taoism and Christianity, ancestor worship and nature worship still remain.
In the old society, these absurd superstitions burdened the spiritual world of Li people with heavy spiritual shackles. At that time, there were mainly the following superstitious activities in Li nationality areas:
Sacrifice to Shan Gui. Many Li people still believe that all the animals and birds in the mountains are under the jurisdiction of Shan Gui. To catch prey, we can only catch it with the consent of Oba, the leader instructed by Shan Gui.
The second sacrifice was "Ghost of the Earth". In the past, Li people thought that the harvest of crops was a gift from "Mother Earth" and offered sacrifices to Mother Earth to express their expectation and gratitude. Sacrificing "ghosts" is popular in other areas.
Three sacrifices to "Lei Gong Ghost". The Li nationality is a nation dominated by agriculture. They think that the astronomical phenomena such as clouds, wind and thunder are "spiritual", among which the most terrible ones are the ghost of Leigong, the ghost of wind and the ghost of the sun.
Four sacrifices to "kitchen ghosts". People have a kind of awe and worship of fire, fearing that they will be punished if they offend the "Kitchen God".
Five sacrifices to "ancestors". This is a manifestation of ancestor worship. Li people think that ancestral ghosts are more terrible than other ghosts.
Li people also worship totems, and snakes, cows and birds are the main objects of animals. In terms of plants, rice, kapok, plantain and gourd claw are the main targets.