Bashu Culture·Ethnic Minorities·Yi Nationality

Bashu Culture·Ethnic Minorities·Yi Nationality

Bashu Culture·Ethnic Minorities·Yi Nationality

The Yi people, who call themselves "Nuosu", are among the ethnic minorities in southwest my country. The ethnic group with the largest population, accounting for 90%, is located in the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, the largest Yi inhabited area in the country, with a population of more than 1.5 million.

The Yi people are an ancient nation, descendants of the ancient Shu people. As early as the legendary Huangdi era, according to historical records such as "Historical Records", Huangdi married Leizu, a woman from the Shushan family, as his concubine, and gave birth to a son, Changyi. Changyi then married a woman from the Shushan family, and gave birth to a son, Zhuanxu. One of Zhuanxu's descendants was granted the title of Shu. , that is, Cancong family. The Cancong family entered the Chengdu Plain from the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, its birthplace in the Minshan Mountains, and established the Shu Kingdom. The first generation of Shu kings was called Cancong. After emperors such as Yufu and Du Yu (Wangdi), the Kaiming clan of the Puyue ethnic group from eastern Sichuan came to dominate Shu. A branch of the Duyu tribe went south along the Minjiang River Valley into what is now southern Sichuan, to northwestern Guizhou and northeastern Yunnan (Zhaotong area in Yunnan), and then from northeastern Yunnan into Liangshan. These are the ancestors of the Black Yi among the Yi people. After Qin Hui destroyed Shu in 316 BC, the Kaiming tribe also moved southward to Liangshan. In the pre-Qin period, they were the immigrants of the "Southwestern Yi" and the Zeo people. These are the Amos Dujia and the ancestors of the Bai Yi among the Yi people. Zu Zuwu raised his family.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the ancestors of the Yi nationality established the Yelang Kingdom. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the land of Yelang was established as Jianwei County. During the Han and Jin Dynasties, they were called Lian people. They moved into the hinterland of Sichuan on a large scale and spread widely in the Bashu region. Later, the Li people living in the hinterland of Sichuan gradually integrated with the local residents, and the Yi people living in the Liangshan area were collectively called Luoluo (Luolan, Luolan). This name was used until liberation. The Yuan Dynasty established the Luoluosu Xuanwei Division to rule the Liangshan area. According to the description in "Marco Polo's Travels", the Yi people at that time lived in towns and dam areas. After the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, a large number of Han and Hui troops entered Liangshan and occupied the fertile land of Pingba. Due to political and economic pressure, the Yi people had to move into the mountainous areas for half farming and half pastoralism. During the Yuan, Ming and early Qing dynasties, the chieftain system was implemented in this area, and during the Yongzheng period, the system was changed to Tusi. In the early years of the Republic of China, it belonged to Shangnan South Sichuan Road, Lower Sichuan South Road and Jianchang Road. In 1939, Xikang Province was established and renamed as Xikang Province Ningxia Reclamation Committee. The Liangshan Yi Autonomous Region (belonging to Xikang Province) was established in 1952 and changed to an autonomous prefecture in 1955.

(1) Social form

Before the founding of New China, the Yi society was a hierarchical society with clan (family branch) as the main organizational form. In the stage of slave society. All members of society belong to four classes: Black Yi, Qunuo, Ajia and Xiaxi. As early as the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the distinction between "black bones" and "white bones" in Yi society was very obvious. The black bones are the black Yi and are the first level; the white bones are the white Yi and include the three levels of Qunuo, Ajia and Xiaxi, which are the second, third and fourth levels in order. The Yi people live in clusters according to their family branches (mainly referring to the Black Yi family branch), and they are distinguished by rank.

Black Yi (including Tusi and Tumu) are called "Nuo" in Yi language, which means black or the main body of the Yi people. The Black Yi are the rulers of Yi society. They own a large amount of mountains, forests, land, livestock and slaves, and have hereditary aristocratic status. There are no civilians in Yi society, and all other classes except black Yi are slaves.

Qunuo, in the Yi language, "Qu" means white, and "Nuo" means black. Qunuo means innocent people. Qunuo has no personal freedom and his body belongs to the black Yi. However, the black Yi cannot kill or buy or sell Qunuo at will. They can only transfer and give it to other black Yi. They can also use it as "life price" compensation for beating enemies or as compensation for bets. Or bet to other black Yi. Before he has the right to change his personal value, Hei Yi generally have to obtain the consent of Qu Nuo himself and cannot separate his family members or withhold his property. After the transfer, Qunuo still maintains its status as Qunuo, and the new owner cannot downgrade it to another level lower than Qunuo. Part of Qunuo is composed of clan members who were internally divided in early society, part is members of the conquered Yi tribe, and part is the redeemed Ajia. Qunuo has its own land and livestock and is not economically dependent on the Black Yi. Except that they must live within the jurisdiction of the Black Yi and are not allowed to move at will, they are free to go out for business and exploration. However, Qu Nuo cannot freely deal with his own property. For example, when selling land, he must obtain the consent of his master, and sometimes he must give his master a certain amount of "open money." After Qu Nuo's death, his property can be inherited by his son. Qunuo has his own marriage rights and parental rights to his children, and has his own family branch. Qunuo's obligation to the Black Yi is to perform a certain amount of labor for them every year, serve as the main force in fighting enemies, and be responsible for financial compensation afterwards.

Ajia is the abbreviation of "Atu Ajia" in Yi language, which means people inside and outside the master's door. Ajia itself is divided into two types: Yigen Ajia and Hangen Ajia. Yigen Ajia is an Ajia with Yi ancestry, and Hangen Ajia is an Ajia without Yi ancestry, because most of them have Han ancestry. Therefore, it is called Hangen.

Yi Gen Ajia's body belongs to Hei Yi, but Hei Yi cannot kill him without reason. Yigenaga are mainly Qunuo who have been downgraded after bankruptcy. They have no land or livestock. Some have a small piece of "cultivating land" given by the owner or wasteland reclaimed with the owner's permission, and some rent the owner's land. Yigen Ajia (including Hangen Ajia) must live in an area controlled by their owner. Any outing must be approved by the owner and return within a set time.

Ajia's children also belong to the Black Yi. The Black Yi can draw Ajia's children to be Xiaxi or dowry girls. The children of Ajia who are not selected are usually designated by the Black Yi for marriage. A few can marry independently with the permission of the Black Yi. , but if the woman marries outside, all the bride price will belong to the Hei Yi. If it is a son and the bride price is paid by himself, all the children born except the first daughter will belong to the Hei Yi, or half of the daughter will belong to the Hei Yi and all the sons will belong to the Hei Yi. . Yi Gen Ajia has his own family branch. This is the main reason why Black Yi cannot kill them without reason, because it will lead to collective resistance from their family branch. When the owner of Yigen Ajia is in urgent need of certain expenses, he can be upgraded to Qunuo after paying a certain "redemption fee" with the owner's permission.

In addition to belonging to the Black Yi, the Hangen Ajia can also belong to Qunuo or other Ajia. The owner of the Hangen Aga can kill it or sell it. The sale can be done as a whole household, broken up or sold in shares. The hangenaga must live next to its master's house so that he can be at his beck and call without any freedom of movement. If Han Gen Ajia can pay more or less bride price to marry poor Qunuo children, he may be allowed to join the Qunuo family branch, but this situation is extremely rare.

Xiaxi is the abbreviation of "Xiaxi Xialuo" in Yi language, which means the siblings next to Guozhuang, that is, single children (slaves). Axi is actually a kind of domestic slave, whose body may belong to Hei Yi, Qunuo or wealthy Ajia. The Gasi are mainly Han Chinese who were plundered or bought, and some are Ajia children drawn by their owners and Qunuo who went bankrupt and declined. The owner can kill or buy and sell Xiaxi at will. Xiaxi does not have any property and must live in the owner's house and engage in household and field labor. After being designated by the owner for marriage, the Xixi Jing can be promoted to Ajia.

The Yi society has not formed a unified local political power. Its social order is maintained by the family branch based on the hierarchical system, so the family branch has the nature of a political power. The family branch has the body of a patrilineal clan and retains some of the habits of the father's clan. It is a blood group that runs through the joint pedigree of father and son. For example, intermarriage within a family branch is strictly prohibited, and if a family branch has too many people, branches will be formed based on blood relationships. A family branch is binding on its members and the family, but members of the same family branch have equal status and there is no relationship of dominance or affiliation.

The family branch is called "Chuxi" or "Chujia" in Yi language. The black Yi all have family branches, which are called black Yi family branches. Some Qunuo and Ajia (Yi roots) also have family branches. , called the Bai Yi family branch.

According to statistics, before liberation, there were about 70,000 Black Yi people, divided into nearly a hundred large and small families, of which less than ten families had more than 1,000 men. Each clan has a fixed area of ??jurisdiction, large or small, based on the size of its population and the strength of its power.

The Black Yi family branch does not have a permanent management organization. Major events and disputes inside and outside the family branch are decided and resolved by the head of the family branch meeting. The headmen are divided into two types: "Su Yi" and "Degu", who are elected by the Black Yi slave owners in the family branch. Those who are knowledgeable and able to resolve disputes are called "Su Yi"; those who are experienced, knowledgeable, good at rhetoric, and able to resolve major disputes, and thus enjoy high prestige among the whole family clan and even other clan clans, are called "Degu". The work of the headman is of an obligatory nature, with no fixed salary or remuneration, and no privileges or compulsory power that can override ordinary family members. The status of the headman cannot be hereditary. Once he loses his prestige, he will also lose his headship. status, which is a very obvious trace of the patriarchal clan society. The duty of the leader is to convene a family branch meeting to discuss and decide on all matters, both internal and external to the family branch.

The Black Yi family branch is the basis for the Black Yi to maintain its hereditary rule. Once the Black Yi himself is expelled from his family branch, he will lose his status as a Black Yi.

The formation of the White Yi family branch is the same as that of the Black Yi family branch, but members of the White Yi family branch often belong to different Black Yi family branches, so the White Yi family branch does not have a complete territory. The Bai Yi clan can protect its members from being killed at will by black Yi masters. In very few independent Bai Yi areas, the Bai Yi clan can also become a local political organization.

(2) Custom texts

Most Yi villages are located on the mountainside facing the sun, with as many as 20 to 30 households and as few as more than ten households. Due to the conflicts between enemies, most of the villages were located in difficult terrain that was easy to defend and difficult to attack. There were usually several to a dozen forts built around them to defend against attacks from opponents. The houses are generally earthen houses with no windows and a roof made of wooden boards. A layer of stone slabs is added on the wooden boards to protect them from wind and rain. They are called "tile houses". Generally, it has one floor and one bottom. The upper floor is used for storing firewood and other materials; the lower floor is used for people and livestock. The house is centered on the firepit, which is composed of three stones in an equilateral triangle. The positions around the firepit are divided into upper, lower and guest seats. There is generally no furniture in the room. The Yi people like to use wooden utensils. Bowls, spoons, basins, boxes, etc. are all made of wood. The main food is "baba" made from buckwheat seeds, corn flour and potatoes.

The clothes and decorations of the Yi people. Men wear a black right-sided top, only reaching the waist, and light-colored cloth trousers. The size of the trousers varies greatly in different regions. It is more beautiful to have a beard on the lower part. Wearing red or yellow beads in the ears, and a small lock of long hair in the middle of the head above the forehead, it is commonly known as the "Heavenly Bodhisattva". Wrap your head with green cloth and tie a cone-shaped "hero's ribbon" on the right side.

Women wear trimmed or embroidered tops and cloth "pleated skirts" underneath. This skirt has the function of distinguishing between high and low classes. Black Yi women's skirts are long and floor-length, while women of other classes can only wear short skirts. , the skirt length cannot exceed the knee. Wear a tile-shaped cloth handkerchief on your head, or you can wrap your head with green cloth.

Unmarried women only wear a single braid, and after they get married, they wear a double braid. Wear earrings or beads on both ears, silver flowers on the neckline, and bracelets or rings. Both men and women, old and young, wear a cloak-shaped "ear tile", which is the most distinctive feature of the Yi people's clothing. In winter, a layer of woolen felt is added to the "ear tile". The Yi people do not like to wear shoes and are barefoot all year round. . Only some marginal areas are influenced by the Han people and wear homemade felt socks and straw sandals in winter.

The Yi people practice monogamy, and the Black Yi people strictly practice caste endogamy and family exogamy. The entire Yi area gives priority to cousins ??in marriage, and intermarriage between cousins ??is prohibited. In some areas, there are robbery and incest. Primitive marriage customs such as Luofu's family. There is no certain age limit for marriage among the Yi people. Early marriage is prevalent. Men can get married at the age of fifteen and women at the age of thirteen. For Black Yi women, even numbers are considered auspicious when they get married, while for other women, odd numbers are considered auspicious. The marriage customs of the Yi people retain the obvious original custom of not leaving the husband's family after marriage. On the wedding day, after the bride is picked up by someone from her husband's family, the groom cannot meet her. The bride will return to her parents' home the next day. After a certain period of time, the groom can go to take the bride back to her parents' home. However, he must return to her parents' home after staying for a few days. You can't live in your husband's house until after you give birth to a child.

The biggest feature of the Yi people’s marriage customs is the house transfer system, which is widely practiced throughout the Yi area. This system treats women as the property of the husband's family. Like the family system, it is one of the original patriarchal customs retained in Yi society. After a married woman's husband dies, if she is still of childbearing age, she must transfer her husband's wife to another man among her husband's close relatives. This is called house transfer. There are certain order and restrictions for house transfer, which are called house transfer rules. The order is to first transfer to the younger generation. If there is no suitable candidate among the younger generation, the younger generation or elders will be transferred in turn. The restriction is that the younger generation cannot be transferred to the biological son, and the elder's cousin is married. It cannot be transferred to the father-in-law. House transfer is regarded by the people as a right that the husband's family deserves. If the husband's family fails to follow the rules and transfer a widowed woman's house, the woman will consider it a shame. In serious cases, it may even lead to a fight between enemies. If a widowed woman is determined not to transfer her house, she must obtain the consent of her husband's family and family friends and return the bride price. In fact this situation is very rare.

The Yi people practice cremation. After the burial, they only provide the spiritual tablets to the home of their youngest son. Three years later, they choose an auspicious day to send the deceased to his death, which is called "making silk". This is the original burial custom that the Yi people have preserved to this day. The Yi people originated from the ancient Shu people, and the ancient Shu people originated from the Qiang Di people, who practiced cremation.

The Yi calendar divides the whole year into twelve months, with thirty days in each month. There is no leap year or leap month. What is interesting is that they divide the year according to the calendar year of rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, The twelve portraits of monkeys, roosters, dogs, and pigs are used to count the years, months, and days. This custom, especially the method of counting the years, is quite similar to that of the Han people. It shows that the Yi and Han people belong to the same family of the Chinese nation and have homology. .

There is no fixed date for the Yi people to celebrate the New Year. The Sichuan Yi people usually celebrate the New Year in the second half of the year. It is usually based on natural villages. In the second half of a certain month after the autumn harvest, a certain day is designated by the "Bimo" (shaman). In order to celebrate the New Year, if there is a good harvest the next year, this day will continue to be used as the New Year, otherwise, "Bimo" will choose another day. The Yi people generally use sticks instead of knives to kill animals, so killing pigs is called beating pigs. During the Chinese New Year, every household will kill pigs to sacrifice to ancestors. Qunuo and Ajia will give half a pig's head to their master to show their affiliation.

The biggest traditional festival among the Yi people is the Torch Festival. The Torch Festival originated from the Tang Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, Nanzhao was the most powerful among the six imperial edicts in the southwest. In order to unify the six imperial edicts, the king of Nanzhao designed to lure the kings of the other five imperial edicts to Dali, the capital of Nanzhao, to be killed. King Wei Qizhao, who lived in the present-day Xichang area, was Before going to Dali, his wife Bai Jie was afraid that he would be killed by King Nanzhao, so she put an iron bracelet on King Qiuzhao's arm. After King Qiu Zhao was burned to death in Songming Tower by King Nanzhao, Mrs. Baijie led the troops to Dali and found her husband's ashes based on the iron bracelet. On June 24, she ordered the soldiers to burn pine branch torches to illuminate her husband's soul. go home. To commemorate this tragic historical event, the Yi people designated June 24 as the Torch Festival, which has been passed down from generation to generation and has become a custom. The Torch Festival lasts for three days, during which people hold torches and parade around fields and houses, chanting: Burn away poor roots and pests. Then a bonfire was lit and a party was held. The Torch Festival is actually a reflection of the ancient Yi ancestors' ritual to pray for a good harvest.

The Yi people have not formed a relatively mature religion. They believe in animistic polytheistic worship and remain in the stage of witchcraft and have no religious buildings. It reflects that the status of religion in Yi society is not high.

The Yi people have their own script, commonly known as Old Yi script. It has a history of more than a thousand years and is known as "Cuanzi", "?shu" or "Yi Jing" in Chinese historical books. However, its use is not widespread and is only mastered by a few "Bi Mo" and others. Moreover, because the Yi people are widely distributed and live in scattered places, the Yi language is different in different places and cannot be used universally. This is the result of the fact that the Yi society has not formed a unified local government and has been in an anarchic and divided family system for thousands of years.

The Yi script is a syllabic script. By the beginning of liberation, about 6,000 characters and symbols had been preserved, of which less than 500 were commonly used. Analyzing from the dominant nature of these symbols, they are syllabic symbols representing Yi syllables without radicals or radicals. The writing method is from right to left. In 1956, Liangshan Prefecture organized manpower to collect, organize and formulate the "Liangshan Yi Pinyin Writing Plan" based on the northern sub-dialect and Xide (county) pronunciation as the standard pronunciation, and implemented it in the Yi area.