What are the religious beliefs, customs and languages of the Bai people?

The traditional society of Bai nationality is a society with multiple religious beliefs. People once believed in primitive religion, Buddhism, Taoism and their own beliefs. Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism are "the same origin" and "the same religion", and the integration of the three religions is a major feature of Bai religious belief. Among them, the main belief is the religion of Bai nationality. The word "Lord" means "the noblest protector in this land". The master of the Bai nationality is the patron saint of both man and god, and it is a religion developed from the primitive worship of gods and witches. Compared with the original worship of gods and witches, the worship of Jehovah has formed a religion with ancestor worship, nature worship, hero worship and totem worship as a complete system, and made ancestor worship and hero worship the core of Jehovah worship. Buddhism was introduced into Erhai Lake around Sui and Tang Dynasties. At first, it was Brahman and yoga tantra. Tantric monks call it "Ali", so it is also called "Ali (Achili)" religion. Now it's called "White Tantric Sect". Popular in Nanzhao Dali period. The 22nd emperor of Dali had 10 monks. Junior high school men and women are reading Buddhist scriptures and poetry books, and they can't let go of Buddhist beads. Therefore, Erhai Lake area has long been called "the ancient wonderful fragrant country". After the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, a large number of Han immigrants settled in Erhai area, and Han culture began to spread widely in Erhai area, and Han Buddhism gradually began to replace Dali native Buddhism (tantric Buddhism).

Social customs and habits

Bai people basically practice monogamy. The son separated immediately after marriage, and parents usually lived with their youngest son. Some of the landlords are big families with four generations living under one roof. People of the same family and surname don't marry, but they will marry their uncles and aunts as usual. Children without children and daughters can also adopt children of brothers and sisters (adoption) or adopted children. If a woman has no children, she can adopt her husband's wife, and her husband and adopted son must change their names and surnames in order to obtain the right to inherit property.

There is a marriage custom of adoption in Bai marriage. Adopted men not only enjoy the same social status as men who don't adopt, but also enjoy the respect of neighbors, family members and relatives of the woman, the right to inherit the family property of the woman and the responsibility to support their parents and take care of their siblings until they grow up. People call this kind of adoption "door-to-door". Some Bai families also intend to "marry" their sons and let them into the house, so there is also a saying among the people that "send their children to recruit children." Although the marriage of Bai people is arranged by their parents, young people are relatively free in their love activities. If the relationship is confirmed, the man is willing to come to the woman's house. After obtaining the consent of both parents, when engaged, the woman's family invited the man and several relatives and friends of the man's family to their home. When the woman's family treats him, the elders should change his surname and give him a name in front of all relatives and friends. Since then, he followed his wife's surname, no longer using the original surname, and arranged men according to the ranking of the woman's family at home. Since then, a man has become a member of the woman's family after marriage, and his peers can only call each other brothers. It is forbidden to call the redundant son "brother-in-law". "Brother-in-law" or "Uncle"

Before the Yuan Dynasty, the Bai people believed in tantric Buddhism, so cremation prevailed in Bai areas. After the Yuan Dynasty, due to the influence of the Han nationality and Chinese culture in the mainland, it was changed to burial. Funerals are usually grand.

Bai people in Pingba area live on rice and wheat, while corn and buckwheat live on mountains. Bai people like to eat sour, cold and spicy flavors. They are good at curing ham, bow fish, fried chicken brown, pork liver and other dishes. They also like to eat a unique "raw meat" or "raw skin", that is, roast pork half-cooked, cut into shredded pork, and served with ginger, garlic, vinegar and so on. Bai people also like to drink roasted tea.

Lang.

Chinese loanwords in Bai language are quite complicated, and they are different in different periods. Some words are loanwords in different periods of Bai language, which leads to the phenomenon that the same Chinese word has loanwords in different periods. Moreover, these Chinese words borrowed repeatedly in different periods are also different in grammatical collocation. At the same time, there are many words similar to Chinese that may be cognates. Now many linguists think that the original loanwords are actually cognates.