Folk customs of Naxi, Dai and Bai nationalities

Naxi language belongs to Yi branch of Tibeto-Burman language family of Sino-Tibetan language family. As early as 1000 years ago, Naxi people created Dongba hieroglyphics (the only hieroglyphics still in use in the world, which can be called a living fossil of hieroglyphics) and Dongba scriptures written in hieroglyphics. With the development of Dongba culture, Naxi people have learned and absorbed the advanced cultures of other nationalities, especially Han people. From the Ming Dynasty, the aristocratic landlords headed by Li Jiang Tusimu first accepted China culture, and most of them could write poems. Today, Naxi architecture, music and murals can still be regarded as the fusion of Han, Tibetan, Bai and Naxi cultures. What is particularly worth mentioning is the Naxi ancient music in Lijiang, which was originally spread to Lijiang from the mainland classical music and incorporated into the music style of Naxi nationality, and is called the living fossil of Chinese classical music.

Naxi tour guides often tell tourists that Naxi people call the little girl "Pan Jinmei" and the young man "Pan Jinge", which is similar to the current title of "beautiful handsome boy". In fact, this is the name after tourism development, but Naxi people don't call it that. Because Pan and Pang are homophonic, female tourists often mistakenly think that she is fat and unhappy, hehe! The clothing of Naxi men is roughly the same as that of Han nationality. During the caravan period, the traditional men's wear was mainly characterized by linen horse hanging and leather clothes hanging, while women wore "Dai Yue with seven stars, sun and moon embroidery" to represent hard work.

Most Naxi people far away from the city believe in Dongba, the primitive religion of their own people, and most Naxi residents near Tibetan areas believe in Lamaism, while some Naxi residents in Lijiang believe in Buddhism and Taoism under the influence of Chinese culture. Influenced by the sinicization policy of Naxi nationality in feudal society and the fact that Naxi nationality used to be the middleman of Sino-Tibetan trade on the ancient tea-horse road in history, major festivals of Han nationality such as Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Duanyang Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival are also popular among Naxi nationality in Lijiang. In addition, the main festivals include the Torch Festival, which is popular among ethnic minorities in southwest China, and Sanduo Festival (also known as Sanduo Festival), the birthday of the Naxi people to protect Shen Sanduo. In addition, there is a big society on the fifteenth day of the first month, a Dragon King Temple meeting in March and a mule and horse meeting in July.

During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, the central government implemented the policy of "changing the land to the stream" in the southwest frontier, that is, the hereditary chieftain was abolished and local officials were directly appointed by the central government. Han culture permeates Naxi people. During this period, there were many Han Chinese immigrants from the mainland. They intermarried with Naxi people and were born in * * * *. Today, the Naxi and Han nationalities in Old Town of Lijiang are inextricably linked. So today, besides Mu and He, Li, Shi and Yang are also the most common surnames of Naxi people in the ancient city. Most of them are descendants of Hannah's intermarriage.

Traditionally, Naxi people have the custom of "women are the masters outside and men are the masters inside". Women go out to work, while men "play chess, draw pictures, drink, smoke and drink tea" at home, take care of children, keep pets, grow flowers and grass, and engage in craft creation. There is a folk saying in Lijiang that "marrying a Naxi woman is better than ten mules". In Lijiang, being a man is leisure, but there are other things in history. At least the caravan on the ancient tea-horse road was almost entirely composed of men. They risked their lives to go away from home, and it will be months or even years before they can go home and reunite. Today, this custom of "the woman is the master outside, and the man is the master inside" continues. For example, if you take a taxi in Lijiang, the proportion of female drivers is often much higher than that in other cities, and most of them work in other places. But the proportion of men going out to support their families is also rising.