Miao Nationality
The Miao Nationality, with a current population of 7.4 million, is mainly distributed in Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Hubei, Hainan, Guangxi and other provinces (regions).
The Miaoling Mountains and Wuling Mountains, where the Miao people live, have a mild climate, surrounded by mountains and rivers, and dotted with large and small fields and dams. It produces rice, corn, millet, wheat, cotton, flue-cured tobacco, rapeseed, tung oil, etc. In addition, it is also rich in timber resources and mineral resources.
The ancestors of the Miao people can be traced back to the Chiyou tribe that was active in the Central Plains during the primitive society. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the Miao ancestors began to establish the "Three Miao Kingdoms" in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to engage in rice farming. The Miao people have migrated many times in history, and the general route is from the Yellow River Basin to Hunan (Hunan), to Guizhou (Guizhou), and to Yunnan (Yunnan).
The Miao people have their own language, which belongs to the Miao branch of the Miao-Yao language family of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Originally there was no ethnic script, but in the late 1950s a Latinized pinyin script was created. Most people today speak Chinese.
The Miao people have a long history of music and dance, and the popular Lusheng dance is highly skilled. The Miao people's arts and crafts such as cross-stitching, embroidery, brocade, batik, and jewelry making are magnificent and colorful and enjoy a high reputation in the world. The Miao people have many festivals, and the more solemn festivals include the "Miao Year", "April Eighth", and the "Dragon Boat" Festival.
[Ethnic Profile]
The Miao ethnic group has a current population of 7,398,035 people, mainly distributed in Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Hubei, Hainan, Guangxi and other provinces (regions). The Miaoling Mountains and Wuling Mountains, where the Miao people live, have a mild climate, surrounded by mountains and rivers, and dotted with large and small fields and dams. It produces rice, corn, millet, wheat, cotton, flue-cured tobacco, rapeseed, tung oil, etc. In addition, it is also rich in timber resources and mineral resources. The ancestors of the Miao people can be traced back to the Chiyou tribe that was active in the Central Plains during the primitive society. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the Miao ancestors began to establish the "Three Miao Kingdoms" in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to engage in rice farming. The Miao people have migrated many times in history, and the general route is from the Yellow River Basin to Hunan (Hunan), to Guizhou (Guizhou), and to Yunnan (Yunnan). The Miao people have their own language, which belongs to the Miao-Yao branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Originally there was no ethnic script, but in the late 1950s a Latinized pinyin script was created. Most people today speak Chinese. The Miao people have a long history of music and dance, and the Lusheng dance, which is loved by the masses, is highly skilled. The Miao people's arts and crafts such as cross-stitching, embroidery, brocade, batik, and jewelry making are magnificent and colorful and enjoy a high reputation in the world. The Miao people have many festivals, and the more solemn festivals include the "Miao Year", "April Eighth", and the "Dragon Boat" Festival.
[Religious Customs]
The Miao people used to believe in animism, worship nature, and worship their ancestors. The "Drum Sacrifice Festival" is the largest sacrificial activity among the Miao people. Generally, there is a small sacrifice every seven years and a big sacrifice every thirteen years. It is held on Yihai day from October to November of the lunar calendar. At that time, a Guzi ox will be killed, the Lusheng dance will be performed, and the ancestors will be paid homage to. Invite relatives and friends to gather together during meals in order to enhance feelings and family harmony.
The main beliefs of the Miao people include nature worship, totem worship, ancestor worship and other primitive religious forms. In the traditional Miao society, ghosts and gods are superstitious and witchcraft is prevalent. There are also some Miao people who believe in Christianity and Catholicism. Very few Miao people believe in Buddhism and Taoism.
Traditionally speaking, the Miao people often regard some giant or strange-shaped natural objects as a manifestation of spirituality, so they worship them and make offerings of wine and meat. Among them, the more typical nature worship objects include huge rocks (strange rocks), caves, big trees, mountains and forests, etc. In addition, the Miao people believe that some natural phenomena or natural objects have divine or ghost properties. The Miao language often does not distinguish between ghosts and gods, or the two words are used together. In most cases, ghosts are considered to be abandoned or wronged souls and tools. They often bring disasters, illnesses, plagues or other misfortunes to humans, such as the so-called Eastern ghosts, Western ghosts, sow ghosts and hanged ghosts. , tiger ghosts, etc. are called evil ghosts. Spiritual natural phenomena are often considered to be good ghosts with certain divinities, such as mountain gods, valley souls, cotton gods, wind gods, thunder gods, rain gods, sun gods, moon gods, etc. The Miao people also have different ways of offering sacrifices to good ghosts and evil ghosts. Good ghosts are greeted and sent away, and sacrifices are more sincere. Evil ghosts must be bribed and coaxed until they are driven away.
[Eating Habits]
The Miao people in most areas have rice as their staple food for three meals a day. Fried food is the most common fried food. If you add some fresh meat and sauerkraut as filling, the taste will be more delicious. Meat mostly comes from livestock and poultry breeding. The Miao people in Sichuan, Yunnan and other places like to eat dog meat. There is a saying that "the dogs of the Miao people are the wine of the Yi people." In addition to animal oil, the edible oils of the Miao family are mostly camellia oil and vegetable oil. Chili is the main condiment, and in some areas there is even a saying that "no dish can be made without spicy food". The Miao people have a wide variety of dishes. Common vegetables include beans, melons, green vegetables, and radishes. Most of the Miao people are good at making soy products. The Miao people in various places generally like to eat sour dishes, and sour soup is a must-have for every household. Sour soup is made from rice soup or tofu water. After fermentation in an earthen pot for 3-5 days, it can be used to cook meat, fish, and vegetables. The Miao people generally use the pickling method to preserve their food. Vegetables, chickens, ducks, fish, and meat all like to be pickled to make them sour. Almost every household of the Miao people has a jar for pickling food, collectively called a sour jar. The Miao people have a long history of brewing wine and have a complete set of techniques from making koji, fermentation, distillation, blending and cellaring. Camellia oleifera is the most common daily beverage. The Miao people in western Hunan also make a special kind of Wanhua tea. Sour soup is also a common drink. Typical foods mainly include: blood soup, chili bone, Miaoxiang turtle and phoenix soup, cotton cake, insect tea, Wanhua tea, pounded fish, fish in sour soup, etc.
[Wedding and Funeral Customs]
Glutinous rice is also an indispensable food in the marriage and love process of young men and women. The Miao people in Chengbu, Hunan, give each other glutinous rice cakes with pictures of mandarin ducks as tokens. During a wedding, the bride and groom drink cups of wine, and the officiant invites the bride and groom to eat glutinous rice cakes with pictures of dragons, phoenixes and dolls.
[Features of Costumes]
If Miao girls in costumes gather together, it will definitely become a beautiful silver world. It is the nature of Miao girls to wear silver jewelry. They put their hair in a bun on the top of their head and wear it, which is about 20 centimeters high. They make exquisite silver corollas with 6 uneven silver wings inserted in the front of the corolla. Most of them are decorated with silver ornaments. With the pattern of two dragons playing with beads. In some areas, in addition to silver pieces, silver horns about 1 meter high are also inserted into the silver crowns, with colorful ribbons tied on the tips, making it even more noble and gorgeous. On the lower edge of the silver crown, a silver flower belt hangs, and a row of small silver flower pendants hangs down. There are several layers of silver necklaces worn around the neck, mostly made of silver flowers and small silver rings. He wears a silver lock and a silver collar on his chest, a silver cloak on his chest and back, and many small silver bells hanging down. Earrings and bracelets are all made of silver. Only two sleeves show embroidery with fiery red as the main tone, but the cuffs are also inlaid with a wider circle of silver ornaments. The costumes worn by Miao girls often weigh several kilograms, and some of them are accumulated and inherited by generations of people. It is known as the "fairy in colorful clothes and silver costumes". The craftsmanship of Miao silver jewelry is gorgeous, sophisticated and ingenious, fully demonstrating the wisdom and talent of the Miao people. Miao girls' skirts are called pleated skirts, but in fact there are more than 500 pleats on a skirt, and there are many layers, some as many as thirty or forty layers. These skirts, from weaving to bleaching, dyeing and sewing, to the final drawing and embroidery, are all done by the girls themselves. Together with the hand-embroidered flower belts and flower breast pockets, they are really colorful and beautiful.