Dai Nationality

According to the distribution area, Dai people in China call themselves Dai Yu, Dai Na, Dai ya, Dai tau and Dai Duan. Xishuangbanna and other places call themselves "Dai Shan", Dehong and other places call themselves "Dai Na", the Dai people in Xinping, Yuanjiang and other places in the middle and upper reaches of the red river call themselves "Dai Ya", those along the borders of Ruili, Longchuan and Geng ma call themselves "Dai Tan", and those in Lancang mangjing and mangna are Dai Tan branches. The Han people call Dai He Shui Dai, Dai Na Han Dai, and Dai Ya Hua Yao Dai.

As early as the 1st century A.D., Dai ancestors had been recorded in Chinese historical books. Tang and song documents are called "golden teeth", "black teeth", "silver teeth", "embroidered feet", "embroidered face", "mangman", "white clothes", etc. Yuan and Ming Dynasties are still called "golden teeth" and "white clothes". "Bai Yi" also wrote "Bai Yi", "Bai Yi" and "Bo Yi". Some mistakenly referred to as "Bo Yi", which was confused with the Bai nationality. It has been called "Bai Yi" since the Qing Dynasty. In addition, the Dai nationality has been called "Ailao" in Vietnamese historical records, the Dai nationality has been called "Shan" in Myanmar historical records, and the Dai nationality has been called "ahomu" in Indian historical records.

After the Second World War, the governments of various countries named the Dai people distributed in their respective territories. Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia were called Thai, Laos Lao, Myanmar Shan, China Dai and India Ahom, but they all called themselves Tai.

Family source

There are two main viewpoints and many statements about the origin of Dai nationality.

Migration theory. One of the most influential theories is the "theory of going south", which holds that the Dai nationality originated from northern Sichuan, southern Shaanxi, Altai Mountain and other places in northern China or further away. Under the expulsion of other nationalities, the Dai nationality once stayed in Yunnan and established the Nanzhao kingdom. After Kublai Khan pingdali, Dai people were forced to continue to move south to southern Yunnan and Southeast Asia. This view has been abandoned by more and more scholars because of the in-depth research. Others are originated from Indonesia islands, Guangdong, Guangdong, Yunnan and Guizhou. With the in-depth study of Dai ethnic literature, the theory of migration has been supported by more and more evidence, such as benmeng Dai Xi shuangbang, Xihe Menglong, bashartan, etc. these documents show that the indigenous people in Dai residential areas are mainly lavas, kemus, Mengs, Kongs, etc., and the Dai people migrated later. From the perspective of linguistics, some scholars put forward the view that Dai ancestors once lived in the same region as Zhuang ancestors, and believe that Dai moved out of Guangxi. However, Zheng Xiaoyun believes that there are many reasons why ethnic groups of different ethnic origins use the same language, and this research method can not explain the origin of Dai.

The natives said. This view holds that the Dai people have lived in the arc zone from the west of the Red River to the upper reaches of the Irrawaddy River and along the manipo of India since ancient times. Its formation is the natural result of economic and cultural development, not the result of migration. However, there are different views on the evolution of the Dai nationality. For example, Huang Huikun believes that the Dai ancestors are ancient Yue people, while Chen lvfan believes that the Dai nationality evolved from Shan people. Among them, ancient Yue people have the greatest influence. This view holds that "Dian Yue", "Shan State", "Yue Shang" and "Peng state" in Chinese historical books are countries established by Dai ancestors, but some scholars have questioned this view. For example, He Ping believes that "Dian Yue", "Shan State", "Yue Shang" and "Peng state" have nothing to do with Dai ancestors; Zheng Xiaoyun believes that Baiyue is not a nation, and naturally there is no national inheritance.

development

China

Many scholars believe that some ethnic groups in the Song Dynasty mentioned in ancient Chinese books were the ancestors of the Dai nationality in China. They believe that the "mangman tribe" recorded in the Manshu is the ancestors of the Dai nationality in today's Xishuangbanna; Zheng Xiaoyun believes that the ancient Dian state was the first Kingdom established by the Dai nationality. According to the records in the history of Chen, around 1180 ad, the Dai people in today's Xishuangbanna unified all Dai tribes under the leadership of Bazhen and established the Jinglong Jindian state. The establishment of Menghe regime marked the formal formation of Dai people, the main body of Dai nationality in Xishuangbanna. In addition, some scholars also believe that Ailao recorded in Chinese ancient books may be one of the early Dai and Thai nationalities, and some of them may be integrated into the Dai nationality in China.

During the yuan and Ming Dynasties, the economic and cultural exchanges between the Han and Dai people were also closer. In particular, a large number of Han people moved to the frontier. The advanced production technology and cultural science in the mainland were widely spread in the Dai areas, which rapidly promoted the social and economic development of the Dai people. Records in the early Yuan Dynasty show that Dai people in Dehong area still used slaves to work at that time. During the yuan and Ming Dynasties, Dai areas in various regions successively entered the feudal lord society, and social production had further development. The use of iron has become quite common. New varieties of crops have also been added, and cotton has been widely planted. Handicraft industry also has new development, with the emergence of precious "dry cliff brocade", "silk curtain" and other beautiful handicrafts. Business is active, and there are large commercial towns such as car.

The Dai nationality region is located in the frontier and bears the brunt of the imperialist invasion. Imperialism not only carried out economic aggression, plundered a large number of resources and dumped goods, but also carried out political, military and cultural aggression, sent spies and spies, went deep into the border areas in the name of exploration, investigation, travel and missionary work, collected intelligence, mapped maps, attracted the upper class of the people, undermined ethnic relations, and even carried out naked armed invasion. In order to defend the territory of the motherland, the Dai, Han, Jingpo, WA and other people launched many armed struggles against the aggression of British and French imperialism at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

During the Anti Japanese War, the Dai people, together with the people of the whole country, devoted themselves to the armed struggle against Japanese fascism and made contributions to safeguarding the sacred territory of the motherland's frontier. The Yunnan Myanmar railway was built in 1938. The leaders of Dai, WA and other ethnic groups under the jurisdiction of Gengma chieftain Han Futing and Mengding chieftain Han Wanxian personally commanded migrant workers and participated in the construction of the Mao road of the railway. After the Japanese occupied western Yunnan, the Anti Japanese guerrillas of all nationalities fought tenaciously with the enemy, including the Dai Han Youth salvation regiment led by Yang Bingnan, the self-defense army in the western border area of Yunnan led by Dao jingban, the Dai chieftain, and the gengcang detachment established by Han Yuqing, the chieftain of Gengma. During the war of resistance against Japan, the Yunnan Myanmar highway was the most important channel for China to receive foreign aid, known as the "main artery of China's war of resistance against Japan". The Dai people participated in the emergency repair of the Yunnan Myanmar highway for many times, ensuring the smoothness of the road. In 1944, the Anti Japanese war in western Yunnan turned into a major counter offensive. Finally, on January 20, 1945, the Japanese aggressors were expelled from menbuting, and finally won the victory of the Anti Japanese war in western Yunnan. The Anti Japanese war in western Yunnan is known as "a model of total annihilation and defense of the enemy and a pioneer in recovering the land", which has laid an important foundation for the victory of the national anti Japanese war. The Dai region implements regional national autonomy. So far, two autonomous prefectures and seven autonomous counties have been established.

Thailand

There is no direct evidence to prove when the Dai people moved into Thailand, but many scholars believe that it should be around the 10th century that the Dai people entered today's Thailand and established a state there.

Literature records in northern Thailand show that a Dai village appeared on the Bank of the Binhe river near nanben in 1150. In 1263, King Manglai, who was related to King Mengxi of Xishuangbanna, established the city of King Manglai in Qinglai, and then occupied nanben. In 1296, King manlai established Chiang Mai new town. In 1350, Chiang Mai had controlled Lanna area.

Myanmar

It is generally believed that after the 6th century, the Dai nationality has begun to move from Yunnan to northern Myanmar. From the 7th to the 10th century, the Dai people in Myanmar were under the rule of Nanzhao state, but there was a dispute whether Nanzhao state was the regime established by Dai ancestors. Chinese scholars generally believed that Nanzhao state was not the regime established by Dai ancestors, and some foreign scholars also held this view. In the 10th-11th century, the Dai nationality established a country called "mengmaolong" in northern Myanmar, that is, Luchuan regime recorded in Chinese historical records. In 1229, SangLong entered the present Assam region of India.

During the Yuan Dynasty, the vast majority of Shan people outside Myanmar, like Dai people in Yunnan, were still under the control of China's central dynasty. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Dai Shan nationality in the border area between China and Myanmar in western Yunnan gradually got rid of the control of the Yuan Dynasty and formed a separatist regime.

After the unification of the Ming Dynasty, silenfa occupied Luchuan. Except Cheli and other areas, almost all Dai Shan ethnic areas on both sides of the China Myanmar border were annexed by Luchuan. Si Lun FA is called the "king of Luchuan". The "Luchuan state" ruled by Si Lun FA has a tendency to develop independently from the territory of the Ming Dynasty. After the death of Si Lun FA, the Dai tribes originally annexed by Luchuan broke away from Luchuan regime and became independent. The Ming government seized this opportunity and established many chieftain regimes respectively. When Si Renfa, the son of Si Lunfa, ruled, "Luchuan" forces continued to expand. During the orthodox years, they successively invaded 278 villages, including luoboszhuang, to which Nandian belonged, and invaded Nandian, Ganya, Tengchong, Lujiang, Jinchi and other places. They seized Lujiang and other places and prepared to attack Yunlong Prefecture. They also ordered their subordinates to kill the garrison troops in Wadian, Shunjiang, Jiangdong and other places. Finally, it led to the "three expeditions of Luchuan" in the Ming Dynasty.

During the British colonial rule, the Shan area was called the Shan Federation. In 1952, Burmese government troops invaded Shan State on the grounds of expelling Chinese Kuomintang troops. In 1958, the Shan army and people had a fierce armed conflict with the Myanmar army on the land of Shan state. The more famous one was the "Dangyang war", in which the Shan side suffered heavy casualties. In December 1993, kunsha, the "drug king" who tried to be the leader of the Shan national independence movement, declared the area under his control as the so-called "Shan independent state" and self styled as the "President" after supporting the army for 20000. In April 2005, the Shan State Army publicly announced the "establishment of the Shan federal government and independence from the union of Myanmar"; Its leader Zhao Yaoshi reiterated in 2006 that he would continue to fight with the military government, "fight to one soldier and one soldier" and "never give up his dream of striving for independence".

Vietnam?

Vietnamese scholar Deng Yanwan believes that the Dai ethnic group distributed in Northeast Vietnam and some surrounding areas formed the earliest, while the emergence and formation time of the Dai Thai Ethnic Group and its branches distributed in Northwest Vietnam are inconsistent in the academic circles. Some scholars believe that the ancient Thai people "considered" to have established a country in Northwest Vietnam as early as the 3rd-4th century BC, However, some scholars believe that it was not until the 10th-14th century that the ancestors of Dai Tai nationality successively moved into northwest Vietnam.

Deng Yanwan believes that the ancestors of the Dai Tai nationality can be traced back to the ancient Luoyue people and some related ethnic groups distributed in Guangxi, Yunnan and northern Vietnam at that time, but their final formation was after the failure of Nong Zhigao in the 11th century.

Laos

He Ping believes that the early AI prison is probably the earliest old clan. Laurent chaxi believes that the Thai began to migrate to Laos in the 9th century. In the 11th century, Thai immigrants from Yunnan, Guangxi and northern Vietnam began to affect Laos. He Ping believes that about the 10th-13th century, with the integration and development of primitive Thai speaking ethnic groups and their integration with Mon Khmer speaking ethnic groups, modern Lao ethnic groups initially formed.

India

The largest number of Dai Thai people in India is called ahomu people. Many scholars believe that they moved from Dehong, China in the early 13th century. The ahomu people who moved west settled in the Brahmaputra River Basin and established a kingdom called "mengdun sunhan". In 1838, the last king of the kingdom was deposed by the British and the kingdom was declared extinct.

Under the British rule, the interests of ahomb people were damaged to varying degrees, and even regarded as Dalits. Therefore, from the beginning, the ahomb people constantly launched the struggle against British colonial rule, but these struggles failed one after another. These struggles failed, and new nationalist movements emerged among the intellectuals of the ahomb, such as the language revival movement, the establishment of magazines and so on.

In order to protect their rights, in 1893, the ahomu people organized and established the "all ahomu people's Association of Assam" and launched the "movement for the right to independent elections", but it failed to realize. After India's independence, the ahomb people were not included in the list of "scheduled tribes". Therefore, the struggle for national rights of the ahomb people once turned to the struggle for "scheduled tribes". While striving to become a listed tribe, some Ahom people and organizations have also carried out a series of campaigns aimed at reviving the ethnic identity and national culture of Ahom people.

Since the establishment of the chieftain system in the feudal dynasties of the yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Xishuangbanna has been canonized by the central dynasty as the "summoning leader" (meaning "the Lord of the vast land") of the "chariot messenger", and has become the Supreme Lord and ruler of Xishuangbanna for generations. Here, all land, mountains, forests, water sources, etc. belong to the summoner. Zhaoling also enfeoffed his clan and confidants as the ruler of a region, known as "ZHAOMENG" (meaning "the Lord of a place"), and inherited the land and people in the territory. Under the feudal lord's large-scale land ownership system, one part of the land was directly occupied by the Lord and became a private village and a salary field given to the family officials, and the other part was the land of serfs. The land was collectively owned by the village. The Lord used the form of land distribution in the remaining rural communes in history to distribute the land to serfs through the village leaders. Serfs must bear all kinds of feudal burden when they get seed land. This feudal burden is the main means for the Lord to exploit serfs.

Before the founding of new China, the lords at all levels, including zhaopianling, ZHAOMENG, "Bolang" (officials sent by zhaopianling or ZHAOMENG to supervise officials at all levels within the jurisdiction and force farmers to bear the feudal burden), as well as the leaders in power of village communities, constituted the Lord group, accounting for about 7% of the total population. In rural areas, except for "Zhaozhuang", a "free farmer" differentiated by the Lord group, which accounts for 5.7% of the total number of farmers, the Lord divided the majority of serfs into "Daimeng" and "gunjizhao". Dai Meng (meaning "native" or "the earliest person to build a village") accounts for about 55% of the total households. It is the earliest resident. Its status is higher than that of other levels of serfs and occupies more land - "zhaigong Tian". Gunjizhao (meaning "people of the official family" or "people in the master's son's family") accounts for about 39% of the total number of households. It is a collective of serfs belonging to the Lord because of the loss of land and personal freedom for various social reasons. It has the lowest social status and is the most exploited. In addition to the heavy official rent and unpaid cultivation of the Lord's private farms and salary fields, Daimeng serfs also bear all kinds of unpaid public service, such as road construction, bridge construction, water conservancy and so on. On the other hand, the serfs of the kunchizhao class were forced to take on the Lord's various household labor, such as raising horses, raising elephants, cooking, lifting sedans, rowing, even cutting stool sticks, crying and mourning. There are more than 100 kinds of names, which are contracted by villages and inherited from generation to generation.

In order to suppress the resistance of the serfs, the lords had a set of political institutions to maintain feudal rule. Under the banner of the summon, there is a "deliberative chamber", which is an organ of power and deliberative body, responsible for handling all daily affairs. Each Meng has a "Council". Below Meng is "Huoxi", which manages several village communities, and its leader is called "bahuoxi". Below "Huoxi" is the village community, with leaders at all levels of "Ba", "Xi" and "Xian". It also has an army, courts and prisons.

Dehong, Menglian, Gengma and other border Dai areas outside Xishuangbanna are generally the same as Xishuangbanna, basically belonging to the feudal lord economy. However, new changes have taken place in the social economy of these areas, the land occupied by farmers is becoming more and more stable, even hereditary possession, and physical land rent is also common. In Mangshi, Yingjiang and other places, due to more contact with the Han nationality, they have been greatly affected. The landlord economy has developed rapidly, and the rich peasant economy has also developed. The development of landlord and rich peasant economy has promoted the disintegration of large land ownership, the disintegration of village community organizations, and its socio-economic form is a step ahead of Xishuangbanna.

The oppression and exploitation of the feudal system caused the continuous resistance of the Dai people. The Dai people cursed the feudal system with incomparable hatred: "you are the water, we don't drink; you are the road, we don't walk; you are the sun, we don't bask in the millet; you are the Buddha, we don't worship!" in the mid-19th century, the Dai and Jingpo people in xuangangba, Dehong, under the leadership of "Buxing Ermen", held a joint uprising against the brutal rule of the chieftain of Mangshi. The struggle lasted for three years and was finally suppressed by the chieftain and the rulers of the Qing Dynasty, but the flame of people's resistance was not extinguished. Soon, a joint uprising of all ethnic groups led by the famous singer "hunyihaihan" broke out in Mangshi. He used his song to expose the crimes of feudal lords, stimulate the class hatred of farmers, and call on everyone to resist. When the farmers around heard his song, they joined the uprising and refused to pay official rent. After the uprising failed, the chieftain killed "hunyihaihan". However, the Dai people will always miss this heroic singer and regard him as the "God of singing". In the past hundred years, the struggle between Dai people and feudal chieftains and chiefs has been common.

faith

In terms of religion, the Dai people in the frontier generally believe in southern Theravada Buddhism, which belongs to Mahayana Buddhism, while retaining the remnants of primitive ghost worship. The Dai people in the mainland worship "Dragon God" and "dragon tree", and there are religious professionals "Bo Meng" and "Shiniang" to perform divination and cure diseases on behalf of others. In Jinggu and other areas, there are also people who believe in Theravada Buddhism.

Southern Theravada Buddhism

Theravada Buddhism was introduced from Myanmar into Yunnan, China in the middle of the 7th century. After Theravada Buddhism was introduced into Yunnan, it entered a development period around the 8th century and reached its peak from the 10th to 15th centuries. The original classics were only handed down by word of mouth. Around the 11th century, the Buddhist scriptures written in tairun instruments were introduced into Xishuangbanna through Myanmar. After the creation of Dai language, Beiye scriptures were engraved. Theravada Buddhism in Lincang and Pu'er was introduced later than that in Xishuangbanna and Dehong. According to the historical records of Gengma County, Buddhism was introduced into Gengma County in 1473 A.D. from Shan state of Myanmar. Theravada Buddhism was introduced into Jinggu in the mid-17th century.

Southern Theravada Buddhism has formed many sects in Yunnan. According to its name, it can be divided into four sects: run, paizhuang, duolie and Zuoji. Theravada Buddhism popular in Dai areas such as Dalong, Jinghong and Han in Xishuangbanna belongs to the run sect, which is the Linju sect and lives in the mountains and forests. Monks brought Dai runwen Buddhist scriptures, and later established Pagoda Temple and formulated monk system. Since then, runpai Buddhism was introduced into Dehong and Lincang areas. In addition, there are two factions in Dehong and Lincang areas: duolie and Zuotai. These two factions were originally Lin Ju. After they were introduced into Dai areas, they were changed to village Ju, often near villages or villages. There is also paizhuang sect, which is popular among the Dai people in Dehong and Baoshan areas. This sect was introduced from Wa City, Myanmar.

Because Hinayana Buddhism advocates that men should live a religious life away from their families in their life, so that they can get rid of hard work and accumulate good, become a new educated person, and have social status when they grow up, there were many Buddhist temples in rural areas in the past, and it was common to send their children to become monks. Especially in Xishuangbanna, almost all underage men have to live a monk life, read and chant scriptures, and then return home. Some are monks for life. Dai's Buddhist monks are extremely frequent and devout. As all households in the village have the obligation to jointly bear the expenses of monasteries and the life of monks, together with the funds for other religious activities, they account for about 1 / 5 of the agricultural income of farmers, which has become a heavy burden on farmers. After the founding of new China, the unreasonable religious burden was lifted.

Since the 1990s, Dai society in China has been divided in religious ideas. The elderly still carry out religious activities according to religious traditions, while the religious ideas of young people have been significantly weakened. One of its important manifestations is that many families no longer send their children to Buddhist temples as monks. Middle-aged and young people generally believe that reading is more important than entering temples. On the other hand, young people have no objection to traditional religious activities and ethics.

Primitive religious belief

Dai people also worship the social gods of their villages. In Dai language, they are called "dilaman", also known as "phiman". They are protective gods. They sacrifice twice a year. Before planting seedlings, they pray for a good harvest, and after autumn harvest, they want to collectively kill a cow or a pig. Each family prepares tributes and sends them to the room dedicated to the social gods. After reading the sacrifice words, everyone eats together. New members of the society should offer chicken, wine and bacon sticks to the social gods. Slaughtering sacrificial animals in Menghai and other places still retains the custom of plagiarizing cattle and eating cowhide. The Dai people in Yuanjiang, Xinping and other places generally worship the dragon tree and Dragon God. When the Dai people along Yuanjiang River sacrifice the dragon tree in March of the lunar calendar every year, the whole village will kill the Red Bull. Before killing, they will draw patterns on the red bull with white ash and wear red and green cloth on the cow. In the same month, pigs were sacrificed to "heaven, earth and mother" in order to protect the safety of livestock.

Clothes & Accessories

female sex

Women traditionally wear short clothes with narrow sleeves and tube skirts.

Dai women in Xishuangbanna wear white or crimson underwear with small waist, wide hem and colorful tube skirts.

Women in Dehong Mangshi and other places wore light colored blouses, trousers and small aprons before marriage. After marriage, they changed to a pair of blouses and a black tube skirt.

The clothing of Dai women in the mainland is basically the same as that in the border areas, but it has regional characteristics. Therefore, it is often called "Huayao Dai" and "big sleeve Dai" by other nationalities. For example, Dai women in Xinping, Yuxi City use a special flower belt of more than Zhang to tie a tube skirt, which is named "flower waist Dai". Their costumes are mainly black and red. Their close fitting short coats are as long as the upper waist. The neckline is made of fine silver bubbles to form a diamond pattern staggered up and down. The waist is decorated with an embroidered belt up to five or six meters long. They wear a pointed "chicken fir" hat with an upturned brim.

The charming headdress and dress of "huayaodai" are very similar to the figures on the bronze ware of Yunnan unearthed in Shizhaishan, Jinning and Lijiashan, Jiangchuan. They have the common characteristics of vertebral bun, short skirt and tube skirt, which proves that they are in the same line.

Male

Dai men wear collarless short shirts with small sleeves and large lapels. They wear long trousers and blankets in cold weather. They usually wrap their heads with white or green cloth. The custom of men's tattoo is very common. It not only shows courage, but also can exorcise evil spirits, protect the body and decorate the body.

When a boy is about 11 years old, he asks for tattoos. Most of the tattoos are dominated by tigers, leopards, lions, dragons, snakes and eagles. Most of the parts are limbs, chest, abdomen and back. Generally, it takes two days for one leg and seven to eight days for the whole body.

diet

Dai's staple food is rice. Dehong area eats japonica rice, Xishuangbanna and other places like glutinous rice, which is usually pounded and eaten now. Dai's famous fragrant bamboo rice, also known as bamboo tube rice, is made by putting glutinous rice in fragrant bamboo tube, soaking it in water for 15 minutes and baking it over fire. When eating, beat the bamboo tube to make it soft, and the bamboo film on the inner wall of the bamboo tube will be pasted on the rice. Cut it in half with a knife, and the fragrant bamboo rice will come out from the bamboo. The aroma is rich, and the rice is soft and delicate. There is also a unique pineapple purple rice, which tastes sweet and delicious, and has the effect of tonifying blood and moistening lung. Workers who go out often eat in the wild. They use banana leaves to hold a ball of glutinous rice. They can eat with salt, pepper, sour meat, roast chicken, Nanmi and moss pine. Meat includes pigs, cattle, chickens and ducks. They don't eat or eat less mutton. They are good at roast chicken and roast chicken. They like fish, shrimp, crab, snail, moss and other aquatic products. The vegetables we often eat are cabbage, radish, bamboo shoots and beans.

Dai people also eat insects. Dai area is humid and hot, and there are many kinds of insects. Insects that are often eaten include cicadas, bamboo insects, big spiders, field turtles, ant eggs, etc. Cicadas are caught in the summer evening. When the cicada community is in the grass, the cicada wings are soaked in dew and can't fly. The women quickly pick the cicadas into the bamboo basket and bake them in the pot to make sauce when they go home. Cicada sauce has the medical effects of clearing away heat, detoxification, pain and swelling. Bamboo is abundant in Dai areas, and there are many bamboo insects. People find bamboo eaten by bamboo insects in the bamboo forest. Cut it along the upper section, and the bamboo pupa is among them. Sometimes a small bowl can be obtained in a bamboo section. Chop the bamboo insect pupae carefully, add fried rice flour and seasoning, dip them with lettuce, or cook them with water for a while, fry them in oil, and fry them with eggs. They are crispy and delicious. The Dai people also eat ant eggs, which are produced by rhubarb ants growing in trees. Ant eggs are mainly cold, washed and scalded in boiling water, and then added with spices such as garlic, salt and vinegar, plus their favorite vegetables.

It is a special flavor dish of Dai nationality to use moss as food. The moss eaten by the Dai people is the moss on the rocks in the river in spring. It is better to be dark green. After fishing, it is torn into thin slices and dried. It is put on with bamboo strips for use. When cooking, fry the thick one in oil, bake the thin one in fire, crumple it into a bowl after crispness, pour the boiling oil, then stir it with salt, and dip it in glutinous rice or bacon. It tastes very delicious.

Dai people have the custom of eating flowers. There are more than 30 kinds of wild flowers that are often eaten, such as Panzhihua, Tangli flower, white Rhododendron, Huangfan flower, beet flower, banana flower, bitter cold cauliflower, Erythrina flower, Canary flower, egg flower, bitter thorn flower, curved root flower, panteng flower and a flower called "moxie" in Dai language.

Raw, fresh, sour, spicy and wild are the characteristics of Dai cuisine. Dai people believe that eating sour heart, refreshing eyes, helping digestion, and relieving heat and fever; Eating sweet can increase calories, relieve fatigue and prevent hepatitis; Eating spicy food can open your appetite, increase your appetite, enhance your body's resistance and prevent colds; The food is raw, fresh, delicious and comfortable. In Dai Flavor, sour is the most delicious. All dishes and snacks are mainly sour, such as sour bamboo shoots, sour pea powder, sour meat and wild sour fruit. The most common food is sour bamboo shoots. Cut the fresh bamboo shoots into silk, float and soak them in clean water, then take them into a large cylinder, press them tightly and seal them, and place them for half a month to turn sour. Dai people have hundreds of kilograms of sour bamboo shoots in any house, which can't be separated for a day. Dai flavor seasoning is very unique, including sarong, Nami and so on.

Liquor is loved by the Dai people. It is usually brewed at home. The degree is not high and the taste is sweet. Tea is a local specialty, but Dai people only drink big leaf tea without spices. When drinking, stir fry slightly on the fire until scorched, brew and drink with a slightly paste taste. The habit of chewing betel nut is also very common. Chewing betel nut should be mixed with tobacco and lime all day long.

Architecture

Ganlan architecture is the characteristic of Dai's residence. The bamboo buildings of Dai nationality in Xishuangbanna and Dehong Ruili have a unique style. The building is nearly square, with two floors. The upper floor is inhabited, about 7 feet away from the ground. The lower floor has no wall, which is used to raise livestock and stack things. The top is double inclined and covered with woven "grass rows". There are corridors and drying platforms for drying and cooling. The Dai people in most areas of Dehong live in bungalows, with bamboo walls or adobe walls, covered with thatch, mostly quadrangles. The Dai bamboo house in Chuxiong Yi mountain has a wide and gentle roof. Its main function is ventilation, sun protection and cooling, followed by rain protection; * the houses are built up and people live upstairs, which can avoid the heat and humidity on the ground and prevent insect infestation. The beams and columns are connected inside and outside, integrated and very firm, which can prevent the worry of earthquake; There are only a few columns downstairs. In case of river flooding, the bamboo building can be kept intact under normal circumstances. In the Yi mountain Dai area, every family has built bamboo buildings, and most of them are the main residence of the Dai people.

The interior of Dai bamboo house is divided into two parts with a fence. The inner room is small and is a bedroom. Outsiders are not allowed to enter; The outer room is spacious. The inner part is the main room, which is the place to receive guests. The outer part is equipped with a fire pond, which is the place for heating and cooking. The fire pond and the iron tripod on it are sacred. They can't be crossed, kicked or removed at will. There is a corridor outside the building. On one side, there is a wooden ladder downstairs and on the other side, there is an open-air balcony. On the balcony, there are water pots and pans, surrounded by fences for family members to wash and shower. The bamboo roof is herringbone. The roof is divided into upper and lower floors. In the past, it was mostly covered with thatch. With the improvement of Dai People's life, the thatch on the roof has been replaced by tiles.

In the Dai area with large climate change, few flat dams and many mountains, and living near the foot of the mountain, thick and solid flat top earth palm houses are replaced. The earth Palm House is a civil structure, which is generally two floors. People live on the first floor, grain and sundries are stacked on the second floor, and livestock are built separately. The wall has two layers, up to three feet thick, which plays a unique role in preventing heat, cooling, cold and warmth. The plane roof compacted by civil engineering is up to five to ten inches thick. You can enjoy the cool on the flat roof in summer and turn the grain on the roof during autumn harvest, which makes effective use of the space.

Languages

Dai

Dai has its own national language, which is called Dai, Thai and Lao respectively due to its distribution. It belongs to the Taiwanese branch of the Dong Tai language family (Zhuang Dong language family) of the Sino Tibetan language family.

About 66 million people around the world use Dai. Like Chinese, it is a tone language dominated by monosyllabic. Due to the long history of differentiation and cross-border distribution, although there are still a considerable number of homologous words in Dai language, there are great differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. For example, Bai Dai language has 22 consonants and Thai has only 21 consonants, so it is difficult to talk to each other.

Dai language

The characters used by the Dai nationality are Dai characters, which are a kind of Pinyin characters, and their characters are Dai characters. The Dai language has a variety of dialects, of which four are used by the Dai people in China, namely, Dai Yu language (Xishuangbanna Dai language), Jinping Dai language, Dai Na language (Dehong Dai language), Dai tau language, and Thai and Lao outside China. After improvements in the 1950s, two Dai languages, Xishuangbanna and Dehong, are widely used in China.

It is generally believed that the Dai language originates from the ancient Indian writing system, and its formation is directly related to the eastward spread of Buddhism and the belief in Mahayana Buddhism of the Dai nationality. However, the specific writing system is controversial, mainly from the two viewpoints of Pali and granti letters, which can be traced back to the Brahmi language introduced into ancient India in the eighth century BC.

Dai, Thai and Lao all group consonants, mainly indicating tone categories. However, the differences between the three languages are also obvious. For example, the Dai language is divided into two groups according to the clear and turbid ancient initials; The ancient Qing letters of Thai and Lao also distinguish between aspirated and non aspirated, plus voiced sound, which are divided into three groups.

literature

Folk Literature

The development of Dai literature can be roughly divided into four stages: first, the emergence and development of ancient songs, myths and creation epics; Second, the formation and prosperity of heroic epics, legends and ballads; Third, the rise and prosperity of story and narrative long poems; Fourth, the vigorous period of new literature.

The famous Dai ancient ballads contains 30 Dai ancient songs, which reflects the production activities and living conditions of Dai ancestors in the primitive period. Myths about the origin of heaven and earth include yingba's pioneering work, ancient lotus, fermeigapa (big fire burning the sky), myths about the origin of human beings include Hulu man, Hulu laying eggs, human fruit, dirt clay figurine, flood myths include Hulu's race, totem myths include bird girl, elephant's daughter, cow's daughter, etc. Epics include Bata Maga bangshangluo, bianzagongpa (Ancient Lotus), thin wood pass, and the origin of all things in heaven and earth. The heroic epic includes Li Feng. Ballads are mainly love songs, custom songs, labor songs, nursery rhymes, etc.

Dai people have about 500 long narrative poems. The Dai traditional long narrative poems that are still preserved have a wide range of themes and rich contents, including those that sing about human creation activities, such as busangai and wasangai and kunsa, those that praise the entrepreneurial deeds of their ancestors, such as BA alawu shooting the golden deer, those that reflect historical events, such as Zhao Wang Xiang Zhao Wang Shuo, the history of mengmao and Jingqian war, and expose the greed and cruelty of the ruling class "E and sanluo", "Zhao shutun", social contradictions revealed through the main line of love, such as "Lang Jingbu" and "thread show", as well as "Rainbow" and "song of Liushahe", which show the new socialist life after the founding of new China.

a martial art

Wushu is called "Fen Zheng" in Xishuangbanna Dai language and "Jia Quan" in Dehong area. In the past, when Dai men were 14 or 5 years old, they generally had to learn several sets of martial arts to defend themselves, the enemy and wild animals. Yongle Village in Tengchong County is known as the "hometown of Dai martial arts" because all men, women, old and young practice martial arts.

Dai Wushu has widely absorbed the contents of Han Taijiquan, Changquan, Xingyiquan and Qigong, and introduced martial arts from Myanmar and Thailand to form a unique style. The steps are mostly based on Siping horse step, bow step and kneeling step. The steps are stable and strong, with clear rhythm. They often borrow strength and strength to win skillfully.

There are four schools of Dai Wushu in Xishuangbanna: one is the local school dominated by boxing, the other is the Han school dominated by sticks, the third is the Myanmar school dominated by long knives, and the fourth is the Thai school dominated by short knives. There are more than 130 sets of Wushu in total.

Among martial arts, boxing is the most abundant and has the most local characteristics, including Dahong boxing, Xiaohong boxing, puhu boxing, Sifang boxing, tiger tail lifting boxing, crab boxing, plum blossom boxing, etc.

Dai people are also good at blending the gestures of various animals into martial arts to form unique frog boxing, snake boxing, peacock boxing, Lusi boxing, monkey boxing and so on.

calendar

Dai ancestors had mastered the movement law of the sun, moon and stars thousands of years ago, and arranged their life and production according to the movement law of the sun, moon and stars.

history

In A.D. 51, the Dai alliance country "mengdaguang" (Chinese translation "Ailao state") was annexed to the Han Dynasty. After the Taichu calendar of the Han Dynasty was introduced into the Dai area, it further improved the Dai ancestors' understanding of the laws of sun, moon and stars movement.

In AD 69, the Han Dynasty annexed "mengdaguang" (Ailao state) and established Yongchang County. Taichu calendar was comprehensively promoted in Dai areas, gradually integrated into Dai People's life and production, and was regarded by Dai people as a part of their own national culture; The state of Biao in the south of "mengdaguang" (Yongchang County) also absorbed the Taichu calendar of the Han Dynasty through the Dai nationality.

In the 7th century A.D., the state of PYU (Sri QARA Dynasty) created the PYU calendar on the basis of the Taichu calendar; In 832 ad, the state of PYU was captured by the Dai alliance country "mengshelong" (Chinese translation "Nanzhao state"), and the PYU people fled everywhere and gradually integrated into the Diqiang ethnic group southward of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau to form the Myanmar ethnic group. In the middle of the 16th century, the Burmese Dongxu state, which inherited the Pyo culture, successively conquered various states of the Dai nationality, brought the Pyo calendar to the Dai area, and the Dai nationality gradually accepted the Pyo calendar.

In 1966, Shan State (one of the member states of the union of Myanmar) reformed the PYU calendar used at that time as the standard calendar; Because the main ethnic group of Shan state is Shan, Shan people call themselves "Da Dai", so the standard calendar of Shan state is called "Da Dai calendar", while the previously used PI calendar is reduced to "Xiao Dai calendar". After that, Shan ethnic groups in all parts of Myanmar also adjusted their own calendar to Shan state standard. At the end of the 20th century, the Dai people in western Yunnan and Assam people in Northeast India, who belong to the same "Da Dai" as the Shan people in Myanmar, also adjusted their own calendar to the standard of Shan state.

rule

Although the Dai calendar can be divided into "big Dai calendar" and "little Dai calendar", the basic calculation rules remain the same. Only the starting year of the chronology is different. "Big Dai calendar" takes 95 BC as the starting year of the chronology, and "little Dai calendar" takes 638 ad as the starting year of the chronology.

The Dai calendar uses 10 female (heavenly stems) and 12 sub (earth branches) cycles to get 60 combinations. The 60 combination cycles represent the order of year, month, day and hour, which are used repeatedly. Generally, there are 12 months, which are divided into three seasons: cold, hot and rainy. Each quarter is 4 months, 30 days in a single month, 29 days in a bimonthly and 354 days in a year; Every four to five years, a leap day is added in August, and August is 29 + 1 days. This year is called a normal year, and there are 355 days in a year; Seven leap months are set every 19 years, all of which are set in September. Leap September is also 30 days. The year in which leap months are set is called leap year. A year has 13 months and 384 days. Each month is divided into "Moonrise" and "moonfall". After the dark day of the previous month (the last day of each month), it is called "Moonrise day", and the sequence is counted to the watch day (15th day). After the watch day, it is called "the next day of the month", and the sequence is counted to the dark day. Use seven Obsidian (sun, moon, Mars, mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn) Sunday; Twelve zodiacal signs (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog and pig) are recorded.

The regression length of the Dai calendar year is 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes and 36 seconds (365.258 days), which has a certain error with the modern standard regression year (5:48:46 seconds on 365 days). The new moon is 29.530583 days (according to the modern standard, the new moon is 29.53059 days). Therefore, leap days or leap months need to be placed in a certain stage to supplement the error.

The month sequence of the Dai calendar is generally three months earlier than that of the Chinese lunar calendar. October of the Chinese lunar calendar is January of the Dai calendar. If the month before October of the Chinese lunar calendar is intercalated, the month sequence of the Dai calendar is November of the Chinese lunar calendar, and the month sequence is only two months earlier than that of the Chinese lunar calendar. For example, January 1 of the great Dai calendar 2107 (the little Dai calendar 1373) is equivalent to the second day of November of the Renchen year of the lunar calendar, and the lunar calendar is intercalated in April of that year, So two months earlier; The leap year is one year earlier than the lunar calendar; Due to the early new moon, the first day of the moon does not necessarily coincide with the new moon, sometimes one day different from the lunar calendar.

medicine

According to the Dai medicine theory, there are four substances in nature, namely "vayota" (wind), "Dad zhuota" (fire), "abota" (water) and "batavita (SHI). All things cannot grow without these four substances, and the" four towers "are used to vividly explain people's physiological phenomena and pathological changes. It is considered that health is the" four towers "in the human body At the same time, it also shows that the "four towers" in the body can maintain this dynamic balance and coordination relationship with the "four towers" in the outside world.

The theory of Dai medicine also absorbs the thought of "five Yun" in Buddhist doctrine, that is, to summarize the organizational structure and physiological phenomena of human body from five aspects: color, reception, thinking, behavior and knowledge, which are respectively: lubakanta (body Yun), vidakanta (perception Yun), Xianya lakanta (perception Yun) and Wenya lakanta (heart Yun). Dai medicine also combines the five Yun with the "five precepts" (the Buddhist commandments of secular believers, such as killing, stealing, prostitution, nonsense and drinking), emphasize the five commandments when seeing a doctor and prescribing medicine to ensure physical and mental health.

The prescriptions, prescriptions and treatment methods of the Dai nationality introduced in Dai medicine books are different from western medicine and Chinese medicine in the mainland. Some prescriptions even have the effect of "folk prescriptions killing famous doctors". In Xishuangbanna and Dehong, there have been "eight famous Prescriptions" in Dai medicine: "Ya's name is pazhongbu", "Ya Xi (SHA) Li mennan", "Ya Ji", "Ya pengleng" "Gunga xianen", "Ma denghan", "Ya's name is Hadden" and "Ya's name is not brave". Among them, "Ya's name is Hadden" was included in the Pharmacopoeia of the people's Republic of China in the 1970s, and "Ya Xili mennan" and "Ya's name is pazhongbu" were included in the drug standards of Yunnan Province.

Dai doctors mainly diagnose diseases by looking, smelling, asking, touching and cutting. Dai doctors also diagnose diseases and choose different treatment methods according to patients' skin color, physique and sick seasons (Dai people divide a year into hot season, rainy season and cold season). Dai doctors divide drugs into "Yahuang" (hot medicine), "yagain" (cold medicine) and "Yamo" (plain medicine) In addition to the three methods of internal administration, external use and combined internal and external treatment, Dai medical drugs also have some unique methods, such as sleeping medicine, dressing medicine, steaming medicine, fumigation medicine, grinding medicine, pricking medicine, etc.

There are still Dai medical documents, mainly including gayashan Haya, marusaro, Pharmacopoeia, medical books, medical books and pathology In 1990, Xishuangbanna Dai Medicine Research Institute made statistics on Dai Folk Medicine in the whole Prefecture, collected more than 200 copies of Dai Medicine Classics and shell leaf scriptures, registered 73 copies of Dai medicine books scattered everywhere, investigated and counted 1208 kinds of Dai medicine, 405 kinds of prescriptions, 125 Dai medicine prescriptions, 729 kinds of Dai medicine specimens and 253 kinds of samples.

In 1983, the state identified Dai medicine as one of the four major ethnic medicines in China. On April 10, 1988, Xishuangbanna Dai medicine hospital was established, forming a new pattern of trinity of scientific research, clinic and teaching. Dehong and Simao also successively established ethnic medicine research institutions. Many Dai medicine experts and Han Science and technology personnel have done a lot of excavation, research and sorting work on Dai medicine He has successively compiled one episode of Xishuangbanna medicine, notes on prescriptions of ancient Dai medicine, one to four episodes of Xishuangbanna medicine Chronicles (three episodes printed in the prefecture), and Jinghong county has officially translated and published file Haya, Xishuangbanna family health knowledge, Dai drug story, gayashan Haya, etc. with the efforts of relevant units in Yunnan Province, he has also compiled Dai muscle relaxation Album. Xishuangbanna Institute of ethnic medicine compiled the trial teaching material for clinical courses of special classes in Dai medical secondary schools. At the end of 1991, the Institute studied and completed the book "four pagodas and five Yun" which discussed human physiological anatomy and explained human physiological phenomena and pathological changes. At the beginning of 1991, it also specially compiled and printed the album of Dai medicine.

papermaking

The Dai people in mangtuan village, Mengding Town, Gengma county also have the technology of manual papermaking.

Women are the main labor and technical experts in mangtuan manual papermaking. Every process in the workshop is completed by women.

The raw material of papermaking is leather.

The processes include soaking, mixing plant ash, cooking, washing, pulping, papermaking, drying, calendering, uncovering, etc.

Pottery

Dai is the nation that makes and uses black pottery most. Xishuangbanna, Pu'er Zhenyuan and other places are the main producing areas of black pottery. Because black pottery has good air permeability, it will not deteriorate when it is used to store water for a long time in hot Dai Township, and it can keep the cool feeling of water. Another purpose is to use it as a drip container for praying for good luck. There is usually a small water falling hole at the base of the column in the Buddhist Hall of Dai temples. According to the dripping situation, divination should be performed. If there is bad luck, ask the Buddha to recite scriptures for it. The raw material of black pottery is a kind of black soil unique to Dai township. It is made by mixing with a certain amount of sand and soil, retting, smashing, kneading and pressing.

Black pottery is made by hand. After the blank is pulled, the pattern is scratched or carved with a knife, and then fired after drying. Black pottery is generally plain, with smooth surface and fine texture. The most commonly produced and used red pottery utensils are cans, which are called "Modin" in Dai language. They are generally large and have a very unique shape. They are used to hold water and rice. They can avoid the risk of corruption under hot conditions. They are necessary utensils for all Dai families. Red pottery is made of a kind of local red clay, brick red, mixed with a certain amount of sand, mixed thoroughly and evenly, pounded and mixed with a wooden stick and hammer, and then pulled manually with a self-made turntable. After the blank is pulled, pat the simple pattern with patterned wood, put it under the shed and dry in the shade, and then burn it.

Dai Opera

Dai people have traditional Dai opera. In the past, Xishuangbanna had a form of dancing and singing operas, which was the prototype of Dai opera. The plot is relatively simple, mainly showing that the hunter with a knife fights with the dressed dragon, Phoenix, turtle and crane. The development and perfection of Dai opera is mainly in Dehong area. Therefore, Dai opera is also called "Dai opera in western Yunnan". It was born in Zhanxi and Ganya of Yingjiang River in Dehong in the early 19th century.

Dai opera performance

Earlier plays include Gongsun ploughing, risking Shao duet, twelve horses and so on. By the beginning of the 20th century, Yingjiang chieftain established the first Dai Opera Troupe, so Dai opera quickly became popular all over the world. The singing and Daobai of Dai opera are in Dai language. The singing is mainly male and female. The scripts are mostly adapted from Dai Folk Stories. The performances are mainly national songs and dances and folk martial arts. They also borrow the performance procedures of other operas to form their own opera style.

On the basis of Dai Folk Songs and dances, the role of the performer's prop fan or handkerchief is played. At the same time, the martial arts movements of Dai opera are created by learning from Beijing opera, Yunnan opera and Dai boxing. The makeup of facial makeup has developed from the original red, black and white colors to a more detailed "hook face" to express the character's character.

In addition, the tune form was improved according to the plot and the character of the characters. The music was composed of rich folk tunes in Dai areas. The accompaniment developed from elephant foot drum, plutonium Gong and cymbal to a variety of musical instruments, and adopted many accompaniment means of Dian opera based on Gong and drum classics. Troupes often perform in various places. On festivals, touring exchange performances are held between villages and dams.

Dai opera is basically only loved by the elderly, and young people are not much interested in it because they can't understand it. The difficulties in the inheritance of Dai opera have become increasingly prominent

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Calligraphy

Dai calligraphy is a kind of line plastic art with Dai font as the apparent content and the initial charcoal pen, white mud pen and later "liezhan" (iron cone pen), fern pen, pen and brush as the expression tools.

There are six styles of traditional Dai calligraphy, such as "duowenfei", "duoqindui", "duofa Yao", "Duoluo Valley", "Duoma Huanzhe" and "duonan curtain capture". In Dai language, they are collectively referred to as "nanzanhezhe", which means "six techniques" or "six forms".

After the founding of new China, many outstanding Dai instruments of different schools and styles have emerged in China, such as "folding strip shape", "cat eye closing shape", "square shape", "overlapping shape", "chicken claw shape", "roll head and tail swing shape", "golden rattan circle shape", "golden flower silk spitting shape".

paper-cut

Paper cutting in Dai areas of Yunnan Province is generally used for embroidery samples and decoration of lintels, lanterns, flags and offerings. The themes are mostly geometric patterns, flowers, birds and animals.

The pattern is mostly characterized by ground shading to hold out the central main flower. The knife technique is strong and powerful, and the composition is plump and complete, with distinctive local characteristics.

Dai women's paper-cut mostly focuses on animals and plants. Most of the works are white elephant auspicious, peacock open screen, tiger roaring mountain forest, Golden Rooster Breaking Dawn, white crane shining wings, as well as paper-cut with flowers such as lotus, camellia, chrysanthemum and so on.

brocade

Dai brocade is mostly monochromatic, with weft flowers, and the organization of patterns is very strict. When weaving, Dai women first tie the pattern organization to the "pattern plate" (Flower Book) with thin ropes, use the action of hand-held pedals to make the warp form two layers up and down, and then start weft insertion. In this way, they can weave very beautiful Dai brocade.

The design of a Dai brocade requires hundreds or even thousands of strings to be displayed on the "pattern plate", which is very strict. Dai brocade has exquisite weavers, unique patterns, gorgeous colors, firmness and durability. Its patterns include rare birds and animals, exotic flowers and flowers, geometric patterns and so on. The colors and patterns of each pattern have special meanings. For example, the red and green color is to commemorate our ancestors, the peacock pattern symbolizes good luck, and the elephant pattern symbolizes grain harvest.

Musical Instruments

Dai Folk Musical instruments include galasa, Ding, Pang, Duoluo, elephant foot drum, Pang, Pai Pang and Dai cymbals.

Hulusi, a special instrument of Dai nationality, is a tongue spring instrument. It can continuously produce a five degree interval with a beautiful, soft, mellow and graceful tone by using the method of circular ventilation. In the bamboo forest or Dai bamboo house on a moonlit night, it can give people a subtle and hazy beauty, and the vibrato is as elegant and soft as shaking silk. The famous composer Shi Guangnan created the music fengweizhu under the moonlight, which made Hulusi music popular in the north and south of the river.

The elephant foot drum is named for its shape like an elephant foot. It is often combined with gongs and Dai cymbals. It is widely used in song and dance and Dai opera accompaniment. Galasa is a bamboo and suspension bridge shaped percussion instrument.

Ding is a plucked stringed musical instrument. Dai youth often play it when they are in love. It is known as "love musical instrument".

dance

There are many kinds of Dai dances. The Dai people in Xishuangbanna call dancing "fan". Folk dances include: fanzano, fanguanghan, fanguang, Hafan and Fanzheng. Fanzano is mainly characterized by imitating bird movements, including peacock dance, egret dance, turtledove dance, etc.

Fanguanghan is an animal dance performed with deer molds as props. In addition, there are lion dance, elephant dance and so on.

Where the light is for encouragement, dancers dance with drums or drums, and accompany themselves. It is only limited to male performances, which is very popular among the people. Common encouragements include GA Guang encouragement, elephant foot encouragement, big drum dance, etc.

Havan is a collective dance of singing and dancing. The common dances are ilahe and Gaosheng dance, which are performed in groups during the festival.

The whole dance is martial arts dance, including boxing dance, stick dance, knife dance, etc. The performance is often accompanied by percussion instruments such as drums, plutonium and cymbals. The performer's pace and rhythm should be coordinated with the drum, with the characteristics of entertainment and self-defense.

In addition to the above dances with unified names, there are also some folk dances that reflect production, life and customs. Common dances include hat dance, fan dance, wreath dance, stick dance, wax bar dance, lotus dance, etc. they are characterized by dance movements that show some aspects of Dai life and have a strong flavor of life.

Among a wide variety of Dai dances, peacock dance is the most popular and familiar dance, and it is also one of the dances with the greatest change and development. Peacock dance is performed every year during Buddhist festivals and the new year.

festival

Dai festivals are mostly related to religious activities. The main festivals are related to door Festival, door opening Festival, water sprinkling Festival, etc.

Door closing joint

The closing day, the Dai language "millivasa", is fixed on September 15 of the Dai calendar (mid July of the Gregorian calendar). The opening day, called "ongvasa" in Dai, is fixed on December 15 of the Dai calendar (mid October of the Gregorian calendar).

On the day of these two festivals, men, women and children of all villages will go to the Buddhist temple to hold a Grand Buddha worship activity, offer delicious food, flowers and coins to the Buddha statue, and chant scriptures and drip water in front of the Buddha statue, so as to ask the Buddha to bless people. The three months from the closing day to the opening day are the "closing" time, which is the most frequent period of religious activities in a year. Worship the Buddha and listen to the Buddha's sermons. One hour in seven days. In the evening, sparks, firecrackers and Gaosheng (Kongming lamp) should be set off, and a "rush pendulum" should be held. During the closing period, young men and women can talk about love, but they can't get married or go out; After "opening the door", you can get married and go out.

the Water-Sprinkling Festival

The water sprinkling festival in the Dai calendar year is a traditional festival of the Dai people. In Dai, it is called "sangkan Bimai" or "lenghe sangkan", which means June new year. The time is in late June or early July of the Dai calendar (mid April of the Gregorian calendar). It is held about 10 days after the Qingming Festival in the lunar calendar. It symbolizes "the best day". The festival period is generally 3 days. The first two days are to send off the old and the last day is to welcome the new. On the morning of the festival, the men, women and children of Dai villages bathed and dressed up to the Buddha's temple, and piled sand in the temple to build 4 or 5 towers. Everyone sat around the tower and listened to the Buddha chanting scriptures. After that, the women each took a load of water to "wash the dust" for the Buddha. After the Buddhist temple ceremony, young men and women withdrew and splashed water on each other. Then they marched around in groups, sprinkling pedestrians with blessings. Every year during the water sprinkling festival in Xishuangbanna, the Dai people hold a huge dragon boat race on the Lancang River. After the race, they break up the dragon boats and put them into the bamboo building of the Buddhist temple for safekeeping. Before the water sprinkling Festival comes the next year, they assemble the broken dragon boats, which is called "dry black".

Flower Street Festival

The most solemn festival of Huayao Dai is the "Flower Street Festival" on the 13th day of the first lunar month. On this day, thousands of young men and women gathered in Huajie from the surrounding villages. The flower street of the festival is very lively. Xiaoboshao (girls) in costumes lined up to walk through the flower street, competing for beautiful makeup and unlimited style; The boys stared for the right person. If they like each other, they meet in the litchi cluster under the Phoenix Tail Bamboo. The girl takes off the rice with rice strips around her waist and opens the green banana leaves. She sees that the fragrant glutinous rice is dyed half golden and half bright red with flower juice. The banana leaves are filled with pork tenderloin, fried dry eel, pickled duck eggs and other delicious foods layer by layer. They ate together and talked in love. After eating yangmi rice, the event of proposing marriage was settled.

marriage

The distinct feature of Dai family and marriage in history is hierarchical marriage. Strict hierarchical marriage was practiced among chieftains, and polygamy prevailed. The chieftain also abused farmers' wives and daughters at will by virtue of his power. The majority of farmers implement the patriarchal monogamous family, and the family members are parents and unmarried children. There are differences in social development, so there are also differences in the form of family and marriage.

Xishuangbanna

In Xishuangbanna, there were still many remnants of dual marriage before liberation, which showed that the relationship between family and marriage was not very stable, and marriage and divorce were relatively free. However, due to the existence of family and village community forms, the marriage of young people is directly related to their rights and obligations to the family and village community. Therefore, the consent of the head of the family and the head of the village community is required.

When both men and women are mature in love, the man invites his uncle and aunt to propose marriage to the woman. At this time, the woman's parents generally do not speak as usual. The family head and the head of the village answer, asking about the "door-to-door" years and how to entertain relatives and friends. After being approved by the head of the family head, they can get married. After marriage, the man must work in the woman's house for several years as promised before he can take back his wife. When another family is established, the village community shall distribute "land". If the two sides disagree, with the consent of the leader, handing a pair of wax strips to each other is regarded as going through the divorce formalities; If the man leaves home for several months without hearing from him, the woman can find another spouse; When one party dies, no matter how old he is, he has to go through divorce procedures, that is, put a pair of wax strips on the coffin of the deceased and send the museum materials to the entrance of the building, that is, he is divorced from the deceased.

Geng Ma, Meng Lian

The marriage form of the Dai families in Gengma and Menglian is similar to that in Xishuangbanna, but the residue of the dual marriage is weaker, which is mainly manifested in that it can not be easily divorced.

Dehong and the mainland

The family marriage between Dehong and the Dai areas in the mainland has a more distinctive feudal color. The marriage is completely based on sale and arrangement. Generally, the bride price is 300 yuan, and there are many other expenses, such as "opening money", "closing money", "Hall money", "Buddha fee", "marriage recognition fee", "matchmaker fee", etc. This has essentially become the value of women.

Many young men from poor families, unable to afford this fee, have adopted the form of stealing marriage and picking up marriage, that is, after the relationship between men and women is mature, the date of "snatching marriage" is determined. The young man, with machetes and copper coins, ambushed at the predetermined place. When the girl came, "robbed" and ran away. The girl pretended to shout to inform her family, and the man withdrew the copper money and fled. The fait accompli entrusted the matchmaker to propose marriage at the woman's house. The two sides invited the leader, relatives and friends to discuss and solve the problem. Only after the bride price was fixed did they officially get married.

In addition, the phenomenon of redundancy is also common in these areas, but it is completely different from Xishuangbanna in nature. It is not the legacy of primitive customs, but the product of feudal marriage. Those who become redundant have very low social status, and their children have no right to inherit property.

funeral

The Dai people usually bury in earth, but there are obvious class differences. The burial places of the nobility and the poor are strictly separated. After the death of monks and Buddhas, they shall be cremated first, and then the ashes in earthen pots shall be buried behind the temple.