De'ang Nationality

The De'ang people claim to be many because they live scattered.

The De'ang people living in Dehong area call themselves "De'ang", while the De'ang people living in zhenkang and Gengma call themselves "nyang" or "naang". In addition, they are also called "benglong", "ang", "Leng", "Liang", "Bure" and "naannomai".

According to the different hue characteristics of the lines woven on the skirts of De'ang women, the local Han people call them "red avalanche dragon", "flower avalanche dragon" and "black avalanche dragon" respectively.

After the founding of new China, the name "collapse dragon" was used for national identification. Later, according to the wishes of the nation, with the approval of the State Council in September 1985, the "avalanche dragon nationality" was officially renamed "De'ang Nationality".

The De'ang Nationality originated from the ancient Pu people and has a close relationship with "Ailao". Before the Qing Dynasty, relevant records collectively referred to the De'ang, Bulang, WA and other nationalities of the South Asian language family in Yunnan as "Pu people", "Pu" or "Pu man". "Pu people" lived on both sides of the Nujiang River as early as the 2nd century BC. They entered this area earlier than Achang, Jingpo and other ethnic groups. They are an early nation in the development of Baoshan and Dehong. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, they were called "mangman", "Puzi man" and "Wangju Zi man". They successively surrendered to the Han and Jin Dynasties, Nanzhao and Dali countries. The ancestors of De'ang Nationality also established their own regional rule in the late Song Dynasty, namely "golden tooth country". After the Yuan Dynasty, he became a member of the Dai chieftain. "Pu people" belonged to Yongchang County (now Baoshan City, Yunnan Province) in the Han Dynasty. From the Tang and Song Dynasties to the yuan and Ming Dynasties, the ancestors of De'ang Nationality "Mangshi man" moved on both sides of the Lancang River. In the Yuan Dynasty, the "Mangshi road military and civilian administration house" was set up in today's Luxi area, and Ali (the legendary leader of De'ang Nationality) was granted as a local official. In the middle of the Yuan Dynasty, "Bai Yi" (Dai ancestors) prospered rapidly, and the De'ang Nationality was forced to gradually migrate to the mountains. In the Ming Dynasty, the central government granted the Dai Dao surname as the Chief Secretary of Mangshi (now Mangshi), and the Dai chieftain also granted the head of the De'ang Nationality as the "old" to govern the De'ang people on behalf of the chieftain. Therefore, the ancestors of the De'ang Nationality became the subjects of the Dai chieftain.

From the mid-14th century, the emerging Dai chieftain of Mangshi gradually controlled the De'ang areas in Luxi and Yingjiang of Dehong Prefecture. In the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, Dai chieftains took extremely arrogant measures to occupy many fields of the De'ang people. In the 19th year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (1814), tagangwa cheered, and De'ang people gathered to form a huge uprising armed force. They put forward the slogan "the officials are unfair, kill the officials and solve the injustice", claiming that "if you don't kill the toast, you will never withdraw troops". Soon, tagangwa commanded the rebel army to break through the Tusi yamen of Mangshi. The chieftain let the law go and fled to Yongchang mansion in embarrassment to ask the Qing army for help. The rebel army pursued the victory and defeated the chieftain armed forces in one fell swoop. Then they thwarted many attacks by the Dai chieftains of Lianghe and the Jingpo mountain officials of Xishan, so as to firmly control the mangshiba area. However, the tagangwa and De'ang people have always had illusions about the local regime of the Qing Dynasty. They hope that the officials of the Qing Dynasty can come forward to preside over justice and severely punish the Dai chieftain. This mentality provided an opportunity for Dai chieftains to fight back. After a short time, Dai chieftains' armed forces, Jingpo mountain officials' armed forces and Han landlords' armed forces joined hands to launch a fierce siege against the insurgents. Tagangwa led the rebel soldiers to carry out tenacious resistance. Due to the great disparity in strength, the insurgents suffered huge losses. More than half a year later, the fire of this just national uprising was finally extinguished. Although the struggle failed, it greatly weakened the rule of Mangshi chieftain and wrote a glorious page in the history of resisting feudal rulers.

Since modern times, the people of De'ang, Jingpo and other nationalities have jointly resisted the British imperialist aggression against the territory of Western Yunnan. During the Anti Japanese War, the Japanese invading army invaded Dehong area of China from Myanmar. At that time, the De'ang people in the enemy occupied areas joined a guerrilla group of more than 2000 people organized by the people of Han, Dai and other nationalities, and fought against the Japanese invading army many times with copper guns, long knives and crossbows. After the victory of the Anti Japanese War, in order to resist the suppression of the Kuomintang army, the De'ang people organized self-defense forces in each village and often ambushed the enemy, forcing them not to enter the village at will. On the eve of the founding of new China, the De'ang people actively assisted the Chinese people's Liberation Army to encircle and annihilate the Kuomintang troops fleeing to the west of Yunnan, ushering in the liberation of the De'ang region.

In 1956, according to the small population, scattered residence and unbalanced social and economic development of De'ang Nationality, different policies were adopted to carry out democratic reform in De'ang Nationality Areas. Because the De'ang Nationality in Baoshan, Lincang and dam area of Dehong Prefecture directly belonged to the chieftain of the Dai nationality in the past, their political and economic structure was the same as that of the Dai nationality. Therefore, like the Dai nationality, they carried out land reform by means of peaceful consultation. The main task of the land reform through peaceful consultation is to abolish the ownership of feudal lords and landlords and distribute the land to De'ang farmers so that they can become the real owners of the land. Soon, agricultural cooperation was realized in these areas. The De'ang Nationality in Banshan district and Wanding town of Dehong Prefecture were ruled by Dai chieftains and Jingpo mountain officials; At the same time, the wasteland in this area can be reclaimed freely, and there is no shortage of land. Therefore, the reform, like the Jingpo area, implements the policy of direct transition to socialism, that is, under the leadership of the party, seriously rely on poor farmers, unite all working people, unite and transform all national leaders connected with the masses, and through mutual assistance and cooperation with the strong support of the state, We should vigorously develop production, strengthen economic and cultural work related to production, gradually eliminate class and primitive backward factors, and gradually transition to socialism.

After the founding of new China, the national autonomy policy of the party and the state ensured that the De'ang people enjoyed equal rights of political participation and national autonomy.

In July 1953, Dehong Dai Jingpo autonomous region (changed into an Autonomous Prefecture in May 1956) was established, including 12 De'ang representatives; In the people's governments at all levels of the state and county where the De'ang people live in a relatively concentrated area, there are De'ang cadres, and De'ang representatives at all levels and the National People's Congress also participate.

In December 1987, the first and only single De'ang Nationality Township was established in Santai mountain, Luxi City. In March 1988, in Gengma County, Lincang Prefecture, there was a Junsai nationality township jointly established by Wa, Laku, Lisu and De'ang nationalities.

faith

The De'ang Nationality is a nation whose people believe in Buddhism. The De'ang people in Dehong Prefecture and Lincang City believe in strict mountain Mahayana Buddhism, and it is forbidden to kill or hurt all living things. In this regard, it is different from the slaying Mahayana Buddhism sect of the local Dai nationality, although its doctrine is common. De'ang people worship heaven and hate hell. They believe that good people can go to heaven after death and can be transformed into people again; When bad people die, they go to hell and suffer. Therefore, where De'ang people live, social stability, national peace, diligence and thrift have become a common practice.

The De'ang people believe in Buddhism. One of the best buildings in the village is the Tibetan house for Buddhist statues. Most villages have their own Buddhist temples, Buddhas and little monks (children who enter the temple as monks). Buddha knows Dai language and recites Dai scriptures. In their daily life, in addition to the charity given by the masses on religious festivals, people in the whole village take turns to provide food on weekdays. The De'ang people all over the country believe in different sects. Some can feed pigs, raise chickens or kill animals, while others are strictly prohibited from killing animals. Even wild animals are not allowed to hunt when they seriously endanger crops; They do not engage in production on religious festivals and death days.

Architecture

The buildings of the De'ang people are famous for their bamboo buildings. For a long time, bamboo house has been a common residential form of De'ang Nationality in various places. In zhenkang area, several small families live in the same house. There are spacious walkways in the middle of the house. On both sides are the living rooms of each family, with walls and fire ponds. Such bamboo buildings are large, some covering an area of more than 400 square meters, but the big bamboo buildings have been replaced by small bamboo buildings of each family.

Most of the bamboo buildings of the De'ang Nationality are built along the mountain, sitting from west to East. There are two forms: square and rectangle, which have the aesthetic characteristics of symmetry, harmony, preciseness and solemnity. The typical and common is the square bamboo building with one family and one courtyard represented by Dehong area. This bamboo building is divided into two parts: the main building and the attached room. The main building is square. People live upstairs and livestock are kept downstairs. Attached houses are mostly built on one side of the main building for stacking firewood and placing foot pestles for pounding rice. This kind of bamboo building has a unique appearance and is beautiful and generous. It is said to be very similar to the towel and hat of Confucian scholars in the ancient Central Plains. As for its origin, there is a moving story among the people of De'ang Nationality: Zhuge Liang led his troops to the southern expedition and came to De'ang mountain stronghold. One day, he was suddenly attacked and injured in danger. Fortunately, the brave and kind-hearted De'ang girl Arnold saved him from danger and turned the crisis into safety. In the short contact, they had feelings. When Zhuge Liang had to say goodbye to his sweetheart, he left his hat to Arnold as a keepsake. The infatuated Arnold looked forward to 18 years, but what he waited for was the death of his sweetheart. Since then, Arnold, who was heartbroken and heartbroken, did not eat or sleep. He stayed at the head of the village every day and looked at his sweetheart's way to the East. On the 33rd day, it suddenly thundered and rained heavily. After the rain, Arnold disappeared. As like as two peas in Zhu Geliang's hat, she stood in the same place as the bamboo house which the later people lived in.

Clothes & Accessories

The costumes of the De'ang Nationality have a strong national color and show their unique aesthetic outlook and their pursuit of beauty. De'ang men usually wear blue and black large lapel tops and wide and short trousers, wrapped in black and white cloth headscarves, and the two ends of the scarf are decorated with colored POMs. De'ang women usually wear navy blue or black double breasted jackets and long skirts. They wrap their heads with black cloth, set two red cloth strips at the hem of the jacket, and use four or five pairs of large square silver medals as buttons. The long skirts are woven with colored horizontal stripes. Young people, both men and women, like to wear jewelry such as silver collars, ear tubes and earrings.

Among the costumes of the De'ang Nationality, the most striking is the waist hoop on women. According to the custom of De'ang people, when a girl grows up, she should wear several or even dozens of waist hoops at her waist. Most of the waist hoops are made of rattan, and some are made of rattan in the first half and spiral silver in the second half. The rattan rings vary in width and thickness, and are mostly painted in red, black and green. Some are also engraved with various patterns or covered with silver and aluminum. This unique custom is the continuation of the custom of "rattan strips wrapped around the waist" of mangren tribe, the ancestor of De'ang Nationality in the Tang Dynasty. As like as two peas, the ancestors of the de ang people came out of the gourd. When they first came out, the men were all alike, and the women were flying everywhere. Later, the gods separated the men's faces. In order to tie the women, the men tied them in a circle with rattan contempt. The women could no longer fly, so they had to live with the men. The present waist hoop was developed from the bamboo circle at that time. It can be seen from this myth that the origin of the waist band has a certain utilitarian purpose, but with the development of history, this symbolic significance has lost, and the waist band has become an ornament and a symbol of beauty. De'ang people believe that the more "waist hoops" a girl wears and the more exquisite she is, the more she shows that she is smart, capable and dexterous. Therefore, adult women wear waist bands and are proud of themselves. When young men and women are in love, young men often try their best to win the girl's love by carefully making rattan Mi waist hoops engraved with animal and plant patterns and giving them to their beloved girl, so the waist hoop has become a keepsake of their love.

In addition, among the ornaments of De'ang Nationality, colorful POMS are also quite characteristic. Colored POMS are decorated on both ends and chest of men's head scarf, on the hem and collar of women's clothes, on the earrings of young men and women and around the tube handkerchief.

Like many southern minority women, De'ang women like tube skirts, but the difference is that their tube skirts are long colored striped water wave cross pattern skirts, which cover the breasts and ankles, which are novel, generous and dazzling. There are obvious differences in the patterns of women's tube skirts in different branches. The women's tube skirts claiming to be the "Liang" branch are decorated with wide lines of red, green, yellow and black; The skirts of women who call themselves "bielie" branches are decorated with red lines; Women's tube skirts, which claim to be the "Rumai" branch, use black lines as the background color, mixed with red and white thin lines and stripes. Therefore, according to the line patterns and color characteristics on the tube skirts of De'ang women, local people call them "Hua De'ang", "red De'ang" and "black De'ang" respectively.

diet

Tea is the most important drink of De'ang Nationality. In particular, adult men and middle-aged and elderly women can hardly live without tea, and they are good at drinking strong tea. When they drink tea, they often put a large handful of tea into a small tea pot and add a little water to decoct. When the tea is dark brown, they pour the tea into a small tea cup to drink. Because this kind of tea is very strong, most people are very excited and can't sleep at night. De'ang people are addicted to drinking because they often drink. As long as they don't drink for a day, they will have weak hands and feet and weak limbs. On the contrary, if you boil a pot of strong tea and drink a few mouthfuls when you are tired, you will immediately feel refreshed and refreshed.

Tea is not only an important drink in the daily life of De'ang people, but also plays a very important role in their social life. They can't do anything without tea almost all the time. De'ang people pay attention to the "arrival of tea". When guests come to the door, they must first simmer tea to treat each other; When visiting relatives and friends and asking media to propose, tea must be used as a gift; If you need to invite relatives and friends to a happy event, a small tea wrapped with the Red Cross will become an "invitation"; If there is a contradiction between the two, the negligent party can get the other party's understanding as long as he sends a bag of tea. It can be seen that the role of tea can not be replaced by other money.

Due to the special status and function of tea, the consumption of tea is very large. Therefore, De'ang people are used to planting some tea trees in front of and behind their houses and at the edge of the village. De'ang people are good at drinking strong tea and planting tea, so they are called "ancient tea farmers" by the surrounding nationalities.

literature

The literature of De'ang Nationality is mainly oral folk literature, and the traditional folk songs, myths, legends and stories account for a large proportion.

Love songs are more developed in folk songs. Young men and women can't communicate and fall in love without singing. Most of these love songs are short improvisations, but there are also long laments, such as the lament of Lusheng.

The long narrative songs include historical tune describing ethnic migration, lower Myanmar tune describing the life of helpers, etc.

The myths of De'ang Nationality are more representative, such as "gourd educating people" and "heavenly king and earth mother". The former says that people come out of gourds; The latter says that people are transformed from 102 leaves from the sky. Another myth in the Dragon maiden ancestor said: in ancient times, a fairy lived in a cave and came out every three years. She was seen by the offspring of another fairy. The two combined and gave birth to children, which was the ancestor of the De'ang Nationality.

Among the folk stories of De'ang Nationality, the fantasy story frog and embroidered girl praises the kind and loyal character of workers through the strange marriage story between Frog and embroidered girl. The life story "three strange times" contains profound philosophy.

De'ang Nationality, Dai nationality and Jingpo nationality live together. Their literary works have the characteristics of Dai delicacy and Jingpo boldness in style.

In addition, some stories in the Dai's e-pian and Sanger, the Han's Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai and the romance of the three kingdoms are widely spread among the De'ang people.

Sports

De'ang people love sports. Shooting crossbows, copper guns and mud slingshots are indispensable self-defense weapons in the life and production of De'ang people who have lived in high mountains for a long time. They are also a hunting tool, so they have a broad mass base. The mud catapult of De'ang Nationality is a bird hunting tool, which is slightly similar to a bow in shape and is relatively simple to make. A piece of bamboo is stretched with hemp thread or ox tendon as a string, and a small box is woven in the middle of the string with bamboo strips to place round mud pellets made of soil.

Wushu is more popular among the De'ang people. In addition to boxing, De'ang martial arts include stick, knife, sword, fork and sickle. Boxing includes plum blossom boxing, four door boxing, daytime boxing, dustpan boxing, left boxing, dog boxing, etc; The staff includes De'ang staff and twelve step staff; There are single Dao, twelve action double Dao and seventeen step Dao. Boxing and equipment have the characteristics of tight defense, sharp attack, tenacity and bravery. Plum blossom boxing began in the late Ming Dynasty. It is called plum blossom boxing because it practices its fists and feet on a plum blossom pile half a meter high and thick at the mouth of a bowl. This boxing has been followed up to now. The left fist is one of the guard boxing of the De'ang Nationality. The fist path is flexible and changeable. When facing the opponent, they always win with the unique skill of attacking with the left hand. Therefore, the De'ang Nationality has the theory that the left hand determines the heaven and earth.

music

The favorite musical instruments of De'ang Nationality are generally elephant foot drum, plutonium, cymbal, chime, hulusheng, Xiao, small three string, mouth string, etc., which are mostly used in singing and "string girls".

dance

The De'ang Nationality has the custom of dancing in major festivals. The more representative is the elephant foot drum. The men who play drums, plutonium and cymbals take the lead, and other men, women, old and young follow behind. They dance in circles with certain steps and gestures. There are also men and women divided into two circles, men form the outer circle and women form the inner circle. A man in a straw hat took the lead in beating the drum, and other men followed, lifting the big trouser legs, exposing the patterns on his legs and dancing around the field. In the inner circle composed of women, young women at the head of the line hit the plutonium Gong, cooperated with the young men who beat the drum, and the women who followed also danced side by side with the men.

Water drum dance is a unique national dance of the De'ang Nationality. It is called "agalengdang" in De'ang language, which is mostly held at festive times. When dancing, the drum is slung around the neck, the drum is in front of the body, beating and dancing, accompanied by large drums and cymbals. The drums are deep and solemn. You can dance alone or follow the rhythm of the water drum.

Picture carving

Pattern carving is another manifestation of De'ang folk art. The patterns carved and drawn on waist hoops, earrings, silver bracelets and other decorations, silver cigarette boxes, clothes and other daily necessities are mostly symmetrical double birds, double tigers, flowers and plants, which have high artistic value. In Buddhist temples, reliefs are common on the hanging brace and board wall, and the patterns are mostly "two dragons playing with pearls" and "double wind rising sun".

festival

De'ang festivals mainly include water sprinkling Festival, door closing Festival, door opening Festival, pendulum making, white firewood burning, etc.

the Water-Sprinkling Festival

The water sprinkling Festival (locally known as "watering flowers") is an annual traditional festival of the De'ang Nationality, which takes place on the seventh day after the Qingming Festival every year. The festival lasts three days. On the day when the ceremony began, the people of De'ang gathered in the Buddhist Temple (Zang room) of the village to celebrate the festival, wearing festival costumes, carrying clean water from the well, bringing all kinds of food they had prepared, and holding bouquets of flowers. The ceremony was presided over by the respected elders of Germany in the stronghold and made a speech. After giving the toast, the young men sounded the elephant foot drum and jumped up the elephant foot drum. The young woman danced "Sand Dance" with the sound of drums. Others held a bamboo water tube, raised it over the top, poured water into the water tank of the Dragon painting Scripture in turn, and bathed the Buddha statue symbolizing the incarnation of the Buddha, which means remembering the kindness of our ancestors and wishing good weather in the coming year. Meanwhile, people also carried empty bamboo tubes and scrambled to pick up the water flowing from the Buddha statue, or drink it into their stomach, or wash their faces and hands, so as to avoid diseases and good luck in the coming year. After the water sprinkling ceremony, people began to put the food they brought on the supply plate in front of the Buddha, recite the sacrifice words in unison, and then let the people participating in the water sprinkling Festival taste it. After the above ceremony, people will take the elephant foot drum team as the guide, line up long teams, climb mountains and mountains, and come to the well, spring and river to get water to celebrate their festivals. In the meantime, every time water is taken, a water taking ceremony and an offering ceremony must be held. There will also be a ceremony of passing cigarettes and singing songs. There are certain rules for the procedure of taking water. On the first day, you can only take water from the well near the village, the next day from the spring in Shanqing, and the third day from the river, first near and then far. It means to rely on your own hands to develop water sources and don't wait for the gift of nature. There are strict regulations on sprinkling water. On the first day, you can only water the Buddha statue first, and then wash your hands for the Buddha and monks. You can't pour it on your body. The masses should not splash water on each other. The next morning, young men and women or children, carrying bamboo buckets, went to the elders' homes to wash their hands and faces, which means thanking them for their dedication and wishing them health and longevity. From the third day, they watered each other by sprinkling water on each other in a bouquet, and the main object of watering was the newlyweds, which means congratulating them on their harmonious coexistence and eternal happiness. When watering, newlyweds shall not refuse or resist at will, otherwise they will be regarded as people who don't understand the rules.

Door closing Festival

On the closing day, De'ang is called "entering the valley". It lasts for three months from September 15 of the Dai calendar (mid June of the lunar calendar). Closed door Festival is the busiest time of agricultural production. It requires young men and women to self-discipline, concentrate and engage in agricultural production. That is, close the door of love and marriage. During the festival, it is not allowed to talk about love, marry men and women, and monks are not allowed to stay in the village. They should live in the Buddhist temple, concentrate on chanting scriptures and improve their virtue. On the first three days of the closing day, people went to the Buddhist temple to worship the Buddha and worked hard. Young men and women gathered together to sing "don't stick firewood" (De'ang folk song) and dance. After three days, every seven days, people will offer a small offering to the Buddha with flowers, incense, candles and so on. On the eighth day, they will go to the Buddhist temple to worship the Buddha, listen to the Buddha chant scriptures, and pray that the Buddha will bless people and animals and have a bumper harvest.

Door opening joint

The door opening Festival, called "out of the valley" in De'ang language, is held on December 15 of the Dai calendar (September of the lunar calendar) every year. It is the last day of the door closing Festival and lasts for 3 days. The open door festival opens the door to love and marriage. By this time, the busy farming was over. The day before yesterday, a religious ceremony was held in De'ang village to celebrate the grain harvest. The next day, unmarried girls will go to the Buddhist temple to burn incense to worship the Buddha and thank the Buddha for banning love and marriage. On the morning of the last day, the young men and women would listen to the Buddha's sermon, and then the local people would go to the market and pray for the Buddha.

Do pendulum

Do pendulum, that is, do big tribute, also known as "rush pendulum", which is generally held on a selected day during the slack time in February and March of the lunar calendar. Making pendulum is based on the village. Before making the presentation, the village should prepare food, funds, cattle, meat and other supplies in advance, so as to provide accommodation for participants from other villages. The first day was to welcome the Buddha. After worshipping the Buddha the next day, everyone listened to the Buddha's sermon. On the last day, when the guests left, the people in the stockade gathered and sang and danced. It is said that the pendulum can make the villagers clean and safe, avoid disasters, and drive away ghosts and evil spirits.

Burn white firewood

Burning white firewood, called "Kongtong" in De'ang, is held every year on the evening of December 14 of the lunar calendar. The so-called white firewood is a kind of trees with no skin and white surface. Before the festival, De'ang village sent people up the mountain to cut white firewood and set it near the village in the shape of "well". On the evening of the festival, after dinner, people went to the Buddhist temple to "invite" the Buddha statue to the white firewood pile and light the white firewood pile. People in the village sat around the fire to bake a fire. The monks in the temple also participated in burning white firewood that night and prayed for everyone. May the Buddha bless the De'ang people for good luck; They waited until the firewood was burned, then they carried the Buddha back to the temple and dispersed. The next day, the Buddha in the Buddhist temple placed the charcoal ash in an earth pot for the altar to warm the Buddha.

marriage

The marriage of the De'ang Nationality is monogamous. They don't marry with the same surname and rarely intermarry with other nationalities. Young men and women love freely, and women have a certain autonomy in choosing objects. There is no strict hierarchical marriage within the nation. As long as the other party is willing, rich and poor people can marry. When young men were 14 or 15 years old, they began to string girls. In the evening, they went outside the girl's house to play Lusheng and lead the girl to fall in love. After the two sides established their relationship, they exchanged bracelets, waist hoops, collars, bamboo baskets, brocade bags and other daily necessities, and then invited the old people in the village to talk to the women's house.

There are generally two ways for the popular "muwei NIBEL" (string of girls) system of De'ang Nationality: one is that the young man's head "old man's brain" leads a group of young men to string a group of little girls to sing songs collectively, which is usually carried out in wedding evenings or festival activities; The other is that young men "string girls" alone. Generally, when night falls, young men bring Lusheng or Xiao to the back door of the bamboo house of the selected girl's house and gently blow Lusheng for testing. If the girl wants to, she will invite the young man into the house. At this time, the woman's parents and brothers will avoid it. After that, men and women will sing love songs and pour out their feelings to each other. After a period of love, if both sides agree and are willing to become lifelong partners, the young man will give the girl a bag of tea or other gifts. The girl hung the tea at the head of the bed, and the parents knew that her daughter had an object. If you agree to your daughter's marriage, take off the tea. Otherwise, ask your daughter to return the tea. At the same time, the young man also told his parents about finding a target. His parents looked for two prestigious old people in the village to talk about matchmaking. As long as the wife agrees, the parents generally don't object. They think that the girl loves someone, and it's bad to disagree. As for whether the son-in-law is satisfied, it's the daughter's destiny, and the parents can't do anything about it. If the woman's parents object, the girl can go to the man's house to live together on her own.

When getting married, the man should give the woman a bride price. The De'ang people call it "milk money". It is customary not to give it. The number depends on the economic situation of the male family. When getting married, you should also give the woman one or two hundred kilograms of meat, a certain amount of tea, sand base, reed seeds, grass smoke, salt and eggs. If the girl belongs to the outer stronghold, she should also send some millet to the stronghold. The new daughter-in-law received the house and invited the whole village to dinner for three days. The guests gave some tobacco, vegetables and firewood as gifts.

funeral

The De'ang people are generally buried in earth, and the murderous dead are cremated. For the normal death, the body shall be morbided in the room first, and the fence in the middle of the room shall be removed. The corpse stopped on the right side of the fire pond with its head facing east, placed horizontally, soaked in water with wormwood leaves, bathed the corpse, shaved its hair and put on new clothes. Then put the body in the coffin and tie it to the dead's two thumbs and knees with white or red thread. The purpose is to prevent the souls of the dead from returning home. And put broken silver in the dead's mouth as the dead's Ferry fee. Put the female corpse into the coffin and take the posture of facing up to the sky; The man's body is face to the ground. After loading the coffin, fire a gun to inform relatives and friends. At this time, release the tethered thread and extend your hand flat. Usually stop the coffin for 3 days and ask the monk to chant scriptures.

At the funeral, the coffin was carried out from the East, the tail of the coffin was facing forward, and grass smoke was scattered along the way to show that all ghosts were invited to open the way. The old man chants the mantra to the effect that he gives the dead a way. Don't make trouble at home or in the stockade. The burial method is to dig a rectangular cave at the selected place, put the coffin gently into the cave with four ropes tied at both ends of the coffin, put it right, cut off the rope and the bamboo pole for carrying the coffin, throw it into the cave, and then cover the soil without building a grave. When burying, take the head to the East and the foot to the west, and do not face the village. Seven days after burial, you should spend this soul. Since then, no longer recognize the grave, nor go to the grave.

Each village has a public cemetery, which is called "Nawen" in De'ang language. All members of the village can be buried regardless of grade, surname or family. The De'ang people also believe that the soul has good and evil, and the haunting of the soul leads to murder. Therefore, those who die abnormally shall be cremated and shall not be buried in public cemeteries.

sacrifice

De'ang people also have sacrificial customs such as sacrificing family hall, village god, earth God, dragon and Gu Niang. Among them, sacrificing dragon is the most interesting. Generally, it is chosen in spring. At that time, pigs and chickens are killed. The priests draw paper dragons and the people worship. Then they drink together and have a picnic. After getting drunk, they beat and scold each other to vent their dissatisfaction with each other. No one is allowed to dissuade here until both sides are exhausted, and then apologize to each other the next day.

The village god is the protective god of De'ang village. The De'ang people regard a big tree near or in the village as the habitat of the village god, and hold sacrificial activities every Spring Festival. It is forbidden to cut down the sacred tree of the village and defecate around it. The De'ang village also has the village spirit "zaowuman", which is usually expressed by a pointed wooden stake standing on the sand pile in the middle of the village. The spirit of the stronghold is also the protector of the stronghold. It is forbidden to touch or urinate nearby. The Social God "shemeng" is usually offered in a small thatched bamboo building in the forest near the village, with two cans of water. This sacred place generally does not allow outsiders to enter or touch the offering. Deforestation is prohibited around "shemeng".

Tawagang

De'ang people also have sacrificial customs such as sacrificing family hall, village god, earth God, dragon and Gu Niang. Among them, sacrificing dragon is the most interesting. Generally, it is chosen in spring. At that time, pigs and chickens are killed. The priests draw paper dragons and the people worship. Then they drink together and have a picnic. After getting drunk, they beat and scold each other to vent their dissatisfaction with each other. No one is allowed to dissuade here until both sides are exhausted, and then apologize to each other the next day.

The village god is the protective god of De'ang village. The De'ang people regard a big tree near or in the village as the habitat of the village god, and hold sacrificial activities every Spring Festival. It is forbidden to cut down the sacred tree of the village and defecate around it. The De'ang village also has the village spirit "zaowuman", which is usually expressed by a pointed wooden stake standing on the sand pile in the middle of the village. The spirit of the stronghold is also the protector of the stronghold. It is forbidden to touch or urinate nearby. The Social God "shemeng" is usually offered in a small thatched bamboo building in the forest near the village, with two cans of water. This sacred place generally does not allow outsiders to enter or touch the offering. Deforestation is prohibited around "shemeng".

Qian Zong

(birth and death unknown), from Longchuan, Yunnan. In the early years of the Republic of China, the leader of De'ang Nationality in Zhangfeng District, Longchuan. Since the middle of the 19th century, the British government has made an ulterior attempt on China's Yunnan. In 1876, the British opened the southwest door of China through the Yantai treaty. In 1885, the British further annexed Myanmar and began to encroach on China's territory. The shameless plunder of the British triggered strong discontent and resistance among all ethnic groups in the frontier. In the sixth year of the Republic of China (1917), the British took the opportunity of the founding of the Republic of China and the unrest of the Chinese people to drive straight into the hinterland of Longchuan and set up their own camp in Mamian mountain in Zhangfeng.

Longchuan chieftain condemned this act. But the British and Canadians claimed that they would set up camps whether the Chinese government agreed or not. Tengchong local government quickly recruited 600 local armed men to Longchuan. Then he instructed Zhang Feng's De'ang leader "Qianzong" to drive away the British army. "Qianbu" mobilized more than 500 adult men under the age of 60 of the De'ang Nationality to surround the British camp. He led more than 40 of his leaders to negotiate with the British army. "Qianbu" solemnly declared to the British: "this is the land of the Chinese people, and you are not qualified to occupy it! If you continue to be stubborn, we will speak with a long knife!" the British Army saw the De'ang people angry, fearing that they would be weak and not the opponent of the Chinese people.

In all desperation, they had to withdraw to Myanmar in dismay. To this day, a British flag seized in the struggle against Britain and expelling Britain is still preserved. This is a witness to the patriotic behavior of the De'ang people in defending the territorial integrity of the motherland.

Li laong

(1929-2017), from Luxi, Yunnan. A famous folk singer. Li laong was born in a peasant family in duobangwai village, Santai mountain, Luxi County, Yunnan Province. He has enjoyed the joys and sorrows of the world from snacks: he has been a cowherd, a hired worker, and wandered to the areas of wanting and Ruili to make a living... The hard life has given him a tough and sensitive heart. Due to long-term travel in various villages. Li laong is constantly influenced by the sea of national songs and dances. He kept listening, savoring, digesting and absorbing many singing techniques.

Soon after, Li laong mastered the singing essentials of many folk songs represented by leinong and Chuang. His songs are lively and melodious, affectionate and touching, with unique personal style and lasting appeal. By 1948, Li laong was already a famous singer in the De'ang area. Li laong is good at innovation in singing methods. After 1962, he boldly broke the traditional singing habit of De'ang Nationality and combined singing and instrumental music together. This has effectively widened the expression space of De'ang folk songs, and the artistic appeal has been incisively and vividly reflected. When he sang hulusheng love song, his elegant and affectionate singing and deep and moving hulusheng solo were interspersed with each other, and the emotion of singing voice and instrumental ensemble made people cry. It's really extraordinary. In 1979, Li laong went to Beijing to participate in the "National Symposium of ethnic minority folk singers and poets".

After returning to his hometown, he created a series of works full of strong national color, such as I'm waiting for you on the way, you change dishes, I change pots, and De'ang love songs. Among them, "you change dishes, I change pots" later won the "Yunnan Minority Literature Creation Award".