Yao Costume

Yao Costume

Yao people used to call themselves "Guoshan Yao", "Hongtou Yao", "Dabanyao", "Pingtouyao", "Blue Indigo Yao", "Shayao" and "Baitou Yao" because of their different living and clothing characteristics. In terms of customs and habits, it has always maintained the traditional characteristics of the nation, especially in the clothing of men and women. Yao women are good at embroidery. They embroider exquisite patterns at the edges of their skirts, cuffs and trousers feet. Hair knots and fine braids around the top of the head, surrounded by five-color beads, the neck of the skirt to the chest embroidered with decorative patterns. Men prefer to wear red or blue buns, collarless long sleeves, white cloth "shoulders" and pants. Yao men and women to fifteen or six years old to change their flower caps to Baotou Pa, indicating that the body has matured.

On November 11, 2014, Yao costumes were approved by the State Council and listed in the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

Specific characteristics

Baikuyao and Hongyao

There are many branches of Yao nationality, and their clothes are different. Therefore, in the past, the Yao people used to get various ethnic names because of the different colors of their clothes, the styles of their trousers and the dresses of their headdresses. Yao men in Nandan, Guangxi, wear a collar jacket and white crotch, tight legs and knee-length shorts, so they are called "Baikuyao". The Yao people in Longsheng are called "Hongyao" because they wear red embroidered clothes, which reflects the rich color and style of Yao costumes from one side.

Exquisite blue indigo printing and dyeing

Yao women are good at blue indigo printing and dyeing, and still have a complete set of printing and dyeing technology. After soaking and processing the Bluegrass they planted, they extracted indigo, added liquor, filtered with plant ash and fermented yellow, and then dyed the cloth. During the dyeing process, the cloth is dipped and dried several times until the cloth is dark blue and dark red. In order to make the cloth strong and durable and dark, the dyed cloth was steamed in a stewed cowhide solution or pig blood solution.

Embroidered with polytheistic costumes

The beauty of Yao costumes is mainly reflected in the composition of flower-picking. The characteristics of flower patterns and costumes are, to some extent, a reflection of religion. The Yao people in Xilin County, Guangxi, have retained a "Shigong" (religious) costume for hundreds of years, embroidered with many gods, mountain gods, thunder gods, sun gods and so on, which expresses the psychological characteristics of Yao people's various worship.

Colorful headwear

Yao headwear has its own characteristics. They have created colorful headwear: dragon plate, A, crescent moon, swallow, etc. Some wear bamboo arrows, some vertical roofs, some wear pointed caps, and some wear bamboo shells. Yao women in Hexian County, Guangxi, wear more than ten tower-shaped hats, which is quite spectacular. The women of the Yao nationality in Hunan are covered with beeswax and their spines are crowned with buns. They are wrapped in flower pads in trapezoidal shapes in summer and winter. They are covered with moth-crown-shaped cloaks, which provide shelter from the wind and shade from the sun. They are elegant and elegant, like "bachelor's caps" and imperial concubines'embroidered crowns. After marriage, they take off moth crowns to show that they have established a family and started a new life.

Overview of Ethnic Groups

Yao nationality is a typical mountain nationality in the south of China. They live in Guangxi, Hunan, Yunnan, Guangdong, etc.

Mountainous areas in Jiangxi and Hainan provinces and regions. The Yao ancestors were generally regarded as part of Changsha and Wulingman in Qin and Han Dynasties.

Or from "Wuxi Man". From the 3rd century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D., its first democracy was to live in the north of Hunan.

In the fifth and sixth centuries, they moved northward; in the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries, they were greatly moved southward, and Guangdong and Guangxi became their masters.

Need a residential area. In the 17th century, some Yao people moved from Guangdong and Guangxi to the southern mountains of Guizhou and Yunnan, respectively.

District, forming today's distribution, Yao now has a total of 2134,000 people. Yao people claim to be Mian, Men, Min, etc.

63 species, he said 390 species, such as Panyao, Blue Indigo Yao, Hongtou Yao and so on. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was collectively called the Yao nationality.

Yao people have complex religious beliefs. They worship their ancestors and forbid eating dog meat. In the primitive religion of the Yao people, Lei Wang, Fengbo and Yushi were the main worshippers. They also worshipped Wugu Lingnang (that is, Wugu God), mountain god, River god, tree god, animal God and Niu Wang. Among the gods, Panhu and Miloda are supreme. Yao nationality has its own language, Yao language belongs to the Yao language branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, but the situation is more complicated. More than half of the people speak Mian language, which belongs to the Yao language branch of the Miao-Yao language group; two fifths of the people speak Bunu language, which belongs to the Miao language branch; some in Guangxi region speak Laga language, which belongs to the Zhuang-Dong language group. There are many Chinese and Zhuang languages, but there is no native language. Generally speaking, Chinese is the common language. Oral literature is very rich.

The Yao people are located in a place with abundant rainfall, abundant forests and abundant natural resources. They have unique plant, animal and mineral resources. Such as the "green treasure house" of Dayao Mountain in Jianghua Yao Autonomous County of Hunan Province, and the Jinxiu Dayao Mountain, which is known as the largest natural plant kingdom of Guangxi, "the hometown of Cunninghamia lanceolata", etc. Yao people's dwellings are good at adapting to local conditions. They are divided into "half-side building", "whole building" and "quadrangle courtyard". "Half-sided building" usually has five pillars and three rooms, with two side buildings attached, or one side building, or one side building extending in front of the other side building. Most of these buildings were built by Hongyao. "Whole building" is called "half side building". It is usually built on a flat foundation along a river or half a mountain. The scale and ancillary buildings are the same as the "half-side building". Huayao and Panyao live in the whole building. The courtyard is connected on a relatively flat ground to build four "whole-building" composite houses, with a small square open courtyard in the middle, so it is called "quadrangle courtyard". This kind of building is only for the wealthy people of Hongyao along the river.

Characteristic Culture

The Yao people are warm and hospitable, and all the guests who enter the Yao family will be respected and treated warmly. Interesting "hanging bags" and "melon wine" are the typical etiquette of Yao's hospitality. When the guest arrives at Yao's house, as long as he hangs the bag with him on the hook on the main pillar of the hall, he will have dinner in this house. Without prior instructions, the host will naturally leave the guests to eat at home. If you don't understand this rule and keep bags and other things beside you, the host will think that you have to go somewhere else, and the food is often frustrated. Yao people respect their ancestors very much. They are used to reciting the names of their ancestors before eating, which means that their ancestors can only eat after tasting. Every festival must be pork, chicken, duck and wine to worship ancestors, meals are also exquisite: the elderly and distinguished guests must sit at the table. When there are guests, we should treat them warmly with wine and meat. In some places, we should offer them cockscombs. When Yao people toast their guests, girls usually raise their glasses and eyebrows in order to show their respect for their guests; some of them toast their guests with the elders of high moral dignity, which is regarded as a great ceremony. The Yao family is generous and courteous. Bacon, Shanzhen game and local specialties are the most common dishes in Yao family. At the guest table, golden and thick bacon is regarded as the top grade, and the host will enthusiastically fold large pieces of bacon to the guests. Guests, whether they like it or not, should accept it so that the host will be happy.

October 16 of the lunar calendar is the most grand Panwang Festival song of the Yao nationality. In ancient times, Yaoshan judged the king and Gaowang fought. He is willing to marry the three most beautiful princesses. Unexpectedly, the next day, a colorful dog named Panhu came to the top of the king's head. He promised the three princesses he loved to be matched with the color dog and made the color dog king. On the wedding night, the color dog turned into a big and strong man. The princess was very happy. Later, the princess gave birth to six men and six women for Panwang and passed down the Yao family's twelve surnames. One day, King Pan went up the mountain to hunt and was accidentally hit by an antelope and killed. When the children heard about it, they caught the antelope and peeled it to make long drums. They danced indignantly to avenge their father. Later, on this day, the Yao people gathered together to sing and dance in memory of King Pan. Today, Panwang Festival has gradually developed into a gathering to celebrate the harvest.

Paige is a form of free communication among Yao people. In the long-term development process, some common rules have gradually been formed. Just as young men and women in villages can't meet their desires, old people can't sing in the presence of them; people in their own homes can't sing in pairs; men and women can't sing alone or in secluded places, etc. Yao marriage is prevalent in matchmaking. Even couples who choose songs should be engaged through matchmaking. When talking about matchmaking, the matchmaker is usually selected by the male family to deliver tobacco leaves to the female family to show their marriage proposal. When the female parents accept the tobacco leaves, they agree to propose marriage. If the tobacco leaves are returned, they refuse. There are also people who get married by choosing songs and then matchmaking.

"Danu" Festival, known as "Grandmother's Day" or "Year of Yao", is one of the most solemn traditional festivals of the Yao people, which falls on May 29 of the lunar calendar. Because of the different living areas. Customs and grain ripening dates vary from place to place, so the festival cycle is not annual. In some areas, it occurs once every two or three years, once every three or five years, and only once every twelve or three years.

Clothing Focus

Yao people have always maintained their own traditional characteristics in terms of customs and habits, especially in men and women's clothing. In the past, because of their different living and clothing characteristics, they used to call themselves "Guoshan Yao", "Hongtou Yao", "Dabanyao", "Pingtou Yao", "Blue Indigo Yao", "Shayao", "Baitou Yao" and so on.

Yao people are skilled in weaving, dyeing and embroidery, and their clothes are also varied. Fangcheng Huatou Yao women wear a pair of skirt Lapel long clothes, flanged skirts, cuff trim cloth strips. Under the shorts, leggings, with red spikes wrapped around the head, the top side pick embroidered geometric tattoo pad. Dayaoshan Hualanyao women wear a pair of collar-style long dress with open sides. The collar, pendulum and sleeves are all decorated with exquisite red embroidery. They wear blue cloth shorts, brocade legs, clogs, green cloth pa, white PA bald head, silver ring at the neck tip and other accessories. Jinping Hongtou Yao women wear blue cloth paired cardigan, collar with red embroidery and a row of silver medals. The waist is tied with a blue cloth belt with embroidered geometric patterns at the end, and the pants are embroidered with exquisite broad pants, which can be regarded as a precious fine art. Guizhou Gouyao women wear dog-tailed shirts, their front skirts are long to the bottom of their clothes. If the tails are carefully sewn at both ends, the two skirts are crossed at the front of the chest and tied at the back of the waist. The "dog-tail" hangs naturally. This kind of dress is related to the Yao people's worship of Panhu (dog). Historically, Panhu's "colorful fur", "dog-head person", "Nanman" and their descendants all imitate the color and shape of Panhu to make clothes. Yao people still wear five-color clothes and dog-tail shirts to show that they never forget their ancestors. Common Yao men's clothes are paired bodices, left bodice short clothes or long shirts, belts, trousers are also divided into trousers and shorts, mainly in blue. More special is Nandan Baikuyao men's white bloomers, its wide buttocks and tight legs, peculiar shape. Yao nationality has abundant headwear, with white trousers Yao men's long hair combed and discerned on the top of their heads; Dapaiyao men's long hair bun, red cloth, pheasant tail decoration; Blue indigo Yao men like to wear elaborate ponytail caps. Chashan Yao women wear three pairs of large silver plates with warped wings; Huayao women wear dog heads, Panyao women's beautiful caps; Yao women wear "crowns" on the top of the top; a variety of unique women's headdresses wrapped in Jinpa are numerous.

Yao people are good at blue indigo printing and dyeing. They dye flowers on blue indigo cloth in two ways: batik dyeing and stitch dyeing. Yao people with skilled blue indigo printing and dyeing and printing technology, produced a well-known domestic and foreign "Yao zebra cloth".

Women's clothes include large-skinned jackets and trousers; round-necked shorts with pleated skirts; and long shirts with trousers. Yao costumes have unique style of flower-stitching composition, and the whole pattern is geometric pattern. Yao's headwear has more prominent features, such as "dragon plate", "A" and "flying swallow". Yao dyeing and weaving industry is well developed, clothing is made of self-dyed earth cloth, with a complete set of blue indigo printing and dyeing technology. Five kinds of colours are commonly used: red, green, yellow, white and black. The process of making colour stitching, embroidery, brocade and batik is also discussed.

There are great differences in the clothing of Yao ethnic groups. The basic color of men's clothing is blue and blue. The main color of men's clothing is paired skirts, slanted skirts and Pipa skirts. Some of them wear cross-collar long shirts, pants of different lengths, headscarves and leggings, which are simple and unadorned.

Cultural protection

The State attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20, 2006, the folklore was approved by the State Council and listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.