Tell you from the history of the Qiang people
The Qiang people, who call themselves Erma, are an ancient ethnic group in Southwest China. Now the Qiang people officially recognized by China mainly live in the eastern part of Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, Beichuan County and Pingwu County in Mianyang City. The current population is about 306,000 people (2000). The Qiang area still retains the original religion, and the worship of animistic and multi-faith spiritual objects prevails.
The National History of the Qiang
So far, the oldest and relatively mature script found in our country is the representative script of the Yin and Shang Dynasties more than 3,000 years ago - Oracle Bone Scripts. There is one and only script about the title of a nation (or clan, tribe) in Oracle Bone Scripts, that is, "Qiang", which is the earliest record of the human race in China.
"Poetry Geography Examination" says: "Qiang was originally surnamed Jiang, and after the three seedlings, he lived in the three dangers, and now he is stacked, Dang, and Songzhou are all Qiang land." "Historical Records · The Book of the Five Emperors" says: "The three seedlings were moved to the three dangers, so as to become Xirong." "The Biography of Xiqiang in the Later Han Dynasty" says: "The origin of the Xiqiang came from the three seedlings, and the surname Jiang is also different. His country is close to the Southern Mountains. And the Shun Stream is the four evil, the three dangers of migration, and the Xiqiang land of the river
At the end of Yangshao culture (about 3000 BC), Yan and Huang tribes appeared in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. Yan Emperor Jiang's surname, the differentiation of the word Jiang and Qiang, is a different expression of matrilineal society and patrilineal society, and is often used interchangeably in oracle bone inscriptions. Jiang and Qiang are like people wearing horns and headdresses, representing the primitive nomadic tribes that originated in the northwest of our country with sheep as totems. "Jin Yu · Guoyu": "In the past, Shaodian married the Yi family, and gave birth to the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor. The Yellow Emperor was formed by Ji Shui, and the Yan Emperor was formed by Jiang Shui. It was different from virtue, so the Yellow Emperor was Ji, and the Yan Emperor was Jiang." Emperor Yan belonged to the ancient Qiang tribe and had many tribes.
In later wars, most of the Yandi tribe merged with the Huangdi tribe and became the Huaxia tribe (the ancestors of today's Han nationality). The other part traveled westward or southward and merged with the local indigenous people, becoming the ancestors of other ethnic groups other than the Han and Qiang in the Han-Tibetan family, such as Tibetans, Yi, Naxi, and so on.
About 2100 BC, the descendant of the ancient Qiang who was good at managing water, the Huaxia ethnic group Da Yu succeeded the chief of the tribal alliance. Historical records record: Yu, the great-great-grandson of the Yellow Emperor and the grandson of Emperor Zhuxu. Yu bid farewell to the mountains of his hometown for the safety of the people of the world, and began a long road of water control. He concentrated on managing floods, dredging the nine rivers, with a distinguished record. There is also a beautiful legend among the people that King Dayu "passed through his house three times but did not enter"! King Dayu later broke the "concession system" and passed down the throne to his son Qi, known as "Xia Qi" in history. After that, he united the tribes in Yangcheng (now Dengfeng County, Henan Province) to establish the first official country in the history of our country, which has been passed down for more than 500 years.
In the Han Dynasty, the Qiang people in Sichuan established the Yak and Qingyi Qiang kingdoms, which are now Xichang, Ganzi, Ya'an, and Leshan. The capital of the country is Lingguan Town, Baoxing County. During the Western Han Dynasty, the Qiang people in the five counties of Hanyang (Tianshui), Jincheng (Lanzhou), Anbei, and Longxi in the northwest region had a population of 259,990 households, 1001,802 people. During the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Diqiang people in the northwest established Cheng (Cheng Han), Pre-Qin, Xia, Houliang, and Houzhao countries, but they were all short-lived, with weak vitality and little impact.
In 881 AD (the late Tang Dynasty), Tuoba Sigong, a Dangxiang Qiang man, established the Xiangzhou regime in Xiangzhou (now Baicheng Zi at the junction of Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi), which administered the four prefectures of Xia, Sui, Yinyou. The Xia State was a country formed by the Dangxiang Qiang people in Shaanxi, Gan, Ning and Qing as the main body, including other ethnic groups in the northwest. Dangxiang Qiang has the Xifeng family, Fei Ting family, Wangli family, Pochao family, Ye Li family, Mi Gao family, Tuoba family? Customs are flat, and the dagger is fresh to offer Polonium, and the quail is carved with colorful armor.
In 1031 AD, the 11th Taizu Li Deming died, and his son Li Yuanhao succeeded him as Xia Jingzong. So far, the Daxia Kingdom was founded in 346 years and perished in 1227 AD. Its descendants are still distributed in Taoping Township, Lixian County, Aba Prefecture, Danba, Ganzi Prefecture and other places.
Sichuan was the ancient kingdom of Bashu, and the Xia Dynasty belonged to Liangzhou. Bashu came from Diqiang, and the silkworm bush (the former residence of Silkworm Mausoleum, in Diexi Town, Maoxian County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, the ruins were destroyed by the Diexi earthquake that occurred at 15:00 on August 25, 1933) was king. Li Bai chanted in "The Road to Shu": "Silkworm bushes and fish mallards, how at a loss did the country start?" In the same area, the ancient Qiang people also built the country of Ran (pronunciation is almost indistinguishable from "Rrmea"), which is the former residence of the 300,000 Qiang people today, and the area under their jurisdiction includes Maoxian, Wenchuan, Li County, Heishui, Songpan, Jiuzhaigou, Malkang, Jinchuan, Xiaojin, Laotang, Aba, Hongyuan, Ruoergai and other counties. During the Three Kingdoms period (221 AD), the territory still included what is now Dujiangyan (ancient name Du'an County, Qiji County, Guanxian County), Peng County (ancient name Baima County, Xingle County), Beichuan (Qiang Autonomous County) County (ancient name Shiquan County), Qingchuan County (ancient name Guangwu County), Pingwu County (ancient name Gangdi County), Gansu Wenxian County (ancient name Yinping County). The Qiang capital of the Han Dynasty is in Fengyi Town, Mao County.
In addition, the species of the ancient Qiang are Jiang Shirong, Xian Zero Qiang, Burning Dang Qiang, Zhong Qiang (Zhong Cunqiang), Le Jieqiang, Beiran Qiang, Dang Fried Qiang, Han Qiang, and Frozen Qiang, Xianren Qiang, Laojie Qiang, Sealed Qiang, Township Sister Qiang, Burning He Qiang, Gong Tang Qiang, No Species Qiang, Heishui Qiang, Beihe Qiang, Baosai Qiang, Hequ Qiang, Fa Qiang, Xiye, Puli Zhuqiang, Ahuo Qiang, Yak Qiang, Shenlang Qiang, Tsing Yi Qiang, Baima Qiang, Bailan Qiang, Kelan Qiang, Dangchang Qiang, Deng Zhiqiang, Wenshan Qiang, Dangxiang Qiang, White Dog Qiang, Brother Neighbor Qi Duba Qiang, Baoba Qiang, Baicao Qiang, Black Tiger Qiang, Luodagu Qiang, Yang Qiang, Caopo Qiang, Qingpian Qiang, Neighborhood Qiang, Lintu Qiang, Involved Qiang, Zuofeng Qiang, Zizu Qiang, Lintai Qiang, Xiangren Qiang, Ge Yanqiang, Wei (Wei) Zhou Qiang, Silkworm Ling Qiang (Xiwei Qiang) and more than 100 other strong branches will not be repeated here.
In any case, there is no doubt that they are the Huaxia people. There are a large number of ancient historical materials and archaeological findings as evidence, which are also recognized by the Chinese and foreign academic circles. There are also some Qin people who were the remnants of the Zhou state who stayed in Shaanxi after the fall of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Duke Qin was ordered by the Zhou king to go to the west and accept them as citizens. And Duke Qin destroyed the Twelfth State of Rong because there were a large number of soldiers in the country. In addition, after the Qin state implemented the Shang Yang reform, it attracted countless people from Kanto to join the Qin people as the people. Therefore, the so-called Qin people are the soldiers is wrong. The Qin people once had the customs of the army, but they still regarded themselves as "Huaxia", and when they reached the Warring States Period, they merged with the Huaxia people in the Central Plains. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Qin Shi Huang moved eastward to Xianyang, Shaanxi Province. Historical records and other historical materials record that Qin Shi Huang was superstitious in his later years and believed in the so-called "Hu Ye, who died in Qin" by alchemists. He made General Meng Tian send 300,000 troops to attack Hu in the north, slightly taking Henan Province... He also made Meng Tian cross the river to take Gaoque, Yangshan, and the northern vacation, and built pavilions to chase away the soldiers. Migration, the beginning of the county.
Traditional festivals of the Qiang people
The traditional festival of the Qiang people is the Qiang calendar year. The Qiang language is called "Japan and America". According to different places, there are various names such as "Qiang calendar New Year", "Little New Year", "Harvest Festival", "Restoration Festival", etc., but the names are different, but the content is exactly the same. The main content is to celebrate the harvest and express gratitude. It has a strong religious color. It is held on the first day of the tenth lunar month every year and lasts for three to five days. There is also the Mountain Festival, which is a unique traditional festival of the Qiang people. It is held on the first day of the fourth lunar month every year. This is an activity to pray for a prosperous year. On this day, there are fir branches inserted on the roofs of every household, paper-cut flowers hung on the shrines indoors, pine light and cypress branches are lit, and the god "Mubita" is sacrificed. During the sacrifice, sheep are slaughtered as offerings, and the wizard beats the sheepskin drum and sings the epic of the nation. On that day, all men, women and children in the village will drink wine, sing wine songs, and dance pot and village dances to pray for a prosperous harvest in the year
Festival offerings
During festivals, weddings and funerals, sacrifices, gatherings, entertaining guests or changing jobs, in addition to hearty meals, it is also necessary to have good wine. As a Qiang proverb goes: "It is difficult to sing without wine, and there are many songs with wine, and it is difficult to treat guests without wine." Weddings eat "wine", and banquets eat "wine". The wine brewed during the Double Ninth Festival is called Chongyang wine, which needs to be stored for more than one year before drinking. Chongyang wine is purple-red and has a mellow flavor. It is an essential wine during the Double Ninth Festival. Another drink called steamed wine is brewed by steaming corn noodles and mixing wine koji. When drinking, it has both the aroma of wine and the top of the rice, similar to the rice grains of the Han people. No matter the New Year or the hospitality, the Qiang people all regard the "nine" as auspicious, so the nine bowls are placed at the banquet, and the dishes are the same as Sichuan cuisine. Stewed whole chicken, used to prop up the chicken head with bamboo sticks to raise it up. Serve the guests (such as uncle, etc.) with the chicken head.
The first day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar is the Qiang National Festival. The feast of the festival is also called "harvest wine". On this day, the whole village people go to the "God's Forest" to make vows, burn cypress incense to honor their ancestors and gods, use buckwheat flour to make a kind of buckwheat dumpling stuffed with diced meat and tofu, and some use flour to make animals of different shapes such as cattle, sheep, horses, and chickens as sacrifices. The next day, there is a family banquet, and the married daughter is invited to return to her mother's house. Carry out various festival activities. The mountain festival to pray for a good harvest is a kind of sacrificial activity in the whole village. Except for married women who are not allowed to participate, all people in the village must bring wine, meat and buns to the meeting. The meeting will be held by each household in the village in turn. At that time, 1 black ram, 1 red rooster, 1 jar of wine, 1.5 kilograms of pork, 1 bucket of highland barley, 6.5 kilograms of noodles made of buns and balsamic wax, firecrackers, paper money, etc., will be prepared according to the regulations, and "Xu" (wizard) will preside over the sacrifice, pray to the gods and mountain gods to bless the life of the whole village, and the goats will be slaughtered and cooked, along with other food distributed to each household, called "scattered elements". Finally, everyone sat on the ground and tasted each other's sacrificial food.
The Qiang nationality holds a wedding ceremony. The groom should accompany the bride back to his mother's house. The mother's family should prepare "return wine". Relatives and friends should give gifts to the newlyweds, and give speeches to wish the bride and groom happiness and a long life together. There is also a custom of "teasing the groom" in some places among the Qiang people. That is, at the return wine banquet, the mother's family should use four-foot-long chopsticks for the groom, and add a few chopstick pendants made of potatoes to the back of the chopsticks. The groom should use these chopsticks, and use a few oil lamps to pick up dishes made of diced meat and beans. If the chopsticks are long and cannot pick up the vegetables, or the oil lamp burns his chin, he will be fined for wine. This kind of activity is not only a holiday dinner, but also a kind of entertainment.
The daily food customs of the Qiang people
The majority of the Qiang people have two meals a day, that is, they go out to work after breakfast. They have to bring steamed buns (corn noodle buns) and eat them in the field at noon, which is called "topping". After work in the afternoon, they go home for dinner. Most of the staple food is inseparable from noodle steaming. Noodle steaming, which is often eaten, is to steam corn flour into grains, which can be eaten as rice. Sometimes the washed rice is mixed into the corn flour, or the corn flour is mixed into the rice and steamed, which is called "gold-wrapped silver" or "silver-wrapped gold". Mixing wheat flour and corn flour to make buns and roasting them on a fire pond is also one of the main daily foods of the Qiang people. The Qiang people in many regions also like to eat corn flour and push the bean flower's Lian (rice + cha) pulp to ferment, steam it into bean foam buns, or grind tender corn to make water cake buns. Cooking with wheat noodles and meat slices is called "risotto noodles"; boiling water and corn flour are boiled into a paste, called "noodle soup", and continue to add corn flour to thicken, with chopsticks that can be picked up as the degree, called "stir dough", which is a staple food that is often eaten. When eating stir dough, you should also eat sauerkraut soup made of sauerkraut soaked with cabbage and round roots (turnips) at the same time, which can be appetizing. Often used corn, wheat, and beans are fried first and then ground into fried noodles, which are generally eaten when traveling or grazing. When eating potatoes, the Qiang people like to cook the potatoes whole, then peel them, and then pound them into a puree to make them into rice cakes, called potato rice cakes. After frying or frying, they are mixed with honey to eat. Potato rice cakes can also be sliced and eaten with sauerkraut and meat slices.
Because the time to eat fresh vegetables is only a few months, they often eat cabbage, sauerkraut soaked in radish leaves, and pickled vegetables made of green vegetables all year round. The meat is mainly cattle, sheep, pigs, and chicken, and they also eat fish and hunting beast meat. The Qiang people scattered in the mountainous areas generally do not eat fresh pork. They usually slaughter the pigs and remove their hair, cut them in half or cut them into several large pieces, and hang them on the beam to smoke and roast them to make "pig fat". The storage time is generally one year. When eating, one is to cook them with vegetables. After they are cooked, they pick up the pig fat, cut them into rectangular pieces and put them in a bowl before eating. The second is to cut the raw pickled pork fat into small pieces and fry them together with the vegetables. The function is to replace the oil with pork fat, and add some pepper and chili peppers to taste. When slaughtering New Year's pigs, the Qiang people like to fill the pig's blood into the pig's large intestine, which is called blood sausage after cooking. Blood sausage is also a kind of food for banquets when they eat wine. Some also mix pig blood with buckwheat to make blood steamed buns for consumption. The Qiang people also often put fresh pork in the belly of newly slaughtered pigs with salt, pepper, etc. to tie tightly and air dry, so that the "flesh belly" will not be damaged for a long time.
The wine that the Qiang people generally drink is called "Jizhu". In the Qiang language of Maoxian County, it is called "Rimaixi", which means Qiang people's wine. The method of making Jizhu is to cook highland barley and mix it with wine koji, seal it in a jar, and ferment it for 7-8 days before drinking. The Qiang people drink Jizhu without wine utensils, but open the jar of wine and suck it with a thin bamboo tube. When drinking, take the order of young and old, take turns drinking, and continuously inject cold boiled water until the taste is light.
The Qiang people's daily stoves are very unique. They often set up an iron tripod on the fire pond, heat the iron pot on it when cooking, or bake food. The elegant iron tripod is also inlaid with silver jewelry.
Marriage customs of the Qiang people
In the past, young men and women of the Qiang ethnic group did not have the right to choose a spouse and love freely. When they were young, their parents contracted marriage on their behalf, and even referred to the belly as marriage. When choosing a marriage, they paid attention to family matching and kissing. Women often outnumber men at the age of marriage, so there is a popular folk song in the Qiang area: "In June, the wheat is blooming, and the husband is still a milk doll. When the husband grows up, the leaves will fall and the flowers will wither."
The Qiang nationality holds a wedding ceremony, and the groom has to accompany the bride back to his mother's house. At that time, the mother's family has to prepare "return wine", and relatives and friends have to give gifts to the newlyweds and give greetings. There is also a custom of "teasing the groom" in some places of the Qiang nationality.
Planting "daughter hemp" is a unique marriage custom of the Qiang ethnic group. No matter how beautiful a girl in the Qiang ethnic group is, if she does not use her hard-working hands to sow "daughter hemp" on the land of love, she will not bear fruitful fruit. After young men and women of the Qiang ethnic group meet and fall in love and get married, the girl to be married will start preparing to plant daughter hemp. At that time, the girl to be married will have to choose a wasteland on the hillside for reclamation.
