Qiang nationality is famous for its unique and exquisite architectural art, among which diaolou, stone villa, cable bridge and plank road are the most famous. Diaolou: It is made of stone and stone chips bonded with thick rice paste. Generally, there are four corners, six corners and eight corners. It can reach 13 and 14 floors, up to more than 10 feet, and will not be damaged for a long time. Functionally, there are alert "sentry posts" and actual defensive "battle positions". Up to now, there are still three stone pagodas in Qiangzhai, Tao Ping, Lixian County, Aba Prefecture. Zhuang Fang: This is what Qiang people call their house. It is square, and most people are five stories high. The first floor is used for raising livestock; The second floor is "Mida House" and living room. "Lan Yu Green House" is the fireplace of Qiang people, which is equivalent to the hall of Han people. Above the fireplace, it is used for worship. The third floor is the place to store "pig dart" bacon; The fourth floor is a storage room for stacking food and groceries; The fifth floor is a small platform and altar, called "Ruoji Pavilion", where "Abba Mubita" (the white stone god) is worshipped. The roof is a grain drying dam, which is used for drying grain and playing for children. Among them, the oldest, most mysterious and most distinctive Qiang nationality is Qiang Village in Tao Ping, Lixian County, which is known as the "mysterious oriental castle".
Unique Qiangzhai and Diaolou Architecture
Qiangzhai is mostly built halfway up the mountain, and there are several to 200 households living in the village. There are usually watchtowers in the village. Qiangzhai Diaolou has a long history. The Book of the Later Han Dynasty was written 2000 years ago. The so-called "Qionglong" described in the Biography of Southwest China means the watchtower in Qiang language.
Qiang people's cottages are all carefully selected, almost all of them are located in high-risk areas in the middle of the mountain, facing the sun and leeward, with solid foundation, free from the harm of mountain torrents, convenient for cutting wood and getting water, and concentrated on building houses near cultivated land. On the premise of making full use of the limited flat land, each house is arranged along the contour line, and rooms are built on different platforms and grow into strips. Houses are closely connected with houses and households, and criss-crossing alleys are the means of transportation for the whole village, which are closely connected with the doors of each household. Roadways are generally very narrow, some are 1-2 meters wide, and some can only accommodate two people. The whole Qiang village is interlocking and integrated. The larger Qiang village, including the watchtower building, is like an ancient castle with strict structure and complex structure.
Building materials are mostly made from local materials, which are closely related to environmental conditions. Feng Qiang and Yang Long shanzhai are made of stones, flaky and yellow mud. Radish village and Buwa village are rammed with yellow mud or both.
Houses are generally two-story or three-story flat-topped houses, which are trapezoidal in shape as a whole, with the back wall and the upper part of the house higher than the first half. The lower floor is the livestock house, leading to the courtyard gate, the middle floor is the human room, and the top floor is the grain room. And the upper floor of the house has a small white stone roof. The way of life arrangement is the custom belief that man is higher than livestock and God is higher than man.
Qiangzhai water supply can flow all over the village, and there are waterways to supply water to every household. The water inlet is built at the highest part of the stockade to draw canal water or spring water. Like Dujiangyan water conservancy project, the water inlet uses the natural impulse of water to divide water naturally. Generally, a waterway is built next to the roadway, and the waterway is paved with slate and coiled to flow through the village. There are skylights in many places on the canal, which are places for taking water and washing, among which Feng Qiang and Qiangzhai in Tao Ping are the most typical. This way of taking water is ingenious and scientific, and experts who study water conservancy lament that this is the water culture of Qiang people.
Dress
Before the founding of New China, the clothes of the Qiang people were "linen shirts" and "wooden shirts". Our own hemp (commonly known as hemp) is peeled and spun into thread, then woven into cloth, boiled with wood ash and bleached. A "T-shirt" is a T-shirt made of thin thread spun by cattle, sheep and wool. In addition, there is a kind of leather jacket, which is made of the skins of cattle, sheepskin or hunting rock sheep, argali, mountain donkey, etc. It's short and sleeveless, and it fits over a linen shirt. Durable, beautiful and generous, suitable for men, women and children.
Qiang men like to wear blue or white headdress, knee-length white linen or silver danqing robe, sheepskin jacket and embroidered belt at the waist. Men in Songpan and Heishui also like to wear long hair, tie it into silk thread and braid it into a bun. Qiang women like to wear blue or white headscarves, and their clothes are usually lace, with a row of silver ornaments on their collars, ribbons embroidered on their waists and embroidered shoes with pointed hooks. They like to bring oversized earrings, circles, carpets, silver medals and other ornaments. The most famous is exquisite "embroidery", which has become a wonderful flower on the Nine Rings.
With the development of the times and the improvement of people's living standards, many changes have taken place in Qiang costumes. However, Yun Yun shoes, embroidered shoes, pointed shoes, embroidered waist and traditional leather jackets with unique national characteristics are still very common today.
Dietary customs:
Qiang people also like to drink their own brewed wine, the most distinctive is smoked "wax pig fat", which is also a good gift for guests. On holidays, the whole village gets together, lights a blazing bonfire, drinks mellow wine, sings folk songs and jumps around the pot. The atmosphere is very lively.
marry
The marriage customs of the Qiang nationality are more complicated, and the marriage customs in all Qiang areas are similar. There are the following 1 1 wedding procedures. 1, betrothal: Parents asked "Red Master" (note: matchmaker) to bring two bottles of wine and snacks to talk about betrothal. If the woman's parents agree, they will accept the "red master", otherwise they will give thanks in return. If agreed, the man's family will send "Red Master" to the woman's house to eat "Xukou wine" with two Jin of pork and two bottles of wine. At this time, no outsiders are invited, only my family and "Grandpa Hong" agreed to eat the date of "engagement wine". 2. The man's family prepares a jar of meat and highland barley wine according to the number of women's families. After the woman invited her family to the scene, "Shibi" (note: Duangong) asked the gods for help. This wine is also called "Xiangtan wine". 3, wedding wine, the man feels that it is time to do a happy event, let "Hongye" bring a gift to the woman's house to tell her. The woman will generally agree that if the woman's family is in financial difficulties, she will negotiate with the man for funding and eat "flower arranging wine" after approval. 4. Date of wine: After the date of the man's birthday is chosen, please ask Shi Bi to give it to the red master sealed with red paper, and prepare good wine, meat and bride price cloth. He went to the woman's house for a date and invited his family and four relatives to explain the wedding preparations of the man's house and the number of relatives sent by the woman's house. 5. Pre-marital preparation: The man should ask his in-laws and neighbors in the village for help and define the division of labor. The day before the wedding, please ask all the helpers to "build a shed" and eat "build a shed wine". 6. Women spend the night: The day when a man builds a shed is when a woman spends the night. On this day, relatives, neighbors, and householders who eat the night wine hang gifts for the woman's house or throw money and things at the bride, who cries and worships in front of the shrine. 7. Marriage: At this time, everyone was very excited, and the suona kept blowing "Homesickness", and the bride and her mother, aunt, sister-in-law and friends cried into a ball. 8. Visiting the church (also called Zhoutang) is similar to the custom in China except for the worship of Chana Hall (the white stone god worships the gods and ancestors of the Qiang people) and the worship of the grain hall (the highland barley in barrels or barrels). 9. Attend the ceremony: After the ceremony, the bride salutes all the guests and offers cigarettes. 10 On the second day, both men and women should hold banquets to thank the guests and help the deacons. The man should also thank "Hong" and "Suona". 1 1. Return: On the third day, the bride and groom went to their father-in-law's house with gifts. This kind of marriage custom has been used all the time and rarely changes according to the different settlement procedures.
funeral
The cremation custom of Qiang nationality has a long history. The ancient books include "Qiang people burn their ashes when they die", "People die without coffins, and they all burn in one place" and "People die and burn their bodies". There are many legends about the custom of cremation. One theory is that Rambiwa, the ancestor of A Qiang, was a hairy man who fell in love with Muzhuji, the daughter of God. God was angry, punished him and burned him, trying to burn him. Rambiwa became handsome after being burned to death in the sky. He was arrested many times for stealing skyfire to ignite the Qiang ancestors. After hiding the fire with white stone; Say it. After death, fire will burn away the sins before death and reincarnate as soon as possible.
festival
The calendar year of the Qiang nationality is the most important festival of the Qiang nationality. Celebrations are held on the first day of October in the lunar calendar every year, usually lasting for three to five days, and in some villages will last until the tenth day of October. On the first day of October, all Qiang villages in the county are willing to offer sacrifices to the gods. Since August, Shi Bi has been forbidden to eat onions and garlic to prepare for sacrifices. Sacrifices are mainly sheep, pigs and chickens. Please forgive the gods. On this day, all the people in the village will sacrifice to the mountain gods and pray for a bumper harvest of grain, prosperous population and round livestock in the coming year. Under the guidance of "Shibi", the whole village should respect the owner of Zhaiban. After the sacrifice, they drank wine, ate meat and jumped into the pot. During the festival, Qiang people also welcome each other and give gifts to relatives.
The polytheism of Qiang nationality
The ancient Qiang people had low productivity and poor scientific and technological knowledge. They can't understand various phenomena in nature, which leads to polytheism. They believe that "everything is animistic", including natural phenomena such as living and inanimate animals and plants, such as mountains, stones, water, earth, sun, moon, stars, Chen, wind, thunder, rain and electricity, all have spirits, but not spirits. When Qiang people migrate to the high mountains and valleys in the upper reaches of Minjiang River, they often encounter changeable climate: drought, waterlogging, hail, flood and wind; Geological changes: collapse, collapse, collapse and subsidence; Other hazards: diseases, epidemics, plagues and insects; In addition, it is believed that "God" can manage and control these disasters, and people can only eliminate them by "respecting God". Although the religion in the Qiang area is influenced by Buddhism, Taoism and Lamaism, it still retains the core of the original "totem", stays in the polytheism stage, and respects everything closely related to people as gods. Due to the influence of regional environment, the names and worship of various gods are different. It is consistent that everyone worships the God of Mubita, and all the gods are represented by the "White Stone God".
The gods worshipped by Qiang people are: ① natural gods, sun gods, moon gods, star gods (commonly known as "stars"), mountain gods (each mountain has a name), water gods (wells, streams and rivers), Vulcan gods (thunder and lightning, phosphorus fires), dragon gods (rain and snow), Raytheon, field gods and land gods. (2) Animal and plant gods include six animal gods (horses, cows, sheep, chickens, dogs and pigs), tree gods and valley gods. (3) Tribal regional gods: land industry ancestors and village gods. ④ Family gods, ancestor gods, male and female ancestor gods, male and female protector gods, house gods, circle gods, door gods, kitchen gods, horn gods, warehouse gods, fireplace gods, daughter-in-law gods, etc. ⑤ Labor technology gods: masons, blacksmiths, carpenters, wise gods (wisdom gods), etc. There are Guanyin, Tathagata, Laojun, Jade Emperor, Guan Sheng, Chuanzhu, Mother Earth, Empress, Zheng Pingwang, Xianxian, Luohan and so on. The gods worshipped by the Qiang people have their own origins and myths and legends, which are closely related to people who are engaged in various kinds of production and have made great contributions to their daily lives. They believe that these gods can dominate the rise and fall of the nation, the safety of people and animals, and the harvest of crops.
Qiang mountain gods association
Mountain Sacrificial Meeting, also known as Mountain King Meeting, Mountain God Meeting, Mountain Transfer Meeting, Tower Meeting, Heavenly Sacrifice Meeting and Restoration Meeting, is a traditional sacrificial meeting preserved by the Qiang people to this day. It is a ceremony to pray for heaven, earth, people and gods, and to bless the Qiang people and their six livestock for prosperity, bumper crops, lush forests, peaceful places and all the best. Mianchang, Longxi, Yanmen and other places have the same sacrifice date due to different farming seasons, but most of them are in spring and autumn. Longxi and Mianchong are held in early August of the lunar calendar, and Yanmen is held in April. Sacrificial ceremonies are mostly held in one village. Before the ceremony begins, the leader of the emcee usually takes turns to make preparations and invites several effective assistants to assist the emcee.