Tattoo mentality of Dai and Bulang ethnic groups

In ancient books since the Han and Tang Dynasties, there are often "tattooed" descriptions of "Baiyi", including various ethnic groups in Xishuangbanna, which has a long history. Among all ethnic groups in Xishuangbanna, men from the Dai and Bulang ethnic groups are mainly the custom of tattooing. They use needles to needle various decorations on their legs, chest, back, arms, etc., and apply indigo or bile to make them blue and never fade for life. This is a very painful thing.

According to the summary of the modern book "Che Li", tattoo patterns can be roughly divided into four categories: first, animal types, including elephants, tigers, leopards, dragon horses, deer, monkeys, etc.; the second type of patterns includes moire patterns, squares, circles, flowers, etc.; the third is the text type, including Dai Buddhist mantras and sentence Buddhist scriptures; the fourth is other types, including curves, straight lines, geometric figures, etc.

Not only scholars have different opinions on why tattoos are tattooed, but even tattoos have different opinions. In fact, as a custom, tattooing has a historical process of development and evolution. Before the Tang Dynasty, ancient Chinese books said that the Vietnamese people "respected witches and ghosts" and "feared ghosts and gods." The tattoos of people of all ethnic groups, including the Dai people, originated from the Yue people's "tattoos with hair cut off". The earliest reason is as stated in the book "Huainanzi". Here,"land matters are few but water is crowded, so people are tattooed and tattooed with elephants and scales", that is,"in the shape of a dragon, so that it can enter the water, and the dragon will not hurt it." This is a simple bionics, in order to live in harmony with nature.

In Dai legend, a young man got the help of a dragon girl and tattooed many scaly patterns on his body. When he entered the water, the water separated to both sides, and the water monsters did not hurt him. This regarded tattoos as a kind of witchcraft to ward off evil spirits. Another legend among the Dai people is that a young man scared the devil because he had a tattoo and killed him. This is the same way to avoid evil and prevent harm.

In some ancient books after the Tang and Song Dynasties, the barbarians with tattoos were divided into "embroidered foot barbarians","embroidered face barbarians" and "carved title barbarians". In the Ming Dynasty, the Biography of Baiyi said: "If you don't tattoo your feet, everyone will laugh at it, saying that you are a woman, not a species of Baiyi." It shows that at that time, they had entered patrilineal society, and tattoos not only showed the differences between men and women, but also the differences between ethnic groups. The Dai characters and Buddhist tablets in the tattoo patterns are the development of Buddhism after the introduction and writing. Dai legend is that the Buddha painted patterns in order to make the young monk concentrate on listening to the scriptures and correct the fruit. Perhaps this is to show that men have received education in Buddhist temples and have changed from "strangers" to knowledgeable "acquaintances"! As for what some scholars and tattoos say, tattoos are to win the love of women, which may be reasonable.

As a cultural phenomenon, tattoos can be traced back to the fear of their ancestors who believed in ghosts and gods of certain activities such as hunting in the mountains and fishing in the rivers, and of harmful animals or imaginary "monsters." Later, the ancestors who advocated witchcraft believed that although dragons were evil and tigers were poisonous, they would not hurt their children. With fish scales and beast patterns on their bodies, as well as later Buddha tablets, they could regard themselves as "dragons" and "tigers" and seek the protection of gods and Buddhas. Tattoos are the simple mentality and strategy adopted by ancient people to adapt to the special environment and get along harmoniously with nature.