Jingpo customs
Jingpo people, one of the indigenous minorities in Yunnan, China, developed from the Di, Qiang and other ethnic groups on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Modern documents are often called "Shantou", also called "Dashan","Xiaoshan","Chashan", and "Langsu", calling themselves "Jingpo","Zaiwa","Laqi", and "Lange". They mainly live in the mountainous areas of counties in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province, and a few live in Mangma, Gulang, Gangfang, Geng, Lancang and other counties in Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture. There are also Jingpo people in Myanmar, but the names are different. Myanmar is called the Kachin people.
The Jingpo people have two dialects, Jingpo and Zaiwa, and they have difficulty communicating with each other. Jingpo language belongs to the Jingpo branch of the Tibetan-Burmese family of the Sino-Tibetan family. Use Jingpo Language, a pinyin script based on Latin alphabet. The Jingpo people have rich and beautiful oral literature, including long narrative poems, myths, stories, fables, proverbs, riddles, etc. that reflect the origin and migration history of the nation.
The Jingpo people are mainly engaged in agriculture. Jingpo area is rich in precious wood and various medicinal materials. Cash crops include rubber, tung oil, tea, coffee, etc. The Jingpo people generally believe in primitive polygods, and some people believe in Christianity.
In the current monogamy marriage, basically, the traditional principle of one-way marriage between uncles and uncles must still be followed, that is, the man in the uncle's family must marry the woman in the uncle's family, but the man in the uncle's family cannot marry the woman in the aunt's family, forming a marriage relationship of "uncle's family" and "father-in-law's family." The house-transfer system and the custom of marrying a husband and marrying a sister after a dead wife are popular. Hierarchical marriage is also implemented, that is, officials intermarry among officials and people intermarry among people. Young men and women have freedom to socialize, but marriage is arranged by their parents, and the bride price is very heavy, and marriage theft often occurs. But there are also polygamy among mountain officials and wealthy households. At home, the father is the parent. When there is a daughter but no son, you can marry in, but the successor son-in-law does not change his surname. When there is no child, you can take in an adopted son. The rights and obligations of the biological son are subject to a loose inheritance system for property, and the status of the young son is higher than that of the eldest son.
The Jingpo people have no written laws, and social order is maintained by the traditional customary law-"Tongdra". Customary law is highly binding and is often combined with religious superstition. The death penalty is generally not easily imposed, but the murderer must pay the life price. In general cases, the offender will be fined several times to ten times the compensation in kind. When a case cannot be investigated and determined, a divine judgment is taken. Commonly used methods of divine judgment include swearing, egg hexagram, field snail fighting, boiling rice, fishing for boiling water, and stuffing water. As classes divided, customary laws have gradually been undermined and used by mountain officials and leaders to serve their own interests.
The houses of the Jingpo people are wooden thatched cottages, and only a few mountain officials live in tiled houses in some places. The thatched hut is rectangular and the roof is double inclined. The entire building is divided into two floors, the upper floor houses people, and the lower floor houses livestock and poultry. The door opens from both ends. The front door allows guests to enter and exit. Ghost piles are buried and cattle and horses are tied. The back door is prohibited from outsiders, let alone passing through the room. There is a fire of sugar in each room, and bamboo mats are spread around them. At night, you can sleep on the ground. Houses are usually rebuilt every seven or eight years. When building, the whole village changes workers and helps each other. It takes a few days to complete, and a grand ceremony for the completion of the new house is held.
Jingpo men like to wear white or black double-folded round-neck tops, with lace patterns and small colored velvet beads on the head cloth. They often wear waist knives and tube handkerchiefs when going out. Women wear black pairs of plumes, black and red woven skirts, and leg wraps on their legs. When dressed up, women are decorated with many silver bubbles and silver slices on the front and back of their jackets and shoulders. Seven silver collars or a string of silver chains or silver bells are hung around their necks. Tremella cylinders longer than fingers are worn in their ears. A pair or two pairs of thick engraved silver bracelets are worn on their hands. The more silver jewelry a woman wears, the more capable and wealthier she is. Some women also like to use rattan strips to make rattan rings, coated with red paint and black paint, and wrap them around their waist, and believe that the more rattan rings, the more beautiful they are. All men, women and children of the Jingpo ethnic group like to chew tobacco, reed seeds, betel nuts and drink alcohol. When acquaintances meet, they take out bamboo tubes from the tube handkerchief and pour a glass of wine to respect each other. Bamboo skirt is a traditional dress of the Jingpo people.
Jingpo people in most areas to rice as the staple food, a few areas to eat corn-based. In the past, rice was made with only banana leaves, distributed equally, and eaten by hand. The main drinks are mountain springs and water wine. When cattle are killed and sacrificed to ghosts, the beef is shared among the entire village. Whoever sees the prey will share. Guests are warmly treated with meals. Jingpo people like to chew sand branches, a chewing material made of grass tobacco, reed seeds, hydrated lime, etc.). Giving each other sand branches is one of the traditional etiquette when meeting. People in Jingpo also attach importance to reciprocity. During the slack season, people visit relatives and friends and present wine and meat, bait cakes, eggs, candies or local specialties from their own home such as honey and grass and tobacco to their masters. Guests often return with loads when they leave.
Whether they are weddings, gatherings during festivals, or relatives and relatives, the Jingpo people always carry a basket containing water wine, boiled eggs, and glutinous rice balls. People call it a "gift basket." After the host takes the gift basket, he has to toast to his accompanying guests one by one before he can drink it himself, count the gifts, and then return the basket to the guests to show that he has received all the gifts.
The Jingpo people are hospitable, and the host will warmly entertain all guests who come. They also retain a hospitality habit of "eating white rice", that is, in daily interactions, no matter which village or family they go to, they can sit down and eat without paying any remuneration. For anyone you don't know, the host must serve meals. It is generally believed by the public that letting guests leave hungry is the most undignified thing.
When visiting Jingpo's home, don 't stand in the room for a long time, but sit according to the position. If someone leaves, you cannot seize their seat or bench. Jingpo people also like to go up the mountain to pick broad-leaved leaves and use them as dishes, but in food and drink, the leaves must not be used upside down, otherwise they will be regarded as enemies and glared at.
Ping expressed condolences for women who could not sit with their chin supported, so they sat with their chin supported. Women are forbidden to cross their legs when sitting. Whistling in the room is strictly prohibited. In front of elders, it is forbidden to joke, do strange movements, and flip through the head. It is taboo to cover a sleeping child with a uniform skirt. The long swords and tube handkerchiefs that are carried by Jingpo men cannot be hung on the wall at ordinary times. When there is a fire, they cannot draw the sword from the flames to do things or pass it on to others.
The Jingpo people used to attach the most importance to the concept of ghosts. They believed that ghosts were good and bad, some could benefit others, while some caused disaster, so the custom of killing animals and sacrificing ghosts prevailed.
The funeral of the Jingpo ethnic group has many ethnic characteristics. When someone passed away at home, the gun was fired first and the gun was used to tell everyone that someone had died. They also sent people to inform relatives and friends, but only two people are allowed to go alone. Relatives and friends heard the bad news and prepared gifts to attend the funeral. People who die are buried in the ground, and those who die violently are all cremated and their ashes buried underground.