The introductory clan of the Deang people is called historical and cultural customs marriage funeral sacrifice

Deang ethnic group, also known as "Beng Long ethnic group", is a mountain ethnic minority in the border area between China and Myanmar, the ethnic language belongs to the South Asian language family of the Mon-Khmer wa De ang language branch, divided into "Bray", "Rumai", "Ruojin" three dialects, there is no national script, because of the long-term with dai, Han, Jingpo and other ethnic groups, many people speak Dai, Chinese and Jingpo.

The Deang ethnic group mainly resides in the border area between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, is a typical large scattered and small ethnic group, the distribution range is very wide, the Chinese side is mainly distributed in Yunnan Province, Dehong, Baoshan, Lincang and other 3 prefectures and 9 counties and cities, myanmar side in Shan State, Kachin State and other places.

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > family name</h1>

The Deang people, because of their scattered residences, call themselves many. The Deang people living in the Dehong area call themselves "Deang", and the Deang people of Zhenkang and Gengma call themselves "Niang" or "Naang", in addition, there are also "Beng Long", "Ang", "Leng", "Liang", "Bree", "Na'an Nuomai" and other names. According to the different shades of the lines woven on the skirts of the Deang women, the local Han people called them "Red Beng Dragon", "Flower Beng Dragon", "Black Beng Dragon" and so on. After the founding of New China, ethnic identification was carried out, and the name "Beng Long" was used. Later, according to the wishes of the ethnic group, in September 1985, with the approval of the State Council, the "Benglong Ethnic Group" was officially renamed "Deang Ethnic Group".

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" > history</h1>

The Deang people originated from the ancient Pu people and have a close relationship with the "Mourning Prison". Before the Qing Dynasty, relevant records referred to the Deang, Brown, Wa and other ethnic groups of the South Asian language family in Yunnan as "Pu people", "Pu" or "Pu Man". The "Pu people" lived on both sides of the Nu River as early as the 2nd century BC, and entered this area before the Achang, Jingpo and other ethnic groups, and were the earliest ethnic groups to develop the Baoshan and Dehong areas. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, they were called "Mangman", "Puzi Man", and "Wang Tho Zi Man", and they successively submitted to the Han and Jin Dynasties, as well as the Nanzhao and Dali states, and the ancestors of the Deang tribe also established their own regional rule in the late Song Dynasty, that is, the "Golden Tooth State". After the Yuan Dynasty, he became a subject of dai toast. The "Pu people" belonged to Yongchang County (present-day Baoshan City, Yunnan) in the Han Dynasty, and during the Tang and Song dynasties and the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the ancestors of the De'ang ethnic group "Mangshi Man" were active on both sides of the Lancang River. In the Yuan Dynasty, the "Mangshi Road Military and Civilian Governor's Office" was set up in the area of present-day Luxi, and Feng Ali (legend has it that he was the head of the De'ang clan) was made a local official. In the middle of the Yuan Dynasty, the "Baiyi" (Dai ancestors) quickly became stronger, and the Deang people were forced to gradually migrate to the mountains. In the Ming Dynasty, the central government named the Dai people with the surname of Mangshi (present-day Mangshi), and the Dai tusi also named the leader of the Deang tribe as "lao" to represent the Tusi to govern the Deang people, so the ancestors of the Deang tribe became the subjects of the Dai toast.

From the mid-14th century onwards, the emerging Mengshi Dai Tusi gradually controlled the Deang area around present-day Luxi and Yingjiang in Dehong Prefecture. During the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, the Dai Tusi used extremely arbitrary means to seize many fields of the Deang people. In the nineteenth year of Qing Jiaqing (1814), Tagangwa raised his arms and called out, and the Deang people gathered to form a huge uprising armed force. They put forward the slogan of "the officials are unfair, and the killing of the officials will not be even", claiming that "if you do not kill the toast to pieces, you will not collect troops." Soon, Tagangwa commanded the rebel army to attack the Mangshi Tusi Gate. Tusi let the Fa flee to Yongchang Province to ask the Qing army for help. The rebel army took advantage of the victory to pursue, and in one fell swoop defeated the stubborn Toast army. Immediately afterwards, they thwarted many attacks by the Lianghe Dai Tusi and the Xishanshan Mountain Officials, thus firmly controlling the Mangshiba area. But the Tagangwa and Deang peoples had always had illusions about the local qing government, and they hoped that Qing officials would come forward to uphold justice and severely punish the Dai toastmasters. This mentality provides an opportunity for the Dai toast to fight back. Not long after, the Dai Tusi armed forces, the Jingposhan officials and the Han landlord armed forces joined forces to launch a fierce siege against the rebel army. Tagua led the rebel generals in a stubborn resistance. Due to the disparity in strength, the rebel army suffered huge losses, and after more than half a year, the fire of this righteous national uprising was finally extinguished. Although this struggle failed, it greatly weakened the rule of The Toshi and wrote a glorious page in the history of rebellion against feudal rulers.

In modern times, the People of all ethnic groups, including the Deang and Jingpo ethnic groups, have jointly resisted the Aggression of British Imperialism against the territory of our western Yunnan Region. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese invading army invaded China's Dehong region from Burma, and the People of the Deang nationality in the occupied areas at that time joined a guerrilla group of more than 2,000 people organized by the han, Dai, and other nationalities, and waged many struggles against the Japanese invading army with copper gun guns, long knives, and crossbows. After the victory of the War of Resistance, in order to resist the suppression of the Kuomintang army, the People of the Deang ethnic group organized self-defense units in various villages, often ambushing the enemy and forcing them not to dare to enter the villages arbitrarily. On the eve of the founding of New China, the Deang people actively assisted the Chinese People's Liberation Army, surrounded and annihilated the Kuomintang troops fleeing to western Yunnan, and ushered in the liberation of the Deang area.

In 1956, in accordance with the small population, scattered residences and uneven social and economic development of the Deang ethnic group, different policies were adopted to carry out democratic reforms in the Deang areas. The Deang ethnic group in the Baoshan, Lincang and Dehong Prefecture dam areas, because in the past was directly subordinate to the Dai Tusi, its political and economic structure was the same as that of the Dai, so like the Dai, the land reform was carried out in the same way as the Dai. The main task of peacefully negotiated land reform was to abolish the feudal lord and landlord ownership system and distribute the land to the Deang peasants so that they would become the real masters of the land. Agricultural co-operatives soon followed in these areas. The Deang ethnic group in the mid-levels of Dehong Prefecture and the town of Qicheng are ruled by dai toastmasters and Jingpo mountain officials; at the same time, the wasteland in this area can be freely reclaimed, and there is no shortage of land, so the reform, like the Jingpo areas, implements the policy of direct transition to socialism, that is, under the leadership of the Party, conscientiously relies on the poor peasants, unites all the working people, unites and transforms all ethnic leaders who are connected with the masses, and vigorously develops production and strengthens the economic and cultural work related to production, just like the Jingpo area, under the strong support of the state, through mutual assistance and cooperation, The gradual abolition of classes and the elements of primitive backwardness and the gradual transition to socialism.

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="15" > culture</h1>

faith

The Deang people are a Buddhist people who believe in Buddhism. The Deang people of Dehong Prefecture and Lincang City believe in a strict mountain Theravada buddhist sect that prohibits killing or injuring anything that lives. In this respect, it differs from the local Dai sect of animal-killing Theravada Buddhism, although its teachings are common. The Deang people worship heaven and hate hell. They believe that good people can go to heaven after death and can be transformed into human beings again; after death, bad people go to hell and suffer to the end. Therefore, in the place where the Deang people live, social stability, national peace, diligence and thrift have become the norm. The Deang people are a firm believer in Buddhism, and one of the best buildings in the village is a chamber with Buddha statues. Most villages have their own Buddhist temples and Buddhas, as well as small monks (children who enter the monastery as monks). Buddhas all knew Dai and recited Dai scriptures. In addition to the charity of the masses on religious festivals, their daily life is provided by the whole village in turn. The Deang people in various places believe in different sects, some can feed pigs and chickens or kill livestock, some are strictly forbidden to kill livestock, even if wild animals seriously endanger crops and are not allowed to hunt; they do not engage in production on religious holidays and death days.

trappings

The costumes of the Deang ethnic group have a strong national color, showing the unique aesthetics of the nation and its pursuit of beauty. Deang men often wear blue and black cardigans and wide and short pants, wrapped in black and white cloth turbans, and the ends of the scarf are decorated with colorful pompoms. Deang women often wear dark blue or black cardigans and long skirts, covered with black cloth, with two red strips of cloth on the hem of the tunic, buttons with four or five pairs of large square silver medals, and colorful horizontal stripes woven on the long skirts. Young people, both men and women, like to wear silver collars, earpieces, earrings and other jewelry.

Among the Costumes of the Deang people, the most striking is the waistband on the women. According to the custom of the Deang people, when the girl becomes an adult, she must wear several, or even dozens, of waistbands on her waist. Most of the waist hoops are woven with rattan contempt, and some are rattan contempt in the first half and spiral silver wire in the second half. The width and thickness of the rattan circle vary, and it is painted in red, black, green and other colors. Some are also engraved with various patterns or wrapped in silver and aluminum. This unique custom is a continuation of the custom of the Ancestors of the Deang people in the Tang Dynasty, the Mangren tribe, decorated with "vines wrapped around the waist". There is a beautiful legend in its origin, that the ancestors of the Deang tribe came out of the gourd, and when they first came out, the men all looked exactly the same, and the women flew everywhere. Later, the gods distinguished the appearance of men, and in order to tie up women, men used rattan to form a circle to trap them, and the women could no longer fly, so they had to live with men. The current waist hoop was developed from the ring at that time. From this myth, it can be seen that the origin of the waist hoop has a certain utilitarian purpose, but with the development of history, this symbolic meaning is lost, and the waist hoop has become an ornament and a symbol of beauty. The Deang believe that the more "waist hoops" worn by the girl, the more exquisite the work, the more it shows that she is smart and capable, and her mind is skillful. Therefore, adult women wear waistbands and take pride in their many. During the love period between young men and women, in order to win the love of the girl, the young man often goes to great lengths to make a vine contempt waist hoop engraved with animal and plant patterns and give it to his beloved girl, so the waist hoop has become a souvenir of their love.

In addition, among the ornaments of the Deang people, colorful pompoms are also quite distinctive. The two ends of the men's headscarves, the chest, the hems and collars of women's clothes, the earrings of young men and women, and the surrounding areas of the tubes are decorated with colorful pompoms.

Deang women like many southern ethnic minority women like the tube skirt, but the difference is that their tube skirt is a long skirt with colored stripes and water waves, which covers the breasts and the ankle bone, which looks new and generous, bright and dazzling. The ornamentation of women's tube skirts of different branches is obviously different. On the tube skirts of women who claim to be of the "Beam" branch, wide line ornaments of red, green, yellow, black and other colors are woven horizontally; on the tube skirts of women who call themselves the "Belea" branch, large red thread stripes are woven horizontally; and the tube skirts of women who call themselves the "Rumai" branch are based on black threads, interspersed with red and white fine line ornaments. Therefore, according to the color characteristics of the lines on the skirts of the Deang women, the local people called them "Hua Deang", "Red Deang" and "Heideang" respectively.

diet

Tea is the most important drink of the Deang people. In particular, adult men and middle-aged and elderly women can hardly go without tea every day, and it is easy to drink strong tea. When they drink tea, they often put a large handful of tea leaves into a small tea pot with a little water and decoct, and when the tea is dark brown, they pour the tea into the small tea cup to drink. Because this tea is very strong, it is very easy for the average person to drink it and get excited, and it will be difficult to sleep at night. The Deang people are addicted to drinking because they drink it regularly, and as long as they do not drink it for a day, they will have sore hands and feet and weak limbs. On the contrary, if you boil a pot of strong tea when you are tired and drink a few sips, you will immediately feel refreshed and your spirit will be multiplied.

Tea is not only an important drink in the daily life of the Deang people, but also has a very important position in their social life. They can't do without tea almost all the time. Deang people pay attention to "tea to the intention", guests at the door, must first simmer tea to treat each other; when visiting relatives and friends and media proposals, tea must be used as a greeting gift; if there is a happy event to invite relatives and friends to visit, a small bandage of tea with a red cross line becomes an "invitation"; if two people have a conflict, the offending party only needs to send a bag of tea, you can ask for the other party's forgiveness. It can be seen that the role of tea is irreplaceable by other money.

Due to this special status and role of tea, the consumption of tea is very large, so every household of the Deang people is accustomed to planting some tea trees in front of and behind the house and on the side of the village. The Deang people are good at drinking strong tea and are good at growing tea, so they are called "ancient tea farmers" by the surrounding ethnic groups.

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="29" > custom</h1>

festival

Deang festivals mainly include Songkran Festival, Closing Festival, Opening Festival, Pendulum Making, Burning White Firewood and so on.

Songkran

Songkran (locally known as "Watering Flowers") is an annual traditional festival of the Deang people, which takes place on the seventh day after the Qingming Festival every year. The festival consists of three days. On the day of the ceremony, the Deang masses all put on festive costumes, carried the water from the well, brought all kinds of food they had prepared, and held a bouquet of flowers in their hands, and gathered at the Buddhist temple (booth) in the village to celebrate the festival. The ceremony was presided over by a highly respected elder in the village and a congratulatory speech was delivered. At the farewell speech, the young men beat the elephant foot drum and danced the elephant foot encouragement. The young women joined the drums and danced the "sand pile dance". Others hold bamboo water pipes in their hands, lift them over the top, and pour water into the sink where the dragon painting sutra is carved in turn, bathing in the Buddha statue symbolizing the incarnation of the Buddha, which means remembering the kindness of the ancestors and wishing for a smooth wind and rain in the coming year. In the meantime, people also carried empty bamboo tubes and scrambled to pick up the water flowing from the Buddha statue, or drink it into their stomachs, or wash their faces and wash their hands, as a sign of avoiding illness and the coming year is auspicious. After the first ceremony of the water splash, people began to place the food they brought on the offering plate, offer it in front of the Buddha statue, recite the sacrifice in unison, and then let the people who participated in the Songkran festival taste it. After the above ceremony, people, led by elephant foot drum teams, lined up in long lines, crossed mountains and mountains, and came to wells, springs, and rivers to get water to celebrate their festivals. In the meantime, every time the water is taken, a water extraction ceremony and an offering ceremony are held. There is also a ceremony of passing cigarettes and singing. There are certain rules for the procedure for fetching water. On the first day, you can only take water from the well next to the village, the next day you can take it from the spring in the mountain basket, and on the third day, you can take water from the river, first near and then far. This means developing water with your own hands and not waiting for nature's gifts. There are strict rules for splashing water, and on the first day, you can only water the Buddha statue first, and then wash your hands for the Buddha and monks, and you can't pour it on your body. The masses must not throw water on each other. Early the next morning, young men and women or children, carrying bamboo water pipes, went to the homes of the elders to wash their hands and faces, which meant thanking them for their dedication and wishing them health and longevity. From the third day onwards, they water each other in the form of bouquets of water sprinkled on each other, and the main object of watering is the newlyweds, which means congratulating them on living in harmony and eternal happiness. When watering, newlyweds must not refuse or resist at will, otherwise, they will be regarded as people who do not understand the rules.

Closing The Gate Festival

The Closing Festival, in Deang, is called "entering the depression". Every year, it begins on the 15th day of the ninth month of the Dai calendar (the middle of the sixth month of the lunar calendar) and lasts for 3 months. The Closing Festival is the busiest time for agricultural production, and it requires young men and women to self-discipline and concentrate on agricultural production. That is, to close the door of love and marriage, during the festival is not allowed to talk about love, not allow men to marry women, nor are monks allowed to stay in villages, they must live in Buddhist monasteries, concentrate on chanting, and improve their morality. On the first 3 days of the Closing Festival, people go to the Buddhist temple to worship the Buddha, not to work on the ground, and young men and women gather together to sing "BeiZhan Chai" (Deang folk song) and dance. After 3 days, every 7 days, everyone should make small offerings to the Buddha with flowers, incense, candles, etc., and on the eighth day, they should go to the Buddhist temple to worship the Buddha, listen to the Buddha's chanting, and pray to the Buddha to bless people and animals with peace and abundant grain.

Opening of the door

The Opening Of the Gate Festival, known in Deang as "Out of the Valley", is held on the 15th day of december (the ninth month of the lunar calendar) of the Dai calendar every year, and is the last day of the Closing Festival, with a period of 3 days. Opening the door is to open the door to love and marriage. By this time, the farm work was over. On the first day, a religious ceremony was held in the village of Deang to celebrate the harvest of grain. The next day, unmarried girls will go to the Buddhist temple to burn incense and pay homage to the Buddha, thanking the Buddha for opening the door of forbidden love and marriage. On the morning of the last day, young men and women listen to the Buddha's sermons, and then the local people carry out the swing (market) and the worship of the Buddha.

Do pendulum

Doing pendulum, that is, doing a big tribute, also known as "catching pendulum", is generally held on a day of leisure time in the second and third months of the lunar calendar. Pendulum is done in villages. Before making the pendulum, the village should prepare grain, funds, cattle, meat and other supplies in advance to provide food and accommodation for participants from other villages near and far. On the first day, after visiting the Buddha, after worshipping the Buddha, everyone listened to the Buddha's sermon. On the last day, the guests left, and the people in the village gathered together, singing and dancing. It is said that doing a pendulum can make the people of the village clean and safe, protect them from disasters, and drive away evil spirits.

Burn white wood

The burning of white firewood, known as "Kong Tong" in Deang, is held on the evening of the fourteenth day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar every year. The so-called white firewood is a kind of tree without skin and white on the surface. Before the festival, Deang Village sent people up the mountain to cut white firewood and set it up near the village in the shape of a "well". On the night of the festival, after dinner, everyone went to the Buddhist temple to "invite" the Buddha statue to the white firewood pile, lit the white firewood pile, and the people in the village sat around the fire to roast the fire, and the monks in the monastery also participated in the burning of white firewood that night, chanting and praying for everyone, and wishing the Buddha to bless the De'ang people with good luck; everyone waited until the firewood was burned out, and then carried the Buddha statue back to the temple and scattered. The next day, the Buddha in the Buddhist temple placed charcoal ash in an earthen pot and offered it to the altar to show the Buddha's warmth.

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="43" > marriage</h1>

Marriage among the Deang people is monogamous, with the same surname not marrying, and rarely intermarrying with foreign tribes. Young men and women love freely, and women have a certain degree of autonomy in choosing objects. There is no strict hierarchical marriage within the ethnic group, and as long as the other party is willing, the rich and poor families can marry. Young men began stringing girls when they were fourteen or fifteen years old, and at night they went outside the young women's homes to blow reeds and attract girls to fall in love. After the two sides established their feelings, they exchanged bracelets, waist hoops, collars, grates, brocade bags and other daily necessities, and then invited the elderly in the village to the woman's home to talk to the mediator.

The Deang people's prevailing system of "no taste of nibie" (string girls) has basically two ways: one is that the young man's head "So bao brain" leads a group of young men to string a group of young girls, collectively singing, generally in wedding nights or festivals; the other is that the young men alone "string girls", usually when night falls, the young man carries the reed or Xiao to the back door of the bamboo building of the selected girl's house, and blows the reed to test. If the girl is interested, invite the young man into the house, at this time, the woman's parents and brothers must avoid, and then the men and women will sing love songs and pour out their heartfelt feelings to each other. After a period of love, if the two parties are in love and willing to marry as a lifelong partner, the young man will give the girl a bag of tea or other gifts. The girl hung the tea leaves at the head of the bed, and the parents knew that the daughter had an object. If you agree to the marriage of your daughter, you will take off the tea leaves, otherwise, you will ask your daughter to return the tea leaves. At the same time, the young man also told his parents about finding the object, and the parents looked for two prestigious old people in the village to talk to the mediator. As long as the woman agrees, the parents generally do not object, they think that the girl loves people, it is not good to disagree, as for whether the son-in-law is satisfactory, it is the daughter's destiny, the parents can not do anything. If the woman's parents object, the girl may go to the man's house to live with herself.

When getting married, the man has to give the woman a dowry, which the Deang people call "milk money", and it is customary not to give it. The number is determined according to the economic situation of the male family. When marrying a relative, she also gives the woman a hundred or two hundred pounds of meat, a certain amount of tea, sand, reeds, grass tobacco, salt and eggs. If the girl belongs to the outer village, she must also send some grain to the village. The new daughter-in-law received the house and asked for a three-day banquet, invited the whole village to come to dinner, and the guests sent some tobacco, vegetables and firewood as gifts.

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="48" > funeral</h1>

The Deang generally practice burial, and the murderous are cremated. For normal deaths, the body is first parked in the room and the fence wall in the middle of the room is removed. The corpse's head stopped facing east to the right of the fire pit, laid horizontally, soaked the corpse with mugwort leaves, shaved its hair, and put on new clothes. The body is then placed in a coffin and tied with a white line or red thread to the two thumbs and knees of the deceased. The purpose is to prevent the soul of the deceased from returning home. Crushed silver is also placed in the mouth of the deceased as a ferry fee for the deceased. The female corpse is placed in the coffin and is faced to the sky; the male corpse is face to the ground. After loading the coffin, the gun was fired to inform relatives and friends. At this time, untie the thread and extend the hand flat. The coffin is usually stopped for 3 days and the monk is asked to chant the sutra.

At the time of the funeral, the coffin is lifted out from the east, the tail of the coffin is facing forward, and grass smoke is sprinkled along the way to show the ghosts to open the way. The mantra is chanted by the old man, to the effect that the path is given to the deceased, and there is no more trouble in the house and the village. The burial method is to dig a rectangular hole at the selected site, put the coffin lightly into the hole with four ropes tied at both ends of the coffin, put it straight, cut the rope and the bamboo burden used to carry the coffin, throw it into the hole, and then cover the soil without building a grave. When buried, the head should be taken from the east foot and the west position, and must not face the village. 7 days after burial, it is necessary to exceed this soul. After that, the grave was no longer recognized and no grave was gone.

Each village has a public cemetery, known in Deang as "Navin", regardless of rank, surname or family, and can be buried by any member of the village. The Deang also believe that there is good and evil in the soul, and that the evil of the soul leads to a murderous death, so the unnatural dead are cremated and must not be buried in public cemeteries.

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="52" > sacrifice</h1>

The Deang people also have sacrificial customs such as sacrificial halls, village gods, earth gods, dragons, and guniang, of which dragon sacrifices are the most interesting. Generally in the spring, when pigs and chickens are slaughtered, the priest draws paper dragons, everyone prostrates, and then drinks and picnics together, scolds each other after getting drunk, and vents their dissatisfaction with each other. No one is allowed to dissuade them until the two sides are exhausted from fighting, and then apologize to each other the next day.

The village god is the protector of the Deang village. The Deang people regard a large tree near or in the village as the habitat of the village god, and hold sacrifices every year during the Spring Festival. It is forbidden to cut down the sacred trees of the village, and it is also forbidden to defecate around them. Deang villages also have the Zhaixin "Morning Man", which is generally represented by a pointed wooden stake standing on a sand pile in the center of the village. ZhaiShen is also the protective deity of the village, forbidden to touch, forbidden to urinate in the vicinity. The god of the society, "Shemeng", is generally offered in a small thatched bamboo building in the forest on the edge of the village, and two cans of clean water are offered. This sacred place generally does not allow outsiders to enter, nor is it allowed to touch offerings. The forests around "Shemeng" are forbidden to be cut down.