Ewenki traditional festivals

Ewenki "Ewenki", translated in Chinese as "people living in the mountains". Due to historical migration, scattered and isolated residential areas, the Ewenki people used to be called Tunguska, Soren and Yakutia in history. The name Tunguska was originally used by Yakutia, a Turk, to address the neighboring Ewenki people, also known as KamNi Kan and Sorembe. They live in Chenbaerhuqi area and are mainly engaged in animal husbandry. Soren is a Manchu title for them, and Soren means "pioneer", "shooter" or "please" in Manchu. Because they are brave and good at fighting, they are called "killing Thrawn". They live in Nenjiang River Valley and are mainly engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. Yakutia is what Russians call them, also known as Namiyar. They raise reindeer and engage in hunting activities in the mountainous areas where they live. The origin of Ewenki nationality is still a problem discussed in academic circles. According to archaeological and anthropological research, Ewenki nationality originated in the mountainous area around Lake Baikal. As early as 2000 BC, when bronze and stone tools were used together, the ancestors of Ewenki people lived in the coastal areas of Lake Baikal. From the similarity between the clothing of residents along Lake Baikal and the apron style of Ewenki clothing accessories, it can be confirmed that Ewenki nationality and its culture originated from Lake Baikal, so it is considered that the ancestors of Ewenki nationality originated from the mountains around Lake Rama (Lake Baikal). Another person said. Ewenki nationality originated from Shileka River in the upper reaches of Heilongjiang. Shaman narrative of the "Namita" clan: Ewenki "started from the birthplace of the Shileka River, along the shadow behind the' Swahat' hill, and crossed Heilongjiang. Our ancestors' roots were in the Immortal Column (Cuozi). In a word, the ancestors of Ewenki people are generally distributed around and east of Lake Baikal until the north of the middle reaches of Heilongjiang.

The ancestors of Ewenki nationality, from the ancient history of China, the "loss of Wei" in the Heilongjiang River Basin in the Northern Wei Dynasty (338-534 AD) was related to the Ewenki "hunting" tribe. (100) cloud: "The country that lost Wei is thousands of miles north of Buji and six thousand miles north of Luobo." (Sui Shu) Volume 84: Ten flavors are divided into five parts: South Ten Flavors, North Ten Flavors, Bo Ten Flavors, Deep Tan Dan Ten Flavors and Great Publicity Ten Flavors. The Biography of the Old Tang Dynasty recorded the scope and orientation of the real micro-activities: "There are blackwater in the east, Turks in the west, Qidan in the south and the sea in the north." The sea mentioned here is Lake Baikal. "Lost Wei" or "lost Wei" includes the ancestors of Ewenki, Xibo and Mongolian. Among the ministries of Shiwei, there are three ministries closely related to the Ewenki nationality: Beishiwei, Boshiwei and Shenweidan Shiwei. Judging from the Ewenki people calling themselves "people who live in the mountains", it has the same meaning as "ten flavors". Shiwei means "Shi Hui" and Mongolian means "forest" and "bush". The distribution areas of Beishiwei and Boshiwei, that is, east of Lake Baikal and south of Outer Xing 'an Mountains, are consistent with the geographical range of Ewenki people's life before 16 to 17 century. The customs and habits of the northern Shiwei, Boshiwei and Ju tribes are the same as those of the Ewenki people before. They "hunt for a living, eat animal skins" and "build houses with animal skins". People are buried in the wind after death, "ride on trees" after it snows in winter, and chase wild animals with skis.

Traditional festivals mainly include Spring Festival, Mikulu Festival and Aobaohui. Ominal Aleng, Giyaqi, Mirtl Festival and Vulcan Festival are all traditional religious festivals of Ewenki people. Later, influenced by Daur, Manchu, Han and other ethnic groups, Qingming, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival were introduced. Ewenki Spring Festival The time of Ewenki Spring Festival is the same as that of Han nationality. Ewenki people call the Spring Festival "Ani", which is a traditional festival of Ewenki people and one of the most important festivals. From the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month to the 15th day of the first month of the following year.

In order to have a good Spring Festival, every Ewenki family should prepare enough new year's goods such as animal meat, fish, wine, rice and noodles, make new clothes, shoes and hats, clean the house inside and outside, put up red couplets, New Year pictures and hanging strips, so as to have plenty of food and clothing in the new year and make the family prosperous. On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, Vulcan was sent to heaven. After sunset, families began to offer sacrifices to Vulcan, make a fire in the pit of the kitchen, melt the statue of Vulcan, and burn a piece of sesame candy and a piece of meat oil at the same time, which can make Vulcan ascend to heaven smoothly. On New Year's Eve, a huge fire is lit in front of every house. The whole family put on new clothes, burned incense and bowed down to their ancestors, worshiping the master god first, and then the ancestor god. Ewenki people call it "Aozhuori", which arranges all kinds of gods together, and parents take the lead in burning incense, offering sacrifices and kowtowing. Then, the younger generation will pour wine and kowtow to the elder, and the elder will bless the younger generation. The shaman held a dance in his home, wishing everyone peace and prosperity in the new year with the help of the gods. After the ancestor worship, the whole family sits around to have a New Year's Eve dinner, which is called "Eat and drink for a year on New Year's Eve". The New Year's Eve dinner is mainly about hand-grabbed meat and jiaozi, with yogurt porridge and milk tea. On New Year's Eve, most people stay up all night, which is called keeping the old age. It is thought that this will make them full of energy and all the best in the new year. Some young people dress up as masked men, and the Ewenki people call them Derrida, also known as "Abally Death" (ostrich), and go around in the middle of the night to pay New Year greetings for fun.

On the morning of the first day of the first month, each family made a snowdrift, tied a bundle of reeds with Hada and stood on the snowdrift, then kowtowed to God to pay New Year greetings, and then each family paid New Year greetings to each other. Every family should worship their ancestors first, and then bow down to their elders. Every family should prepare a lot of gifts and food for those who come to visit the New Year. After New Year's greetings, Ewenki people, no matter how many people there are, should receive them with meals and keep them for dinner. The food must be cooked fresh, not leftovers. This situation continued until the fifteenth day of the first month. During the festival, the traditional cultural activities are song and dance activities. People have been dancing around the spring bonfire since New Year's Eve. Men, women and children form a circle hand in hand and turn from left to right. The rhythm is simple and lively, and they often stay up all night. On the second and third day of the first month, Ewenki men held sports competitions such as horse riding, wrestling and tug-of-war, and women got together to play the game of catching Garaha.

On the 15th day of the first month, Ewenki people eat "A Mu pine" rice, which is cooked with rice or millet, and added with cream and sugar. The host enjoys the Spring Festival with invited relatives and friends while eating and drinking.

The smear festival of Ewenki nationality is the smear festival on the 16th day of the first month, which is a traditional festival of Ewenki nationality. At sunrise on this day, people smeared the bottom ash mixed with soybean oil on their palms, smearing each other. But between father and son, between Weng's daughter-in-law and between brother and sister-in-law, it is not allowed to smear each other. Younger generations should kowtow before smearing their elders. On this day, people, including the elderly and babies, should paint some black on their faces for good luck and evil spirits.

Ominaleng Ominaleng of Ewenki nationality, which means meeting in April in Ewenki language, is a traditional festival of Ewenki nationality as well as a religious festival. It is held on the third day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar every year and lasts for four to seven days.

Before the festival, the shaman priest, accompanied by his assistant, visited every household. Every time I go to a house, I have to walk around the yurt three times in the direction of the sun, singing and knocking. The host took a bowl of milk and sprinkled it on the accompanying person. The rest of the family sprinkled yogurt on them until they got into the yurt and stood around the fire pond for three times to the southwest corner, when the housewife spilled a bowl of milk on the top of the yurt.

Secondly, the new shaman will go to the old shaman's house to learn dance for about a week, during which he will kill a sheep donated by all the members, smear blood on the holy tree and share the mutton.

On the day of the festival, men, women and children of the whole clan gathered at the old shaman's home with cattle, sheep and horse meat, as well as gifts such as cloth, tea, sugar and hada. There is a birch tree in the yard and a willow tree in the room. There is a hemp rope between the two trees, and various colored cloth strips are hung on the branches and ropes as a gift to God. After the ceremony, everyone was surrounded by dog skin ropes between the two trees. The priest shaman and the attendant shaman danced with each other, and people sang along with the song and dance. If the dog leather rope around people needs to be lengthened, it is a good sign for the prosperity of clan people; If the rope used becomes shorter, it means there is a plague. When there is an ominous omen, the shaman will kill the animals and summon the gods to eliminate the disaster. Shaman priests and accompanying assistants kept praying to the gods for the prosperity and protection of the family.

After the ceremony, sports and entertainment activities such as horse riding, shooting and wrestling will be held.

The Ewenki Mikulu Festival is an annual traditional festival of Ewenki people, which falls on May 22nd of the lunar calendar. Mainly popular in the Morse River Basin in Chenbahu Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Mikulu is a transliteration of Ewenki language, which means to celebrate the harvest. This is what herdsmen mean by counting how many livestock were added that year.

In order to celebrate Mikulu Festival, Ewenki people began to buy holiday goods a few days before the festival. Some were busy slaughtering sheep, some were busy making dairy products, some went to town to buy tea, wine and vegetables, and some specially invited relatives and friends to the festival.

On the day of the festival, Ewenki people all wore beautiful and bright Ewenki national costumes, rode horses, and drove to the sacrifice site with relatives and friends to participate in celebrations. First, wizards and shamans, burning incense and lighting lamps, chanting sutras and incantations, conducting large-scale sacrificial activities, praying for gods, praying for disaster relief and human and animal safety. Then a horse riding competition is held, which is a sports activity better than bravery, wit, riding and skill. Excellent riders came from all directions and gathered on the field; At the beginning of the game, only one call was heard. Dozens of young and strong riders cheered and jumped on the horse, flying like projectiles, waving harnesses and chasing fierce horses quickly. Whoever rides the fierce horse first will win. When a fierce horse was trapped, some jumped on the back of the horse, some grabbed the horse's tail, some grabbed the horse's ear tightly, and suddenly threw the horse to the ground, thus opening the prelude to activities such as horse mane cutting, ponytail cutting, ear cutting, branding and pulling out bad teeth of animals.

This is the most important activity in the festival. In order to do this successfully, everyone must unite and cooperate. On the festival day, Ewenki herdsmen got up very early. Young and middle-aged herders put down their two-year-old horses from the stables in the grazing camp in an orderly manner. Some people cut their manes and tails, while others cut their ears to make marks. The owner branded the right side of the horse's hind leg. The cut mane tail and the cut ear block are kept by the owner. When the horse's ears are cut off for the wizard, the owner will put a bowl of milk in the wooden bowl, sprinkle it on the ponytail from the middle of the horse's ears, and then put the horse into the herd. When the horse's work was finished, he began to "cut sheep" and cut ears. At this time, according to the traditional custom, the old man will send a ewe lamb to his daughter, nephew and nephew to wish them prosperous livestock and more sheep in the future. The annual Mikulu Festival is held in a festive atmosphere full of mutual assistance, unity and cooperation.

After the above activities, everyone went to the host's yurt to hold a banquet. According to the custom, the banquet is usually tea first and then wine. When toasting, the host holds wooden pallet and puts two glasses of wine on it. Starting with the chief, respect the guests in turn. After a round of worship, the host presented Hada to those who helped "shear sheep", expressing his gratitude and announcing the number of calves that year. After hearing this, everyone immediately congratulated the owner and wished the livestock prosperity. In the coming year, there will be more brands and "reduced power". When the party was coming to an end, another host invited everyone to his house for the party. There is a saying in Ewenki: "People who respect you will give you sweet wine without hesitation."

At night, on the endless prairie, Ewenki people light bonfires and hold a grand bonfire party. Young Ewenki men and women form a circle around the bonfire. Accompanied by melodious piano, they sang loud and unconstrained songs with rich grassland customs, and danced Ewenki dances with distinct rhythm, powerful movements, vigorous steps, beautiful dances and rich pastoral life. When the girls danced to the cheerful melody, the decorations on the skirt jingled rhythmically, which sounded very interesting. The young people laughed heartily until late at night.

All kinds of activities at the Mikulu Festival not only fully embody the spirit of unity, friendship, mutual assistance and cooperation of Ewenki herdsmen, but also vividly show the national characteristics of Ewenki people who dare to struggle, are good at competition, are good at riding and shooting, and are good at tying horses, and show the masculine beauty of this nation.

The Ewenki Aobaohui Aobaohui is a traditional festival of Ewenki in Hulunbeier League of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and a grand religious festival. Aobao is a symbol of religious belief. Every clan of Ewenki has an Aobao, and there are Aobao offered by the whole clan.

Aobao Expo is held once a year, usually on auspicious days in April and June of the lunar calendar. At this time, spring returns to the earth, the weather is warm, the grassland is rich in water and grass, and the cattle and sheep are fat, and the conditions are very good. When offering sacrifices to Aobao, cattle, sheep and other livestock should be slaughtered as sacrifices. Ewenki usually race horses first, mostly attended by young and middle-aged men. The thrilling action of horse racing often shows superb skills and is constantly cheered by people of all ethnic groups around. After Marseille, lamas burned incense, lit lamps, chanted scriptures and offered sacrifices in front of Aobao. After that, there will be wrestling, singing and dancing.

Ewenki people believe that offering sacrifices to Aobao means offering sacrifices to mountain gods and dragon kings. The purpose is to pray for their blessing, eliminate disasters, have good weather, and prosper people and animals.

As for the source of Aobao, there is a legend that a long time ago, a woman sat on a mule cart and came to the Ewenki village from far away, sitting at the entrance of the village crying and shouting. It caused a storm, and everyone in the village was frightened and fidgety. In winter, there is ice and snow everywhere, and people dig ice caves to get water. Suddenly, a woman's head with long hair appeared at the mouth of the cave, scaring people to flee hurriedly. At this time, it began to snow, and the villagers panicked, so they invited nine lamas to recite scriptures and mantras. The lamas finally caught the evil witch by magic and put her head under the mound and stone.

Ewenki people are afraid of making trouble in the future. Whenever they pass by, they should put a stone on it to gain weight. From April to June every year, the most people go to add stones. Over time, Aobao is formed.

Jiyaqi "Jiyaqi" of Ewenki nationality is an Ewenki language, that is, offering sacrifices to animal gods. Sacrificing Jiyaqi is a traditional festival of Ewenki people, belonging to folk festivals. It is held every year on the 15th or June of the first lunar month, when the livestock are full.

When offering sacrifices, Ewenki people take cherry rice or rice porridge as offerings and put them in their pockets. Then, on a square felt, two figures, a man and a woman, were embroidered with the mane tails of various clans and put in their pockets for worship. After the sacrifice, unmarried girls taste it first and then share it with everyone.

Ewenki people believe that "Jiyaqi" is given by the god of livestock, and the sacrifice to "Jiyaqi" is to thank the god of livestock for his gift, so that livestock can reproduce smoothly.

Miltel Festival of Ewenki is a traditional festival of Ewenki in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which is held on October 26th of the lunar calendar every year.

Ewenki people think that from now on, the weather will get cold day by day, even overnight, and thin animals are in danger of freezing to death at any time. On this day, Ewenki people herded their breeding sheep into the flock, began to slaughter cattle and sheep, and stored frozen meat for winter consumption. It is decided on this day whether to sell livestock or not, so as not to suffer losses through the winter.

Because Ewenki people live in Daxinganling area, it is very cold in winter, and grazing and hunting activities are very difficult, so we should make all preparations for winter. October 26th of the lunar calendar is regarded as the starting point for the weather to turn from warm to cold. Celebrating Miltel Festival shows that Ewenki people attach importance to this solar term.

Ewenki people worship Vulcan on Vulcan Festival, which is a concrete manifestation of Ewenki people's worship of nature. For Ewenki people, fire can cook animal meat, which can give people warmth and light, but it can also bring people pain and disaster. Therefore, fire has become an incredible phenomenon of Ewenki people. They have a mysterious feeling about fire and think that fire is dominated by God. According to the Ewenki legend, Vulcan is an old woman. Because women have to touch fire every day and cook with it to keep warm, Ewenki people worship Vulcan, all of which are offered by women.

Vulcan Festival is held on February 23rd of the 65438+ lunar calendar every year. It comes from an old legend: a long time ago, a poor Ewenki hunter went hunting in the mountains and stayed in the forest for a day, but he didn't catch any prey. At night, he felt sleepy and tired, so he fell asleep in a cave. I didn't expect to sleep for many years. When he woke up, he found that the handle of the shotgun had rotted and the barrel was covered with rust. He walked out of the cave slowly, climbed a hill and saw two yurts in front of him. In front of a building full of Lele cars, he thought it must be the home of the rich; Another dilapidated building, he decided that this must be the home of the poor. So the hunter went into the poor man's yurt. The poor shepherd took out milk tea to entertain him. The hunter was about to drink water when he suddenly heard someone in the yurt say, "We poor people have endured for generations, and now we can't be like lambs to be slaughtered. We must kill all the livestock of the insatiable rich overnight. "

The hunter was surprised because only he could understand these words, but the poor shepherd didn't understand them at all. He walked out of the yurt and found Vulcan standing on it. That night, a gust of wind blew, and the livestock and Lele cars of the Ewenki rich family were blown into the mire or salt lake, while the poor herdsmen's families were safe and sound. Soon, many beautiful green grasses also grew on the grassland, and poor herders gradually became rich. The hunter knew that the Vulcan gave it to them, so he told every family in Soren what he saw and heard that day. From then on, the Sauron family began to worship Vulcan. Whenever you eat, you should worship Vulcan first, and make this day of the year "Vulcan Festival". On the festival day, Ewenki people will slaughter a fat sheep, roast the best piece of meat on the chest and head of the sheep on the fire, and then offer it to Vulcan.

Every family of Ewenki people will hold a ceremony of offering sacrifices to Vulcan on the 23rd night of the twelfth lunar month. Each household uses wooden roots or split wood to cross into a fire rack. On the fire rack, a greased sheep sternum is placed, five-color cloth strips and lighted stone lamps are hung around the fire rack, and a sacrificial table is placed in front of the fire rack, on which some offerings are placed. At sunset, women lit bonfires and began to offer sacrifices to Vulcan. First, they threw the wine and offerings on the table into the fire, and then the whole family bowed down to Vulcan.

Ewenki people respect kindling very much in their daily life. When receiving guests, the host should hold the torch and go out to meet them. The host and guest exchanged greetings under the torch, which meant that Vulcan could testify and treat each other sincerely. Before eating, the host threw a piece of meat into the fire, poured a glass of wine, and then toasted the guests. Guests should also drink wine to Vulcan people before they start eating and drinking.

Ewenki people regard Vulcan as an immortal god, and they can't put out the fire anyway. Therefore, Ewenki people try their best to protect the fire from going out under any circumstances.

In addition to the Ewenki festivals highlighted above, other Ewenki festivals include Ayayining (Ayayining: Longevity Festival) on June 65438+1 October1and Bugakayining (Bukakayining: All Gods Festival) on October 5/kloc-0. On February 2 nd, Mudu Day Yining (Mudu Day Yining Festival: Dragon Head Lifting Festival), they don't work, and they can't use any labor tools, including knives and guns, otherwise they will anger the dragon gods and suffer. March 3rd is the "Ouwoyining" (Bear Festival). On this day, they will offer sacrifices to bear bones. April 5th is Shi Wanning (Tomb-Sweeping Day), which is mainly to pay homage to the dead ancestors. Food, wine, dairy products and meat products are also used to pay homage to the dead ancestors. May 1 day is Oz Hoorning (Oz Hoorning: Ancestor's Day). Muu ining (Muyining, Water God Festival) on May 5th thinks that water has been alive since this day, so it gets up before dawn, bathes in pure river water, washes away the dirt and diseases brought by previous lives, and then inserts Artemisia annua into your head to ward off evil spirits. On June 6th, Ku Mahanen (Ku Mahanen: Reindeer Festival) is one of the traditional festivals of Ewenki people. At that time, riding reindeer, riding reindeer, racing reindeer, eating reindeer meat, drinking reindeer milk wine, trading reindeer fur products, exchanging reindeer breeding experience, redefining reindeer pastures among tribes and agreeing to exchange male reindeer. This traditional festival of Ewenki nationality has naturally become the main link for families with different surnames to regularly exchange reindeer herding experience, strengthen exchanges and unity among different tribes and strengthen national identity consciousness in history. In addition, basically, various festivals are held or carried out on the basis of tribes. On July 7, Baina Chaining (Baina Chaining: Mountain God Festival) worshipped the mountain gods. August 8th is the Mid-Autumn Festival. September 9th is Mitzgen (Mitzgen Festival: Vulcan Festival). 10 June 10 is Ghiacci Ning (Ghiacci Ning: Lucky God Festival). 165438+ Mirtl Yining (light snow festival)1October 23rd, Ewenki people think that since this day, the weather has gradually entered cold, which also brings people a good opportunity to naturally store frozen products such as frozen meat. So, from this day on, they slaughtered cattle and sheep for winter and spring ploughing, and stored beef and mutton, frozen jiaozi, frozen vegetables and frozen fruits in warehouses or storage vehicles in the form of freezing. It was also on this day that it was decided to sell livestock in winter. Also on this day, after a busy day, every Ewenki family will hold a banquet to celebrate the arrival of the Light Snow Festival. On some pastures, several families get together to celebrate festivals and engage in some self-entertainment activities such as singing and dancing. Of course, ranchers who are rich and have a lot of livestock will hold a larger celebration of the Light Snow Festival, invite their neighbors or relatives and friends to participate, and hold a bonfire dinner in the evening, which is also very lively, festive and festive. However, compared with the festivals comprehensively introduced above, these festivals are all small-scale festivals in the eyes of Ewenki people, and their activities are limited in scope or form. Generally speaking, some symbolic celebrations will be held in a small area or between relatives and friends and within the family.

Ewenki people mainly eat meat and dairy products, and generally like to drink milk tea. In the morning, they used to put a little salt in the cooked brick tea and add milk to make milk tea. Milk tea is a standing drink in Ewenki people's daily life. The breakfast and lunch of Ewenki people are "drinking tea", plus homemade snacks. Ewenki people attach importance to dinner and regard it as dinner. Generally, we drink milk, eat meat noodles and eat meat rice porridge. Noodles are usually cut with a knife, and porridge cooked with shredded beans and Artemisia is a delicious meal.

Besides pasta, Ewenki people mainly eat the meat of deer, roe deer, wild boar and bear, as well as ducks, dragons and black-bone chickens. The way they eat meat is very simple, one is boiling and the other is roasting. They like to eat "hand-grilled meat", cut the meat into large pieces, cook it in a pot until it is 70-80% cooked, cut it with a knife after taking it out, and eat it with their hands dipped in salt noodles. It is not only delicious, but also nutritious. Ewenki people like to eat barbecue when hunting in the wild. Hunters often cut animal meat into strips or slices, string it with wicker and iron bars and cook it on the fire. Cooked meat is tender, smooth and delicious.

Ewenki people eat fish and like to add some salt to the river to stew. They also like to eat all kinds of wild vegetables and make them into side dishes. Chinese cabbage leaves, peppers and green garlic are mixed together, crushed with a small mill, and then salted, which has a salty and spicy flavor, especially when eating meat.

Ewenki people often eat dairy products, and every family can make good cheese, milk skin and milk powder. Women put fresh milk in a bucket and put it in a cool place. After a period of time, the milk becomes mushy, and then peeled off and taken out to make cheese, that is, "the forehead is like wood", which can be coated on dry pasta or snacks. If you heat cheese, you can cook butter and white oil. They called "milk residue" "Odum", poured the milk into a pot and heated it. The milk gradually became rich blocks, and after drying, it became milk residue. Taking out the milk residue and smearing it with cheese can be eaten as a snack, which is delicious for Ewenki people to entertain guests.