Nu nationality is one of the ethnic groups with a small population and more languages in China. Lushui (formerly Bijiang county), Fugong, Gongshan Dulong Nu Autonomous County, Lansing Bai Pumi Autonomous County in Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province, Weixi County in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Chayu County in Tibet Autonomous Region, etc.
Nu people call themselves “Nu Su” (Lushui), “a Nu” (Fugong), “along” (Gongshan), and “Ruo Rou” (Lansing), and they think they are ancient residents on both sides of Nu River and Lancang River. They may come from two sources: the Nu people in Lushui county (formerly Bijiang county) call themselves “Nu Su”, while the Nu people in Fugong and Gongshan counties call themselves “along” or “long”. As a result of long-term contacts, these two groups of people gradually approached each other in the Nujiang region, influenced and integrated, and gradually developed and formed today’s “Nu nationality”, but they still retained some of their own characteristics.
Nu people use the Nu language, which belongs to the Tibeto Burman language family of the Sino Tibetan language family.
Rope
The Nujiang Grand Canyon and the Biluo snow mountain and Gaoligong Mountain on both sides of the canyon are overlapping, with dangerous rocks and cliffs. The current in the valley is turbulent and surging. Since ancient times, the traffic here has been very inconvenient. As the saying goes, “the blue sheep have no way to go, and the monkeys are worried.”. There are only a few ferries in the whole Nujiang River, which can be ferried by wooden boats. Also, there are no bridges or crossings in other places. The Nu people on both sides of the Strait only rely on the ancient means of crossing the river, such as the tightrope, to fly to and fro, and maintain their exchanges and contacts with each other.
Sliding rope is an indispensable and important transportation facility for Nu people. At first, bamboo strips were twisted into a large rope of wrist thickness, and then it was pulled across the river and fixed on the big trees, wooden piles, or stone cliffs on both sides of the river. People use a sliding board (sliding Bang) as an auxiliary tool to slide through the air along the bamboo rope. The slide is a channel-shaped hardwood about seven or eight inches long and four inches wide. There are two symmetrical long holes on the back for tying ropes. When in use, the groove of the sliding board is clamped on the sliding rope, the rope or the leather strap is used to go through the long hole, and the sliding board is firmly tied at the waist, and then the sliding board is held in the supine position, that is, the sliding board can slide down.
Wine culture
Nu people like drinking and are good at making wine. The wine of Nu nationality mainly includes “Gudu wine”, “Turbid wine” and sorghum wine. “Gudu wine” is brewed with “Gudu rice” (made of cornflour and buckwheat flour, like rice cake). The method is to cool the Gudu rice, mix it with distiller’s yeast, put it into the bamboo basket, and cover it well. After a few days, it will smell like wine, or exude liquor, that is, it will be refitted in the jar and sealed for more than ten days. When eating, the first filter with a fence, then add a little boiled water or cold boiled water, add a little honey or sweetener, and then drink with a little brewing. This kind of wine is sweet and mellow. It is the best wine of Nu nationality. It can not only quench thirst but also nourish and keep fit.
Religious belief
Nu people mainly believe in primitive religion and believe that all things have spirit. They worship wind, rain, sun, moon, star, Chen, mountain, forest, tree, and stone. There are two kinds of natural worship of Nu Nationality: ghosts and gods. There are more than 30 kinds of spirits in the Fugong area, such as clan spirits, natural spirits, disaster spirits, etc.; there are more than 10 kinds of spirits in Gongshan Nu nationality, such as mountain spirits, water spirits, road spirits, etc., while there are more than 10 kinds of spirits, such as mountain spirits, tree spirits, hunting spirits, water spirits, crop gods, etc. The sacrificial rites of nature worship of Nu people are mainly performed by the priests or witches who are called “NIMA” or “NIMA Ren”. They are very knowledgeable people in Nu society.
The Nu nationality in the north of Gongshan, which is adjacent to the Tibetan nationality, believes in Lamaism because of the influence of the red Lama Temple. In the late 19th century, after the imperialists introduced Catholicism and Christianity to the Nujiang area, some of them converted to Catholicism and Christianity.
Festival
It is said that the Nu people used to spend only one year every three years. Later, because of the influence of other nationalities, they spent it once a year. The time can be divided into new year’s day and before and after the Spring Festival. Years ago, we should be ready to burn firewood, kill pigs, cook wine, pound Baba and clean up. On the first night of the new year, we should invite the elderly to dinner. In the early morning of the first day of the new year, we should get water from our ancestors and let dogs eat the first bowl of rice. Junior one to junior three does not visit. During the Spring Festival, the old people drink and sing by the fire pool, while the young people shoot crossbows, wrestle, play swings, play piano, and dance.
Rouruoren’s festivals include Spring Festival, Torch Festival, July 14, new rice Festival, Mountain Forest Festival, etc. The mountain sacrifice is usually held on the fourth and fifth day of the first month. This activity is limited to men, sacrifice for black sheep. Also, Rouruoren’s new house has its own characteristics. When there are no doors and windows on the four walls of the wooden house, the owner wants to kill a chicken and ask the wizard to sacrifice to the new house. Then he uses an ax to cut a hole in one wall of the wooden house and install it on the door. On that day, the villagers took the initiative to bring chicken, wine, and meat to celebrate, drinking, singing and dancing, all night long.
On the 29th of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, the Nu people in Bijiang sacrifice to the God of grain, and on the 30th to the God of rain.
Every year from March 15 to 17 of the lunar calendar, when azaleas are in full bloom, Nu people celebrate the festival for “fairies”. This festival, also known as the “Flower Festival”, is a traditional folk festival in the Gongshan area of Yunnan Province.
Food customs
The Nu people are used to two meals of the solar eclipse. The main food is mainly corn. The way of eating corn has gradually developed from popcorn to stewed into Gulu rice (similar to corn flour paste), Baogu porridge, and made into Baogu Baba, the most distinctive of slate cake. When making, a local unique stone tablet (about 1 cm thick) is selected to make it smooth, when the slate pot is used. After burning, it collapses into the batter and is cooked. The burnt slate cake is soft and crisp, with a special flavor. A few of the Nu people who believe in Lamaism also eat tsamba. Common vegetables are vegetables, cabbage, radish, melon beans, peppers, etc. Every year, we need to collect wild vegetables in the mountains and forests in May and June. The most commonly used are bamboo shoots, wild lilies, various tubers and ferns, and ginger, onion, and pepper used for seasoning. Plants with starch as the main food or made into powder for bread and food. Fish or prey are fond of roasting or stewing. It is not common for Nu people to eat dog meat. Children also fasting bear, tiger, jackal, chicken claws, and chicken blood. Women do not eat heart and lungs before the age of 40. Enjoy the lacquer oil, usually use lacquer oil to stew chicken, roast mutton, good at winemaking. The Gulu wine of the Nu nationality in Gongshan is the most distinctive. When drinking, honey, mellow, sweet, appetized. Both men and women can drink with great energy, and drink songs, and every drink will be drunk. Nuzum area does not produce sugar, but it has been used to honey sugar since ancient times. Nu people drink tea is a kind of lacquer oil tea made by imitating Tibetan butter tea. Because there is no yak and no butter in the Nu nationality area, it is made of lacquer seed oil, then the lacquer oil tea is made by mixing and emulsifying tea, salt, walnut kernel, and other raw materials. It can be used as a supplement for the pregnant or the weak.
Every month at the end of the month, the family should clean the courtyard, remove the ash in the fire pond, and decorate the door with pine branches. The ground, cooking utensils, and utensils are covered with a layer of green pine hair (pine leaves), symbolizing the old and new. On New Year’s Eve, family members have a reunion meal. In the early morning of the first day, young men should rush to the well to fight auspicious water, and greet the elders for the new year. The elders should take out wine, oil tea, Mahua, and other entertainments. The first meal to cook should be divided into pasta and beef soup for the cattle and dogs. The owner should break the lips of the cow and pour it in. During the new year, killing pigs and slaughtering sheep, we should send gifts to each other, invite relatives and friends in the countryside to have dinner together, and have rich wine and vegetables and have a good taste. In addition to the new year, there are also the Flower Festival (March 15 of the lunar calendar), the ceremonial God Festival (December 29 of the lunar calendar), and the Mountain Forest Festival. During the festival, besides the necessary wine, there is also some food to be served. If you are going to mix all the meal and the chopped meat in the dustpan during the festival of ceremonial God and grab it with your hands. A wedding banquet is the largest banquet of all etiquette. Before marriage, the groom should take pork and rice to his father-in-law’s house to help cut firewood and cultivated land, and then hold a wedding banquet. The wedding ceremony will not only be full of wine and meat but also a new venue. At that time, the groom and bride will drink the wine of wish, and the girls will sprinkle flour on them to show their good luck and happiness. Nu people are hospitable. When visitors visit, the whole village will give the best wild taste. As long as the guests enter the room, the housewife will cook the dishes for the guests at the fastest speed, and send two stone cakes at the same time, with a fried egg or roast pork in the middle. Two cakes symbolize the couple, with eggs or meat in the middle to symbolize the prosperity of offspring. Finally, the host also drinks “concentric wine” with the guests.
Clothes & Accessories
Most of the clothes of Nu nationality are made of linen cloth. Women usually wear linen robes with wide chest and ankle length. At the interface of the front and back of the clothes, they are decorated with a piece of red edging cloth. Young girls like to add an apron on the outside of the linen robe and embroider various lace on the edge of the clothes. Men usually wear a linen robe with a wide chest and knee-length. A cloth belt or rope is tied around the waist. The front of the robe above the waist is folded up for loading. Both men and women of Nu nationality pay attention to decoration. Women wear beautiful headgear and chest ornaments with coral, agate, beads, shells, and silver coins on their heads and chest. They wear coral earrings and like to wrap their heads with a green cloth or flower turbans. The man has long hair. He uses a blue cloth to wrap his head and a hemp cloth to wrap his legs. He likes to wear a machete on his waist and a crossbow and arrow bag on his shoulder.
Folktales
Folk stories and songs are the most popular among the people, such as dragon girl, orphan, Hercules, eliminating demons and punishing evils, love, animals, and so on. They not only have vivid plots, ethical, speculative, and interesting integration, but also represent the heroic deeds of the Nu people in the past dynasties fighting against the evil forces of nature and society, and praise the founding of the ancestors living in Nujiang They are full of wisdom, good morality, and ideal sentiment.
