Mount Siguniang Culture
Mount Siguniang Culture introduces Mount Siguniang Culture Tour information about People, Language, Costumes, Cuisine, Festivals, Song and Dance, Traditional Crafts, Architecture, Museums, Religion, Historical Sites, Traditional Villages, Intangible Cultural Heritages and Inheritors of Intangible Cultural Heritages. Siguniang mountain is the main settlement area of Jiarong Tibetan. They have worked hard and thrived in this land for generations. Due to the closed geographical environment, blocked traffic and relatively backward economy, the traditional cultural form is preserved completely, and the ethnic customs are more primitive, simple and mysterious. It has a long ethnic history and thick cultural accumulation.
History of Mount Siguniang
The formation of Siguniang mountain can be summarized as "vicissitudes of the sea" and "song of ice and fire". It has experienced four times of evolution: Ocean age, magma age, orogenic age and ice age. Siguniangshan town is under the jurisdiction of Xiaojin County, Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. In 1952, Rilong Township was established, which was changed to commune in 1959 and changed its name to Hongqi commune in 1966, resumed Rilong Township in 1978, and then changed its name to Rilong Town. On October 26, 2013, Rilong town was renamed "Siguniangshan town".
In 1995 and 1996, Siguniang mountain was approved by the State Council as a national scenic spot and natural reserve. In 1996, a total of 1375.85 square kilometers of Siguniang mountain scenic area and surrounding Jiajin mountain were listed as national nature reserves. In 2005, Siguniang mountain scenic area was identified as a national geopark. In July 2006, Siguniang mountain scenic spot was approved by UNESCO as a part of the world natural heritage of giant panda habitat in Sichuan, China. In 2014, Siguniangshan National Nature Reserve won the title of "national environmental science base".
People of Mount Siguniang
Mount Siguniang scenic spot is the main residential area of Jiarong Tibetan. Jiarong Tibetans are a branch of Tibetans. There are four ethnic groups living in Siguniang Mountain: Tibetan Qiang, Hui, Han. Tibetan has the largest population. Tibetans are one of the ancient members of many minority nationalities in China, distributed in Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Yunnan and other provinces. Tibetans are also divided into different branches due to different regions and dialects. The Tibetans living in the area of Siguniang Mountain are Jiarong Tibetans, and the Tibetan area calls this area "Rongba" (from rural areas).
Language
The local residents are the Jiarong branch of the Tibetan nationality. The life of a few ethnic groups in Siguniang Mountain is mainly based on agricultural production and has its own language and writing. Their language is very different from other Tibetan languages. It is ancient Tibetan and is only used in Lixian, Xiaojin and Jinchuan.
Most of the Tibetans can speak Chinese. There is no need to worry about the language barrier.
Religion
The religion of Jiarong Tibetan is Benbo religion, which has a long history. There are Tibetan historical records saying that "before the king, there is Bon first, before the law, there is Bon first". Bon is a kind of primitive Buddhism. It worships all things in the world, such as heaven, earth, sun, moon, stone, mountain, water, stars, lightning, plants, birds, beasts and so on. In a word, Benbo religion is a polytheistic sect, believing that gods are everywhere. Believers often recite the eight character mantra of "An Ma Zhi Ma Di Sa Lai De". The temple is under the charge of the Lama, but it is not necessary for him to live in the temple all the year round.
Costumes
Jiarong Tibetans attach great importance to festival celebrations. Even the costumes can be divided into labor costumes and Guozhuang costumes for festivals. Most of the clothes they wear at work are made of fine threads twisted from cattle and wool. They are similar to the long sweaters of the Han nationality, with high slit at the bottom, convenient for work, and the color is the natural color of cattle and wool. Men's clothing for festival is made of pure white wool fine thread, with exquisite fabric and workmanship. It usually takes two to three years for a suit to be made. At every festival, men should wear jewelry, a solitary leather hat, Ganiao(嘎鸟) on the chest (the Little Buddha rabbit is equipped with a body protecting Buddha and a scripture bag), a yellow belt on the waist and cow leather boots on the feet. Women's festival dress is generally white jacket and white skirt. The top of the head is a black Lake crinkle handkerchief embroidered with lace. The top plate of Jiarong Tibetan singing and dancing is made of silver, copper plate and silver plate. The shape is like a hexagon badge, with exquisite patterns and embedded with coral and other treasures. The women's waist is tied with a lake wrinkly belt and wide lace, and their feet wear cattle leather boots.
Cuisine
In terms of diet, Jiarong Tibetans mainly eat buckwheat, supplemented by highland barley, peas and potatoes, drink buttered tea, Tibetan melon soup and eat round root pickled vegetables. "Shaomo" has its own characteristics. This kind of food is mainly made of wheat flour, highland barley flour and corn flour. During the festivals, there are patterns such as the sun, moon, stars, Jiarong Tibetan houses, stone and wood structure. After the shape is made, it is put into the firewood ash of Qinggang and cooked. It is characterized by crispness and fragrance, which is highly praised.
See more about Mount Siguniang Dining.
Festivals
In order to sacrifice Siguniang holy mountain, at this time of year, men, women and children of local Jiarong Tibetan, Qiang and other nationalities of Siguniang mountain gather at Guozhuang Ping of Haizigou in full dress. Whether it's Tibetan New Year or Chinese traditional festivals, the Tibetan, Qiang and Han people in Siguniangshan will be together, singing and dancing. It is said that the day when the girls turn into mountain peaks is on the fourth day of May in the lunar calendar. Therefore, every year, the villagers wear festival costumes, take butter, barley Za wine, Ciba and other food, and come to Guozhuang Ping, the natural altar of Siguniang mountain, to sacrifice Siguniang Mountain God.
Other festivals in Mount Siguniangshan include Mount Siguniang Climbing Festival, Mount Siguniang International Ice climbing Festival, etc.
Song and Dance
Jiarong Tibetans are good at singing and dancing. There is a proverb to prove that "the one who can't sing is a cow, the one who can't dance is a wood". Jiarong song and dance in Xiaojin County is formed in the long-term production practice and social practice. It is self-contained and unique, with strong local flavor, including Guozhuang songs, labor songs, love songs, folk songs, etc. The songs sung in Guozhuang during the major festive activities are particularly typical. The songs of Big Guanzhuang during the welcome or the major occasions are loud and solemn, without any musical instrument accompaniment, and are performed by the elders with high moral standing beside the Jie fair. The elderly hold a bell and dance together in a circle. The rhythm changes from fast to slow. The number of people is unlimited. They taste Zajiu, dress up and dance all night long.
Architecture
Jiarong Tibetan houses have unique features, with stone wood structure and rubble masonry. The flat top blockhouse is the most widely distributed form of residential buildings in Jiarong Tibetan area. The plane is rectangular and nearly square, the height ranges from several meters to more than ten meters, and the most common is three to four floors. The first floor is used as livestock pen, the second floor is used as warehouse and housing for kitchen, food and tools, the third floor is used for scripture hall and sundry warehouse, and the fourth floor is used as housing.
The open space in front of the house is used as the sun dam. Some houses are built in the back half, and the front half is used as the sun dam. The back of the room is flat top rammed earth. At the corner of the house, there is a sharp corner, on which white stone stands for the extension of nature. In the middle of the back wall top, a trapezoid platform-shaped hollow stone tower is built, and a pottery pot is placed on the tower's belly. The pot is filled with grains such as highland barley and wheat as offerings to the gods of heaven and ancestors. The lid of the pot is made of slate, on which a big white stone and some small white stones stand for the highest god and other gods in the heaven. On each floor above the window eaves and the thick doors, there are also small white stones representing the gods of nature. There are several windows and observation shooting holes with different sizes on each floor above the second floor.
