Intangible culture with Related Tags
Qiang Year
Qiang New Year is a traditional festival of the Qiang people in Sichuan Province, China, and is celebrated on the first day of the tenth lunar month every year. During the festival, the Qiang people worship the gods and pray for prosperity. Under the careful guidance of the Shibi (priest), the villagers dress in festive costumes, hold a solemn mountain worship ceremony, and kill sheep to worship the gods. Then, the villagers will dance the leather drum and Salang dance under the leadership of the Shibi. During the event, the Shibi chants the traditional epic of the Qiang people, and the people sing, drink and have fun. On New Year's Eve, the head of each family will preside over the worship ceremony and present sacrifices and offerings. In recent years, due to the increasing migration of people, the declining interest of young people in the traditional culture of the Qiang people, and the impact of foreign culture, fewer and fewer people celebrate the Qiang New Year; the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake destroyed many Qiang villages and severely damaged the Qiang people's gathering areas, and the Qiang Lunar New Year was therefore in a precarious state.
Yimakan of the Hezhe people
Yimakan is an important part of the worldview and historical memory of the Hezhe people in northeastern China. Narrated in the Hezhe language, Yimakan uses poetry and prose and consists of many independent pieces that describe tribal alliances and wars, including stories of Hezhe heroes defeating demons and invaders. This oral tradition emphasizes the protection of ethnic identity and territorial integrity, and also preserves traditional knowledge about shamanic rituals, fishing and hunting. Yimakan performers improvise stories without instrumental accompaniment, alternating between singing and speaking, and using different melodies to represent different characters and plots. Although more and more outsiders can become Yimakan apprentices today, they are usually trained in a master-apprentice manner within the tribe and family. Since the Hezhe people have no writing system, Yimakan plays an important role in preserving their mother tongue, religion, beliefs, legends and customs. However, with the acceleration of modernization and the standardization of school education, the mother tongue of the Hezhe people is on the verge of extinction. Currently, only the elderly can speak their mother tongue. This loss has become a major obstacle to the promotion and sustainable development of the Yimakan oral tradition. Today, there are only five rap masters who can perform their repertoire, several senior rap artists have passed away, and young people have left their hometowns to work in cities, which has exacerbated the deterioration of the inheritance and practice of Imakan.