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The Jingpo Nationality |
The Jingpos, numbering more than 119,000,live mostly in the Dehong-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. Their spoken language is a branch of the TibetoBurman family in the Sino-Tibetan language system. The Jingpos work mainly in agriculture, growing rice and millet as their major grain crops. It is believed that their ancestors once inhabited the southern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and after the 16th century,moved southward to settle in the Dehong district in Yunnan Province. The Jingpo people are very fond of group dancing.
Along the banks of the Daying River in Cbina's Yunnan Province, there is a subtropical area where about 120,000 Jingpos live. Favorable natural conditions, particularly a mild climate, abundant rainfall and fertile soil, encourage the growth of a rich variety of subtropical plants, especially valuable timber and fruit-trees.
Most of Jingpos' houses are built of bamboo-wood. Each is two storied with the upper one for people to live in, and the lower one for keeping livestock. It needs building every six or seven years, when the whole village joins in to lend a helping hand. When the new house is completed, the owner will fire a shot in celebration. As soon as they hear the gun shot, the villagers flock to the house and gather around it, singing and dancing with delight, accompanied by the beatings of wooden drums. At the same time, they congratulate the owner on finishing the house, wishing him good luck with everything and hoping his house will last forever!
Jingpo men usually wear short black front-buttoned jackets and short loose trousers. When they go out, they always carry a long knife and a knapsack as a symbol of their bravery and manhood. Women's everyday clothes include tight-fitting skirts and leggings. At festive times their dresses are brightened with a cape made from silver bubbles strung together. To go with this decoration, are silver necklace and a girdle made of plaited rattan and thin bamboo strips. The costume shows the Jingpos' individual sense of style.
The Jingpos eat rice as their staple diet. They prepare it in different ways, either by cooking rice into a mash or porridge, steaming it or pounding sticky rice into a paste to make rice cakes. To this staple, they add vegetables and meat, usually boiled simply with salt as the only flavoring. Zhutongfan(rice cooked with bamboo tubes) is the Jingpos' favorite food. To make it, a fresh bamboo tube is stuffed wilh rice and then soaked in water for some time.Both ends of the tube are then plugged with bamboo leaves, and then the tube is roasted till the surface turns brown. Rice cooked this way is sweet and tasty.
The Jingpos' most important festival is Mulao festival. Mulao in the Jingpo language means"group singing and dancing." Dating from remote antiquity, it is a big gathering intended to celebrate good harvests, to drive out evil spirits and to pray for happiness and success in cultivation.
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the day for the gathering. All the Jingpo people come to the dancing site early in the morning. Traditionally, four wooden poles, each about twenty meters high, are erected at the center of the stage. They stand for good luck, victory, unily and bravery. Painted on two of the hoards round the sides is a scene of the majestic Himalayas where their ancestors used to live. Drawings of crops and livestock on the hoards below symbolize prosperity.
As soon as the celebration starts, amidst the music of the Elephant-Feet drums, gongs,cymbals and gun-salutes, people begin to toast each other and exchange gifts. To show their manliness, Jingpo men hold a long knife in one hand and carry a knapsack decorated with silver. Inside are a bamhoo wine container and some tobacco to share with friends and acquaintances. Besides the sword, the most striking thing about the men' s dancing group is the bright-colored tassels banging from their white headbands. To match the men' s brilliancy,the women wear gorgeous glittering capes of silver bubbles, and wave a colorful handkerchief in their hands. The whole group is led by leading dancers to the beating of bronze gongs and drums shaped like elephants' feet.
Young people of the Jingpo nationality enjoy the freedom of dating and choosing their own partners. At the Spring Festival, young people from the village often go on a picnic together in the wild with food and wine.During the picnic, they sing and dance to their hearts'content and take the opportunity to speak of their love. The Jingpos' wedding ceremony is special. Once the wedding date is fixed, the bridegroom's family has to choose the "Mitchesu' ( kidnapping team),which is usually composed of seven strong men from the groom's village. The day before the ceremony, the team appears at the bride's village and "kidnaps" her.The bridesmaids then go with her to her husband's home village. Afterwards, representatives from the groom' s family pay a visit to the bride's parents bringing the gifts. The parents then send friends and relatives to "hand over the maiden" and attend the wedding banquet held at the groom's. When they get near the host village, the guests signal their arrival with gun shots, and the groom's party responds by coming out to welconle and toast them. When the ceremony formally begins, the bride, who is now taking a rest at the match maker's, will be toasted four times and finally allowed to enter her "bridal chamber.'
Living near the Border areas of China, the Jingpos are in a prime position for cultural exchanges and trade with other nations, now that China is opening up to the outside world. This has brought new life and energy to the ancient nationality. The Jingpo people will seize upon this golden opportunity to work for a better future.
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