Chinese National Costume Culture -- Menba Costume Culture

The Menba people in China are mainly distributed in Tibet The gate corner area in the southeast of the autonomous region. In the middle of the 19th century, some Menba people moved eastward to Motuo because they could not bear the oppression and exploitation of the feudal serfdom in Tibet. According to the statistics of the fifth national census in 2000, the population of the Menba nationality is 8923. It uses the Menba language and belongs to the Tibetan branch of the Tibeto Burman language family of the Sino Tibetan language family. Be familiar with Tibetan. There is no native language, but Tibetan is commonly used.

In 1823, the niece and the Alliance Monument set up in front of the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet, recorded that the "Meng" and other ethnic groups "competed to pay tribute to the Tubo Dynasty and gave in to orders". The Mon nationality includes the Monba nationality. According to the Tibetan historical book "Red History" in the sixth year of the Zhizheng era (1346) of the Yuan Dynasty, as early as the Songtsen Gampo era, "Nanzi Luoyumen... were all under the rule of Tubo". Since then, the exchanges between the Tubo people and the Menba people have continued to develop. The southern border of the Tubo Dynasty includes the Menyu area, and the Menba people are the subjects of the dynasty. At that time, the Menba nationality area was ruled by Tibetan officials sent by the Tubo Dynasty, and the so-called "ancient, long and other ministries" such as the Weilu, Nu, and Nian were officials here.

The Menba nationality is a nation with rich oral literature, especially good at poetry creation. In oral literature of various forms, there are drinking songs that reflect the life, customs, psychology, will and wishes of the nation, called "Sama", love songs that reflect the pure love between men and women, called "Jialu", and happy songs called "Dongsanba". The love song works are very distinctive. They mostly sing about the yearning of both men and women, the passionate feelings of pursuing love and their loyalty to love. Most love songs are composed of four lines, with fixed tunes, most of the lyrics rhymed, and a large number of metaphors and metaphors are used to make the feelings of love songs more distinct. The operas of the Menba nationality are evolved from folk dances, and are influenced by Tibetan Buddhism. In terms of content, there are many elements of retribution, persuasion and punishment. The Menba people are good at singing and dancing. The dance is simple and straightforward, accompanied by four hole flutes. The Menba people mainly eat rice, corn and buckwheat. They like butter, tsamba, pepper, tobacco and wine. The houses of the Menba ethnic group are mostly two or three stories of small buildings with wooden roofs, bamboo roofs or grass roofs. The roofs are herringbone shaped. People live on the upper floor and livestock are confined on the lower floor.

Men and women in Motuo like to wear Cotton bast The clothes are made of long and short white tops. Men wear long hair, earrings and waist knife. Women wear colorful skirts with braids on their heads and decorated with red, yellow, green and other colored lines. Menba women are good at spinning wool, weaving Pulu and belts. Menba women like to wear silver bracelets, earrings, rings and necklaces embedded with coral, turquoise and other precious stones.

Men of the Menba nationality in the gate corner wear ochre cloth robes and Pulu robes. This kind of clothes is shorter than Tibetan robes. Because of the narrow road on the main slope, people use their forehead to carry weight. The women in Lebu and Bangjin used to carry a piece of sheepskin or calf skin on their back. There are two legends about this habit: one is that in ancient times, Tibetan rulers drove the Menba nationality to remote areas and punished the women of the Menba nationality, making them carry a piece of human skin on their back, and later replaced it with a calf skin. Another legend is that when Princess Wencheng went to Tibet, she used to wear a piece of leather to avoid evil spirits, and then gave it to the women of the Menba nationality, which has been inherited. Carrying a piece of calf skin is actually a cushion for carrying. Because of the humid climate, carrying a piece of calf skin can also be used for moisture-proof protection. The underwear they wear is called "Enupudong", which is made of tussah silk and has white, red and colored underwear. The short underwear has sleeves, while the long underwear is sleeveless. It is as long as legs, not open, not collar, and only has a round opening. When wearing underwear, put it down from the head. The outer garment is called "Donggu". This kind of outer garment has sleeves, but no collar, no button, and is made of red and black Pulu. Both men and women should wear a long belt. {page_break}

The hats of Menyu Menba nationality are unique, both men and women are the same. In Menba language, this kind of hat is called "Balaga". The top of the hat is made of blue or black Pulu, the lower part of the hat is made of red Pulu, and the brim is yellow brown velvet wrapped with blue cloth, and a gap should be left. When wearing the hat, The gap is above the right eye for men, and behind the gap for women. Bang Jin wears a helmet hat and peacock feathers below. The lower edge of the hat has several spikes. Both of these hats give people a striking feeling. The Menba people at the gate corner wear red soft boots, while the Motuo Menba people are mostly barefoot. Some Menba people want to wear "Gawu" on their chest, which is considered to protect their bodies. Both men and women wear copper or silver bracelets.

In Motuo, a subtropical climate, men and women of the Menba ethnic group like to wear white robes made of cotton and linen that they exchange. The coat of an adult man is called "Qiuba", and a machete and a leaf shaped knife are hung on his waist. Both men and women seldom wear it Hat They often wear self-made hats to prevent rain and sun.