Description: Maonan (毛南族) is one of the hill tribes in China with fewer population. They are call the aboriginal people living in the Lingxi. At present, they mainly settle down in Huanxiang Maonan Autonomous County of Jiangxi province.
Language: Maonan language
Religion: Maonan nationality has a characteristic of multideity worship. Before the end of Ming Dynasty, they mainly believed in original religion. In the early of Qing Dynasty, Daoism was introduced into Naoman region. Several kinds of religion equally prevailed at that time.
Clothing Character: The clothing of Maonan is similar to Zhuang nationality near by. Both men and women like black and blue coat. Women’s coats are inlayed two lace on the right lappet. They are used to wearing bracelets such as bangle, silver medal, especially bamboo hat.
Food Culture: Maonan region is rich in vegetables all reasons such as pea, Chinese cabbage, pumpkin, sweet potato leaf, pod, radish and so on. They like eating dog meat. Manbood are fond of wine. They make wine from corn and sorghum. They drink tea in the summer to relieve summer-heat.
Festivals: Fenlong festival (分龙节) is unique to Maonan, which is the biggest festival held after summer solstice. Two day before Fenlong festivals, all the family member and relatives gather together to worship ancestor and god. On the day, each and every family boil five-color sticky rice and steamed pork with rice. They stick numerous stick rice balls on a willow twigs, which stands for harvest and flourish.
The Dragon Boat Festival (端午节) of Maonan nationality is different from Han. They make a kind of ciba instead of Han’s rice dumpling. It is made of stick rice and a kind of local medicinal herbs. It is said by the elder this special ciba can prevent disease.
Pumpkin Festival (南瓜节) of Maonan is held on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. On that day, each house put pumpkin of varying size and shapes on the floor, selected “the king of pumpkin” by youngsters.
Handicrafts: Maonan is special in knitting and sculpture. The noted bamboo hat is made of half blades of bamboo split. They engrave vivid dragon, phoenix, crane, pine and geometrical patterns on stone pillar and tablet.
Art: A special dance of Maonan in Huanjiang, Guangxi called “mumian” is developed on the basis of folk worship. It aims at not only the god and ancestor worship, but also the entertainment. The performer is dressed in the dragon robe and wears fur in the hair. He or she performs accompanied with singer and musical instruments.
Add On: Zhuang Nationality
Tujia Nationality
Yao Nationality
Li Nationality
She Nationality
Gaoshan Nationality
Mulao Nationality
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