Bimo sacrificial culture of the Yi nationality
The Bimo sacrificial culture of Pan County is mainly distributed in Yi ethnic groups such as Pingdi Township, Jichangping Township, Songhe Township, Yuni Township, and Pugu Township. Pingdi Township is located in the northern part of Pan County, bordering Longchang Township and Yingpan Township of Shuicheng County and Tianba Town of Xuanwei City, Yunnan Province, and adjacent to Saki Town, Songhe Township, and Sige Township. The township has a jurisdiction of 152 square kilometers, 15 administrative villages, 182 villager groups, a total of 9,074 households, a total population of 34,117, and 8,529 ethnic minorities, accounting for 25% of the total population. According to the records in Yi literature such as Leo Teyi, when the seeds of the spirit fruit fell from the paternal white clouds in the upper world onto the maternal black soil in the lower world, after three years of incubation and growth into a giant iron fir tree, after nine generations, it finally grew into an iron fir giant, but it could not become the ancestor of mankind. In the Aju Acong era, it was known that the three filths of white, flower and black should be removed before offering sacrifices to the pig's shoulder blade. Therefore, Gezige Oshasa went to the upper world as an envoy to invite the Bimo, and the E's Bimo was in the bamboo forest behind the house. "Three sacred bamboo poles were cut back, three sets of bamboo god sticks were cut, three sets of sacred magic hats were made, and three sets of sacred magic fans were made" and given to E'azi Sanye. After E'azi Sanye came to the mortal world with the scriptures and magic tools known as "Simuangan", he built an iron bridge below to send away the monkey plague, a silver bridge in the middle to send away the ancestors, and a golden bridge above to remove filth. After removing the three-color filth for the iron fir giant three times, he held a sacrifice to the pig's shoulder divination, and thus there were twelve branches of the snow tribe, and one of them became the ancestor of mankind. After several generations of human beings, in order to eliminate disasters and reproduce, they also learned from E'azi Sanye's practice to perform sacrificial ceremonies. Bimo was originally the main creator, inheritor and disseminator of Yi traditional culture, and was an intellectual in the traditional Yi society. With the demise of the hierarchy, the class status of Bimo also disappeared, but the responsibilities of its sacrificial activities were passed down from generation to generation, and the Bimo sacrificial culture gradually penetrated into the life and production of the Yi people. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, as Han culture spread in the Yi area, some Yi people switched to using Chinese and conducted funeral activities in a Buddhist way. The scope of Bimo's functions gradually degenerated. Only remote Yi areas not influenced by Han culture still carried out Bimo rituals and spread Bimo culture. Bimo sacrificial culture covers a wide range. In Yi areas, marriage, praying for children, passing the mud gate, killing children, worshiping ancestors, worshiping mountain gods, worshiping young crops, praying for rain, sweeping Mars, sweeping white rain, eliminating disasters, fortune-telling, festival offerings, funeral rituals, etc., all require Bimo to preside over, especially in funeral rituals, where Bimo sacrificial culture is most concentrated. In funeral rituals, Bimo wears robes made of linen or cotton cloth, and a brown bamboo hat made of sheep wool and bamboo strips on his head. Bimo recites Yi scriptures for five consecutive days to help the deceased transcend. These scriptures are "Offering Rice Sutra", "Offering Wine Sutra", "Offering Water Sutra", "Setting Spirit Sutra", "Offering Sacrifice Sutra", "Calling Soul Sutra", "Exorcising Evil Spirit Sutra", "Untying Knot Sutra", "Anti-drug Sutra", "Offering Tea Sutra", "Purification Sutra", "Punishment Sutra", "Fortune Sutra", "Opening Mountain Sutra", "Leaving Hall Sutra", "Entering Spirit Sutra", "Receiving Longevity Sutra" (only for deceased under 60 years old), "Blood River Sutra" (only for female deceased), "Wine and Water Sutra", "Resolving Grievances Sutra", "Pointing the Way to Resolve Grievances Sutra", "Pointing the Way Sutra", "Living Spirit Sutra", "Filling Leakage Sutra" and more than 20 other scriptures. Judging from the scriptures and content read, it not only reflects the simple philosophy and ethical values. It also contains a strong religious color. In addition, the scriptures also record the various difficult journeys of the Yi ancestors who were not afraid of hard work to open up new territories. For example, "Offering Rice Sutra" describes the whole process of grain production and the importance of growing grain and storing food; "Pointing the Way Sutra" describes the areas passed through during the whole process of returning to the ancestral land, as well as what happened in these areas, etc. At the same time, they also have to sing sacrificial songs accompanied by sacrificial dances. There are nine links in total, including exorcism, soul-calling, offering wine, opening funerals, meeting graves, sprinkling water, pointing the way and untying knots. The Bimo sacrificial culture embodies simple philosophical views, ethical and moral values and strong religious colors. The large number of scriptures used in sacrificial activities have become precious historical books that record the origins of Yi history and religious culture. They have important practical significance for studying Yi history and culture, ancestor worship, and Yi production development, language and literature, ethics, medicine and calendar. The Yi Bimo sacrificial culture in Pingdi Township is a spontaneous inheritance, the generation, development, popularization and application of Yi language, which makes Bimo emerge as the intellectual class in Yi society. With the acceleration of modernization and the impact of foreign culture, the Bimo sacrificial culture is only spontaneously inherited among the people, and there has been no systematic collection and collation. The teaching of Yi language has not been well popularized and promoted in the vast Yi areas. Therefore, the number of Yi Bimo teams has decreased year by year, and there are very few people engaged in Yi language. The Yi Bimo sacrificial culture is facing the danger of being lost. (No pictures available, please provide them.) (No pictures available, please provide them.)