The Oroqen people are a minority group that has long lived in the deep mountains and dense forests in northern my country. Currently, there are only a few thousand people, making them one of the smallest ethnic groups in my country. Oroqen means "people who live on the mountains". This is a nation that has lived on hunting since ancient times. It is also a hardworking, brave and mysterious nation. As early as the 1970s and 1980s, it was common to see Oroqen people riding hunting horses, carrying -, leading hunting dogs, walking through the streets, or galloping in the mountains and forests. Their bravery was feared and awe-inspiring. The Oroqen people are warm, hospitable, and open-minded. Even if you have never met them before, as long as you meet them, they will drink wine with you and cut meat with you. If you don't accept it, they will be very angry and even pick up a gun to threaten you half-truthfully. It is precisely because their rough temperament is difficult for ordinary people to understand that people stay away from them. Because the Oroqen people are the oldest indigenous ethnic group in Mohe area and the earliest ancestors in Mohe area. Therefore, many Oroqen ethnic customs still remain in Mohe area. (1) Divination: Gun divination is when the diviner holds the butt of a gun with his right hand and bolts an axe to the barrel. The diviner mutters what he wants to divine, such as asking which god it is, and then raises the gun. If it is bad, the gun cannot be raised; if it is good, the gun can be raised. Bone divination generally uses the shoulder blade of an animal such as a roe deer as a divination tool. It is first roasted on the fire, then raised. The diviner silently recites the item he wants to ask for, lifts the bone over his head and drops it on the ground. Then carefully examine the lines on the bone. If the lines on the bone are smooth and short, it is good; if the lines are disordered and long, it is bad. Tree divination is mostly used by Oroqen women. For example, if the child is sick or frightened, this kind of divination is used. The fortune-teller first breaks off a tree fork in the shape of a human, ties it horizontally into a human shape, and then puts on a child's clothes. This is called a "sieve girl". The fortune-teller holds the "sieve girl" and walks back and forth, while muttering to ask whether it is good or bad. If it is good, the "sieve girl" will lean forward, and if it is bad, the "sieve girl" will lean back. (2) Making birch bark boats The Oroqen people generally live by rivers, so they use boats when crossing rivers for hunting and fishing on the river. Because they rarely interacted with the outside world in the past, production and living tools could not be imported, so they could only use local materials to make some tools suitable for themselves. The boats used by the Oroqen people are made of birch bark, so they are called birch bark boats. This birch bark boat is unique to the Oroqen people. Before making the boat, they first need to choose a thick birch tree and peel off the entire birch bark. The bark should not be damaged when peeling. After peeling, soak the whole birch bark in water until it softens, and then squeeze the birch bark into a boat shape. Then select the logs of Larix gmelinii, split them with a knife and an axe, make the boat side and the keel, and fix the birch bark and keel with wooden nails. Generally speaking, neither iron nails nor glue paint are used to make birch bark boats. It is amazing that the boats can be put together with wooden nails. Then make a wooden paddle with two flat ends, and then put it in the water for use. This birch bark boat is very light and can be carried by two people with their arms. The Oroqen people usually use this birch bark boat to cross the river for hunting or fishing. When the prey is caught, it can also be used to carry the prey back, and it can carry several people at the same time. This is a very magical water transportation tool, which can be said to be a kind of wisdom of the Oroqen people. (3) Unique marriage customs The Oroqen people practice monogamy, and their form of marriage proposal is very ethnic. If a man takes a fancy to a woman, he must first ask a good-speaking matchmaker to go to the woman's home to propose marriage. During the proposal, whether the woman's family is willing or not, the matchmaker must come to the door three times. If the woman's family agrees to the marriage, they will not agree directly, but express it in a very implicit way. At this time, the matchmaker sees hope and immediately kneels down to kowtow to the woman's parents. After the proposal is successful, the matchmaker takes the man and gifts to the woman's home to recognize the relationship. That night, the man can marry the woman, and then the engagement and marriage will be carried out. When getting married, the man must bring a lot of gifts, such as wild boar, roe deer, elk meat, white wine, white sugar, animal skins, etc. The woman's dowry is also a lot, including birch bark boxes, fur robes, etc. The man's party sends a team to the woman's Wulileng (village), and there are activities such as singing and horse racing between the teams, but the man always intends to lose to the woman, just to create a cheerful atmosphere. At the wedding, people worship the sun god and the elderly, and fire guns to celebrate. The fire in the fire pit of the Xianrenzhu (house) where the newlyweds live should be brought from the fire pit of the old man, indicating that a new small family has been set up. On the wedding night, the newlyweds eat sticky rice with a bowl and a pair of chopsticks, which means that they will love each other until old age. In a sense, the Oroqen people are loyal to love, which is also very rare. However, some ancient customs are strange, but reasonable. If a woman's husband dies after marriage, she is not allowed to remarry if she has children. The brother-in-law can marry his sister-in-law. If a man's wife dies, he can marry his wife's younger sister. If the husband dies without leaving any children, and the parents-in-law do not want their daughter-in-law to remarry, they can take the woman away by force and set up another family. (4) Engenali Jiuhahan Engenali Jiuhahan means "delivery room" in Oroqen language. Ngenalijiuha Khan is a small fairy pillar. It is not allowed to light a fire at any time in Ngenalijiuha Khan. Even in the cold winter, if a woman is giving birth in it, she cannot light a fire because she is afraid of offending the god of fire. Men must leave when a woman is giving birth. Even the husband of the woman is not allowed to approach. There are two wooden poles buried in the ground in the delivery room. A wooden pole is placed on top of the wooden pole. The woman holds the wooden poles with both hands and lies on them to give birth. Before giving birth, the woman must come to Ngenalijiuha Khan in advance to offer the statue of Okchuk (the god of midwifery) and ask for his blessing. After the baby is born, if it is in summer, it is washed with cold mountain spring water. If it is born in winter, the baby's whole body is washed with snow. The woman has to stay in the delivery room for a month. During this period, she is not allowed to meet her husband. If the husband wants to bring food, he can only carry a birch bark lunch box on a wooden pole and hand it to the door of the delivery room. The woman takes it inside and the man goes back. After the baby is one month old, the mother's belongings must be burned, and the mother and the baby can only return to live in the immortal pillar after being smoked over the fire. This custom seems a bit cruel, but it makes people full of awe. (5) Offering sacrifices to Bieboburukan Bieboburukan means "moon god" in the Oroqen language. The Oroqen people believe in the animism of all things in their shamanism, and they worship many gods, including ancestor gods, horse-feeding gods, mountain gods, tree gods, fire gods, river gods, fish gods, dragon gods, thunder gods, wind gods, snake gods, grass gods, sun gods, moon gods, etc. In daily life, whether they are drinking in a hotel or having a picnic in the wild, they will naturally use wine to pay tribute to the sky, the earth, the fire, and the white Nacha, which will purify people's hearts and make people understand what piety and holiness are. The worship of the moon god Bieborukan (moon god) is held on the full moon nights of the 15th day of the first lunar month and the 15th day of the eighth lunar month every year. It is presided over by the mukunda (clan leader) or the tatanda (family head) or the shaman (the messenger who connects the gods and humans). They lead the adults and children to an open space, fill a large birch bark basin with mountain spring water, and reflect the moon in the basin. Various offerings are placed around the basin. In particular, five round cakes are placed around the basin, and the middle of the cakes are dotted with bright red roe deer blood, which shows that the cakes also have souls. The leader leads the adults and children to kowtow to the moon, praying to the moon god to bless the adults and children with safety and to pray to the moon god to give people more wild animals. After the sacrifice, people sing and dance around the bonfire, eat meat and drink wine. At this time, the people present will be moved by them, as if they have become pious. (6) Smearing Japan The nature of the Oroqen people is optimistic. Their optimism is reflected in their daily lives and in the humor and open-mindedness of their words. In the deep mountains and dense forests, they will use many ways to dispel their loneliness. They are also looking for various kinds of happiness, such as spring festival, autumn festival, sun god festival, moon god festival, etc. They also celebrate some festivals, but most of these festivals are related to religion, and the blackening festival is one of them. The blackening festival is on the 16th day of the first lunar month every year. On this day, adults and children in every family mix the ash from the bottom of the pot with water or oil, and smear it on the face of anyone they see. This is to drive away ghosts and evil spirits. They believe that ghosts will be scared and run away when they see a black face. Early in the morning of this day, people try all kinds of ways to smear other people's faces black, and try to prevent others from smearing them, so a lively scene of chasing and playing with each other is formed. Blackening is usually carried out between people of the same generation. In order to increase the festive atmosphere, sometimes they also symbolically smear the elders, but before smearing the elders, they kneel down and kowtow to the elders, and only after obtaining the elders' consent can they symbolically smear a little black on the elders' faces. Otherwise, it is not allowed, because they pay great attention to respecting the elderly and loving the young. The tribe is very lively on this day, and everyone is very happy, and gradually this activity has become a festival. (7) Catching bears and funerals for bears Under normal circumstances, the Oroqen people do not catch bears because they regard bears as their ancestors, so they call them "Yaya" (grandfather). They believe that the way bears walk and take things is very similar to that of humans. Moreover, they are in the front position, so they believe that bears are their ancestors. This is also a kind of totem worship. However, if a bear needs to be caught or is killed by mistake, many rituals must be held, otherwise the person will be killed by the bear. Bears are easier to hunt in winter. In winter, when the Greater Khingan Mountains are freezing cold, bears will hide in tree holes and not eat or drink for the whole winter. When hunting bears, you can use a spear to poke them out, or you can use fireworks to smoke them out and capture them. If it is not under such special circumstances, bears are extremely ferocious animals. Their paws can smash a person's skull, and their thorny tongues can remove the flesh on a person's face. After hiding in the hole, the bear is much weaker and easier to capture. After hunting a bear, the hunter must kneel down and kowtow to the bear, begging for forgiveness. Before peeling the bear skin, a wooden stick must be stuffed into the bear's mouth, so that the bear will not bite people. When eating bear meat, people must imitate the crow's cry, which means that the crow is eating the bear meat, not the people. Women must kowtow to the bear before eating bear meat, and are not allowed to eat the upper body of the bear, otherwise they will be bitten to death by the bear that year. After peeling the bear skin, the bear meat is distributed to each household, and the bear skin is given to the respected elders of Mukun or Ulilengde. After eating the bear meat, each family must collect the bear bones together, make a coffin with willow branches or birch bark (this kind of coffin is used when the elderly die), and bury the bear bones in a tree like a funeral for the elderly, and put the coffin on the tree. The ceremony is the same as the funeral for the elderly. The funeral ceremony is very grand, which means both to flatter the bear and to flatter the bear, so they have to dance the bear fighting dance and sing the bear fighting song. (8) Oroqen hunting The Oroqen people have been hunting for generations, and they have different hunting methods in different seasons. Each of their hunters has superior hunting skills and the ability to track prey, and can even knock down prey with a single shot. When they hunt in the mountains, they only need to carry fire and salt with them to live in the mountains for several days, eating roasted prey and sleeping in caves and grass nests. They can overcome almost any predicament that ordinary people cannot imagine. Therefore, the Oroqen are an extremely tenacious and powerful nation. An Oroqen Mukun (clan tribe) or Ulileng (family commune) worships Bai Naqia (mountain god) in the mountains. The statue of Bai Naqia is a large tree with a piece of bark peeled off, with the face of an old man carved out with a knife and black charcoal, with eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth and beard. The Oroqen people would worship Bai Naqia before going hunting and after returning from hunting, praying for the mountain god to give them wild animals and expressing their gratitude to the mountain god. The worship of the mountain god is led by Mukunda (clan leader) or Datanda (family head) to place offerings in front of the Bainaqia statue, and burn branches and mountain climbing pine incense. The worshiper holds a birch bark bowl filled with wine in both hands and offers it to Bainaqia from time to time. At the same time, mountain climbing pine leaves are thrown into the burning fire. In the smell of burning, they pray in a low voice. The content of the prayer is generally to bless the mountains and forests, bless all people with safety and pray for the grant of wild animals. After worshiping the mountain god, they go into the mountains and forests to hunt. Hunting is mostly done in anga (hunting groups). They use bows and arrows, ground guns, traps, etc. to capture prey. In the hunting process, they have many taboos. For example, before hunting, you are not allowed to say what you can catch; you are not allowed to speak loudly in the mountains; you must bow down when you encounter strange rocks and trees, because they may be transformed by some gods; when you are resting or making a fire to keep warm in the mountains to grill meat, you cannot burn long wood, otherwise you will not be able to kill the beast; you are not allowed to shoot when you encounter a beast that is 0; you cannot call the ferocious beast by its name, generally calling the wolf "big mouth", the bear "Yaya" (grandfather), and the tiger "Utachi". In the estrus period of deer and roe deer, you need to use deer whistles and roe deer whistles to capture prey. This is a kind of whistle made of wood that can absorb sound, and its sound can realistically imitate the calls of deer and roe deer. When deer and roe deer hear the whistle, they think that the same sex is coming to grab its mate, so they will rush over desperately, and the hunter will get the prey. After the hunter catches the prey, if he meets a hunter who has not caught the prey, even if they do not know each other, he must share half or all of the prey with the other party. The way is to give the knife to the other party and let the other party cut the prey and take the meat away. After the hunt, the prey is divided equally among the families, and the meat that is kept by the family is the worst part of the prey. From the hunting habits and taboos of the Oroqen people, we can easily find many empirical and positive elements, such as not burning long wood and not shooting wild animals. For their customs, it may be a reverence for nature, but in today's scientific development, it contains a subconscious protection of the natural environment. This cannot but show the rough and broad mind of the Oroqen people. Maybe in certain specific environments, missing certain prey may be fatal to them as individuals. But they abide by and guard their promise to nature devoutly. (9) Immortal Pillars The Oroqen people have lived in the immortal pillars in the deep mountains and dense forests for generations. The immortal pillars are generally built in the sunny place close to the mountains and rivers, and are lined up from east to west. Generally speaking, seven to ten immortal pillars form a Uli Leng. It is like a small natural village of the Han people. The immortal pillars are made of dozens of tree poles tied together vertically, forming a cone shape. In the hot summer, a layer of Tiekesha is placed outside. Tiekesha is made of birch bark. In winter, roe deer skin is placed outside to keep out the cold. Inside the immortal pillar, there is a Malu mat, which is the main bed. At the same time, there are Aolu mats on the left and right sides, which are the side beds. The so-called bed is a leather mattress made of wild boar skin or roe deer skin and spread on the ground. Above the Malu mat, idols of the ancestors, Arujiao Borukan, and the horse-feeding god Zhaolu Borukan are enshrined. On the edge of the bottom of the immortal pillar, birch bark boxes, birch bark baskets, leather bags, and other daily necessities are placed. In the middle of the immortal pillar, there is a fire pit, and a hanging pot is hung on the fire pit. The whole family eats meat and drinks around the hanging pot. Behind the immortal pillar, there is a god box hanging on the tree, which is the resting place of the god. Women are not allowed to disturb the immortal pillar because the god is resting there. The Oroqen people respect fire very much and firmly believe in the existence of the god of fire. Therefore, before using fire, they must offer wine and meat to the god of fire. They believe that the God of Fire is an old woman. It is forbidden to offend the God of Fire, such as stabbing the fire with a knife, pouring water on the fire, spitting on the fire, etc. Fire is the god that benefits the Oroqen people. Fire brings them warmth and is the center of the immortal pillar.