Chinese Nation - Menba nationality

Mumbai people are mainly distributed in menu and Moto areas in the southeast of Tibet Autonomous Region. Lebu in Cuona county is the main residential area of Menba people. Mumbai people and Tibetans have long-term friendly exchanges and mutual marriage and have close relations in politics, economy, culture, religious belief, life customs, etc.

Among the traditional religious beliefs of the Menba people, primitive religious belief, native religious belief, and Tibetan Buddhist belief coexist with each other, which is the prominent feature of the religious belief of the Mumbai people.

The primitive religion of animism is the ancient belief of the Mumbai people. Mumbai people believe that mountains have mountain gods, trees have tree spirits, water has water monsters, wind, rain, lightning, earthquake, and flood, and even people’s life and death are driven by supernatural gods. In order to avoid disasters and pray for blessings, people worship ghosts, offer sacrifices, and hold all kinds of tedious witchcraft activities.

The Mumbai people worship holy mountains and water very much. They turn to holy mountains and lakes every summer and winter.

There are many kinds of witches in the Menba nationality. According to their different functions, they can be divided into Exorcist witches and God inviting witches. There are “Dunlongken” and “Bawo” as exorcists, which are filled by men; there are “BAMO” and “jump” as exorcists, which are filled by women.

Mumbai people believe in Tibetan Buddhism as well as a primitive religion. The Nyingma sect, the Kaju sect, and the Gelu sect of Tibetan Buddhism all have influence in the Menba area. Now the Gelu sect has the greatest influence and is the main sect of the Mumbai people.

The month of December is the first year of the Moomba people. People have been preparing for the new year since November of the Tibetan calendar. On the morning of new year’s day, when the chickens crow for the first time, the whole family gets up, puts on new clothes, sends greetings and blessings to each other, and each drinks a bowl of soft drink made of butter, cheese, “banging” and eggs. From the second day of junior high school, the Menba people took the village as a unit, and the whole village gathered together and went to each family for dinner in turn. During this period, in addition to singing and dancing, people held archery, bouldering, high jump, tug of war, and other sports and games.

The Mumbai people in many celebrate the new year from the first to the 15th day of the first lunar month in the Tibetan calendar. On New Year’s Eve, every household is cleaned. Flour is mixed into a paste and various auspicious patterns are painted on the doors, walls, and rafters. On New Year’s Eve on December 29, every family should drink a kind of porridge cooked with 9 kinds of food, such as dough and meat, to show their affluence. Many people also prepare a grain bucket called “cinema”, which contains fried highland barley, Zanba noodles, and other things. I wish the coming year good weather and a bumper harvest. In the early morning of the Lunar New Year’s day, housewives rush to get up early and go to the place where they usually draw water to carry back the first bucket of water. They think that the first bucket of water carried back in the new year is the milk from the lion on the top of the snow mountain, which symbolizes wealth. On the first day of junior high school, the whole family gets together happily. Since the second day of the new year, people have been visiting villages and families, visiting relatives and friends, and congratulating each other. When visiting other people’s houses, women must walk in front of the house first, and men must not come in first. Mumbai people believe that the new year’s visitors are women, which indicates that there will be more cows in the family, which is a good omen for the prosperity of the six livestock. During the festival, people get together, sing and dance, and also carry out recreational activities that people love. There is also a large-scale event during the festival, which is the performance of Menba opera. There are amateur theatrical troupes in every village. They will perform the traditional operas of the Menba people, such as “ALASKA religion father and son” and “Showa sang”, etc. all the villagers, men, women, old and young, will go to watch, which is very lively. The 15th day of the Tibetan calendar is the last day of the whole festival. All the men and women in the village gather together to share the delicious food prepared by each family. Flagpoles are erected on the roof of every house, and prayer flags are hung to pray for heaven.

In daily life, the main staple food of the Menba people is buckwheat cake, corn rice, rice, and chicken feet corn paste. Corn rice is the staple food of the moto Menba people. Jizhugu, whose ear is similar to jizhugu, is named after it. It is produced in Moto and Luoyu areas. The eating method of chicken claw Valley is generally fried, ground into flour, dried, and made into a sticky lump. Chicken feet Valley is also a good raw material for winemaking. “Banging” liquor brewed by the Menba people in Moto is mainly made from chicken feet valley. Rice is produced in the south of the menu and Moto area, so rice is also an important staple food of Mumbai people.

In the diet structure of Menba people, the common vegetable varieties are cabbage, radish, Yuangen, potato, cucumber, and so on. Menu and Moto are densely forested, rich in wild mushrooms and Auricularia auricula. There are many kinds of mushrooms and they taste delicious.

There are two kinds of drinks in the daily life of Menba people: wine and tea. Wine has “bang Qiang”, rice wine and highland barley wine, tea has butter tea and tea. Stone pot is a special cooking utensil of Menba nationality. Stone pot heat transfer slow, stew cooking can maintain the original taste of food, very delicious, loved by people. Mumbai people live in bamboo and wood areas, and tableware is mainly made of bamboo and wood. One of the most famous is the Menba wooden bowl. The wooden bowl is orange-red, bright, gorgeous, rich in shape, and smooth inline.

Mumbai people are good at drinking, ranging from weddings and funerals, religious rituals to daily chores and chatting.

Menba drama, commonly known as Menba drama, is a flower of national art bred, sprouted, and grown up in the rich soil of national culture. Menba drama retains the early form of drama. During the performance, they wear different animal masks and different ornaments, most of which are covered with animal leather and feathers. During the performance, they simulate the posture and movements of various animals, and the characters seldom express themselves. They don’t sing when they dance or dance when they sing. The instruments used were drums and cymbals used by the wizard when he was dancing. There was only one percussion instrument, and there was no fixed troupe and full-time actors. The performance form of drama is very rough and simple, retaining the ancient appearance of early drama. The traditional repertoire of Menba opera includes “Zhuowasam” and “Prince Northan”.

On May 20, 2006, Shannan Menba opera was listed in the first batch of the national intangible cultural heritage list with the approval of the State Council.

The female dress of Menba is colorful. The women in the area of Dawang in menyu wear a flowery coat called “Duitongjiangjian”, which is embroidered with colorful patterns of people, cattle, the sun, and various flowers. The colors are white, blue, yellow and red. Women wear white underwear and a skirt, which is made of striped cloth. Women in Loeb, Bangjin, and other places wear underwear and coveralls and wear white skirts. It is made of wool. The color is red and black. It has a slanting placket and a right lapel. It has an opening at the corner. It is pressed with peacock blue cloth. It has no collar, buckle, or pocket. The wearer’s waist is surrounded by a white apron called “Jinma”. Moto Menba women like to wear white collarless, round mouth, lapel top, generally do not wear cover clothes, the lower body like to wear a vertical pattern, with tassel skirt. Women wear belts and small waist knives. The Mumbai people in Moto advocate white, which is reflected in the fact that men’s and women’s coats are mainly white.

In the Loeb area, women have a special dress which is different from that of other areas. This is the complete calf leather hanging on their backs. When the calf is dressed, the fur is inward and the skid plate is outward, the head is up to the neck, the tail is down, and the limbs are extended to both sides.

Men men’s clothing includes coats, underwear, and trousers. The long coat is made of wool. It is knee-long, with a slanting lapel on the right side. It has a standing collar and long sleeves. It has no buttons and pockets. It is inlaid with blue piping. The coat is mainly red. When you wear it, you should wear a red belt. Underwear is usually made of clay silk, with a slanting lapel and no collar.