Listen to this articleYugur nationality originated from the Uighur nomads in the Erhun River Valley in the Tang Dynasty. They use three languages: Yugur Language, Yugur Language (Engel language), and Chinese.
Yugur people call themselves “Yaohu’er” and “Xilayuguer”. In 1953, Yugur, which is similar to “you’re”, was taken as their family name.
Yugur is mainly an animal husbandry ethnic group, mainly living in Sunan Yugur Autonomous County and Jiuquan Huangnibao area of Gansu Province.
Faith
Yugurs believed in Shamanism and Manichaeism before they moved eastward. After moving eastward, Yugur converted to the Gelug Sect (yellow sect) of Tibetan Buddhism. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Yugur people established the earliest Huangjiao temple, the ancient Buddha Temple. In the Qing Dynasty, the Yellow religion flourished in the Yugur area. Nine monasteries, Jingyao, KANGLONG, Zhuanlun, Lianhua, Minghai, Changgou, Hongwan, Shuiguan, and Jiadao (from ancient Buddhist temples), have been built successively, which are distributed in various tribes. Therefore, there is a saying that “what Temple belongs to what family”. Among these monasteries, KANGLONG temple and Hongwan temple are under the jurisdiction of shallow Hutuktu, Guanghui temple, Qinghai Province, while the rest are under the jurisdiction of taguan Hutuktu, Young temple, Huzhu County, Qinghai Province.
The scale of Yugur temples is relatively small. KANGLONG temple, the largest, has more than 500 monks at most. Most of the other monasteries have 20 or 30 monks, and the minimum number is only 7 or 8. The internal organization of the temples is not very strict. Some temples have living Buddhas, Kanbu, and Dharma platforms, while others only have monks or Buddhist scriptures. In addition to religious festivals and gatherings, they go to temples to chant scriptures and usually participate in animal husbandry at home. In the larger monasteries, there are regular meetings in January, April, June, and October every year, and a small meeting on the 15th of every month.
Before the founding of the people’s Republic of China, temples were not only the religious centers of the tribes but also the political and economic centers of the tribes. The relationship between the upper level of the temple and the tribal leaders is very close. The leaders of some tribes often discuss with the upper level of the temple important affairs. The main temple in Qinghai has the right to inherit and approve the Yugur tribal leaders through religious power. For example, the Yugur “chief manager of Huangfan of seven ethnic groups” must first be approved by the master of Guanghui temple in Qinghai, and then appointed by the local garrison Yamen.
After the Yugur converted to Tibetan Buddhism, they still retained the ancient belief, that is, the worship of “Khan Dian ger”. From the point of view of the tradition that both Yugurs, who speak two languages, use your language when worshiping hand anger, this may be a legacy of primitive Shamanism. “Danger” means “Tian” in Yugur Language, and “Han” means “Khan”. “Han Dian Ge Er” means “Tian Ke Han”. You people believe that “Han Dian Ge Er” can make them avoid evil and disaster, and it is peaceful and auspicious all year round. The so-called “Khan Dian Ge Er” is a thin wool rope, which is wrapped with wool ears and colored cloth strips of various livestock. At the lower end is a small white cloth bag, which contains grain with skin and peeled grains, and is worshipped in the top right of the tent.
There are three temples rebuilt and opened in the Yugur area, namely KANGLONG temple, Minghai temple, and Changgou temple.
Festival
Spring Festival is the biggest festival of Yugur people. Before the festival, we should make dumplings (used for frozen dumplings), fried oil dumplings, Sanzi, etc., and have the custom of ancestor worship. During the festival, we set off firecrackers, light butter lamps, and send Hada and gifts to each other.
Diet
Yugur herdsmen’s diet is mainly composed of butter tea, Zanba (Yugu language is called “talking”), and dairy products such as milk skin and Qula (a kind of granular dairy products). Every day is usually three teas and one meal, that is, in the morning, at noon and in the afternoon, they drink butter and milk tea respectively. In the evening, the whole family has a meal of mutton noodles or rice, and sometimes they also eat baked steamed buns and roasted rolls (commonly known as “Shao FA Zi”) and so on.
Mutton, sausage, and dried fruit are the favorite flavor food of Yugu people. The hand grasps the meat to pay attention to eats the potted meat, namely, the meat just cooked then the pot edibles, fresh and delicious. After slaughtering the sheep, the neck meat and tenderloin meat are chopped up, mixed with fried noodles and condiments, and put into the fat sausage, which is called “Rouchang”. Chop up the liver and lung of sheep, add the seasoning such as fried noodles and onion and garlic, and roll them into a roll with belly oil, which is called “Zhiguogan”. Sausages and “Zhiguogan” cooked, cut into thin slices, poured with garlic juice and vinegar, fat but not greasy, hot and cold edible.
Before the founding of the people’s Republic of China, the Yugur people could not afford to buy food except white flour and rice for rich families. They often ate noodles ground with “Xie Jie Cao” seeds and drank a kind of wild tea. As for condiments such as clear oil, sauce, and vinegar, it is more difficult for ordinary herdsmen to eat them. With the improvement of living standards, Yugur herdsmen now have a rich variety of diets and diversified diet structures. However, the habit of drinking milk tea remained for a long time. Every year, the state especially transfers brick tea from Yiyang, Hunan Province to meet the needs of herdsmen.
Clothes & Accessories
Yugur men wear felt hats, high-necked left-placket robes, red and blue belts, and high boots.
Married women wear trumpet-shaped white felt hats (Yugu’s name is “Laza hat”), with two black rims on the front edge and red color on the top. In the past, women also wore long headbands with various ornaments on them to form patterns. But the head is very heavy. It’s harmful to work and health if it hangs down on the hair. Now it’s removed.
With the changes of the times, Yugur men and women usually wear the most popular clothes on the mainland. They only wear traditional clothes in major festivals or festive activities.
