Dawor

        Dawor people are the offspring of Qidan people. Dawor people were mostly distributed in south of Outer Xing'an Mountains and Jingqili River valley and the north bank of Heilongjiang River before the middle period of the 17th century. There were two Dawor tribes respectively of Solunbu and Sahar. Dawor people successively transferred to Nenjiang River valley at the beginning of Qing Dynasty, because the conquers of Qing Government over Heilongjiang River valley and the intrusions from Russia.

        As for Dawor soldiers were frequently maneuvered to participate into garrisons and battles in various areas during the Qing Dynasty's reign of more than 300 years, as a result the majority of Dawor people was distributed in Qiqihar, Buteha, Aihun, Hulan, Hailar and Yili of Xinjiang, etc, but most of them were residing in Qiqihar and Buteha area.

        From the 9 th year of Tiancong's Reign in Later Jin Dynasty to the 8 th year of Chongde's Reign in Qing Dynasty (1635-1643), the Qing Dynasty rulers launched three battles to Suolun and Dawor, etc north of Heilongjiang River, and they transferred most of the captured population to Shengjing area and enrolled them into Eight Banners or turned them into household slaves. They organized 337 households of 481 Dawor men captured in the 5 th year of Chongde's Reign (1640) into 8 Monggol records and arranged them at Wukumar (the present Dawufuma Village of Qiqihar City), Ersu (the present Shenghe Village of Angangxi Township) and Angaqi (the present Angangxi) area to plough. They gave the Dawor men the freedom of selecting villages to live among the above-mentioned areas and appointed Niumu Zhangjing (Team Chiefs) to manage them. These are the earliest Dawor people settled down in Qiqihar area.

        Qing Dynasty Government organized the immigrated Dawor people into three Zhalan respectively of Duboxian, Morideng and Nemori at the beginning of Shunzhi's Regin in Qing Dynasty, and appointed Dawor Manager to station at Qiqihar Village to administer the local affairs under the domination of Lifanyuan (Court of Colonial Affairs ). Throngs of Dawor people were immigrated to Qiqihar area since the 10 th year of Shunzhi's Regin (1653) in Qing Dynasty and there were 50 villages successively established.

        The 12 th Zuo government troops were transferred from Dawor to Qiqihar City in the 30 th year of Kangxi's Reign (1691) in Qing Dynasty. The Mongolian Kerqin Maharaja Taiji and so on paid 14458 men under their jurisdiction of Xibei (Xibo), Guaircha and Dawor, etc as tribute to the Qing Dynasty Government in June of the 31 st year of Kangxi's Reign (1692). Among them there were 11850 could be served in the army. Qing Dynasty Government selected 1000 strong men as soldiers and affiliated 2000 men and organized them into 5 Monggol records to guard Qiqihar area, and commanded the Deputy Military Governor Ma Budai to administer, which was under the command of Heilongjiang Martial Sabusu.

        At the end of Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, with the development of land reclamation solicitation, there were another large amounts of Dawor people immigrated from Dongbuteha area into Qiqihar to settle down and reclaim waste land and development animal husbandry.

        Culture

        The Dawor culture and art has a long history. During the long-term production and struggle, the Dawor people not only created abundant material wealth, but also created spiritual wealth with unique features of their own nationality. Among them there were both the written literature works created by predecessors of Dawor people and the national colloquial literature works created by Dawor people in the process of production and life, including the categories of myth, biography, story, poem, proverb, riddle and Wuqin (Dawor rap), auspicious congratulations, pun (play upon words) and Saman funeral oration, etc, and they created and handed down the national singing and dancing Zhaendale and Hakumaile with unique features.

        Myth is an important component of Dawor folklores. The most popular myth is Origin of Human Beings, Wushu Contest between Si Duri and Man Gai and Demorigen and Qiniyaohani, etc.

        Dawor folklores have rich and colorful contents, including the legends of national headstream, legends of important historical incidents and historical characters, legends of derivations to names of certain tribes and clans and legends of the living condition, cultural relics and seed-corn origin of the ancients, etc. The popular folklores including Sajiledi, Lawsuit Made by Qisan, Bardaqi, Boxiang, Gaxinadong, Cheqiredong and Huhada, etc.

        Sports

        Dawor people were famous for their valiancy and fierceness. They were good at shooting arrows from horseback, wrestling and playing field hockey since the old times. Moreover, their sports events also including horse race, wrestling, hockey and skiing, strength contest and stick push-and-pull, etc and newly-added games that are beneficial to the body and mind health as deer chess, playing Hanieka (paper facial makeup mask), Sake (a game of playing prayer bone dices), kicking cow hair ball, rolling tile pancake and inviting Fairy Wicker Strainer to descend to the world, etc. Shooting arrow from horseback was the basic skill used by Dawor ancestors in hunting and war and was also one of the traditional sports events. The word Beikuo in Dawor language means field hockey, which is a historical and traditional Dawor sports event.

        Houses

        All Dawor villages have unique styles, which are at the foot of hills and beside streams with very beautiful sceneries. The houses and yards are neatly built. The houses are elegantly arrayed in order. The high thatched cottages of ladder shapes face south with windows open toward west. There is r evolving k ang in the house. The houses give people the impression of good taste and straightforwardness. Every family is fenced with fences woven by red wickers in various patterns. The yard layout is concisely distributed, horse stable and cowshed are normally built at the place far from the yard to keep the yard clean.

        Pinetree or birch beams are used as frames for most Dawor houses, adobe bricks or soil slices are used to build walls, with yellow muds plastered on interior and exterior. The ceilings of houses are made of couch grasses. The houses respectively have 2 rooms, 3 room and 5 rooms according to different sizes, and the west room of the 2-room house is bedroom and the east room is kitchen; the middle room of 3-room or 5-room houses is kitchen and the rooms on left and right are bedrooms. Normally the houses face south with concentration on lighting. The design of windows is often a major characteristic of Dawor houses. The south, north and west or south, east and north of houses is built with three connected kang , which is called revolving kang . The revolving kang has a good heat preservation performance, which is an indispensable heating facility of Dawor people in winter.

        The west bedroom of Dawor people is the superior one. The south kang in the west room is the superior, which is mostly for the elder. The son, daughter-in-law and children are mostly sleeping on the north kang or east kang. The west kang is a living room specially for guests. Most kangs are covered with reed mattress or felts, etc.

        Food and Drink

        Dawor people favor all kinds of wild fruits. They often make various delicacies with malus baccata and plum as raw materials. Clean the malus baccata and dry, grind into powder, add some sugar, and then use it to make pies and other foods, which are sweet and sour, crisp outside and tender inside and very delicious. This kind of pies with nice color and luster is the most favorite food for Dawor children. Meile Wate is a snack which signifies sweet happiness and auspicious blessedness, which is made with plums as main ingredients. Grind the collected plums into powders, and mix evenly with sugar, then pour hot lard on the powder, and then put it on the panel to condensate to get the Meile Wate . It could be cut into blocks for eating. This snack is fresh in color and sweet in taste, which is a snack most favored by Dawor people.

        Dawor people also like to eat various wild vegetables. Among them a wild vegetable named Kunmiri was most favored by them. It's an annual herbal plant, whose shape is similar to basket willow with height above half meter. Its leaves are narrow and long. The plants are mostly growing in riverside willow woods. Dawor people often dry some fresh Kunmiri into dried vegetables and then store them for winter. The rice made of the milled non-glutinous broomcorn millet: to clean Kunmiri and cook, squeeze water out and chop. Put some kidney beans into the millet and cook into bean rice, and put into the chopped Kunmiri while the bean rice is half-cooked, then add in meat pieces, lard and various flavorings. This meal is delicious with faint scent, which is a favorable food both suitable for the aged and the young.

        The kidney bean and cabbage soup is a food most favored by Dawor people as well. Put kidney bean together with fresh cabbage, fermented cabbage, wild leeks and wild celery into the pot and add in water to boil, and add in various flavorings while the water is boiling. This soup is fresh in color and delicious in taste.

        Cloth clothes are very common wears for winter and summer. Men wear cotton wadded jacket and cotton wadded trousers in winter, few wear non-wadded chaparajos, fur-lined jacket and fur-lined robe. While they wear “Gageri” (thin long gown) in summer, wear “Jiaqi Warigele” and “Kurumu” (lined long gown) in spring and wear “Shadegan” (wadded jacket for men) in winter. The thin robes worn by women are similar to Manchu cheong-sam in style, which are all tailored with blue silk or cloth and they are long and wide, non-slit, without belt and the cuff, collar margin and robe front, etc are all inlaid with beautiful colorful embroiders.

        Wedding Customs

        The Dawor wedding is divided into processes of engagement, betrothal gifts presenting and wedding, etc.

        There are two kinds of engagement: one is pregnant engagement between very close friends; the other is to be engaged through a go-between. According to Dawor wedding custom, the fiance's family should select a lucky day to present betrothal gifts after engagement, that is to present “Chaente” (betrothal gifts). Chaente including pig, wine and cakes, etc, which should normally be delivered to the fiancée's family accompanied by the fiancé and his elders with the presenter. On this day, the fiancée's family should arrange Chaente feast to entertain the VIP guests and clan relatives. On Chaente feast, the fiancé should toast and kotow to the fiancée's parents and should formally claim a family relationship. The fiancée's parents should present money, wallet and other gifts to their future son-in-law. Both parties should deliver traditional congratulations to each other on the feast. The fiancé's presenter should deliver the congratulations first, “it's the fate that brings your girl and our boy together as lovers. We present our slender Chaente on this special lucky day. The small pinetrees and cypresses have grown up into tall and straight, the handsome boy and pretty girl have grow up and to be matched as well. I fill up the wedding wine and propose a toast for the fine wedding between our two families. All clan members and relatives present, please accept my devotional intention”. The fiancée's father should accept the toast and should reply by singing, “You have suffered from the hardships of the long journey for our relation by marriage and harmony, please deliver our appreciation to the relatives of the Chaente items presented…”. The beautiful and interesting congratulations bring more happiness and loveliness to the Chaente feast.

        In Dawor wedding ceremony, the bride escort team including the bridesman “Huada”, the bridesmaid “Huoduowo” and the bride's little brothers “Kutulu”. The bridegroom should take good care of the VIP guests from the bride's family, the bridegroom should propose an entrance toast (Jinmenzhong) before their entrance, and then propose a welcoming toast (Jiefengjiu) after their entrance into the room, which is very considerate, however, the “Huada” (bridesman) always create difficulties for the bridegroom on purpose on the feast, and the “Kutulu” (bride's little brothers) steal cups, chopsticks, bowls and dishes and hid on their bodies to play tricks on their brother-in-law. They are doing so because Dawor people consider cup as the measuring tool prepared for bride and bridegroom to measure grains and consider bowls and dishes as bamboo basket to hold grains, both are indispensable daily life articles. If the bride finds out something lost after the feast, he will look for it and the cup stealer will be punished by drinking one cup of wine if he or she is discovered. The next day, the bride escort team will “steal” another several cups, bowls and dishes before they are leaving and only give them back to the bridegroom after he chasing after with wine.

        Festivals

        Spring Festival is an important Dawor festival. The people stop their work before Spring Festival and they start to poster New Year pictures and couplets, prepare meat eaten with hands and various delicacies, visit relatives and friends and undertake all kinds of entertainment activities. The Spring Festival activities end until the 15 th of the first month of the lunar year. The people start the Spring Festival preparation from the 23 rd of the twelfth month of the lunar year. Dawor people have the custom of staying up late or all night on New Year's Eve and eating dumplings as well. It's said that one will be more energetic if have no sleep at the New Year's Eve, while the “"Lunar Year Gift Meal”-dumplings have to be eaten. Every family should finish eating the breakfast as soon as possible on the morning of the first day of the first month of the lunar year. It's said the family will have a bad luck throughout the whole year if the family doesn't finished breakfast when the people coming for New Year call. So that it's the earlier the better for paying New Year call. Moreover, Dawor people often perform “field hockey” contest and other cultural and sports activities during the Spring Festival period. The diligent Dawor people will go out for hunting or plough preparation on the 16 th of the first month of the lunar year. The Kumule's Day on May 14 th is a day of celebration for Dawor people. They will happily get together to sing and dance for celebration.

        Etiquettes

        Dawor is a nationality that always paying attention to etiquettes and manners. Respecting the elders is the traditional virtue and the core of etiquettes of Dawor people. It's a must for the juniors to be respectful and obedient to the elders. The juniors have to prepare belongs for the elder's long journey and the juniors have to make the horse and carriage ready and drive the horse and carriage outside the gate, and then help the elder to aboard the carriage and sit stably or fasten the saddle properly, and then hand the rein to the elder. The juniors have to walk out afar to receive the elder's back and pay respects to the elder. The daughter-in-law or daughter should take off the overcoat and cap for the elder and make a cup of tea, fire cigarette and pay respects to the elder after his arrival at home. The juniors have to pay respects to the elder's bedroom first after their coming back from a several-day-leave. The elder and his grandson sit on the south kang of west room to eat, the son and other juniors sit on the north or west kang to eat and the daughter-in-law stands aside to serve. The juniors are not allowed to sit on the south kang after entering the elder's bedroom, the junior could sit on the north kang after the elder's approval, however they are not allowed to sit with their back facing the elder.

        Religion

        Most Dawor people believe in Saman sect and enshrine god, mountain god, fire god, plutus and ancestor god, etc. Because Dawor people are living in the intersection and transition areas among various cultures of the country and plus their unique historical and cultural vicissitudes, the diversified features to their society and culture are formed.

        Saman (Yadegan) who is the most authoritative envoy trafficking between the people and the ghost considered by Dawor people, and he is also the unique reliable spokesman with supernatural power of expelling souls and getting rid of disasters for the people, so that he is esteemed by the people.

        Dawor people sacrifice their ancestors every festivals, diseases or disasters to pray for the safety and prosperity of the family.

        Dawor people have two ancestor gods, one kind of ancestor god is bound up with straw, which is hanged on the wall in the west room and the number of the straw gods should be equal with the men headcount of the family. One straw god should be increased if a boy is born in the family and one straw god should be taken off if there is a man passing away in the family. The other ancestor god is made with fells. These fell-made ancestor gods are in pairs and one family only enshrine one pair. The one with copper cash on his chest is a male ancestor god, which means the man manages the money of the family. The other with nothing on her chest is the female. The ancestor god cannot be enraged, otherwise the hosts will be sick. The ancestor gods are hanged on the west wall in the room every New Year and festivals, and the whole family will sacrifice to them. The family also sacrifices the ancestor gods, if there is illness or disaster suffered by the family, to get rid of the illness and disaster. The ancestors cannot be ignored if the family kills a pig, therefore the ancestor god will be enshrined and to touch the fell-made gods' mouths with a piece of pork to show respect.

        Baby-Sitting