Zhepama and zhemama

Name of Chinese national intangible cultural heritage: zhapama and zhemima

Applicant: Lianghe County, Yunnan Province

Item No.: 3

Project No.: I-3

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: Folk Literature

Region: Yunnan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Lianghe County, Yunnan Province

Protected by: Lianghe County Cultural Center

Brief introduction of zhepama and zhemama:

Applicant: Lianghe County, Yunnan Province

The creation myth of Achang's long poem style, zhapama and zhemima, is mainly spread among Achang people in Lianghe County, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, and has been handed down in two forms: Poetry and oral vernacular.

The Achang Nationality has a population of more than 30000, mainly living in Jiubao, Guosong and Husa of Lianghe County, Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province. In the religious and folk activities of the Achang people, they should recite all the "zhapama and zhamima". When ordinary people are building houses, meeting relatives, getting married and meeting matchmakers, they should sing and dance at the same time. The first libretto is the pedigree of Pan family. First, it praises that the ancestors of Achang people, zhapama and zhemima, created human beings and enabled the people to marry and inherit.

The contents of the legends of zhapama and zhemima are basically the same, whether they are poems or vernacular stories. The story tells the process of the Achang ancestors zhapama and zhemima making heaven and weaving earth, subduing flood and famine, creating human beings, fighting evil spirits and making the universe peaceful. Zhepama and zhemima are not only the most worshipped gods of the Achang people, but also the protection gods of all ordinary people and the chief gods of the sacrificial activities of the Achang people. Zhapama and zhamima is a long poem about creation, which also vividly reflects the transition of human beings from matriarchy to patriarchy. The myth of yanpo in the story is a "living fossil" of ancient nomadic culture of southwest nationalities. "Zhapama and zhemima" is a monument to the development of Achang culture, which is called "our national song" by Achang people.

Fifty years ago, the stories of zhapama and zhemima were well-known to all, and the Achang people could tell them orally. Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer people who can understand Achang's ancient language, and the number of "living sacrifices" (priests) who can speak and sing epic is reduced from eight to two. The ancient creation myth is in danger of dying out.