Traditional Sports
Hani traditional sports have developed along with their production and life practices. The Hani language, festivals, lifestyle, ethics, religious beliefs and values make contributions to their continuity and development. The Hani people are hard-working, good at singing and dancing, and they create a splendid traditional sports culture. Their main traditional sports are wrestling, Moqiu, spinning top, mengtai competition (stilts competition), etc, among which, wrestling and Mengtai competition are not very different from the Han, while Moqiu is quite distinctive.
(1) Playing Moqiu[5]
In 1971, archaeologists unearthed a bronze drum from the Western Han Dynasty in Lijiashan, Jiangchuan County, Yunnan Province. In the middle part of this drum, a pattern indicates four people playing Moqiu. Playing Moqiu is a traditional Hani sporting activity on the annual Hani Kuzhazha Festival[6]. In the event, people of all villages gather on the mill field to celebrate the successful completion of spring ploughing and to wish for a good harvest. Newborn babies are carried by their parents to swing on the Moqiu, praying for blessings and happiness.
The way ofplayig Moqiu is interesting. People sit or flop at both ends of the pine pole cross-framing on the Moqiu stake,generally one person on one end.. With a strong foot stomping of one person, he rises up, and the other one falls to the ground and the two people repeatedly do this set ofactions and keep up and down.
(2) Whipping tops
The Hani top has a peculiar shape, like a radish. The diameter of the top is about 10cm,and the material is general miscellaneous wood. The whip rope is about 2 meters without a whip pole to bind to. The rope is put around the upper end of the top. After pumping spin the Hani top will keep spinning on the ground. The participants are divided into teams to compete. The team who keep the longest rotation of the top will win the round and get the prevelige to pump the spin in the next round. But the winning party’s “ god ofthe top”(equivalent to the captain, technically superior), must win his counterpart, or fall into the losing team.
The second step of whipping tops is to play a shift competition. The losing side will turn to the other side to play. The winning side plays from the benchmark line drawn on the ground crossing the line breaks the law. As long as a team offive or six plays and spins to win the other team, it is considered to win once, and then continues to play. Ifhis top only grazes the other team’s top, not only will the top spin more and more, but also his own top will rest, and the whole team will be “sold” by him and become the losing team.
The Hani top has another way to play: draw a circle of a diameter of about one meter.One team start a top to keep spinning in the circle and the other team tries to attack the spinning top with theirs. The team whose top is driven out of the circle will become the loser.. In the Hani areas of Yuanjiang, Luchun and Yuanyang in Yunnan, they have topspinning competitions during the Spring Festival and June and October., They play top to promote friendship and exchange feelings. Men and women, young and old, gather together to play tops to celebrate the festival.
(3) Wrestling
Wrestling is a very popular competitive sport among the Hani people. In Hani villages,boys start to learn wrestling at the age offive or six. Wrestlers live in almost every village.Wrestling match is normally held on grass, fields, beaches, and grain fields. And it is held in the Kuzhazha Festival, the Torch Festival and Qingming Festival.
During the Torch Festival, people are dressed with festive clothes to watch the wrestling match. During Qingming Festival, people watch the youth wrestling competition in the evening after they visit and clean ancestral graves in the daytime. Wrestling match is also a platform for young men and women getting to know each other.
(4) Crossbow Shooting
Crossbow was created by the Hani people in their long-term struggle for living long long ago. In order to survive and protect themselves, the Hani people invented crossbows in the primitive production of hunting, foraging and resisting fierce beasts. It is still very popular in today’s Hani villages. It is not only indispensable self-defense weapons and hunting tools in the production and life, but also a symbol ofHani men’s strength and prestige. Therefore,the Hani men never go out without their crossbows.
Crossbow is made ofhard wood. Shooting a crossbow is in the same gesture as shooting a narrow, but horizontally. As soon as the trigger is pulled, the arrow flies out through the arrow slot in the crossbow bed. The string must be strung with great force, so the arrow can be shot very far. When shooting a crossbow, the stance, footwork, breathing regulation and psychological condition are all very important. The Hani ancestors usually apply some poison on the tip ofthe arrow. In the Hani villages, one who hunts a big beast will get great reverence from his villagers.
(5) Rooster-feather Ball Competition
Rooster-feather ball competition is a traditional folk sport of the Hani people, mostly held during the agricultural season and festivals. It is the livliest time to play rooster-feather ball from the Chinese New Year Eve to the third day ofa new lunar year. The thicker bottom of a rooster-feather ball is made from chaff wrapped in well-knit fabrics of various colors.It becomesslightly thin in the middle andthe top is inserted twenty to thirty golden rooster feathers, similar to badminton. The Hani teenagers usually know how to play rooster-feather ball, and middle-aged people like to play most. Rooster-feather ball site is easy to set—aflat ground, drawing a boundary line in the middle, or tying to a rope above it. The number ofparticipants is not limited. They are separated into two groups standing on the two sides ofthe line. At the beginning ofthe activity, participants who hold the ball throw it with one hand to the other side. They run back and forth to catch and attack the ball back but avoid being hit by the ball and to find opportunities to give smashes to the other side. Each group cannot cross the boundary line. When one throw the ball and hit an ear of his opponent,all the participants flock to rub his ear which is hit. Until everyone has rubbed his ear, the round is over, then the next round starts. Sometimes the person whose ear is hit runs away from the playground, so the group chases after him till they catch him and continue to rub his ear. The whole activity is very lively.
(6) “Horn Goring” Game
According to legend, the brave Hani ancestors wear ram’s horn, a cult object of Hani,on the head as a symbol of bravery, strength and dexterity. This game is not just for entertainment, but also plays a very important role in the sports field in primitive society.Today, this confrontational game is still a traditional sport loved by the Hani people. In the horn goring game, two people make up a team and push each other, shoulder against shoulder, head against head, with wrestling roll and other skills to attack each other. It is a game of using original hand-to-hand combat techniques. Competition regulations of this sport are as follows: to draw a circle with six meters in diameter, and the center ofthe circle is used as a marker for the standing position ofboth sides. When hearing the referee’s“ready” command, both sides stand in the prescribed position, head to head or left shoulder against left shoulder, right shoulder against right shoulder. When the referee issues the “start”command, both sides push hard, and the one who pushes his opponent out of the circle is considered to be the winner.
(7) Swimming and Diving
In the mountainous area where Hani live, rivers flow gently and water is clear. Obviously it provides favorable conditions for swimming and diving. The takeoff places where the Hani people dive could be anywhere, on the cliffnear the river, on the bridge or on the tree.Dive carriages are forward dive, backward dive, cartwheel dive, swallow dive, etc. During festivals, people like to go to the river for swimming competition. The competition can be agreed in a set ofposture or variable postures. The first to reach the shore is the winner. As for underwater diving competition, the winner is the one who dives for the longest time.Swimming and diving can improve the function of organs, as well as respiratory function,endurance, balance and the ability to protect oneself in the water, and these two sports can also help people develop a strong and fearless mind.