Daur

The Daur (Chinese: 达斡尔族; pinyin: Dáwò'ěrzú) are an ethnic minority, one of 56 officially recognized by the government of the People's Republic of China. They live mainly in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Heilongjiang and Xinjiang provinces. Its approximate population is about 131,992 people.

Language

The Daur language belongs to the Mongolian group of languages. It is made up of three dialects: buteha, qiqihar and xinjiang. The Daur language does not have a system of written signs and during the Qing dynasty they used the Manchu system.

In addition to using their own language, many Daur are able to speak Chinese, Mongolian, Uyghur, and Ewenki to communicate among themselves and with members of other ethnicities.

History

Like the Oroqen and Ewenki, the Daur are believed to be descendants of the Khitan, an ancient nomadic people who inhabited the Heilong River area and founded the Liao dynasty. In the early Qing dynasty some groups moved further west and formed the Daur people.

The Daur fought against Czarist Russia from 1643 to 1651. They also waged intense resistance against Japanese occupation from 1937 to 1945.

Culture

Daur society has a very strong hierarchical structure. People with the same last name, called hala, live together in the same group, consisting of two or three villages. Each hala is divided into several clans (mokon) that live in the same village. If a marriage between different clans takes place, the man can go to live together with his wife's clan but he has no rights to the property.

In daur weddings, the groom goes to meet the bride at sunrise. It is customary for him to offer wine, meat and pasta to all the neighbors he meets on the way. The wedding party usually concludes with a festival of horse racing.

During the winter, Daur women wear long dresses, usually blue, and fur boots, which they exchange for long pants in the summer. In winter, men wear earmuffs made of deer or fox fur. In summer, they cover their heads with white cloth or straw hats.

For at least the last thousand years, the Dagur played a game called beikou, similar to hockey.

Religion

The Daur are basically polytheists. Each clan has its own shaman in charge of performing and blessing all the important ceremonies in the life of a daur. There are some Daur who have adopted Lamaism as their religion.