由于独龙族文面可考的文字记载只有女性，如今可见的文面也仅有女性，通常人们称独龙女人为“文面女”。女人文面是独龙族人的传统习俗，过去，女人一般十二三岁进入成年期，都要由具备一定文刺经验的妇女文面师对其进行文面。文面师让文面的女孩先洗净脸，然后仰面躺下，用竹签在女孩脸上画上传统图案，图画好后，用三四根木刺捆在一起按照图样一点点行刺，刺得满脸是血，擦尽血水，再用锅烟灰和一种深色草汁反复在脸上揉搓，或是用烟锅灰和深色料珠研末混合成的油膏反复在脸上揉搓，使颜色渗入皮肤，文完需要一天时间。一周以后，脸上伤疤退光复原，就呈现青黑色的花纹。这样，女孩一生最重要的关口就算过了。

Women of Derung are usually called “women of facial tattoo” because all the dependable written records on facial tattoo of Derung are about Derung women and the existing facial tattoos of Derung only can be seen on women. Facial tattoo on women is a tradition in Derung ethnic group. In the past， all the Derung girls must be tattooed on face by an experienced female tattooist when they got into adolescence at age 12 or 13. The tattooist would ask the girl to wash her face and lie on her back. Then the tattooist would draw up a conventional design with bamboo stick on the girls face， after which the design would be needled with three or four wooden prods bound together. Cleaning up the blood on face， the tattooist would use the ash from the bottom of cooking pot together with a type of dark-green grass juice or use a mixed ointment made of the ash from the pot bottom and the powder ground from a dark-color pigment ball to paint and rub the skin of face， making the color seep into skin. It would take a whole day. A week later， the wound recovered， and the indigo tattoo pattern was presented on face， which indicated the girl had gone through the  most essential ordeal in her life.

文面圖案南北地区有所区别，在独龙江中上游的北部地区盛行大文面，也叫满文，在前颈、双颊、鼻子及下颚刺上菱形图案及线条组成各种图案的花纹，妇女们都以文面为美。而独龙江下游的南部地区只文嘴唇下的一圈或者只在上唇及下颚文一小块，像男子下垂的胡须，称小文面。文面图案也因家庭不同而各异，是区别氏族或家庭的一种标志特征。

There is a difference between the tattoo patterns in the north and that in the south. The broad facial tattoo， also called full tattoo， prevailed in the northern area of the upper and middle Dulong River. Women who got full tattoo had their fore-necks， cheeks， noses and chins tattooed with rhombus pattern and other patterns of lines. They all regarded facial tattoo as beauty. The Derung women in the southern area of lower Dulong River， however， just had a tattoo on the skin below the lip or a little tattoo on the upper lip and the chin， like the beard of men， which is called the little facial tattoo. The details of tattoo patterns are different from family to family， so facial tattoo is a distinctive mark to tell different clans or families.

独龙女神秘的抽象文面图案，在各处都大同小异，总体上像蝴蝶或蝴蝶的翅膀。图案构图具有一定规则，采用点、线、菱形和波浪线元素结合构成。鼻梁和下颚是菱形图案，像蝴蝶的身体和尾巴，前额眉边的点线像蝴蝶的触须，双颈的图案像蝴蝶的翅膀，很多文面整体看像展翅欲飞的蝴蝶。他们认为，世间有生命无生命的东西都有灵魂 ，一个是生魄“卜拉” ，一个是亡魂“阿细”。“阿细”是人和动物死后出现的第二个灵魂，漂亮的花蝴蝶就是妇女们的“阿细”变成的，红、蓝、白色的蝴蝶是男人们的“阿细”变的。蝴蝶死了，人们的灵魂也就永远不存在了。所以，在独龙江地区，是不能乱捕杀蝴蝶的。

The complicated facial tattoo patterns of Derung women in different areas of Dulong River are almost in the same shape of butterfly or the wings of butterfly. The composition of the tattoo pattern follows a certain rule： combining the elements of dot， line， rhombus and wavy line. The overall look of most facial tattoos is like butterfly being about to fly： the rhombuses on the bridge of nose and on the chin look like the body and the tail of butterfly， the dots and lines on the forehead and on the side of eyebrow are like antennas of butterfly， and the patterns on both sides of the neck are as wings of butterfly. The Derung people believe whether it is animate or inanimate everything in the world has soul， which falls into “Bula”， soul of life and “Axi”， soul of death. “Axi” is the second soul after the death of human and animal. The “Axi” of women turn into beautiful butterflies of multicolor， and the “Axi” of men turn into red， blue， and white butterflies of pure color. After the butterflies die， the souls of people would never exist. Therefore， there is a custom of not catching or killing butterflies in the area of Dulong River.

當初文面的动机有很多：有说妇女文面是美的象征，不文面的姑娘是嫁不出去的;有说是作为区别各个氏族或家族部落的标志;更有说是防止北方察瓦龙藏族土司抢逼独龙女，多数的人类学家实地考察后更偏重于此说法。根据文面现象的地理分布也能证实这点：靠近西藏地区的独龙族文面妇女较多，但到了下游靠近缅甸一带，独龙族妇女文面的就变得稀少了。

Several explanations for motivations of facial tattoo in the past exist. Some say facial tattoo was a symbol of beauty， so no one was willing to marry the girls without facial tattoo， and others assume facial tattoo was a mark to tell different families， clans and tribes， but through some field investigation most anthropologist agree it was to prevent the Derung girls from being robbed by the Tibetan headmen of Chawalong located on the north of Dulong area， which can be proved by the geographical distribution of facial tattoo phenomenon. The number of tattooed women in the area close to Tibet is large， but a few of Derung women who lived in the down-river area close to Burma had facial tattoo.

译者：孟容静，昆明理工大学津桥学院，讲师，汉族，女，1991年7月生.

基金项目：

1.本文汉语原文摘录自云南省独龙江乡风景区内的公示牌简介，英语译文系译者原创翻译。

2.项目基金：本文系云南省教育厅科学研究基金项目资助的项目“云南自贸试验区战略背景下少数民族地区旅游文化外宣翻译研究”（项目编号2020J1219）的部分研究成果。