Ethnic customs of Wei Zhen Yao nationality township

"Adding food to prolong life": Yao people have the custom of "adding food to prolong life" for the elderly, which is also called "supplementing food to prolong life". After the old man's 60th birthday, his descendants will prepare a small jar for him to hold longevity pills. If you have a slight illness at ordinary times, take some rice from the longevity grain jar and cook it, but don't eat it all, otherwise it will be unlucky. The rice in the jar should be added, usually during the Double Ninth Festival, and it can be filled at one time. People think that Chongyang is an auspicious day to enjoy the life of 99 years old. On this day, you can live to be over 100 years old by adding food to supplement your life. The custom of "adding food to prolong life" expresses the good wishes of Yaoxiang people for the elderly to enjoy their old age.

"Shrine": There are shrines in the main houses of every household in Yaoxiang, which are mainly dedicated to ancestral tablets, wealth gods and land gods. The shrine is generally located in the center of the main hall. On holidays, every household will offer sacrifices to chickens and ducks, burn incense and worship, and pray for ancestors to bless their wealth, prosperity, peace and health.

"Land Temple": There is a big land temple in a village in Yaoxiang. Some villages have their own small earth temples. On holidays, especially the Spring Festival (the second day of the second lunar month) and the Autumn Festival, every family will come to worship with chickens, ducks, wine and meat, burn incense and pray for a bumper harvest, prosperity of people and animals, wealth and peace, and good health.

"Boning burial": Medicine incense, commonly known as "Boning", is a funeral activity for the second burial. After the death of a loved one, we must first build a grave for burial. After three to five years, we should choose an auspicious day, then dig a coffin to pick up bones and put them in the Jintan, and then move over and bury them. Yaoxiang people believe that the purpose of deboning burial is to help ancestors' souls return to the ground from the ground and let them go home to reunite with their relatives on holidays.