Folk customs of Hakka people

Life customs mainly include growth, marriage, birthday and funeral.

1, birth custom

Pregnant. A woman is pregnant, commonly known as "happiness" and "pregnancy". According to feudal customs, pregnant women are called "four eyes" and can't hold or touch other people's children casually. They think it's a competition for flowers. Being touched by "four eyes" is unlucky, and other children will be scared to cry at night.

Be the moon. Women should not go out during childbirth in case of catching cold. Even in hot summer, close the doors and windows, and don't turn on the fan. At the same time, hot foods such as ginger, wine and chicken should be cooked. Wash your face and take a bath with mountain spring water or hot water. Babies are not easy to see. Clothing, food and shelter keep warm. Outsiders dare not easily enter the "moon" to the full moon (also known as "out of the moon"), and women can take their babies out of the hall to receive congratulations from relatives and friends.

It was three dynasties. The third day of a baby's birth is called "Three Dynasties". On this day, babies will be bathed with yam, stones or heavy objects, which is called "washing three dynasties". At the same time, women in the neighborhood will be invited to eat "Three Dynasties Tea", and the congratulators will bring gifts such as chicken, eggs and baby clothes.

Make a full moon. It is also a relatively grand custom of baby's full moon. On this day, grandma's family will send clothes, collars and "long life and wealth" silver locks (jade locks), and relatives and friends will send red envelopes and clothes to congratulate them. The host family gave a big banquet, worshipped their ancestors and named the baby. After that, the baby can take it out to see relatives and friends day by day.

Four months. That is, the celebration when the child is born for four months. Grandma's family and relatives and friends should handle clothes, cakes and other gifts separately, which is called "collecting saliva" for children. The host family invites others to tea, which is also called "April tea".

Become the right age. That is, the celebration of the first week of a child's birth. Grandma's family or relatives and friends give gifts such as new clothes and shoes, and the host family holds a banquet to receive relatives and friends to celebrate.

2. Marriage customs

In the old days, there were six rituals in Hakka marriage: receiving gifts, asking names, concubinage, receiving gifts, asking for leave and welcoming relatives.

"Accept talents", that is, the man's family prepares gifts and asks the matchmaker to propose marriage to the woman's family, which requires a big post;

"Ask the name", that is, when the man asks the matchmaker to ask the woman's name and date of birth (commonly known as "eight characters"); "Naji", that is, the man asks the woman's name and horoscope, which is called "checking the horoscope of the year" and then decides whether to "engage"; "Zheng Na" means that after the engagement, the man officially hired the woman's family with a bride price; "Asking for leave" means choosing a wedding date, preparing gifts to inform the woman's family for advice, and asking for leave with a big sticker; The "wedding ceremony", that is, the new son-in-law goes to the woman's house to meet the bride and get married, has complicated customs and etiquette. Modern weddings generally go through six ceremonies: matchmaking, setting a date, giving a dowry, seeing the bride off, and meeting the bride to get married.

3. Funeral customs

(1) Preparation before death

Make a shroud. According to the old custom, whoever reaches the age of 60 is called longevity, and relatives at home will prepare a "happy shroud" for him as a "centenary shroud". According to "six tops and four bottoms" (that is, six tops and four bottoms), the color and style of materials vary from person to person, but the length of sleeves for cutting clothes is longer than that of strangers. You should choose an auspicious day and finish it in one day.

Make longevity materials. In other words, when the coffin is ready to die, it is also called "Shou Wu" or "Shou or Shou". The material of Shouwu is generally fir wood, and exquisite flowers and birds are painted on the outside of the coffin, painted in black or red, and the words "longevity" or "blessing" are written on the head and tail of the coffin, and some even write "longevity is better than Nanshan" on red paper to express their wishes for longevity.

Make a birthday grave. That is, the tomb prepared before death, also known as the "living base." Please ask Mr. Feng Shui to choose the location and orientation of this section of land, and then carry out the construction according to the designated size, style and Long Mai.

(2) Death and funeral

See him off and walk out of the hall. When people are dying, it is best to have relatives or descendants waiting in front of the bed to see them off for the last journey, so it is called "farewell". When you are away from home, try to come back, meet and listen to your dying will. At this time, especially those younger generations, if they don't come back to meet for no special reason, they will be regarded as unfilial. After the death of a mortal, the body of the deceased is usually placed in the main hall, and relatives guard it day and night. Some people put a mourning hall, that is, hang a white cloth, put an incense table, and put a spirit tablet or portrait on the mourning hall. A dutiful son, grandson or relative wakes day and night.

Sending a funeral report, that is, reporting to relatives and friends after death, is called mourning. It is necessary to inform the small funeral, the big funeral, the clothing and the coffin, and the specific time to return to the mountain.

Put it in the coffin. That is, when the deceased enters the coffin, the head of the deceased should be padded with "bricks" and the name, lineage, date of birth and date of death of the deceased should be written. It depends on whether the body is buried in the middle, which is divided into small burial and large burial. Coffins that are not sealed or nailed are called small coffins, and those that are sealed or nailed are called big coffins.

Sacrificial ceremony. Hold a more solemn ceremony before going out. Generally, "three ceremonies" are held. That is, the deceased, ancestors, heaven and earth are sacrificed first, and then the name of the deceased is cleared. After the hemp sacrifice, the mourners put on linen, the dutiful sons and grandsons hold sticks and sticks of filial piety, wrap their heads in Dai Xiao, and wear black gauze and armbands to show their mourning or respect for the deceased, and invite monks and grandmothers to recite scriptures.

Take the lead. That is, returning to the mountain. Take clothes and carry the coffin out of the house, which is called "leaving the coffin". At this time, the coffin of the deceased was placed on the Wo Ping or in a relatively open place, and then "around the coffin" was carried out, and monks (nuns) chanted prayers and offered wine. After the ceremony, the coffin was carried away, that is, the "funeral". At this time, the guard of honor, Gong team, route spreaders, people who send bouquets and wreaths, people who send coffins, filial sons and grandchildren, relatives and friends all kneel to thank my family. Some places bury "paving sacrifices" on the way to celebrate the dead. Then they will send the dead to the cemetery together and bury them at the right time.

Make seven. According to the custom, seven days after death is a "seven" and * * * seven "seven" forty-nine days. Every "seventh" day, a memorial service is held, commonly known as "doing seven". Most people only do "July 7th" ("Finish Seven Days"). During the memorial ceremony, three offerings of wine, scented paper and candles were prepared, some of which were copied into beds, tables and chairs, windmills, rocks, chickens, ducks, pigs, cattle and sheep of the deceased and burned to the deceased. At the end of July, relatives and friends attended the memorial service.

Take the clothes. Also known as "filial piety" and "filial piety", that is, to lose one's family and complete the funeral. There is a difference between filial piety and filial piety. The anniversary ceremony is called filial piety, and the three-year ceremony is called filial piety. After the ceremony, the hall was changed into red couplets.

Pick up the gold. Some people are buried in coffins after death. After 3- 12 years, the graves are dug out and the remains are put into "Jin 'ang" (also called Jin Piao), commonly known as "gold mining". Some were buried in the same place, and some were buried in another place, becoming graves. 1, the staple food of home cooking is rice and sweet potato. When food is abundant, farmers have three meals a day and two meals and one porridge at ordinary times. In the past, porridge was mostly cooked in a big round iron pot with a gong, and rice was steamed in a "rice retort" (wooden cylindrical barrel). In addition, foods made from rice are:

Happy rice is a kind of food fermented with rice flour (now with baking soda) and steamed in a bowl. It is given to relatives as a sacrifice or gift in general festivals or weddings.

The fake calligraphy hairpin is a kind of food steamed directly on the hairpin rack, similar to it.

Sweet candied fruit is a kind of Spring Festival food that people mix glutinous rice flour and syrup, put them in a bamboo basket and steam them with strong fire after the Lunar New Year1February 25th every year. It is a sacred food in festivals, mainly used for eating or giving gifts to relatives and friends.

Powder hairpin is a kind of food which is made by pouring rice flour into a steamer and steaming it into translucent hairpin blocks, and then cutting it into strips with a knife.

Knife cutting is a kind of food in which rice is kneaded into small pieces with water, rolled into thin slices with a "roller", cut into slender strips with a knife and boiled into powder soup.

Ciba is to steam glutinous rice, pour it into a stone mortar, mix it with a small amount of water or oil, beat it repeatedly until the rice grains disappear into a whole, then make it into round food, which is called Ciba, and then mix it with sesame, peanut powder and sugar. For human consumption. Now, glutinous rice flour is mixed with water, put into a clay pot and repeatedly squeezed with a "tea-smashing stick" to make it.

2. Banquet dishes

Yellow rice wine is one of the specialties of Liuhe. Steamed with coarse glutinous rice, cooled, mixed with wine cake powder, and placed in the restaurant. After three days, the wine grains are separated and people can eat them. This should be kept in a cool place and served with wine. If you marry a woman as a "sedan chair" and a daughter-in-law as a "wedding wine"; Brew "Three Dynasties Wine" on the third day after the child is born, "Full Moon Wine" on the full moon, "Ginger Chicken Wine" on the puerpera and "Shoujiu" on the birthday; The funeral is "white wine"; Drink "spring wine" in the New Year and "sake" on the ceremony day; When building a house, make "falling rock wine", "Shangliang wine" and "Anmen wine", and arrange the seating according to the rules. Generally, pork, chicken and fish are the main dishes. The more grand dishes are "Twelve Bowls", "Three Pills" (pork balls, beef balls and fish balls), "Sanwei Chicken" (boiled chicken, fried chicken and chicken soup) and fish.

3. Flavor snacks

Stuffed tofu is a traditional dish of Hakka people. Mix and chop fresh pork, dried shrimps, squid, fennel rice, garlic, potato flour, etc. into stuffing, and then brew the meat stuffing into tofu with chopsticks. The first way to eat tofu is to put tofu in a pot and simmer it with star anise, spices, ginger and other seasonings, which is called stewed tofu. Second, put the soaked tofu into the pot, fry until golden brown, add appropriate amount of oil, salt and water, and simmer for about 20 minutes. It's called oil tofu. The third is to put the cooked tofu into a plate or bowl and steam it with seasoning. This is called steamed tofu.

Hakka Niang wine is brewed with white glutinous rice and black glutinous rice as raw materials and koji rice mother as sugar koji. It is reddish brown, dense, sweet and mellow, and smells fragrant. White glutinous rice and black glutinous rice contain 18 kinds of amino acids, 14 kinds of trace elements and 6 kinds of vitamins necessary for human body, and selenium is the king of anticancer. Grain wine has low alcohol content and belongs to low-alcohol beverage wine. Has the effects of regulating human physiological function, promoting metabolism, caring skin, enriching blood and prolonging life.

Hakka tea is a kind of tea food made by mixing tea leaves, cooked sesame seeds and cooked peanuts, adding a little water, salt and other ingredients and pouring them into a bowl. This kind of tea is called clear tea. At present, some teas are made by picking wild leaves such as hawthorn leaves, indigo leaves, snow potato leaves and bitter lotus leaves as raw materials, commonly known as camellia oleifera, and then frying kale, shrimps, squid, mushrooms and beans.

Fairy board, also known as fairy board, is made of dried fairy grass, soil and clear water through decocting, filtering, removing branches and leaves, and adding potato powder to make a paste, which is smooth and delicious, and the color is black. After solidification, brown sugar or honey can be added to eat, which has the effect of reducing fever and lowering blood pressure.