Life customs of Minnan people

"Food is the most important thing for people", and diet is the first need of people's material life. It has strong characteristics of the times and distinctive local cultural color.

The first thing Minnan people do in the morning is to make tea. Xiamen people call tea "MC Davi" and compare it to rice. They call drinking tea eating tea, which is in the same position as eating, to show that tea and rice are equally important in people's lives. Just as Wang Anshi said, "Tea is used by the people, which means rice is salt, and it is impossible to have nothing for a day." The tea-drinking custom in southern Fujian is mainly to drink Kung Fu tea, which is called "Kung Fu tea" because it is more time-consuming and laborious than drinking tea. Drinking tea generally requires "tea matching", especially drinking high-concentration kungfu tea, which can prevent "tea drunkenness", and binge drinking is the most important wine custom in southern Fujian. As the saying goes, "no wine, no table", people drink to celebrate festivals, such as Spring Festival wine, Dragon Boat Festival realgar wine and Mid-Autumn Festival wine.

Minnan people have three meals a day, mainly rice, porridge in the morning and evening, and lunch at noon. In Minnan dialect, porridge is called rice. It's thin, thick and thin. Thick porridge is called "roasted head and minced meat", which means "dry water", and thin porridge is called "Mi An Zi". As for the Chinese New Year's food customs, there are different food customs according to different festivals. For example, during the Spring Festival and New Year's Eve, in addition to eating all kinds of chicken, duck, fish and vegetables around the stove, it is customary to eat a hot pot. The old copper hot pot, burning charcoal fire in the middle, symbolizes the reunion of the whole family around the stove.

Clothing custom

With the progress of ideas, people's clothing has also changed. Among them, the unique feature of Minnan dress is Huian women's dress, and its biggest feature is "short clothes and eye-catching". There is a jingle that vividly summarizes the sacrifice of Hui 'an women's traditional dress as "feudal head, democratic belly, saving clothes and waste pants". In addition, there are people who wear clogs, bracelets and anklets for women and children.

Architectural custom

Architecture is closely related to people's lives, so it has also formed a series of folk customs. For example, before building a house, choose the ecliptic to break ground, worship the beam and complete the ceremony. For example, before breaking ground, choose the auspicious day of the ecliptic, put on record to set up offerings for the pig's head, burn incense and light candles, set off firecrackers, and worship the gods and the ground, commonly known as the groundbreaking ceremony or the groundbreaking ceremony. After the ceremony, the owner who built the house was treated with a sumptuous table. In addition, there are customs such as nailing bamboo boards on wooden thresholds and digging wells in selected places to find springs.

marriage customs

Since ancient times, the marriage customs in southern Fujian have followed the basic procedures of the traditional "six rituals" of the Han nationality, namely, accepting gifts (that is, proposing marriage), asking names (that is, female surnames), Naji (engagement and funeral), accepting gifts (giving gifts after marriage), inviting invitations (informing the wedding date) and welcoming relatives (getting married). Among them, special attention is paid to the custom of "marriage". The bride usually goes back to her mother's house on the fourth day after marriage, which is called "guest" and "Hui Zi". A "guest" must go back to her husband's house that day, and it must be dark when she gets home. As the saying goes, "it is black to the touch and dry to live." This means that doing so will give birth to boys.

Birthday ceremonies and customs

In the past, due to factors such as living and sanitary environment, people were considered to live long when they were 50 years old. Therefore, Minnan folk customs celebrate their birthdays every ten days from the age of 50 (in some places, birthdays are only celebrated at the age of 60), and some celebrate their birthdays one year earlier or one year later (that is, every nine days or 1 1). Generally speaking, lanterns are hung on the Hall of Eternal Life, with a gold word "Shou" or Shou Xingtu in the middle and birthday couplets on both sides. Wearing new clothes or shroud, the birthday boy sat in the longevity hall and accepted Zhang Er's prayer. Birthday party is an important part of birthday celebration. Generally, guests are given a banquet at noon or in the evening on the birthday, and there must be a dish of "trotters' noodles" in the dishes. Taking trotters is auspicious, which has a strong meaning and prolongs life.

Folk taboo

Taboo is a traditional custom, a concept and practice that restricts social behavior and belief activities. Minnan people have also formed some taboos about food, clothing, housing, communication and language in their daily lives, such as knocking on bowls with chopsticks when eating, because in the old society only beggars would knock on empty bowls to beg. Chopsticks should not be inserted into the rice bowl, which is related to the funeral custom of "worshipping feet and rice" in folk customs. Don't hit people with brooms, otherwise it will be unlucky, because people regard brooms as spiritual things. Avoid planting banana trees and banyan trees in the courtyard. It is said that bananas are seedless, so they are not conducive to fertility. Banyan is regarded as a sacred tree (because it is the oldest), and it is disrespectful and unlucky to plant it in the family yard.