What are the customs of Miao people in ethnic minorities?

Miao nationality is one of the oldest ethnic groups in China, with a large population and wide distribution, and Xiangxi Miao nationality is one of them. In the long-term historical development, Miao people have formed their own unique customs and habits in clothing, festivals, marriage, funeral, entertainment, etiquette, taboos and diet.

First, clothing.

There is little difference between men and women in Xiangxi Miao costume, and they are all "colorful"; Dressed in flowered clothes, pleated skirts, long hair, ochre flower handkerchiefs, boat-shaped flower shoes and various silver ornaments.

During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, after the government ordered that "clothes should be divided into men and women", it changed a lot, and many people even changed into Hanfu. Today, for example, the Miao people in Yongshun and Longshan counties are no different from the Han people in dress. However, in Huayuan, Baojing, Fenghuang, Jishou, Guzhang, Luxi and other counties, Miao costumes still have their own characteristics.

Miao men's clothing is relatively simple; I wear a cloth handkerchief on my head, a double-breasted coat, long sleeves and small sleeves, short pants and big pants, and I like to wrap my blue feet. There are two kinds of head handkerchief: green handkerchief and flower handkerchief. Handkerchiefs are more than a foot long, as many as three feet. When they are intertwined, they are mostly cross-shaped and as big as hats. The colors of clothes are plaid, full blue, full blue and so on. Among them, plaid cloth is the most distinctive. There are usually seven buttons. Some young people wear as many as seven clothes, which makes people envy their wealth and boldness. Only the bottom pair of buttons are buckled on the outermost garment, and the bottom two pairs are buckled on the second garment ... and so on until the innermost seven pairs of buttons are buckled. So you can see layers of new clothes from the outside, which is not interesting.

Contrary to the simple costumes of Miao men, the costumes of Miao women are very delicate and complicated.

Toupa: Toupa of Miao women varies from place to place. Miao women in Fenghuang County have a short handkerchief more than three feet long. From the forehead to the back of the head, even the ears are wrapped inside. Miao women in Huayuan and other counties like to use black handkerchiefs (wearing white handkerchief to prevent their parents from dying), which are neatly folded, neatly wrapped, unbiased and oblique, and tied at the end just right. Miao women in Jishou county have mixed hair, while flowers are used in the adjacent areas of Fenghuang county and black flowers are used in the adjacent areas of Huayuan county. Miao women in Luxi, Guzhang and eastern Jishou wear white headscarves. The handkerchief is embroidered with four pairs of cyan Hua Die, which is simple, beautiful and unique. The so-called "four-corner, four-corner embroidered moth" refers to this kind of white handkerchief.

Jewelry: Miao women's jewelry, exquisite shape, a wide range. According to the raw materials, there are gold ornaments, silver ornaments, copper ornaments, aluminum ornaments and jade ornaments. And silver ornaments are the most common. From the wearing parts: silver hat, silver basin, rockhopper, Sushan earrings, collars, bracelets, rings, toothpicks, belt buckles, etc. And bracelets and rings must be worn often. From the modeling point of view, there is only one kind of earrings, including melon seeds hanging earrings, pomegranate earrings, plum blossom needle earrings, circle earrings, faucet earrings, plum blossom hanging melon seeds hanging earrings, rake earrings, faucet melon seeds hanging earrings and so on.

Clothes and others: Miao women's clothes, long waist, big sleeves and short sleeves, no collar. The cuffs are about a foot or longer. On the chest and cuffs, it is customary to roll, embroider or wear yarn, and add railing petals. Some also need to embroider cloud-digging hooks on the front and back edges of the fork and swing. Clothing styles are full-breasted, without double-breasted. It takes dozens of working days to make a set of Miao women's underwear, which is beautifully made through sewing and embroidery. The pants are shorter and the legs are bigger. The number of piping, embroidery or yarn on the edge of trousers is the same as that of clothes. The dress is long and wide, with embroidered lines covered with waste edges, rolling railings and large and small petals, which are colorful and dazzling. The shoes are full of embroidery, with a big head and a big mouth, and the back is wearing ears.

After liberation, in some areas where Miao and Han people lived together, Miao costumes were greatly influenced by Han people, and some young people also changed into Hanfu.

Second, festivals and celebrations

There are many festivals and large-scale activities for Miao people in Xiangxi. Among them, the most representative are:

1. Catch up with last year. On the first month of the lunar calendar, the Miao people in Xiangxi are most keen to catch up with the New Year's Fair, and the date is decided by each place. On that day, men, women and children, dressed in festive costumes, invited each other and chased them in droves. The annual market is full of people, bustling and lively. People can not only exchange materials, but also participate in or watch activities such as swinging, lion dancing, playing with dragon lanterns and climbing ladders. Young men and women also make more use of this opportunity to find lovers and have sex. What's more, the singers show their abilities, and walk in twos and threes, saying the ancient and modern, singing together, or congratulating each other, or telling traditional stories, or improvising new words. The more people sing, the higher their interest, and the more people listen, the more energetic they are. Even if it is snowing heavily and freezing, the annual trade fair will be held as scheduled.

2. March 3rd. This is the traditional song and dance festival of Miao nationality in western Hunan. On this day, Miao people automatically gather in the appointed singing venue to participate in singing dialogue, listening to songs, dancing and watching dances, which is enjoyable.

3. catch up with Qingming. This is a large-scale song meeting unique to Miao people in western Hunan, also known as "Qingming Song Meeting". According to legend, because Miao people live in remote forests, all their daily necessities have to be exchanged in remote Han areas, and they are often deceived. Therefore, the Miao people agreed to use Tomb-Sweeping Day as their venue, exchange materials with each other and meet their relatives and friends. In this way, over time, today's "Qingming Song Festival" was formed.

Tomb-Sweeping Day has a traditional central venue. The Miao people in the east of Jishou catch up with Tomb-Sweeping Day, and its center venue is on the Danqing Tomb-Sweeping Day every year. At that time, Miao singers will sing with their hands on their cheeks, and you will sing and I will come on stage, beaming. Some sang until it was dark and refused to finish the meeting, singing all night.

4. Look at the Dragon Field. Every year, from the day of Grain Rain in the third month of the lunar calendar, we watch Dragon El every day, which used to be called Dragon Watching Day, and then we watch the invasion of Japan every day. Men, women and children take a day off and take an active part. If you do farm work on this day, it is a taboo. Therefore, Miao people attach great importance to "dragon watching".

5.april 8th. April 8th is the name of a hill in Luochaojing Township, Fenghuang County. Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a Miao leader named Yayi, who led the Miao people to fight against the rulers. He once organized Miao people in villages to drink chicken blood in the present "drinking blood depression" and vowed to unite with * * * and fight to the end. And agreed to meet on a mountain on April 8. After the uprising, the insurgents won again and again, reaching Sichuan and Guizhou. On April 8 of the following year, Yayi Buxin died near Guiyang Fountain. In order to commemorate this national hero, it is convenient for the Miao people to hold commemorative activities on April 8 every year to remember Yayi's achievements and sweep the graves for the war victims. After the uprising of Ganjia Miao people in Qing Dynasty, the rulers banned Xiangxi Miao people from holding this activity, which made the Miao people lose a very meaningful traditional festival. After liberation, with the approval of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, "April 8" was designated as a festival for the reunification of the Miao people.

6. June 6th. This is an ancient custom, and it is an ancestor worship activity for the Miao people to commemorate their ancestors of six men and six women and hope that they can have six men and six women to reproduce. Every year, on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, Miao people in Luochaojing, Fenghuang County will hold a grand song meeting in Guliangshan. Miao people from surrounding counties such as Huayuan and Jishou, and Songtao and Tongren in Guizhou also came to participate. The number of people attending the meeting often reaches 20 thousand to 30 thousand.

7. July 7th. This is a traditional drum meeting of Miao nationality, which is most popular in Jishou, Aizhaipo and Guzhang. Every year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, Miao people put on new clothes, gather in the drum field, beat drums, dance and indulge in joy.

8. Catch up with autumn. Catching autumn is one of the large-scale festivals of Miao nationality in western Hunan. Every year in "beginning of autumn", the Miao people will stop their farm work, put on their holiday costumes, invite friends to accompany them, and happily flock to Akita from all directions to participate in or watch various recreational activities. Traditional autumn farms include Aizhai Farm in Jishou County, Malichang in Huayuan County, Gouliangshan in Fenghuang County, Tanxi in luxi county and Liangjiatan. On this day, the crowds on the autumn field jostled shoulder to shoulder, surrounded by hillsides, people were shaking, flowers were in full bloom, songs were curling, laughter was heard, and it was very lively.

The origin of chasing autumn, some people say "beginning of autumn Day", others say "Swing". According to legend, a long time ago, there was a young man named Bagui Daya in Miao Village, who was upright, brave and good at shooting, and was deeply admired by everyone. One day, when he was out hunting, he saw a Shan Ying flying through the air, so he drew his bow, shot Shan Ying with an arrow and dropped a flower shoe at the same time. This flower shoe is exquisitely embroidered. You can tell at a glance that it was made by a clever and beautiful Miao girl. Bajiadya is determined to find the owner of this flower shoe. With the help of villagers, he designed and manufactured a windmill-shaped swing that can seat eight people at the same time, and named it "Autumn for Eight People". On this day in early autumn, he invited men and women from villages far and near to play autumn games. Swing was originally the favorite activity of Miao girls, and Bagui thought that the girl who made flower shoes would definitely come. Sure enough, Baguida's wish came true. In the autumn field, he found the owner of the flower shoes-the beautiful girl Qi Niang. They established feelings by singing Miao songs, married and lived a very happy life. Since then, people have followed this practice and held such activities every year, choosing good couples and forming the "Chasing Autumn" activity.

9. Cherry Club. There are many cherry trees in Miaoshan. Whenever the cherry ripens in spring, young Miao men and women will gather in the cherry forest and sing folk songs for social activities. This activity is called "Liubiwa" in Miao language and literally means "cherry picking" in Chinese. Some Miao villages in Huayuan County and Baojing County are the most popular.

10. Tiaoxiang Party. Fragrant sticks are popular in Jishou, Guzhang, Luxi and Yuanling. When it is held, it is mainly about dancing and other recreational activities.

Third, marriage.

Miao people in western Hunan are generally monogamous. Before 1949, some wealthy families or families with infertile women also had polygamy. After 1950s, both men and women got married according to the new marriage law.

Marriage of Miao people in Xiangxi is relatively free, but they need to get engaged, give gifts, get married and go back to the door.

The man took a fancy to the woman, prepared wine and meat, and asked the matchmaker to go to the woman's house to "talk" first. When the matchmaker arrives at the woman's house, if the woman is happy and enthusiastic, it means that the woman is interested, and the matchmaker will give feedback to the man's house. Every few days, the matchmaker goes begging again and formally proposes marriage. According to custom, the more times you beg, the better, commonly known as "more is more expensive". If the woman's family intends to betroth her daughter to someone else, it must be approved by everyone. After eating "a sip of wine", I was officially engaged.

After the engagement, the man's family chooses an auspicious day and gives gifts to the woman's family, which is called "seeing off the relatives". One month before the ceremony, the matchmaker first informed her family, who informed her family and others that she would come for wine. The gifts given by the man are mainly glutinous rice Baba, tea, salt, rice wine, pork and sugar. A person's relatives, every family will go to a person to help carry gifts. Go to the village where the woman lives and set off firecrackers. When the woman heard the firecrackers, she immediately came out to meet her, and the host and guest congratulated each other. When the guests arrive home, they will take a short rest and wash their faces. The host will treat them to sweet wine and rice. In the woman's house, every household goes to a man and a woman's house for a full meal as usual. If there are young men and women who can sing, they can sing and entertain each other at breakfast and dinner. A * * * has to walk for two days and three nights.

After the ceremony, you can choose the wedding ceremony. When the wedding procession comes to the woman's door, the host must first close the door and "refuse" the guests. The host inside the house and the guests outside the house competed to set off firecrackers. After the firecrackers are set off, the married person sends a bag of money into the door, which is called "opening ceremony". People who close the door accept the opening ceremony and then open the door to welcome guests. Guests come into the house, have a rest and see their relatives off after dinner. When the bride is fully dressed, her brother (cousin) will carry her into the sedan chair. The bride went to the man's house in a sedan chair, accompanied by relatives and several girlfriends. In particular, two women with complete children should be asked to be "mothers". Holding mother with a cloth umbrella, walking in front, opening the way to exorcise evil spirits. In addition, singers and singers should be invited to participate in the competition as representatives of parents and families. When married, send relatives to the man's door, put down the sedan chair, break it with a chicken, and let the bride get off it. Before the bride enters the house, she must burn a fire in front of the man's house to symbolize good luck and prosperity. In some places, it is necessary to put a sieve at the entrance, so that the woman accompanying the bride can bypass the sieve and only the bride can step in. Many young women are all dressed up, which one is the bride, and it will be clear after passing through the sieve. After the bride entered the room, she walked all the way to the underground fire pit and sat down inside. At the wedding, two bowls of wine were sifted and put on the table, and a glass of wine was poured, and a piece of meat was given to the bride and groom to show their intimacy. After eating meat wine, I also sent a basin of face washing water, which was cooked with herbs and used to wash my face. It is said that it can drive away all evil spirits. After washing, the ceremony sang a "harmonious song" to bless the bride and groom. The main idea of the lyrics is: husband and wife live in harmony and last forever. Women are the moon, men are the sun, the sun and the moon are bright, and everything is auspicious. Mouth to mouth, heart to heart, harmony between husband and wife. Qi Mei is always together, and the ancient philosophers are full of glory ...

After singing "Song of Harmony", the wedding is over. On the same day, the bride can appear with her companion and get familiar with the village, but she can't go to the home of someone with the same surname as the man's. After dinner, after nightfall, we will begin to sing and entertain. Generally speaking, it is customary for male singers to sing and female singers to answer. The lyrics sung by the two singers started with mutual humility, and later they competed for victory. When singing late into the night, in order to cheer up many listeners, the singers of both sides did not sing the right song, but teased each other and enjoyed themselves. So the sung lyrics laugh at each other, guess riddles and tell stories. Talking about the past and the present often leads the audience to laugh. At this time, the host sprinkled loquat or cooked sweet wine for the guests and listeners to eat snacks. After midnight snack, after singing the ending song, everyone dispersed and rested. The next day, after breakfast, I sang the guest dinner song again. It takes three days and three nights to finish singing. The bride and groom just met and can't be together these days. After the Three Dynasties, the bride got up early in the morning and poured a handful of water into the water tank, indicating that she would never be lazy and make people laugh. In some areas, in order to show their hospitality, male relatives often stay for dinner, and each family has a meal. Miao language is called "Lennon Shang" or "Lennon Gao", which means "Pai Cun Fan" and is generally called "Pai Jia Fan". Sometimes there are many relatives, so there are many households that invite you to dinner. Guests have to eat seven or eight meals a day. Often they just put their bowls under the table here and then shout for food and drink there. It's really too entertaining. The more "family meals", the longer the guests stay and the more satisfied their parents are.

After the break, the bride will go back to her parents' home for the night, which is called "returning to the door". The next day, the woman's family sent someone or a brother to escort her back to her husband's house. That night, it was the bride and groom who got married in the bridal chamber. According to the custom, the bride goes to sleep in the new house first, and the groom will stay with the bride in the new house until the guests and the whole family are all asleep. After three months, the man will accompany the bride back to her mother's house to rest for three days. After returning home, the couple engaged in all kinds of labor, and married together with * * * to grow old together.

Miao marriage has several characteristics:

People with the same Han surname but different Miao surnames can get married. Miao people all have their own Miao surnames. Although Chinese surnames are the same, Miao surnames are different. Among the Miao people in western Hunan, there are surnames such as Shi, Long, Zhang and Wu, which have the same surname of Han nationality but different surnames of Miao people. For example, Shi's surname can be divided into "melon" and "card". "Guagua", commonly known as Dashi, worships ancestors as "Zhuniu"; "Keka", commonly known as Xiaoshi, worships ancestors as "eating pigs". Therefore, it seems that the marriage between Shi surname and Shi surname is actually the marriage of two surnames: "melon" and "Keka".

People with different Han surnames but the same Miao surnames don't get married. For example, Liao and Shi can't get married, because both of them belong to a systematic "melon".

Freedom of love. Young Miao men and women are in love. Love is more important than friendship. Generally speaking, men and women have to go through at least a few contacts, and both sides have a deeper understanding before they are willing to take things as evidence, which is related to friendship.

Fourth, etiquette

Although Miao people have lived in remote mountain villages for generations, they are simple-minded and very polite.

Young people meet their elders. When young people meet their elders, whether they are male or female, whether they are familiar with each other or meet for the first time, they should speak sincerely, behave respectfully and greet them with a smile, and use certain respectful words to match them. If the younger generation is walking and meets the elderly or elders, they must stop; If the younger generation is sitting and the older generation comes, stand up immediately and let them sit down. Eyes straight, hands down. If you meet an elder you don't know, the other person is ten or twenty years older than you, and the man is called "De Ne" and the woman is called "De Mu". For the elderly, men are called "Ada" (grandfather) or "An Neng **" or "An Neng Guo" (old man), while women are called "Ada" (grandmother) or "An Neng * * *". After addressing, the younger generation can sit down or stay with each other.

See peers in the same trade. When people of the same age meet, they must nod. If you know each other, you should address each other with a fixed address; If you don't know, men can be called "A Lang" (eldest brother) or "Baqiu" (cousin), and women can be called "Aya" (elder sister).

The elders look at the younger generation. When an elder sees a younger generation, he usually nods. Acquaintances use fixed titles to address each other; If a stranger is in the prime of life, men can be called "Dena" and women can be called "Aya". If the other person is young, both men and women can be called "German dog" (little brother and little sister).

Miscellaneous gifts When an old man or elder walks with a young man or younger generation, the young man or younger generation must let the old man or elder go ahead. Young and old eat at the same table, old people sit on it, and mature people sit on it. Most people can sit on both sides. When young and old sit down and chat at the fire pit on the ground floor, the side near the pillar is used to letting guests, elders or old people sit. In other respects, freedom at will.

Verb (abbreviation for verb) funeral

Miao people in western Hunan generally practice burial, and only leprosy patients are cremated. Adults use cedar coffins to collect bodies, and minors use wooden boxes to collect bodies. The old man who died should take a bath with boiled water of peach leaves or calamus, then put on the willow bed with a shroud and then enter the coffin. The coffin was placed in the center of the hall, and it took three generations to go up the mountain for burial. When the coffin goes up the mountain, the younger generation should find the oldest person and lead the way with a torch. Don't take detours in mourning. Every time you climb a mountain, you will wade in water. After sending the dead to the mountain for burial, all those who set foot on the new cemetery will return to their filial homes. Put a bowl of rice outside the filial piety house. Everyone should put one in his mouth and spit it out. After throwing up, they can go back to their home.

For those who die young, you can't stop them. The bodies are left outside the house. When you are dead, when you are buried, you don't need a coffin. Just nail a wooden box with boards to hold the body. People who hang themselves, dive, give birth during childbirth or are killed by a knife and gun are called "Dajia" by Miao people, and their coffins cannot be placed in the house. The families of the deceased and even the whole family should immediately throw all the pots and pans filled with sauerkraut out of the house and smash them to pieces. If you don't have the heart to break it, at least empty all the items in the altar and put them in the wild, and it will take some time to get them back.

Six, taboo

Miao people have many taboos, mainly the following:

Avoid whistling at home and at night. Miao people believe that whistling can attract cool air, while all kinds of monsters often enjoy the cool air. So whistling at home will lead ghosts into the room and suffer misfortune. Whistling at night will attract ghosts and bring disaster.

Avoid stepping on a tripod. There is a cast iron tripod in the fire pit of Miao nationality, which is specially used for cooking rice and cooking pots. No one can step on it with their feet. Legend has it that this tripod was made by three ancestors who protected fire. It is disrespectful to step on a tripod.

Avoid "Hangguo". On the right side of the Miao fire pit (back facing north, facing south, and so on), there is an ancestral temple at the foot of the pillar, which is called "Hangguo" in Miao language. Young people and women are strictly forbidden to sit here to keep warm, and children are not allowed to play here.

Avoid shaking Longyan. There is a slate in the center of Miao's hall, and there is a small pit under it. There is a bowl of clear water in the pit, which is the shelter of the dragon. If this slate is shaken, it is said that the "dragon" will be scared away and its owner will suffer.

Parents are alive, and the younger generation can't wrap a bald handkerchief.

Avoid small years. From the day of beginning of spring, every Children's Day is a small year. If the fourth day of the first month is the first day of the first month, it is taboo from midnight on the third night. At this time, the family size, you look at me, I look at you, quietly without saying a word. In these two days, the whole family rested, stayed indoors, did not go uphill, and did not do farm work. It was not until the fourth night that the taboo was solved.

Avoid words. After getting up in the morning and before breakfast, avoid talking about dragons, snakes, tigers, leopards and ghosts.

Seven, drinking food

The Miao people's diet is mainly rice, corn, beans and potatoes, of which rice and corn are the main ones. The most distinctive is fish with Chinese sauerkraut. Miao people are loyal and hospitable. Although life is hard, they are sincere to their guests. If guests come to our house, whether they come often or just come, we should do everything possible to entertain them with wine and meat. And think that there is no fish on the table, then think that the host is not virtuous and disrespectful to the guests. Because it is not convenient to buy meat in Miao township at ordinary times, most people prepare in advance to avoid temporary planning after guests arrive. The best way to preserve spare fish is pickling. After killing pigs and catching fish, they are often cut into small pieces, pickled with rice flour and salt, put into a jar, seal the jar mouth, and buckle it upside down in a shallow pot to make it airtight. After two weeks, the fish rice noodles turned slightly sour and could be taken out and fried, which made the taste abnormal.

Eight. sacrifice

There are many sacrificial activities of Miao people in Xiangxi, all of whom worship thirty-six gods and seventy-two ghosts. Among them, eating pigs, cows and solitaire are the biggest and most national characteristics. In addition, there is also a ritual activity of "paying off one's wishes" which is also popular among Miao people. After the 1950s, these superstitious large-scale sacrificial activities, which cost a lot of money and material resources, were no longer held.