What are the customs of the Manchu people

Language

Manchu belongs to the Manchu branch of the Manchu-Tungus language family of the Altaic language family. Manchu was created at the end of the 16th century with reference to the Mongolian script. Later, the borrowed Mongolian alphabet was added "circles" and "dots", called "Manchu with circles and dots" or "new Manchu"; the former was called "old Manchu without circles and dots". The former was called "old Manchu without dots". Since the Qing Dynasty, a large number of Manchus moved into the Central Plains and a large number of Han Chinese migrated outside the Shanhaiguan Pass, in the economy, culture, life on the close interaction, the Manchu people gradually used the Chinese language. Now, only in Aihun Town and Fuyu County, Heilongjiang City, there are still a few elderly people can speak Manchu, the vast majority of Manchu people in other places have been generalized Chinese language.

Culture

The Manchus have been singing and dancing since ancient times, and most of the dances in ancient times were evolved from hunting and fighting activities. The Manchus' favorite recreational activities include horse jumping, camel jumping and ice skating, etc. In the middle of the 18th century, the children of the Eight Banners created a new kind of drum lyrics, which were sung with drums and three strings and were called "Chingyin Zidishu" (Ching-yin Children's Book).

Qing Shengzu Xuan Ye presided over the compilation of the "sound and rhyme," "the essence of mathematics and science," "Calendar and image test into", "the Imperial Palace of the whole map," and other books, all have a high scientific value. Early Manchu writings, in addition to the "Manchu old file", "Manchurian factual records" and Tulichen's "exotic record" and so on, there are a lot of essential books to learn Manchu, such as "Qingwen Qimeng", "Qingwen Dengzhi" and "Qingwen jian" and so on. Qing Wenjian" by many times updated, compiled into five different national scripts of the Manchu dictionary - "imperial five Qing Wenjian", the Manchu, Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur and other nationalities to each other for political, economic and cultural exchanges, is an important reference material. Translation of books is also very common, the main Chinese masterpieces, most of which are translated into Manchu. In addition to the official book does not count, the folk say part such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "The Story of the Western Wing", "Plum in a Bottle", "Liaozhai Zhiyi" and so on have a translation of the Manchu language. Among them to Zaktan translation of "Liaozhai Zhiyi" translation of the best, the text level is very high. At the same time, a number of Manchu literary figures emerged. Early famous lyricist Nalan Seide of the "side hat set" and "drinking water set", fresh and elegant, vivid and natural, with the then famous Han Chinese Zhu Yizun and Chen Weisong comparable to the word, known as the "three greats".

Costumes

"Hair crown" and "flag shoes"

Flag dress

Since the twentieth century, the Manchu economy and culture have undergone great changes, and many of the traditional costumes have been very rare. But from the movies, television and museums, we can still often appreciate the style of the flag dress of the past. Among the women's head and wide and long, like a fan, like a fan, like a crown, not a crown headdress - hair crown is very striking.

In the past, Manchu women as young as boys, more shaved around the top of the head hair, only to stay after the skull hair, braided into a braid hanging in the back of the head, until the adult side of the hair to stay braided. After marriage, they began to ò big basin head, rack head, two head and other types of hair buns, including two head is more typical. The two-pronged head is to bind the hair at the top of the head, divided into two locks, each into a bun, and then the remaining hair behind the bun into a long flat bun with a "swallowtail style". Normally, the bun is inserted horizontally with a headpin of 20 to 30 centimeters in length and two to three centimeters in width, known as the "big flat square", and the hair crown is worn on auspicious days or when receiving distinguished guests.

Flag head

Hair crown is a wire or bamboo rattan for the hat frame, with green satin, green velvet or green gauze for the face, wrapped into the length of more than thirty centimeters, about ten centimeters wide fan-shaped crown. Wear fixed on top of the bun can be. Above also often embroidered patterns, set jewelry or decorated with a variety of flowers, adorned with a long tassel. This headdress is mostly used by Manchu women of the upper class, the general folk women married to decorate. Wearing this wide and long hair crown, limiting the neck twisting, so that the body straight, coupled with the long cheongsam and high bottom flag shoes, so that they walk to the slender step, extraordinarily stable, elegant.

Horseshoe shoes

In addition to the "cheongsam" and "hair crown", Manchu women's "flag shoes" are also very distinctive. This embroidered flag shoes with a wooden bottom, known as "high bottom shoes", or "flowerpot bottom" shoes, "horseshoe bottom" shoes. The wooden sole with high heel is generally about 5-10 centimeters high, some up to 14-16 centimeters, the highest up to about 25 centimeters. They are usually wrapped in white cloth and set in the center of the sole in the center of the foot. The shape of the heel sole is usually of two kinds, one is spacious at the top and convergent at the bottom, in the shape of an inverted trapezoidal flowerpot. The other is thin and wide, flat in front and rounded in the back, and its shape and landing marks all resemble a horseshoe. The "flowerpot bottom" and "horseshoe bottom" are thus named, and collectively called "high bottom shoes". In addition to the upper decorated with embroidered patterns such as cicadas and butterflies or decorative pieces, the part of the wooden heel that does not touch the ground is also commonly decorated with embroidery or beads. The tips of some shoes are also decorated with spikes made of silk thread, which can reach the ground. This shoe's high heel and wooden sole is extremely sturdy, often the upper broken, but the sole is still intact, can be used again. High-heeled flag shoes for more than 13 or 14 years of age in the aristocracy of young women to wear. Older women's flag shoes, more flat wood for the bottom, called "flat shoes", the front end of the ground at a slightly cut, so that walking. Now they are no longer worn.

The Manchus have had the custom of "cutting wood for shoes" since ancient times. About the origin of this high sole shoes, there are a variety of sayings. A theory that, in the past, Manchu women often go to the mountains to collect wild fruits, mushrooms, etc., in order to prevent insects and snakes bite, they will be in the bottom of the shoes tied to the wooden block, and then made more and more sophisticated, the development of a high sole shoes. There is also a legend that the ancestors of the Manchu people in order to cross a muddy pond, to recapture the city occupied by the enemy, they learned the appearance of the crane, tied on the shoes on the high pitchforks, and finally won the victory, and achieved the revenge, the development and expansion of the purpose. People in order not to forget those days of suffering, to commemorate the merits of the high wooden shoes, the women wore these shoes, and passed them down from generation to generation, more and more exquisite and beautiful, into the later this kind of appearance.

Historically, Manchu men like to wear green and blue robes and coats, the back of the head and hair comb braids stay in the back of the head, wearing a dome hat, under the set of pants. Women like to wear straight cheongsam, combing Beijing head or "bun", wearing children's rings, hanging handkerchiefs around the waist, day foot, with flower shoes. But today's "cheongsam" is not the history of Manchu women's clothing, but absorbed the western clothing cutting method of fashion, and the past Manchu women's clothing is very different.

Manchu-style clothing was popular in the Qing Dynasty, and now the same as the Han Chinese clothing. Manchu women do not wrap their feet, the shoes are embroidered with beautiful flowers, the center of the sole is padded with a 10-centimeter-high wooden heel, Manchu women wearing such shoes to walk, can maintain the posture of the head and waist swaying gait. Manchu women's hair style changes a lot, the girl age, only simple hair in the back of the head pulled a bit. Growing up to get married soon, the hair should be combed into a braid and pulled into a single bun, after marriage, the hair style has a double-bun style, single-bun style and other kinds of double-bun style hairstyle from the top of the head combed into the front and back of the two parts. The front bun is combed into a flat top so that the crown can be worn, and the back of the neck bun is combed into a swallow-tail shape, stretching out behind the shin, which makes the neck always stay straight, so that Manchu women look more noble and dignified when they walk. The picture shows a Manchu bride combing her wedding hair. The cheongsam is a year-round garment worn by Manchu men, women and children, it is simple to cut, with a garden collar, wide front and back lapels, and narrow sleeves, four-piece cut, with longer slits, which makes it easy to get on and off the horse; and narrow sleeves, which makes it easy to shoot arrows. Because the mouth of the sleeve is attached to the horseshoe-shaped sleeve guard, also known as the horseshoe sleeve. In the Manchu people gradually out of the riding career, horseshoe sleeves have become decorative, and put down the horseshoe sleeves is still the Manchu people to the elders, honoring the rituals of homage. The women's cheongsam is more decorative than the men's cheongsam. The collar, front and cuffs are decorated with embroidery. With the change of time, the cheongsam style has changed a lot, and the four-piece cut system has been changed to a two-piece cut system. The cheongsam can well express women's body and curves. The picture shows the vest worn by Manchu women over the cheongsam. It is embroidered with delicate patterns. A Manchu woman wearing a cheongsam for a court dance. Men wearing traditional Manchu cheongsams, including robes with arrow sleeves and a vest, and hats for Manchu men.

Homes

Manchu housing, in the past, there is generally a shadow wall in the courtyard, standing for the gods with the "Solo pole". The traditional Manchu housing is generally west, center, east three, the door opens to the south, the west room called west on the house, the center is called the hall, the east room is called east under the house. The west house has south, west and north kangs, the west kang is expensive, the north kang is big, the south kang is small, the guests live in the west kang, the elders live in the north kang, and the elders live in the south kang.

Customs

Manchu people honor their elders, note to etiquette, on the road to meet the elders, to sideways bowing, hanging hands in salute, and so the elders walk through and then line; not only the elders to see the elders to salute, in the same generation of people in the young to see the older to salute the greetings. Friends and relatives meet, in addition to shaking hands and mutual respect greetings, some also hold the waist to receive face salute. Over the Spring Festival to pay homage to the New Year twice, on the night of the thirtieth to pay homage to the old year, on the first day of the year to pay homage to the new year, called to welcome the new year. Indoor west bed shall not sit and pile up sundries; avoid playing dog, kill dog and avoid eating dog meat; do not wear a dog skin cap, do not lay dog skin mattress, avoid wearing a dog skin cap or dog skin sleeve guests.

Manchu will be the west wall as a sacred part of the ancestors, not allowed to hang clothes, posting pictures; west kang is commonly known as "Buddha kang", for the "ancestors board". It is forbidden for people, especially women, to sit or lie on the west kang. Usually, guests are not allowed to rest in the west kang, and they are not allowed to put dog skin hats or whips here. It is taboo to beat dogs, kill dogs and eat dog meat; not wearing a dog skin hat, not laying a dog skin mattress, and it is taboo to wear a dog skin hat or a dog skin sleeve of the guests.

Not allowed to cross from the tripod of the pot stove, fire pond, can not use the footsteps or casually sit on the pot stove or fire pond; not allowed to bake feet, socks, shoes and boots in the mouth of the pot stove or pond; forbidden to eat leftover food, bones, fish spines, etc. thrown into the pot stove or fire pond.

The Manchus used to believe in shamanism, and every year, according to different festivals, they would offer sacrifices to the sky, to the gods, and to their ancestors, with the pig and the pig's head as the main offerings. In the big sacrifice to kill the pig, especially in the ancestor sacrifice to choose the black pig without hair (some must also choose the black boar), before the slaughter to the pig's ear injection of wine, such as the pig's ear shaking, it is believed that the gods have been accepted, can be slaughtered. This is commonly known as "lead animal". In some places, the pig intestine and bladder into the bucket hanging on a pole, so that the crows to eat, if eaten within three days, for good luck. Then the whole pig unloaded into eight pieces, as arranged in the square plate, for the family house in the west wall of the ancestors under the tablets, family members arranged in accordance with the generations of crown-free kowtow three times, and then chopped meat into the pot boiled, the family sat around, dipped in salt and eat. At this time, if there are guests, as long as in front of the ancestral tablets kowtow three times, you can sit down to eat with, eat also do not have to thank. Manchu people still have to kill a pig when the neighbors and friends to taste the custom of the first pork. In the past, in the ripening season, the Manchu also "recommend new" rituals, now has been "on the field of tofu on the field cake" custom instead of, that is, in the five grains on the field, with new beans to do tofu to eat, to play the field at the end of the new grain to do the rhubarb rice or bean noodles and meat and potatoes to eat! to celebrate the harvest. Manchu young men and women get married, the bride must first sit on the south bed tent, also known as "sitting on the blessing". Until the evening, only on the ground to put a table, the bride, the groom should be arm in arm around the table three times after drinking.

Daily food customs

Manchu folk eat three meals a day when they are busy, and two meals a day when they are idle. Staple food is mostly millet and sorghum rice, round-grained rice, dry rice, like in the rice with small beans or beans, such as sorghum rice beans dry rice. Some areas to corn as the main food, like to ferment cornmeal made of "sour soup". Most of the northeastern region of the Manchu people still have the habit of eating water rice, that is, in a good sorghum rice or corn (rice + Cha) after the rice with water over again, and then put into the water soak, eat, fish out, served in a bowl, cool and delicious. This way of eating more in the summer. Biscuits are made of sticky sorghum, sticky corn, yellow rice and other ground into the surface, there are bean noodles biscuits, rubbing biscuits, biscuits, suye biscuits, pineapple leaf biscuits, biscuits, tongue biscuits, biscuits, rice cakes, biscuits and cakes, boiled biscuits (dumplings in Chinese), and so on. Manchu meat and potatoes has a long history, the Qing Dynasty that became the staple food of the Palace. One of the most representative of the imperial meal "chestnut flour nest", also known as small nest. Manchu confectionery Saqi Ma has also become a nationally renowned pastry. The more famous Qingdongling pastry, also known as Qingdongling large meat and potatoes, Beijing snacks Dun meat and potatoes, Hebei Chengde snacks crispy meat and potatoes, Hubei Jingzhou snack lard meat and potatoes and so on.

Northern winter weather is cold, there is no fresh vegetables, Manchu folk often pickled cabbage in the fall and winter (i.e., sauerkraut) as the main vegetable. It is rumored that the method of storing vegetables in pickles began during the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty. Sauerkraut boiled white meat, vermicelli is a common dish after the winter of the Manchu people. Sauerkraut can be boiled, stewed, stir-fried and mixed with cold methods of consumption, with sauerkraut under the hot pot is unique. Side dishes can also be used to make dumplings. The Manchus in the northeast, each family pickled sauerkraut can generally eat until the next spring. In addition, there are daily vegetables such as radish and bean curd. The Manchu people love to eat pork, which is often cooked in white. The Najiakuan in Shenyang, Liaoning province, is a Manchu restaurant with a history of more than 100 years, which carries white meat and blood sausage, which is regarded as an authentic Manchu flavor.

There are many Manchu eating customs and dietary rituals. Such as rituals used God cake, God meat, passers-by can share, but generally can not be brought, after eating is not allowed to wipe their mouths; family dining, elders do not move chopsticks, the younger generation will never move the chopsticks; New Year's Eve to kill the New Year's Eve pig, there are friends and relatives, neighbors are invited to eat with the custom of white meat and blood sausage.

Ethnic food

Manchu people live in scattered, all over the representative of the typical food, mainly:

①White meat and blood sausage.

② hot pot (traditional Manchu flavor dishes)

③ sour soup sub 9 Liaoning Xiuyan Manchu typical food)

④ Qingdongling pastry (also known as Qingdongling big meat and potatoes. The earliest is the Qing Dynasty emperor to the East Mausoleum to worship ancestors to make offerings, so also known as the "sacrificial meat and potatoes". Do offerings with fruit filling thick pastry meat and potatoes, fish meat and potatoes, spoons meat and potatoes, chrysanthemum meat and potatoes, battered meat and potatoes, deep-fried Goryeo meat and potatoes, river rice cake, yellow rice cake, seven-star cake, egg cake, berries milk cake, mountain grape cake, mountain pear cake dozens of kinds of noodles. Passed into the folk made pastry, roughly divided into two kinds of meat and potatoes size. Large biscuits per catty eight pieces, commonly known as the Qingdongling large eight pieces; small biscuits per catty sixteen pieces, commonly known as the Qingdongling small eight pieces. The size of the meat and potatoes varieties are mainly master cake, muffin, rose cake, dragon and phoenix cake, hawthorn peach. (There is no filling of the seven stars point, eight cracked cake, walnut cake, to the mouth of the cake, etc.)

Traditional festivals

Many festivals of the Manchu people are the same as the Han Chinese. The main Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, two have two, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. Festivals are generally held during the "pearl ball", jumping horses, jumping camels and skating and other traditional sports activities.

On New Year's Day, pigs are killed, and on New Year's Day (Spring Festival), each family kills two to three pigs. On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year (Laha Festival), eight kinds of grains, such as sticky sorghum and small beans, are used to cook congee, which is called Laha congee. On New Year's Eve, dumplings are eaten, and a white thread is placed in one dumpling, which means that whoever eats the thread will live a long life: some put a copper coin in one dumpling, which means that they will have money to spend in the new year. In addition, they also eat hand-held meat and the unique snack "Saqima".

The Gold Festival is the day of the Manchu "clan celebration". 1635 summer October 13, Huang taiji issued a decree, officially changed the clan name "female" for "Manchuria", which marked the beginning of a new ethnic ****. marked the formation of a new national ****similarity.

October 1989, in Dandong, "the first symposium on Manchu culture", the official December 3 every year as the "Gold Festival".

Presentation of gold festival: is the Manchu "clan celebration" day. 1635 lunar October 13, Huang taiji issued a decree, formally changed the name of the clan "female" for "Manchuria". This marks the formation of a new national **** the same body. in October 1989, in Dandong, "the first symposium on Manchu culture", the official December 3 every year as "gold festival".

Shangyuan Festival: that is, on the 15th day of the first month, commonly known as the "Lantern Festival". The same as the Han Chinese, the Manchu also have the Lantern Festival hanging colored lanterns and eat Lanterns custom.

Walking disease: Manchu women's festival. Generally on the sixteenth day of the first month. That night, the women in groups of three to five, accompanied by the far continent, or walking sand and ice, or playful and playful, called the "walk a hundred diseases".

February 2: commonly known as "dragon head-raising day". On the morning of that day, the Manchu family to the stove ash scattered in the yard, ash path curved like a dragon, so called "lead the dragon". Then held a ceremony in the courtyard, praying for good weather. The whole family also eat "dragon beard noodles" and "dragon scale cake". Women are not allowed to do needlework on this day.

Ching Ming Festival: the graves of ancestors, unlike the Han Chinese paper money after the top of the grave on the pressure of money, but in the grave inserted "Buddha Duo". "Fodor's" is a Manchu word, translated into Chinese as "willow" or "willow branches". According to Manchu beliefs, the willow is the ancestor of people, people are the descendants of the willow, in order to show that there are people, to insert the willow on the grave.

Duanwu Festival: Manchu Dragon Boat Festival to eat dumplings, rowing dragon boats, the same customs with the Han.

Midwinter Festival: Manchu July 15 for the Midwinter Festival, also regarded as the "ghost festival" of the dead. On that occasion, all the temples set up a dojo, burning lamps and chanting sutras, to hold a variety of superlative ceremonies.

Mid-Autumn Festival: The Manchu family ate "reunion rice" during the Mid-Autumn Festival. In addition, when the moon rises, but also for the moon. That is, in the courtyard of the west side to the east of a wooden screen, screen hanging on the cockle flower, bean branches, fresh lotus root, etc., for the moon rabbit. Before the screen set up a table, the table for a large moon cake. At the time of the sacrifice, burning incense and kowtowing, women worship first, men worship later.

La Bao Festival: Manchu families on the eighth day of the first month of the lunar calendar to soak "La Bao vinegar" and cook "La Bao meat". In addition to the family to eat but also to send friends and relatives.

Small year: the custom of the small year of the Manchu and the Han Chinese. The twenty-third day of the waxing moon for the "small year". At that time, every family should worship the God of the stove, commonly known as "send Zao Wang Wang".