What are the customs of the Bai people?

The Bai people are mainly distributed in Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan and other provinces, of which Yunnan Province has the largest Bai population. The Bai have their own language, the Bai language belongs to the Yi branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The Bai are an ethnic group with a high degree of cohesion, and there are three major branches: the Minjia, the Lemo, and the Nama. They have been y influenced by Chinese culture, and the Chinese language has been commonly used by the Bai people since ancient times. Bai customs are mainly the following:

One, food customs:

Bai hospitality, no matter the usual or festivals, if there are guests to be the first Shen tea, and even poured three, called the three-way tea. Pouring tea for the guests can not pour full, folk "wine full of people, tea full of people" said.

The Bai focus on festivals, almost every festival has one to several kinds of food. Such as the Spring Festival to eat ting ting sugar, bubble rice flower tea and Jiang Zhai rice; March Street to eat steamed cake and understanding of the powder; Qingming Festival to eat cold mixed assorted and "Zai Feast incense" (fried crispy meat); Dragon Boat Festival to eat zongzi and xionghuang wine; taste the new festival to eat the new beans, young melons and old cereals mixed with new rice; Torch Festival to eat sweets and all kinds of sweets; in the festival to eat more than mushrooms and check the fish wrapped in meat; mid-Autumn Festival to eat the white cake and drunken cake; the festival to eat the fat goat; the winter solstice Festival to eat fried grain and mutton field. White food and drink White wedding feast customary with "Xizhou soil eight bowls", consisting of eight hot dishes: add red rice red meat stew; hanging egg batter deep-fried crispy meat; add soy sauce, honey buckle steamed five-flower three lines of meat sheet; with the addition of sweet potatoes or potatoes steamed pork; pig's head, liver, pork brine dry incense; plus cover the meat mushrooms, egg crumbs of white lentils; fungus, bean curd, under the water, shredded eggs, vegetable stems blanching of minced meat; with the addition of deep-fried pork strips of bamboo shoots. In addition, a packet of betel coconuts per guest.

The Bai people also have dietary taboos, mainly on the first day of the Lunar New Year without an iron knife, housewife cooking should be silent, can not blow the fire, you must go to the well "draw new water". Mourning family cooking, all boiled and stir-fried, can not use red ingredients, can not do red cabbage dishes.

Second, marriage customs:

Bai families, the son after marriage, that is, separated from his parents. Bai people with the same clan and the same surname do not intermarry. The love activities of young men and women of the Bai people are relatively free, they usually take advantage of the labor, market, festival activities and the opportunity to catch the temple fair to talk about love, through the songs to test each other, express their feelings, and look for their love.

Bai wedding when the Bai young man to the girl love, the girl agreed to send to the male side of the poop; wedding the bride to the kitchen to make "fish soup"; after the wedding of the first Mid-Autumn Festival, the bride to do the big noodle cake, and as a way to show the bride's culinary skills. Wedding between the preaching on the first refreshments, and then set four four Ruyi (i.e., four plates, four plates, four pots, four bowls) seat.

Back wedding is a popular wedding custom in Eryuan County, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. Whenever there is a crossroads, a three-way street or a place where people gather, the guests will stop and put the dowry into two big stacks, so that the groom will carry the bride around the dowry around the word "8".

Wedding of the Bai people Bai people practiced monogamy, the wedding solemn, warm. According to traditional customs, the wedding day, the groom and the boys must ride a high horse to marry. After the bride married back to worship, by the groom, the bride to the elders of the family one by one worship, and then is invited to dinner. The bride and groom have to accompany the guests to the meal, at which time the guests can ask the newlyweds difficult questions or let them perform programs, and the wedding is shrouded in applause and laughter. The most characteristic is to burn chili powder at the wedding, so many people sneeze and cough in the laughter, hilarious.

Three, etiquette and customs:

Bai hospitality, the first guest after the host is the Bai hospitality etiquette. Guests at home, to wine, tea and hospitality. The famous "three-way tea" is the Bai hospitality. But the Bai people pour tea generally only half a cup, pouring wine need to be full of cups, they believe that wine full of people, tea full of people. By the Bai people's hospitality, you should say Noiwei you (thank you) to express your thanks and gratitude.

Respect for elders is a traditional virtue of the Bai people. Seeing the elderly to take the initiative to greet, greetings, make way, seat, tea, hand cigarettes. The first cup of morning tea after getting up should be honored to the elderly first. When you eat, you should let the elderly sit on the table and move the chopsticks first. In front of the elderly do not swear, are not allowed to stilt legs. In some mountainous areas of the Bai people, family members each have a relatively fixed seat, generally male elders sit on the upper left, female elders sit on the upper right, guests and juniors sit on the side and above. The fire pit of Bai people's home is a sacred place, taboo to spit inside the fire pit, forbidden to cross from the fire pit. The threshold of the White family is also taboo to sit. The tools used by men, women are forbidden to cross from above. It is taboo to enter a family wearing a mourning paw, which is considered to bring uncleanliness to the family.

Four, entertainment customs:

Bai folk entertainment activities are colorful and varied, there are horse racing, swinging, playing the unicorn, mud blessing, jumping flower pots, jumping goats and so on. Bai mountain forests are densely covered, rattan across the forest, farmers and mountain people usually pick buckwheat logging, cutting firewood for heating, often in the rattan branches overhand, practicing the skills of swinging rattan climbing rope, extremely favorite swinging activities. Spring Festival every year, mountainous areas, often under the banyan tree bundled gabions to become a swing; dam area, the spacious dam ping set up three or four feet high pole frame tied swing. The most wonderful than the young men and women swinging in pairs, which often wins the onlookers play teasing.