Traditional Culture and Customs of the Dai People

The traditional culture and customs of the Dai people are mainly reflected in dress, architecture, food, language and culture, festivals and other aspects.

1. Dress

The Dai are a unique ethnic minority in Yunnan Province. Most of the places where Dai people live are tropical and subtropical areas. Therefore, the clothing fully reflects the characteristics of warm climate, dense mountains and forests, and abundant produce. It not only focuses on practicality, but also has strong decorative significance. It can reflect the national character and folklore of loving life and advocating the beauty of neutralization.

2, building

The Dai family bamboo building, commonly known as the "dry bar", the entire building roughly 20-24 thick wooden columns to support the wooden columns supported on stone piers, the house beams through the columns, the roof with a "grass row". The roof is covered with "grass rows", and the lower level is about seven or eight feet high, with no cover rails around it.

3. Diet

The Dai are accustomed to eating in the morning and at night. Their staple food, side dishes and dishes are colorful, featuring many varieties, sour and spicy. Japonica rice and glutinous rice produced by the Dai are not only large in size, but also contain oil, and the viscosity of glutinous rice is also large. Daily meat includes pig, cow, chicken and duck, with no or little mutton.

4, language and culture

In terms of language and writing, the Dai have their own language and writing, the language belongs to the Zhuang Dai branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The two kinds of Dai scripts in Xishuangbanna and Dehong, which are now in use, are phonetic scripts evolved from Pali script in southern India.

5. Festivals

The famous Water Splashing Festival is a traditional festival of the Dai people. The first and second days are meant to send away old things, and the last day is the embodiment of welcoming new life. It is usually held on the tenth day after the Qingming Festival.

Men and women splash water to bless each other. It symbolizes the "best day ever". In the process of spreading the Water Splashing Festival, the Dai people gradually combined it with their own national myths and legends, giving the festival more magical significance and national colors.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia - Dai People