Dai customs

Dai people speak Dehong Dai language (Dai Na language), Xishuangbanna Dai language (Dai Zhuo language), Jinhong Dai language, Jinping Dai language (Dai Duan language) and many other Dai languages, all of which belong to the Taiwanese branch of Zhuang and Dong languages.

It is forbidden for outsiders to ride horses, drive cattle, carry loads and enter the stockade unkempt; When entering the Dai bamboo house, you should take off your shoes outside the door and walk gently inside. You can't sit above or across the fireplace, enter the owner's inner room, or sit on the threshold; The tripod on the fireplace can't move, and the fire can't be pushed; Don't whistle and cut your nails at home; Don't use clothes as pillows, and don't sit on pillows; When hanging clothes, the coat should be hung at a high place, and the pants and skirts should be hung at a low place; Take off your shoes when entering the Buddhist temple, and avoid touching the head, Buddha statue, spear, banner and other Buddhist sacred objects of the young monk. Don't talk loudly at will.

"Closing the door" is called "entering the depression" in Dai language, which means that the Buddha enters the temple. Yunnan Dai traditional religious festival, lasting for 3 months, begins on September 15 (mid-July of the lunar calendar) of the Dai calendar every year.

According to legend, every year in the Dai calendar in September, the Buddha went to the Western Heaven to lecture with his mother, and then returned to the world three months later. Once, just as the Buddha was going to the west to talk about his menstrual period, thousands of Buddhists went to the countryside to preach, trampling on the crops of the people and delaying their production. People complained bitterly and were very dissatisfied with Buddhists. When the Buddha learned about this, he felt uneasy. From then on, whenever the Buddha went to the Western Heaven to give a lecture, all Buddhists were called together and it was stipulated that they were not allowed to go anywhere during these three months, and they could only repent to atone for their sins. Therefore, people call it "closing day".

"Opening Day", also known as "Chuva", is a traditional festival of Dai, Bulang, De 'ang and some Wa people who believe in Hinayana Buddhism. Popular in Yunnan, it originated from the habit of rainy season life of ancient Buddhism, similar to the restoration of Buddhism in the Central Plains. The time is December 15th of the Dai calendar (around mid-September of the lunar calendar).

The opening day symbolizes the end of the rainy season in the past three months, and it also means that the marriage taboo between men and women has been lifted since the closing day. From now on, young men and women can start free love and hold weddings. On this day, young men and women dressed in costumes went to the Buddhist temple to worship Buddha, offering food, flowers, wax strips and coins. After the sacrifice, a grand cultural rally was held to celebrate the end of fasting since the closing day. The main contents include setting off sparks and rising, lighting lanterns, singing and dancing. Young people will also jump lanterns in the shape of birds, animals, fish and insects around the village. At this time, when the rice harvest is finished, it is also a festival to celebrate the harvest.

Dai people have their own characters, which can be divided into four forms: Dai language popular in Xishuangbanna and other places, also known as Xishuangbanna Dai language; Popular in Dehong and other places.

This line is called Wen, also known as Dehong; Some counties and cities such as Ruili, Lancang and Gengma are called Dai Jiwen; It is called Dai Duanwen in Jinping, also known as Jinping Dai Wen. These four Dai languages are all evolved from Indian Sanskrit letters and belong to the same system as Lao, Thai, Burmese and Khmer. They are all written from left to right, with line breaks from top to bottom, but the text structure is different.

Almost all Dai people who believe in Southern Buddhism, especially those over the age of 40, have to practice in their rooms, take part in settlement for three months every summer, and recite scriptures and Buddha. In Dai language, Buddhism is called "Welissa Gonzaga Na" and Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Sakyamuni, is called "Gondor".

In Xishuangbanna, Jinggu and other places, Dai men will become monks for a period of time and study Dai language, Buddhism, astronomy and geography in Buddhist temples. People think that only those who have been monks in temples can be regarded as educated people. Therefore, only men who have been monks can get the favor of girls. A little boy from a good family entered the Buddhist temple at the age of seven or eight, and returned to the secular world after three or five years. When they wore new clothes, were escorted by their relatives, boasted and beat, and walked into the Buddhist temple amid the laughter and laughter of everyone, they proudly thought that they had begun to get the protection of the Buddha and could grow into useful people. Then they shaved off their hair, put on their robes, and began to read the scriptures calmly, learn culture and stand on their own feet. Now because of the nine-year compulsory education, the little boy goes to school to learn Chinese and other scientific knowledge during the day and studies Dai culture in the Buddhist temple at night, which is very hard. Some people go to work after graduating from high school and college, and then take a week or a month off to study in temples. After returning to China, he is still a "Kang Lang", that is, a secular monk.

The Dai people in Dehong and its surrounding areas have not recovered to the general situation since they entered the temple as monks.

Dai people have more than 1000 years of old Dai language and ancient Bayleaf Scriptures. Dai people have their own unique calendar. The difference between Dai calendar and Gregorian calendar is 638 years, that is, Gregorian calendar is 639 years as the first year of Dai calendar. The year of Dai calendar is solar year, but the month is lunar month. Dai calendar is divided into three seasons, from 1 month to April as the cold season, from May to August as the hot season, and from September to1February as the rainy season. September is a leap month every three years, and this calendar is still widely used in Thailand and Myanmar.

Dai Opera is one of the unique minority operas in Yunnan, which is popular in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, counties and cities in Dehong Prefecture and some Dai communities in Baoshan.

Dai drama originated from dance performances and Buddhist scriptures with certain characters, and absorbed the artistic nutrition of Yunnan opera and shadow play. At the same time, Dai drama spread from Tusi yamen to the people, and a large number of folk Dai drama performance organizations appeared. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the Dai drama has made new development. 1960 established the first professional performance group-Luxi Dai Troupe, 1962 expanded to Dehong Dai Troupe.

1962, He E and luo sang participated in the drama performance of southwest ethnic minorities, which caused a sensation and was known as the "Pearl of Southeast Asia". Except for professional groups such as Dai Opera Troupe in Dehong Prefecture, almost all the larger Dai villages have amateur performance teams. At present, Dai dramas are basically enjoyed by the elderly, but young people are not interested because they don't understand them. The inheritance of Dai drama is increasingly difficult.

The melody of Dai folk songs is flexible, beautiful and lyrical. Dehong folk songs have a distinctive accent, Xishuangbanna folk songs have more sliding decorative sounds, and Ruili folk songs are lively and hearty, with their own characteristics. There are many kinds of dances, and the movements and contents mainly simulate the activities of local common animals, and on this basis, they are personalized. Peacock dance not only comes from imitating the graceful movements of peacocks, but also from the beautiful and moving legends of Dai people. The famous dancer Dao Meilan is famous at home and abroad for her performance in peacock dance.

Water-splashing Festival (Dai calendar New Year) is the most national festival of Dai people. This festival is in June of the Dai calendar, which is equivalent to April of the Gregorian calendar. At the Water-Splashing Festival, people will worship Buddha. The girls will wash the dust for the Buddha with fresh water floating with flowers, then splash water on each other and bless each other. At first, water was splashed with hands and bowls, and then songs were splashed with pots and barrels. The more intense the splashing, the drums, gongs, water splashing and cheers became one. During the Songkran Festival, traditional entertainment activities such as dragon boat racing, flying high and flying lanterns and various song and dance parties will be held. Most of them are related to Buddhism.

In the valley dam area where people live by water, due to the influence of high temperature, humidity, rainy weather and lush bamboo and wood, the Dai people's residential buildings are mainly "dry hedges" (commonly known as bamboo houses). The upper and lower floors are made of wood and bamboo as piles, floors and walls, and the roof is covered with thatch and tiles. People live on the upper floor, and the lower floor is used for raising livestock and stacking farm tools and things. The whole building has a large space, with bamboo or wood as walls and floors, which helps to keep the room dry and cool. In the Dai areas where the climate changes greatly, the flat dams are few and there are many mountains, and they live by the mountains and rivers, and they are replaced by thick and solid flat-topped earth palm houses. Earth account room is a civil structure, generally two floors. People live on the first floor, food and sundries are piled up on the second floor, and livestock are built separately. The earth wall has two layers and is three feet thick, which plays a unique role in preventing heat, cooling, cold and keeping warm. The compacted flat roof of civil engineering is five to ten inches thick, which can enjoy the cool in summer night and turn over the grain in autumn harvest, effectively using the space.

Dai men usually wear collarless double-breasted shirts and long-sleeved trousers wrapped in white or blue cloth. Dai women's clothing varies from place to place, but it is basically characterized by bunches of hair, skirts and shirts. The skirt is ankle-deep, the clothes are tight and short, the hem only reaches the waist, but the sleeves are long and narrow.

Dai people take rice as their staple food and love glutinous rice. The most distinctive thing is bamboo rice. The production method is to put fresh glutinous rice in a bamboo tube, add water, put it on the corn husk and barbecue it on the fire. It tastes delicious and fragrant. Dai people also have many special barbecues. Dai people's cold dishes are also delicious, such as dried pork, steamed fish and so on. They are delicious.

Pu 'er tea is a specialty of Yunnan Pu 'er tea, which was exported to all parts of China in the Tang Dynasty, Southeast Asia and South Asia in the Qing Dynasty, and has now entered the Japanese and Western European countries and regions, becoming a famous tea at home and abroad.

Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture is rich in special products, including 1 10 kinds of fruits alone. There are many kinds of animals and plants here, which are called "plant kingdom" and "animal kingdom". 199 1 year, Xishuangbanna national nature reserve was officially opened to the outside world, and people can visit the treasure house of nature and enjoy the rich subtropical customs.

There are also many Dai snacks. If there is a kind of Ciba, it is a round cake made of glutinous rice and sugar stuffing, and it is wrapped with banana leaves coated with wax oil. It can be baked with fire or fried with honey. Shredding is to stir rice flour with water into granules, steam it, mash it into balls, roll it into thin and big round cakes, cool it and stack it. When eating it, blanch it in a bowl and sprinkle with various seasonings. Water-splashing Ciba is made of glutinous rice flour, steamed with brown sugar, wrapped with a layer of fried bean flour, and then wrapped with banana leaves as a reward. There is also a crispy rice made of fried glutinous rice paste.

Grilled fish with citronella is a A Dai-style dish. Generally, the washed fish is wrapped in citronella first, then barbecued on the fire and smeared with appropriate lard. When grilled, the aroma is overflowing, which makes the grilled fish crispy and delicious.

Most Dai people have the habit of eating two meals at a time, with rice and glutinous rice as their staple food. Dehong Dai's staple food is japonica rice, and Xishuangbanna Dai's staple food is glutinous rice. Usually eaten immediately [chūng]. People think that japonica rice and glutinous rice can only lose their original color and fragrance if they are eaten immediately, so they don't eat overnight meals or seldom eat them, and they are used to kneading rice with their hands. Migrant workers often eat outdoors. They can eat with banana leaves or rice, plus salt, pepper, sour meat, roast chicken, Mi Nan (which means sauce in Dai language) and pine. All dishes and snacks are mainly sour, such as sour bamboo shoots, sour pea powder, sour meat and wild sour fruit; I like to eat pickled cabbage. It is made by drying vegetables in the sun, then boiling them in water, adding papaya juice to make the taste sour, and then drying them for preservation. Put a little stir-fry or put it in soup when eating. This kind of sauerkraut is eaten almost every day by Dai people in some places. It is said that Dai people often eat sauerkraut because they often eat sticky rice food that is not easy to digest, and sour food helps digestion.

Eating with moss is a unique flavor dish of Dai people. The moss eaten by the Dai people is the moss on the rocks in the river in spring, preferably dark green. After fishing, tear it into thin slices, dry it, and put it on with a bamboo stick for later use. When cooking, the thick ones are fried and the thin ones are roasted with fire. Crushed into a bowl after crispy, then poured in boiling oil, then stirred with salt, and dipped in glutinous rice balls or bacon, which was extremely delicious.

Cooking fish, mostly sour fish or roasted citronella fish, in addition to making fish chops (that is, grilled fish mashed with coriander and other spices), fish jelly, grilled fish, white sauce eel and so on.

When eating crabs, they are usually chopped into crab paste with shell and meat for cooking. Dai people call this crab sauce "crab rice cloth".

Bitter gourd is a daily vegetable with the highest yield and consumption. In addition to bitter gourd, Xishuangbanna also has a kind of bitter bamboo shoots, so there is also a bitter taste in Dai flavor. The representative bitter vegetable is a mixture of cowhide and cold dishes cooked with ingredients such as ox gall.

There are many kinds of insects in the hot and humid areas of Dai nationality. It is an important part of Dai food to make various flavor dishes and snacks with insects as raw materials. Insects that are often eaten are cicadas, bamboo worms, Okubo, soft-shelled turtles and ant eggs.

Catching cicadas is in summer. Every evening, when the cicada community is in the grass, the cicada wings are soaked with dew and can't fly. The women quickly picked cicadas into bamboo baskets and baked them in a pot to make sauce. Cicada sauce has the medicinal functions of clearing away heat and toxic materials, relieving pain and swelling.

Dai people generally like to eat ant eggs. They often eat a yellow ant that nests in trees. When taking ant eggs, drive the ants away first, and then take eggs. Ant eggs vary in size, some are as big as mung beans and some are as small as rice grains. They are white and bright, washed and dried, and fried with eggs. They are delicious. They can be eaten raw or cooked. Make a sauce when you eat it raw, and fry it with eggs when it is cooked. Commonly used sour fruit and bitter gourd.

Dai people are addicted to alcohol, but their alcohol content is not high. They brewed it themselves, and it tastes very sweet. Tea is a local specialty, but Dai people only drink big leaf tea without spices. When drinking, only stir-fry on the fire until it is burnt, and drink it slightly after brewing. Chewing betel nut, mixed with tobacco and lime, all day long. Because of long-term chewing, the lips and teeth are black and the mouth fluid is like blood, which makes people feel beautiful. Pottery-burning industry is relatively developed, and tableware is mostly fired by women.

Dai people generally believe in Buddhism spread from the south to the upper seat, and many festivals are related to Buddhist activities. Songkran Festival is the biggest festival held by Dai people every June. At that time, Buddhists will be worshipped, and monks, relatives and friends will be entertained to splash water on each other. During the Songkran Festival, besides wine and vegetables, there are many Dai snacks.

If there is a kind of Ciba, it is a round cake made of glutinous rice and sugar stuffing, and it is wrapped with banana leaves coated with wax oil. It can be baked with fire or fried with honey. Shredding is to stir rice flour with water into granules, steam it, mash it into balls, roll it into thin and big round cakes, cool it and stack it. When eating it, blanch it in a bowl and sprinkle with various seasonings. Water-splashing Ciba is made of glutinous rice flour, steamed with brown sugar, wrapped with a layer of fried bean flour, and then wrapped with banana leaves as a reward.

There is also a crispy rice made of fried glutinous rice paste. The more important festivals are the Harvest Festival (Dai calendar 15 September) and the Opening Festival (Dai calendar 15 February), both of which are Buddhist festivals spread to the south. Dai people in Xinping, Yuanjiang, Jinggu and Jinping celebrate the Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. Its content and activities are basically the same as those of the local Han nationality. Typical foods are dog meat soup pot, dried pork, salted eggs and dried eel.

Every Dai family in Xishuangbanna should help build a house. Congratulations on the completion of the new house. First of all, the young man went upstairs, carrying a cow's head and singing a song of blessing. Mature men carry boxes, and married women carry bedding. The girls took the food in turn, then set up a tripod on the fireplace, put it on the table, bought wine and prepared dishes, and sang songs to congratulate the new house. The villagers also want to give some auspicious gifts to their owners. "Catch yellow chicken" is a way for young men and women in Xishuangbanna to seek love by eating rumors, that is, girls take braised chicken to the market to sell. If the buyer is a girl's lover, the girl will take the initiative to take out a stool and let him sit next to him. Through conversation, if the two sides love each other, they will hold the chicken and carry the stool to pour out their feelings in the Woods; If the buyer is not the girl's lover, the girl will double the asking price; Another example is "drink some wine". When a man and a woman are engaged, the man picks up the dining tables and goes to the woman's house to treat them. When the guests dispersed, the man was accompanied by three men, and the woman and her three women set a table. "Eat some wine" means eating three dishes: the first one is spicy; The second way is to put more salt; The third course should have sweets. It means passion, depth and sweetness.

On the wedding day, the wedding will be held in both parties' homes, mostly in the woman's home first. At the wedding reception, the table should be covered with green banana leaves, and the dishes include blood flourishing (white flourishing) symbolizing good luck, rice cakes and various dishes. Before the banquet, the bride and groom should make a tie ceremony, that is, the wedding uses a white line to bypass the shoulders of both sides, and two white lines are tied to the wrists of the bride and groom respectively, symbolizing purity. Then, the old man pinched the glutinous rice into a triangle, dipped it in salt, and placed it on the top of a tripod on the fireplace, letting it fall off naturally after burning, symbolizing that love is as strong as iron. The bride in Daping Township of Yuanjiang should sit on the bench with the groom after entering the door, eat glutinous rice mixed with four eggs and drink two glasses of wine; When the bride of the Dai family on the Yuanjiang River enters the door, the man gives each farewell four pieces of meat, four ribs, four meatballs and four pieces of crispy meat, and then has dinner.

Dai people also worship the village gods. Dai people call it "going to Raman" or "Piman", which is a kind of protector. They worship twice a year. Before sowing, they pray for a bumper harvest, and after the autumn harvest, they are grateful. They collectively kill a cow or a pig, and each family prepares a tribute and sends it to the room dedicated to the social god. After reading the sacrificial words, everyone will eat. New members of the club should provide chicken, wine and bacon strips to the god of society.

In Menghai and other places, the custom of slaughtering cattle and eating fish hides still exists. In the western version of a tribal god, some sacrifices must be black cows and white pigs. The Dai people in Yuanjiang and New Equality generally worship dragon trees and dragons. When the Dai people in Yuanjiang sacrifice the dragon tree in the third month of the lunar calendar every year, the whole village will slaughter the red bull. Before slaughter, it will be covered with white ash and covered with red and green cloth. In the same month, in order to protect the safety of livestock, pigs will be sacrificed to Heaven and Earth.

Among the Dai people, especially in some remote areas, there are still some taboos in cooking, such as: burning firewood from the roots first; Don't cross the fire pit; You can't just move a tripod or something on the fireplace.

Dai women's clothes are colorful and beautiful. Generally speaking, Dai women are slim, pure and beautiful, and graceful, so they are called "golden peacocks". They are not only beautiful, but also good at dressing up, dressing themselves up as beautiful as flowers and pure as jade with unique costumes.

Dai women generally like to wear short sleeves and skirts to fully show their slim figure. Wearing a white or scarlet underwear on it, and a tight coat with narrow sleeves and a round neck on the outside. There are many colors such as pink, pink, light yellow, light green, white and sky blue. Nowadays, it is mostly sewn with georgette, silk, polyester and other materials. Narrow-sleeved jacket tightly wrapped around the arm, almost no gap. Many people also like to sew with flesh-colored materials. If you don't look carefully, you can't see the sleeves. The front and back skirts are waist-high and tightly wrapped around your body. The short-sleeved shirt and skirt are tied with a silver belt, and the skirt is ankle-length. The waist is slim and small, and the hem is wide. This kind of clothing of Dai women fully shows the beauty of women's chest, waist and buttocks. In addition, the fabric used is soft and bright, which gives people a sense of elegance whether walking or doing things.

Dai language is called "Jialuoyong", "Fanluoyong" or "Galanluo". This is the most popular dance of Dai people, which is popular in Dehong Autonomous Prefecture and Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture. The rich and beautiful Dai nationality township is known as the "hometown of peacocks". In the past, peacocks with charming postures danced whenever the morning dawned or the sun set. Therefore, peacock is a symbol of auspiciousness, happiness, beauty and kindness in the hearts of Dai people. During the festival, Dai people gather to watch peacock dance and folk artists perform peacock dance according to folk stories, myths and legends and Buddhist stories. For example, peacock dance, based on the fairy tale The Devil and the Peacock, is widely circulated among the people. The dance shows that the devil wants to occupy the peacock as his wife, and the peacock with a human face is struggling to shake its beautiful feathers. The brilliant light blinded the devil brothers and the peacock won.