Hakka women

One side of the soil and water support one side of the people, and one side of the customs support one side. Chinese civilization has lasted for five thousand years, and it is a country of traditional morality and etiquette. Hakka culture has a long history and has been popular in the Central Plains for more than 1000 years. Hakka women, even more a symbol of Hakka culture, interpret Hakka culture incisively and vividly in every detail of daily life.

Influenced by the traditional moral atmosphere, former Hakka women have to receive education of three obedience and four virtues since childhood. At that time, Hakka women, whether in costumes or hairstyles, contained many metaphors unknown to outsiders. Because my mother is a woman who pays great attention to traditional details, she has received a deep education since she was a child, and I have unconsciously passed on the thoughts and behaviors of the older generation.

Since childhood, when I can take care of myself, my mother told me that girls should be like girls, not as careless as boys, and should pay attention to their words and deeds. The appearance of the dress is not beautiful, but it must be neat and clean, even if you wear patched clothes, it will be washed clean. Tie up your hair as soon as you get up and wash your face before you go out. Hakka women pay special attention to hairstyle etiquette.

For example, unmarried young women only tie their hair in a braid or ponytail, while married women tie their hair in a bun at the back of their heads, which makes people look dignified and virtuous. What's more, the hairstyle represents their status symbol, so people can know whether the woman is married or not by looking at the hairstyle. Also, you can't wash your hair on the first or fifteenth day of the lunar calendar every month, because my mother said it, but I forgot it, but I always abide by it.

You can't wash your hair if you have guests at home, because there was no hair dryer before, and the washed hair can only be tied up after natural air drying. Hakka women, on the other hand, can't wear long hair to welcome guests, which is very impolite to guests. The so-called ceremony is to wear good clothes, comb your hair and be polite to people.

The so-called wearing good clothes is also very particular. At that time, women wrapped themselves in clothes and could not show their arms and calves, let alone bare their backs as they do now. Also, you can't wash your hair on the day of the Chinese New Year holiday. The reason is that during the Chinese New Year holiday, the family will offer sacrifices to the gods and invite the deceased ancestors and relatives to go home for reunion. If the hair is long, it is disrespectful to the gods. Similarly, people and gods also need courtesy.

Perhaps in the eyes of many people in modern times, this is a superstitious statement. But this is the Hakka people's kind and simple spiritual belief. In the hard days of poverty, faith has infinite power and can often support the hopes and thoughts of life. As the saying goes, there are gods three feet above the head. We can not believe that God really exists, but we must hold a sincere and awe-inspiring heart towards God.

Married Hakka women have more manners than unmarried women. Generally, before marriage, mothers will inculcate their daughters to respect their in-laws and be a virtuous brother-in-law after marriage. I'm afraid that my daughter's improper behavior after leaving her husband's house will cause her husband's criticism and humiliate her family. There is a proverb praised by everyone in Hakka: marry your mother. The meaning is self-evident, that is, if you marry a daughter-in-law, you should first look at her family atmosphere, whether it is harmonious and warm, and whether her mother's character cultivation is excellent.

A mother is a child's first teacher, and only an excellent mother can educate an excellent child. Although we can't judge the daughter's personality absolutely, to a great extent, there are similarities between parents and children, which have subtle influence, strength and deep roots. When I was a child, I once heard my neighbor's grandmother scold her unruly daughter-in-law: she didn't have a mother to teach her. The daughter-in-law is still scolding her mother, which shows how important the mother is to her daughter's education.

A woman who is a daughter-in-law should be like a daughter-in-law in her husband's family, and she can't let herself go as she does at home. I remember there is a Hakka children's song that sings like a daughter-in-law's girl: chicken, its tail is crooked, so it's really hard to be a daughter-in-law. People also say that getting up early and cooking late, and that you are idle. It can be seen that the difference between being a woman and being a woman is gone.

Hakka women who used to be wives have to wash clothes for their families, make breakfast, clean the courtyard, feed poultry and go to the village collective well to get enough water for the whole family every morning. Later, every family dug wells and carried water in their own patios, so they didn't have to do it.

When eating, you should send meals to your parents-in-law, husband and other family members, and consciously clean up the dishes and chopsticks after meals. In the evening, we should boil hot water to give a family a bath. In the previous rural families, every household had no water heater, so they had to use large iron pots and firewood to burn hot water. After finishing the housework, you can go to bed. At dawn, you get up again and start a busy day. Busy at home, busy in the field, there is little leisure time all year round.

If you want to go back to your parents' home, you must discuss with your mother-in-law before she will allow you to go back to see your parents. Hakkas pay attention to men for the sky, women for the land, men outside, women inside, and are too busy with housework to ask their husbands for help. In the past, it was not popular for rural men to go out to work. It was women's business to plow and do manual labor, and they didn't ask.

If a man helps his wife wash clothes, etc. It will become the laughing stock of the villagers after dinner. Also, during the Chinese New Year, on the morning of New Year's Day, every Hakka woman must boil water and make tea quickly after getting up. Parents-in-law should give them a cup of tea when they get up, and then give their daughter-in-law a red envelope at will, which means a good year.

Of course, times have changed, and now it is a new era and a new society. These old ideas are no longer appropriate in today's open concept. If we hold this mode of thinking again and discuss these etiquette details with Hakka girls and girls in their teens and twenties, I believe they will also sneer and disdain.

But at that time, every Hakka woman was influenced by traditional ideological education at any age since she was sensible, and she was proud of it, silently fulfilling it and accompanying it for life. Many things are the same. Once the habit is formed, it will be natural. You don't have to do it deliberately, but it won't run counter to it. The Hakka culture, which is drifting away, has already faded out of people's sight unconsciously.

As the dominant culture of Hakka, Hakka women used to be like a beautiful scenic line, shining in the sun and enchanting in the moonlight. ...

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