What are the customs and characteristics of Hakkas?

Hakka custom is a popular and recurring behavior of a nation in production, clothing, diet, residence, marriage, funeral, festivals, entertainment, etiquette, beliefs and other material and cultural life. This kind of behavior is people's conscious preference, ethos, habits and taboos. It is widely circulated among the people and consciously passed down by the public. Han culture has a long history and customs have a long history, stretching for five thousand years. This historical advantage is unmatched by any nation in the world, which makes the customs of the Han nationality, no matter what kind or type, particularly rich and charming.

Hakka Water Dragon —— The Ancient Town of Hakka Luodai in the West

Hakka customs are cohesive. As a branch of the Han nationality, how did the Hakkas come together? There are many reasons, but the cohesion of Hakka customs is undoubtedly an important reason. Although Hakka customs are colorful, ever-changing and regional, the basic connotation of Hakka customs is the same or the same. For example, we eat zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival, moon cakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival and dumplings on the Lantern Festival. No matter which province or region, the Hakkas in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, or even the descendants of Hakkas who have gone abroad and are surrounded by western nations, are no exception.

Production habit

Hakka guests from Liangjiang, after visiting relatives and friends on the 15th day of the first month of each year, will hold a grand family dinner, where family members, old and young, and separated brothers get together. Older and experienced family members analyze and estimate the situation in the past few years and the coming year, and make a production arrangement for one year, with younger family members as a supplement. Then concentrate on digging, harrowing and planting corn. After finishing these tasks, we have ushered in a busy spring ploughing. At first, the "February stove" (the second day of the second lunar month) is white. People (mainly women) will take candles, incense, meat dishes and glutinous rice to worship the "Kitchen God" and pray for the gods to bless the good weather and good harvests in the coming year. Later, sugarcane was planted and rice seeds were sown. When the seedlings are all grown, hurry to plough in the spring. Because of the heavy and tense spring ploughing work, most people help each other to finish transplanting rice. Management is everyone's business. When the crops are almost ripe, it is usually the old man who decides when to harvest and does not allow the children to say anything. During the summer harvest, all kinds of livestock and poultry industries have grown up, and fishing can also be done in the pond. Hakkas are happy to put on the most sumptuous meal on a table and have to "wash their eyes". After the mid-Yuan Dynasty, people were busy planting and harvesting autumn crops. Later, they concentrated on selling some crops they planted and listed their pigs, ducks, geese and fish.

Living custom

Hakka people in Guangxi have always maintained the characteristics of frugality and gregarious living. Hakka guests are still relatively poor, eating porridge at noon in the morning and eating at night. The staple food, rice and rice porridge, is cooked by women in the morning and put in the cupboard when it is cold. Eat porridge during the day and at night. Rice is cooked by pouring out rice soup. They don't like rotten rice, so they cook in this way. When eating porridge, I like to mix porridge with cooked salt. Its non-staple food is pork and various vegetables, and it eats beef and other meat from time to time. Generally, pork is sliced, boiled, fried and served with seasoning. Fry vegetables in oil, then add ingredients and put them in a bowl. Hakka seasoning is nothing more than ginger, garlic, onion, sauce, spiced powder and monosodium glutamate. Their traditional dishes are braised pork, boiled chicken, vinegar ribs, vinegar large intestine and vinegar duck. Flavor foods include winter rice candy, sour beans and peppers. Dry to a semi-dry degree, and when it is bright yellow, you can open it and eat it in the acid jar. On the second, fifteenth and Dragon Boat Festival of the first month, Hakka people always make zongzi, including meat zongzi and mung bean powder zongzi. The stuffing for zongzi is prepared in advance with star anise powder, pepper, sauce and salt. Zongzi leaves for wrapping zongzi. On the second day of the second lunar month, in Tomb-Sweeping Day, glutinous rice is cooked, added with sugar, and the leaves are dyed in different colors, which is sweet and delicious. Solstice of winter. Everyone should eat boiled buns made of glutinous rice flour and meat stuffing. They have no habit of drinking boiled water. When they are thirsty, they use porridge and rice soup instead. They seldom drink tea, but mostly drink their own brewed rice wine.

The Hakka house is a big tile house. The traditional house is a bungalow. The hall is divided into an upper hall and a lower hall with a patio in the middle and a storage room behind the upper hall. Authentic, square table, mirror screen, with ancestral tablets on it. Eating is in the lower hall, and so is the fire in winter. On both sides of the upper hall are big bedrooms for the elderly and married couples, while on one side of the lower hall is a small bedroom for unmarried young people, on the other side is a kitchen, and there are pigsty on the left and right sides of the house. According to traditional customs, most old houses are reserved for the eldest son.

Family custom

Because Hakka people live in many ethnic groups, they often have several clans with the same surname. The whole family name, the tradition has unwritten clan rules. Any major event that damages the reputation of the surname shall be resolved through consultation by the whole surname. If you fight with a foreign surname, every household will go out to solve it to prevent losses. Most Hakkas don't do it without authorization. If they are reasonable, they will argue with each other. If they are unreasonable, they will settle it amicably. Anyone who dares to violate the clan rules will be isolated by his people. Whenever pigs are killed, Hakkas will hold a banquet to entertain their people. Each household in the small village invites one person, and the big village invites prestigious old people and brothers living in the house. Once someone in the family is admitted to a technical secondary school or university, or joins the army or goes out to work, the Hakka people will hold a banquet for the brothers who come to congratulate. In order to maintain the unity of the clan, after the woman has passed the house, she usually lives together for three generations and four generations, if there are brothers and sisters under the man. The bride and groom must live with the elderly for a period of time before they can divide the kitchen. Even if you don't live in the same kitchen with the elderly, you should bear the obligation to support the elderly and raise your siblings. Otherwise, it is regarded as the inverse son. After the kitchen is divided, whenever there is good wine and good food, we should invite the old people to eat together or cook them a dish.

Because the family is valued, the elderly are highly respected. When eating, the old man's seat faces the gate to show respect, which is the custom of Hakka people. Adults sit on both sides, and children can only sit on the side facing the old man. If there are too many people in the family, men sit at a table and women sit at a table. When eating, children should take the initiative to help the elderly with food. When children help the elderly to add rice, they must carry bowls with both hands. When the old man is talking, the child can't interrupt or make any noise. After dinner, children should say "eat slowly".

In family customs, the birth of a child is highly valued. Hakka children were born in three dynasties. Grandma, sister-in-law, brother-in-law (sister-in-law) and married women wrapped eggs with bamboo radishes and came to the new delivery room to do the "Three Dynasties". Half a month later, grandma invited more women, carrying sweet wine, eggs, rice and hens to her nephew for "half a month", commonly known as "eating ginger wine". This banquet is the most lively. After the child has a full moon, grandma asks a woman to make a "full moon" for her nephew (or niece). Hakkas generally live less than a year.

marriage customs

Most of the guests and Hakkas choose spouses for their parents, and the matchmaker matches the bridge. Their weddings generally include matchmaking, sitting and talking, horoscope matching, betrothal, wedding and three dynasties.

When the matchmaker sees that two young men and women with similar age and matching talents are not married, they will take the initiative to go to the door to fix them up, or the parents of young people waiting to get married at home will ask the matchmaker to do good deeds. After meeting, men and women poured out their worries to each other. The old man agrees, and if he thinks it is appropriate, they will write a "eight-character" and the man will give it to the fortune teller according to heavenly stems and earthly branches's calculation. If the man orders gold or water and the woman orders water or gold, it is considered more appropriate to get married. Once the "eight characters" are suitable, both the elderly and the men and women agree, there is hope for marriage. Then the man pays the bride price, commonly known as "foreign money", which is decided by both parties. Pay the engagement fee and get engaged, and then go to the government to get a marriage certificate. When the man is ready and tells the woman the wedding time, the woman has to start preparing the dowry. The night before the wedding, accompanied by Lang, the groom sent her some meat, wine, water and sugar, and the groom went home. The next day, the groom, accompanied by Lang, married the bride and brought all kinds of gift packages to the bride's parents, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, and even the cook the meat meat cutter in the kitchen. The bride's brother-in-law will also give the groom a package and new shoes. Two girls from the men's house were chosen to take rice ears, scissors, mirrors and roosters to the women's house for entertainment. Like the local Zhuang people, the woman's family should honor Lang and the girl of the man's family and make a dowry. On the morning of the wedding, the bride stood under the rice basket and said goodbye to her ancestors. Then, she wore black clothes, black trousers, black shoes, tied a red rope, supported a black umbrella and covered a white towel. Her sister-in-law carried her out of the door and walked or rode to the groom's house. After the bride goes to the man's house to pay homage, she will go back to her family that night. On the third day, accompanied by her mother, aunt, sister-in-law and others, she will carry pigs and chickens to the man's house to show the newlyweds' capital for preparing for life.

Festival custom

Traditional Hakka festivals include Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, June 6th, Mid-Autumn Festival, Winter Solstice and seeing off the Kitchen God. Spring Festival is a big festival, with abundant new year's goods, mostly bacon, jiaozi, fried peanuts and so on. On the first day of the first month, you can't kill anything. You should light a lamp and say auspicious words. You should usually go back to your home for dinner. It's also the day to go back to my parents' home in the New Year. The most important entertainment in the Spring Festival is lion dancing to celebrate the New Year. In Tomb-Sweeping Day, Hakkas like to make dumplings and have a big meal. "February stove", cooking glutinous rice, killing chickens and worshipping the kitchen king, a bumper harvest in a year, a great success. Tomb-Sweeping Day in March is a traditional grave-sweeping festival. Cooking sweet glutinous rice, preparing tables and wine, visiting ancestral graves, and adding dishes at will by Hakkas can also be regarded as a festival. Dragon Boat Festival, jiaozi. On June 6th, prepare the dining tables. Mid-Autumn Festival, the second festival of the year, kills chickens, ducks and fish. Daughters, son-in-law and relatives will come back to visit the old man and have a good time. Mid-Autumn Festival, prepare fruits and moon cakes to enjoy the moon. Double Ninth Festival, go out and climb high. On the solstice of winter, eat a dumpling bigger than jiaozi, wrapped in glutinous rice flour and stuffed with fish, pork and diced radish. The day when the Kitchen God was sent away, that is, December 23rd (the lunar calendar), was also a festival. On New Year's Eve, the Hakka family stopped working, collected all the harvest of the year and had a grand reunion dinner. All the family members who work outside will come back for reunion.

Belief custom

The patron saint of Hakkas is the "Kitchen God"-the land god. The shrine of the land god is located at the entrance of the village, next to which a big banyan tree is planted. On the first day of the first lunar month, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the second day of February, the eighth day of April, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival, Hakka people will go to worship the land god, put pig heads, chickens and fish (all cooked), light incense, and kneel on the ground to pray for the land god to bless the whole family. The place where the offerings are placed is: incense is closest to the gods, followed by wine and rice, meat and vegetables are farthest, and candles are on both sides. In addition, whoever increases food and money and goes out to study and work will also sacrifice to the land god.

Fubo Temple, Adult Temple and Female Temple are visited by Hakkas every year. Even during the "Cultural Revolution", even though superstitious activities were repeatedly banned, Hakkas secretly visited. Fubo Temple was built in memory of Ma Yuan, a general of the Han Dynasty, and was held on the sixth day of the first month. The Adult Temple was built in memory of Chen Hongmou, the prime minister of the Qing Dynasty, who exempted the people of Guangxi from paying grain. The temple fair is held on the 19th day of the first month. This female temple was built in memory of Sanjie Liu. The temple site is in a cave, and a temple fair is held on the 29th of the first month.

Hakka ancestor worship is a great event. In March in Tomb-Sweeping Day, the whole family got busy and went to the ancestral graves to do ancestor worship activities. Every year, Hakka surnames in Tomb-Sweeping Day and Liangjiang Township are concentrated in Binyang to worship their ancestors, and generally one person from each family is sent to attend. During the solar term or the end of the year, Hakkas always worship their ancestors with meat dishes before eating. In the first month, the sacrifice must be placed on the fifteenth day before it can be removed. Most of the sacrifices in the first month are zongzi, pork head (whole piece) and popcorn.

Hakka people are used to worshipping their ancestors before spring ploughing, after summer harvest and after autumn harvest. First, listen to people with higher education explain genealogy and continue to write. Two, discuss the major issues that need to be solved within the surname, such as disputes with foreign surnames, construction, production, etc.

marriage customs

Huizhou folk traditional wedding etiquette and customs, based on feudal ethical codes and customs, mostly appear red tape, which wastes people and money, and can be said to be quite crude.

Hakka huobeiniang JIU

Vulgar. Confucian classic The Book of Rites? "Faint Instrument" said: "The husband's power begins with the crown, based on the faint (marriage), and is more important than the funeral sacrifice, specializing in recruiting the DPRK and shooting the hometown. This gift is not so bad. ..... surprise (marriage), also the gift of this. "It can be seen that Confucianism attaches importance to marriage customs. China's traditional culture has always attached importance to Confucianism, and under the influence of this thought, it has formed a rich and colorful wedding custom culture with many ceremonies. Huizhou's traditional marriage customs are generally the concrete expression of China's traditional culture in one place.

There are several forms of marriage in feudal society in Huizhou, such as arranged marriage, buying and selling marriage, employment marriage, referral marriage, child marriage, famine marriage, aristocratic marriage and power marriage. Among them, engagement marriage is particularly popular, and both bride price and money are indispensable, and its legacy can still be seen in Huizhou.

Engagement marriage has a long history in Huizhou. Guangxu's "Huizhou Fuzhi" records: "In marriage, betel nut is a commonly used dowry, and the more it is, the more expensive it is ... its engagement ceremony and dowry are called family wealth." In the past, betel nuts were sold in Chinese medicine shops. In the engagement ceremony, it is symbolic, while the real engagement ceremony tradition is mainly about money and food. "Official History" says that bride price is "related to family wealth", but in fact, the number of bride price is also considerable.

The traditional wedding etiquette in Huizhou is very complicated, from the words of matchmakers at the beginning to the custom of returning to the door in the last three dynasties, during which it experienced various pre-wedding ceremonies such as buji, ceremony, newspaper, big gift, and grand wedding ceremonies such as paving the house, welcoming the bride, paying homage to the bride and prolonging life.

The complicated folk wedding customs in Huizhou evolved from the "six rites" of feudal wedding etiquette. "Six Rites" originated in the Zhou Dynasty. According to the Book of Rites, the wedding procedures that should be followed at that time were "receiving the bride" (the matchmaker proposed the marriage), "asking the name", "accepting oneself" (the man buji, the woman officially recognized the marriage), "obtaining the certificate" (the ceremony ended), "inviting the wedding date" and "welcoming the bride" (welcoming the bride). These six links are the so-called "Six Rites" and the earliest marriage etiquette in feudal ethics. After more than 2,000 years, although there are variations, the Six Rites remain the same, and they can still be seen in wedding ceremonies all over the world.

The traditional wedding customs in Huizhou generally follow the following procedures.

Propose marriage

At the beginning of Huizhou traditional marriage, the first thing was to propose marriage. Usually the man invites the matchmaker to the woman's house to make peace. Proposing marriage is a variation of "accepting gifts" in the Six Rites. "Yili? The book "World Wedding" says: "The wedding is issued and the goose is adopted. "That is to say, before the Qin and Han Dynasties, marriage proposals were generally to feed geese as gifts. This means that it is suitable for yin-yang communication. After the Qin and Han dynasties, cake sheep, acacia, Jiahe, glue paint and other things were used as gifts. Later, there were more than 30 kinds of gifts, which generally symbolized the firmness and harmony of the couple. At traditional weddings in Huizhou, most wedding gifts are made of live chickens or cloth. This kind of chicken is called "leading chicken" by the people, which means auspiciousness.

In the marriage proposal, the matchmaker is entrusted by the man's family to communicate with the woman's family with golden words. Because the matchmakers before Huizhou were mostly women, Huizhou used to call them matchmakers.

Matchmakers have existed in China since ancient times. In The Book of Songs, there is a poem "I was robbed of time, but my son didn't have a good matchmaker". Matchmakers in Huizhou traditional wedding ceremonies are generally divided into professional and non-professional types. Professional matchmakers make a living as matchmakers, so they don't hesitate to talk, tell lies, exaggerate the advantages of the other family to individuals, and hide the shortcomings of the other family, which often leads to some abnormal marriages. Because of this, in people's minds, the matchmaker often gives people an ugly image of "deceiving the gods and making money for others".

Have a big gift

The most grand and important ceremony before marriage is the "big gift" on the eve of the wedding. In the traditional engagement marriage, the bride price, dowry and dowry agreed by both families should be performed on this day. On this day, the man's family filled all kinds of boxes, boxes and reeds prepared in advance, pasted them with red cypress trees, or picked them or carried them, and the man's aunts and sisters sent them to the woman's house in a mighty way. It is common for a man to give a whole pig and a whole sheep in a "gift", so there are lyrics of "giving a gift to a pig" in folk songs. Cake food is also a must. Preparing "big cakes" is the custom in Huizhou. There are more than a dozen kinds of cakes, ranging from one to several according to the conditions and luxury of each family. However, it is not uncommon for ten kinds of cakes to be ready. In addition, there are necessary roast pork, chicken, goose, duck, fish and steamed cakes.

Upon receiving the bride price from the man, the woman immediately gave the original dowry to the man. The dowry in Huizhou traditional wedding customs is mainly daily necessities, such as clothes, quilts, pillows, mats, curtains, etc., as well as wardrobe, dressing table, suitcase, square table and other furniture. Nowadays, in addition to the main bedding, there are often sewing machines, refrigerators, televisions and rice cookers in dowry.

Generally, the day before the wedding ceremony, the festive atmosphere is very strong. Those aunts and sisters who give gifts are usually dressed up, dressed up and down, smeared with powder and oil, and paraded in the streets. Huizhou customs, gift-giving teams choose crowded roads and tell each other happy events along the way.

Pick up the bride

Receiving the bride is the "pro-welcoming" in the traditional "Six Rites". Kissing is the end and conclusion of "Six Rites". The wedding ceremony mentioned by modern people or the wedding ceremony mentioned by ancient people is marked by the ceremony of receiving the bride.

In ancient times, the wedding ceremony generally included three links: paving the room or warming the room, welcoming guests and returning to the door, which lasted for three days. Shop or warm the house on the first day, welcome guests on the second day and return to the door on the third day. The customs in Huizhou are different. Wedding basically refers to marrying the bride and delaying the bride. As for welcoming the bride (that is, receiving the bride), it mainly includes several main customs, such as paving the house, sitting in a sedan chair, sprinkling salt rice, crossing the fire and stepping on concave columns.

Shop room

Paving roads and building houses is an ancient custom that continues to this day. When a woman gives her husband a dowry, it is a custom for her sister-in-law to help decorate the new house. According to Huizhou custom, two points should be paid attention to when laying a room. First, pay attention to the orientation and feng shui of beds, cabinets and dressing tables. The most important thing is that the wardrobe mirror can't face the bed. In Huizhou custom, the mirror is synonymous with the magic mirror, but it is obviously unlucky to put the magic mirror on the bed. Second, people who buy houses should have a "good life". People think that the standard of a better life is mainly "many children and many blessings". Therefore, widows and infertile women are not allowed to participate in the store, and those who have many children are naturally the main participants in the store.

Shanghuaye

On the day before the bride's wedding, the clan sisters-in-law (the so-called lucky ones must be chosen) should dress up and dress up for the bride. This is what folks call "flower arrangement". This night, also known as "Flower Night", is a very grand ceremony before the bride's wedding. During this ceremony, the bride is often accompanied by crying and singing. At this time, the bride is facing a major turning point in her life and is usually very emotional. But according to the old custom, after arranging flowers, the bride should sit in the pavilion and cry and sing until dawn. This is called "five o'clock vigil". On the night of flowers, the bride cried sadly and stayed up all night, showing a traditional wedding atmosphere of "mixed happiness and sorrow".

Welcome in a sedan chair

Huizhou traditionally uses sedan chairs to celebrate weddings. In the 1950s, there was a sedan chair shop that rented sedan chairs. Carry two, four or eight large sedan chairs, embroider "phoenix peony" and "mandarin ducks with rich flowers", decorate with "four-color lanterns" and cover with "red silk", so it is called "sedan chair". When picking up the bride, the matchmaker leads the way, and the bride leads the sedan chair, drumming all the way. After arriving at the girl's home, the girls' sisters refused to go out, and the groom quickly sent "Lili". After passing the sisters, the bride can be taken out. The bride cried and refused to leave. The men used both hard and soft methods to coax her out of the boudoir and into the sedan chair. The groom must give the sedan chair bearer a "benefit" before he can get on the sedan chair. After several "struggles", the groom is often exhausted.

Salted rice

When picking up the bride, there was a habit of scattering salt and rice in some places in Huizhou in the old days. Put some salt, rice, black sesame seeds and other things in a container in advance, that is, sprinkle them along the road on the way to pick up the bride, which is called offering sacrifices to the bridge god; Scattered along the road is to worship the road god, which is the custom of sprinkling salt and rice in Huizhou traditional wedding customs. In fact, the custom of sprinkling salt and rice is a variation of the traditional marriage custom in China. "Paving corn beans" appeared in the Western Han Dynasty and prevailed in the north of Song Dynasty. Its traditional view is "eliminating three evils", that is, exorcising ghosts and evil spirits, which is not much different from Huizhou folk "salted rice" It's just that "Sagu beans" are mostly relics in the north, which is not common in the south. In Huizhou, it can be seen that the origin of Huizhou customs is very long.

Cover your head.

Stepping on a concave column leads to a raging fire: when the bride gets home, many relatives help her to get off the sedan chair with the sound of gongs and drums. This is the groom fanning each other with fans. If the elder sister-in-law of the man's family is in a figure of eight, it must be covered with a lid (bamboo container), a sieve and other things, and it is impossible to see the bride directly. Folk believe that the bride's good fortune is murderous, and the groom slaps it, which means "weakening its murderous look", while people avoid it, which means "avoiding its murderous look". In some places, when the bride gets off the sedan chair, the groom blocks the back of the bride's head with concave columns (containers edited by editors). This custom is also reflected in the crying wedding song circulating in Huizhou: "I (the bride) stepped on the sedan chair door to cover my head, and I thank you for your contribution." It seems that the bride is quite afraid of this "cover". According to the folk saying, every married woman should be filial, even if she gets into a sedan chair and goes to the man's house, she should turn back step by step, and the concave column of the groom is famous for covering the bride's line of sight. This practice is to let the bride concentrate on marrying the man's family and not always think about her own family. In addition to the custom of covering your head, there is also the habit of stepping on the column. When the bride got off the sedan chair, the man's family quickly laid a concave column at the bride's feet. When entering the house across the concave column, it is customary to let the bride cross the fire. Even if there is no special brazier, some old people will grab a handful of grass to burn at the door and let the bride pass. This custom is called "misfire" in the north. In some places, it is a long-standing folk custom to turn to carbon fire. He has two intentions. The first is to take the word "Wang". After the bride crosses the handle of Wanghuo, she will bring Wanghuo to her husband's house in the future. The other is to use the word "taboo", mainly to avoid evil spirits and worship. People believe that "evil" has two sources. One is that when they got married, the audience was like a cloud, and some of them were inevitably sick at home. Folks think they worship evil spirits, while Huizhou calls them "jealousy". Another evil source comes from the bride herself. A woman's body is "dirty", which is an old traditional concept in China. Therefore, the custom of excessive fire in Huizhou, although it means "flourishing fire", is mainly to ward off evil spirits. Ainny, silk grass, picking cards and other things burned in the brazier are all traditional things in China to ward off evil spirits. Especially "Wang Cao", known as "plaster" by Huizhou folks, is a special medicine for traditional "dispelling summer heat" in Huizhou. It is a protective medicine used by people to ward off evil spirits in birth and marriage ceremonies and worship of mountains.

Take the candle

Holding candles is an inevitable custom in Huizhou traditional weddings. After receiving the bride, before the bride entered the bridal chamber, the boy put the candle in the bridal chamber first. This custom is the most exquisite in Huizhou, and folk songs also sing: "Hold the candle up to the bride's room (meaning the end, or the innermost meaning)." According to the customary practice, a boy should be preferred (generally, there are many brothers in the family), the bride should be picked up with the wedding procession (the candles have been taken), and the candles should be returned or placed directly in the bridal chamber. This is for children, which is vulgar. Taking boys with many brothers as an introduction and lighting incense for the bride and beauty will attract children and grandchildren.

Wedding drum music

In the old customs of Huizhou, the whole process of "receiving the bride" is generally full of drum music, and the "drum music for welcoming the bride" recorded in Guangxu's Huizhou Fuzhi is. Su Dongpo once said: Huizhou "bells and drums do not distinguish between sadness and joy." It seems that the traditional wedding ceremony in Huizhou existed before the Song Dynasty. The wedding drum music in Huizhou is called "Gong and Drum Cabinet", which is mainly composed of gongs, cymbals and cymbals with suona. The drum band played back and forth in the wedding procession, which enhanced the festive atmosphere. According to Huizhou Records of Guangxu, the folk wedding in Huizhou is "beating the sun with drum music", which is also called "one-day drum" by the people. However, some rich people actually played music at their weddings, which was actually a "two-day drum" and a "three-day drum". In the old days, Huizhou had specialized drum music shops and professional drum musicians. When a man gets married, he can hire a special drum band as long as he spends money, so it is common to invite a drum band to join in the old wedding.

Stagnant bride

When the bride arrives home, she will pay homage to the ancestors of heaven and earth, pay homage to her parents, and offer tea to the male elders in turn. This is called "drinking bride tea"; And the elders will also write "Li" packages, wishing the newlyweds good luck. After the ceremony, there will be a big banquet "Wine with the Bride". The bride does not appear at the old-fashioned wedding reception in Huizhou. Generally, she is sitting alone in the boudoir with an empty stomach. She can't look up, laugh or walk easily. She listens to the sound of revelry coming from the main hall alone. At this time, the bride is usually very worried, because she knows that those crazy drunks will rush into the new house after the banquet to "disturb" her. This is one of the most carnival scenes in Huizhou wedding-the late bride.

San Chao hui men

The day after the wedding, the bride gets up early to serve her family and welcomes relatives and neighbors who visit during the day. On the third day, she will arrange some gifts and go back to her parents' home with the groom early in the morning, which is what Huizhou used to call "returning home in three dynasties". This is a very unique etiquette in Huizhou traditional wedding customs. If proposing marriage, sending blessings, making a deal, reporting to the daily newspaper and giving gifts are pre-wedding ceremonies, and welcoming relatives and dragging the bride is a wedding ceremony, then the return of the three dynasties is a wedding ceremony.

Huimen in the Three Dynasties was closely related to the ancient custom of "beating husbands". When describing the custom of "beating husbands" in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the book Xiyang Miscellaneous Women once said: "On the day of the husband's pavilion (the house where women live), the women in the husband's family get together and enjoy beating husbands with a stick to the maximum."

There is also a description of "beating a husband" in modern Guangdong literature. According to the old custom in Guangdong, when the husband comes home, the Yue family treats him as "waiting for the new son-in-law", but when he sits down, the Yue sisters get together to play with him, or embarrass the groom with questions, or force him to obey everything at home.

Huimen in Huizhou, also known as "late groom", is similar to the habit of "beating husband" and "beating husband" in form and content. According to Huizhou custom, when a couple arrive at Yue's home, the first thing they do is to meet their parents-in-law, and then meet all the relatives in the family one by one. When visiting sisters in the clan, they often start to "lag behind the groom". According to the traditional custom, the groom goes to the ancestral home of Yue family and the four gods of Yue family house. At this time, it is convenient for the sisters to pee on one side, or let the groom worship a few times to prevent him from getting up; Or let Sina kneel frequently, not intermittently; Some kind people will drag the groom to the henhouse or pigsty, saying that they want the groom to worship the god of the henhouse or pigsty, but they are actually teasing the groom. If the groom does not obey, the sisters will forcibly "enforce the law", making the groom have to obey.

After the worship, the Yue family gave a banquet to entertain her husband. During the dinner, Zhang Yue and the elders in the clan asked the groom to solve some pairing and problems, saying that it was a test of the groom's talent, but it was actually a dilemma for the groom; And those good sisters copied the practice of "dragging the bride" at this time to tease the groom and make the groom flustered.

Although "delaying the groom" is not as good as "delaying the bride" to a certain extent, the Yue sisters always point their finger at the groom, which is roughly a kind of "revenge" for the bride being teased at the man's house. Huimen in the Three Dynasties is the custom of Huizhou traditional marriage, so the etiquette is quite particular. When returning home, the first gift is chicken, which is called "leading chicken" by the people. This is a necessary auspicious thing. The rest of the gifts, such as fish, meat, geese, seafood, delicacies, cakes and so on. It's all yours. For these gifts, the man's family usually prepares one more, such as two pieces of meat and two pieces. After receiving the gift money, the woman's family goes back to the man's house to ask for a piece as usual. Others, such as big oranges, are also indispensable. If there are no big oranges, you must change them into oranges. The big orange stands for "good luck". After the bride's family receives the gift. And return the orange (Ji) to that person.

Except those who are married far away, there are married people in the city and suburbs. During the Three Dynasties, the Yue family usually invited their husbands, brides and sisters-in-law to have dinner and then went home on the same day.

On the journey back to the concierge, there were red-haired cakes and red-gathered cakes steamed by my mother-in-law, and "leading the way" was indispensable. Huizhou also has the custom of returning home in January after marriage. In return, my mother-in-law steamed a big cage cake (a kind of glutinous rice cookie), and her mother-in-law steamed the cake.

Funeral custom

Compared with other customs, the funeral custom is more solemn. Hakka people have done a lot of thoughtful things about this, even too much red tape. The funeral was generous, the ceremony was extravagant, the banquet was rich, the spirits were drunk, and the drums were used to send farewell. There are still old customs in some places.

When a patient dies, he will put on a pre-made "shroud", which is called "wearing shroud". There used to be a saying of "six ups and four downs", that is, wearing six heavy clothes on the top and four heavy pants on the bottom.

Hakka customs attach importance to death. Those who are away from home try their best to get home for the last time before they die. This is filial piety. When people die, they immediately burn sedan chairs and paper, and their families and children cry bitterly. It's for "death"

Declare sb. dead

The patient reported his funeral immediately after his death. The dutiful son went out to grandma's uncle's house and relatives' uncle's house, and also sent out mourning at the door or near the intersection.

Small White Hall: White cloth is hung in front of the remains, incense tables are set up, memorial tablets or portraits are placed. Cry in the morning and evening, register gifts or "substitute candles" from relatives and friends, and hang curtains on both sides of the mourning hall in order.

stiff neck

Move the body, spread a piece of white cloth on the floor of the hall, put the body on it, cover the head with a new tile, put a cloth triangle pillow on the tile, and send people to wait day and night; Putting the body in the coffin at a fixed time is called "feeding". Every morning and evening, when relatives and friends come to pay their respects, widows will observe a moment of silence beside the coffin in the tent. In the evening, relatives and friends attend the mourning hall, commonly known as "accompanying the night".

Choose the appropriate mourning time, usually in the morning. In the old society, there was a "mourning" on the first day of the lunar new year, which lasted all night, and the drums were loud. Hold a memorial service before the funeral. Pay attention to ostentation and extravagance to show filial piety.

Bury (the dead)

Put the coffin in the cemetery. The choice of cemetery pays attention to "Feng Shui". The appearance of the tomb is very similar to the dragon circle of Hakka people, which is a manifestation of Hakka people's worship of their ancestors. On the third day after burial, relatives put on mourning clothes, went to the grave to cry and worship, and burned paper money, which was called "Three Dynasties".

Zuo Qi

After death, every "seventh" day, a memorial service is held, commonly known as "doing seven". Generally only do "five seven". Finally, a memorial service was held and the spirit room (paper room) was burned, which was called "Wanqi" to show the end of the funeral. Later, an anniversary ceremony was held, called opening filial piety; Once every three years, a sacrificial ceremony is held, which is called Kai Daxiao. When the big filial piety was held, the doors and halls were changed into red couplets, and everything returned to normal.

The custom of Hakkas is to dig the grave after being buried for several years (usually ten years), bake the remains with charcoal fire, bend the limbs according to the human body structure and put them in a special pottery urn, which is called "gold inspection" and then rebury. This is a permanent and real grave.

For people who die abnormally, there are some special funeral customs, such as inviting monks and Taoists to chant Buddhist scriptures and turning over the dead.