A gathering place for the Gelao people. Dress code. Food habits. Main festivals. Folkways and customs. Culture and Art

Guizhou Province is home to 96.43% of the Gelao population, while the rest of the provinces are also home to the Gelao people, who live in mixed communities.

The traditional dress of the Gelao people is also very distinctive, with women wearing collarless, large-breasted, long-sleeved garments decorated with richly layered and varied diamond-shaped or long stripes, using batik and colorful embroidery. Underneath, they wear pleated skirts, hooked shoes, and small waistbands, which are also fully decorated with embroidery and dyeing. The men wear green cloth lapeled tops, waistbands, pants, white or green cloth head wraps, and Yuanbao shoes or cloud hook shoes.

The areas where Gelao people live are mostly on the slopes of the transition from the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau to the Sichuan Basin, where the terrain is complicated and the climate is humid; Gelao people's economic life is based on agriculture, with maize planted in the mountainous areas and rice planted in the flatlands, and thus these two crops are also the most important food for the Gelao people. In the busy season, they eat three meals a day, and in the idle season, they eat two meals a day. In addition to the regular meals, there are the customs of "morning", "resting", and "late-night snacking", etc. Meat is mainly pork, and chicken is the most important food. Meat to pork-based, chicken, duck, mutton, followed by the majority of people do not eat cattle and horse meat and dead poultry and dead animals. Addicted to eating sour and on spicy food, there are "three days do not eat acid, people want to fight the scurry (l o chu n)" said. Patty cake is often used as offerings for ancestors and gods, as well as food for guests and festivals. Glutinous rice cake is an indispensable food in Gelao festivals. During the Spring Festival, every family has to use one or several liters of glutinous rice to make a big cake, put it in a dustpan or a square wooden plate, and offer it to the ancestors for three days before it can be eaten. The Gelao people in Qianxi also use black bean leaves (flat bamboo leaves) to stick on the poop to show that their ancestors stick grass as a mark when they open up the land and grass; the Gelao people in Guangxi also have the habit of adding zongbao (rice dumplings) and sweet potatoes to the offerings on the eve of New Year's Eve. In the Duan Yang Festival, Chongyang Festival and all other festivals, guests are feasted, but all to do poi.

The Gelao people used to steam corn flour in a steamer and call it dried corn rice; this is the staple food on the table of the Gelao people all year round, and if there are festivals or guests coming to their home, they add equal amount of white rice to the corn flour and steam it, which is called "mixed rice".

In order to get rid of dampness and warmth, the Gelao people have a pot of chili soup for every meal; the Gelao people have many ways of eating chili, such as chili congee, moldy tofu chili, bean chili, etc., but the most popular one should be the chili bone made of bone meal and chili pepper processed and pickled.

Da Nian: generally the fourteenth day of the first month, the main activities are, eat vegetable board meat, graves, ancestor worship (offering rice), worship four officials, rice planting land. The night inserted Tianxiang, chasing insects and ants, chasing bright firebugs, the second day (the first day of the first month of the fifteenth) in the early morning, pouring quiet tea, grabbing silver water, eating dumplings, offering rice. Dainian heavy in the lamp.

March 3: The birthday of the Bodhisattva Shanwang, some Gelao people worship Shanwang in order to return their wishes.

Ching Ming Festival: Hanging up the green with the ancestors' graves.

Duoyang Festival: Usually on the fifth day of the fifth month, eat dumplings. Sacrifice to ancestors.

Month Half Day : General July 14th, cutting new grain to taste the new and offer sacrifices to ancestors.

August Festival : Gelao is an ancient ethnic group in China, recorded as early as the Tang and Song dynasties in history books. There is no grandest traditional festival of the Gelao than the August Festival (August 15th to 20th). On the first day of the festival, the whole clan, young and old, put on new clothes and gather on the ground level of the village. A few young people bring a yellow ox with a big red flower on its head, and the oldest person in the village, the "clan elder", starts to pray for a good harvest; the band plays the "Eight Immortals" song, and at the same time fires a powder gun, The band plays the "Eight Immortals" song, while firing powder guns and firecrackers. Then they kill a cow and cut off its heart, one for each family, to show that the whole clan is united. Afterwards, the "clan elders" also lead the people to bring three animals, namely, piglets, chickens and geese, to the Bodhisattva tree to offer sacrifices. After the ceremony, the whole clan gathers together for a meal until nightfall. The next day, after each family held a family feast, women returned to their mother's home with their children to send gifts; men met friends on the street, singing and talking about the day. It is said that the songs and dances of young men and women continue until the last day of the festival. [9]

Chongyang Festival: Generally August 15, playing patties and visiting relatives (sending patties).

Small Year: Generally the 30th day of the Lunar New Year, the main activities include, eating vegetable slabs of meat, going to the graveyard, worshiping ancestors (offering rice), and in the evening, worshipping the Four Officials and the land of rice seedlings. The next morning, pouring quiet tea, grabbing silver water, eating dumplings, offering rice. Small year heavy in the fire

New Year

Earliest Gelao people according to the law of crop growth in October for the annual festival, Jiajing "Guizhou Tujing", Gelao "every year to the fall harvest day for the first of the year". According to the Qing Dynasty Anshunfu Zhi, the Gelao "take October as the first day of the year". Since the Qing Dynasty, the Gelao people gradually follow the Han people to the 30th day of the lunar month to the first day of the first month of the Chinese New Year, the original October for the first year of the custom gradually abolished.

The period of the New Year's Day has moved backward and absorbed some of the Han Chinese New Year's rituals, but many of Gelao's traditional customs still remain. The Gelao people of all regions celebrate the New Year by beating glutinous rice for their ancestors. There are different sizes of glutinous rice, and there are different quantities of glutinous rice. Each village, each family name, and even in the same village held collectively and each family separately for two kinds, but to each family separately for more.

New Year's Eve, each household to sumptuous dishes, wine and rice displayed on the square table in front of the shrine in the hall, burning incense, candles and paper offerings clear ancestors, the whole family men, women and children gathered to eat a reunion dinner. [10]

Gelao Festival

The Gelao people have two annual festivals in a year, one is the Spring Festival, the other is the Gelao Year, which is celebrated on the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar. The timing and customs of the Spring Festival are generally the same as those of the Han Chinese, but there is a special element of "feeding the trees". The custom of "feeding the tree", also known as "sacrificing the tree" or "worshipping the tree", originated from the Gelao people's belief in the worship of ancient trees (big trees), which have spirits in everything. The Gelao people of Longlin Autonomous County in Guangxi, at noon on the 14th day of the first month of the lunar calendar, each family prepares offerings such as rice wine, pork, fresh fish, glutinous rice, etc., and brings red paper firecrackers, and goes up to the mountain to worship the tree with friends and relatives. After seeing the tree first firecrackers, and then choose the tall and sturdy tree burning paper and incense kneeling. Worship to the tree after "feeding" offerings: a person holding a knife in the bark of the tree cut 3 mouths, another "feed" some meat and rice wine in the mouth of the knife, and finally sealed with red paper to the knife mouth, to the tree weeding cultivated soil. "Feed" rice for different trees, to answer different words. Such as fruit trees, to say: "feed you rice, knot string; feed you meat, knot lump", said wishing fruitful. After "feeding" the tree, people gather to feast. In some areas, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, they also worship the "Bodhisattva Tree", a sacred tree next to the fortress, with cow's heart and new rice, to pray for a good year. [11]

Eating Bugs Festival

And every year on the second day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, the Gelao people's "Eating Bugs Festival" is held. On this day, there are several dishes of other flavors on the dinner table - fried locusts, pickled grasshoppers, sweet fried butterfly chrysalis, roasted and fried aphid rice loach and so on.

There are still some areas where the "sacrifice of trees" is called "sacrifice of mountains", because the Gelao people have been living in the mountains for many generations, and it is completely understandable that they love and respect the mountains. The specific object of "sacrificing to the mountain" is also a tall and luxuriant old tree near the village, which is a reflection of the tenacious vitality. The festival is organized on a village basis, and only adult men are allowed to participate. In addition to contributing offerings, the shaman sings the Song of the Mountain Sacrifice to ask the mountain god to bless the village with peace, a good harvest, and prosperity for people and animals. [11]

Eating New Festival

When the new grain is ripe and about to be harvested in July and August of the lunar calendar, the Gelao people choose a day to eat new (also called tasting the new), to offer sacrifices to their ancestors, to thank their ancestors for their kindness, and to bless the coming year with good weather conditions. On the day of the festival, housewives go to the fields to pick new grain and make offerings to their ancestors. Some areas also kill chickens and pigs, and even kill cows to the sky, kill horses to the ground. Eat new day this day to pick who's new grain are not for the kino tribe eat new festival is held in August and September when the grain is ripe. In the morning of the festival, each family goes to the field to pick new grain and vegetables to do, and kills chickens to offer sacrifices. When steaming the rice, pay attention to the direction of the steam coming out of the retort: coming out of the east predicts the prosperity of the descendants; coming out of the south predicts a good harvest; coming out of the west symbolizes a smooth hunt; coming out of the north is an ominous sign. After the rice is cooked, the parents preside over the sacrifice to the god of the fortress, the blacksmith god, the god of the fire pit and other gods. Legend has it that the Kino people originally ate only yams and wild vegetables, it was their dog brought back a grain of seed, they planted it, but not much, and then a white-haired old man passed on to them the knowledge of planting grains, so they harvested a barn full of new rice, and from then on they had the tradition of the New Rice Festival. [10]

The Bird Festival

The bird is the totem of the Gelao ethnic group, and the first day of the second month of the lunar calendar is the traditional "Bird Festival" of the Gelao ethnic group, in which sacrificial ceremonies are held and traditional folk arts are performed. In order to protect and pass on the intangible cultural heritage and Gelao ethnic culture, YaoShang organizes the 2010 "YaoShang Gelao Bird Worshiping Festival" on this day. The "Bird Worshipping Festival" is a comprehensive folklore activity that has been passed down from Gelao ancestors to honor the god of birds, and it is a kind of sacrificial activity for Gelao people to pray for the development of their children and grandchildren, the prosperity of their family business, and the abundance of grains. According to the genealogy of the Deng family on Yao, the festival has a history of at least 300 years, and the festival is centered on the theme of "honoring the bird", which includes the ecological environment of the bird's preservation of the residents' buildings and the dynamic folk culture.

At the festival, the Gelao compatriots show the visitors the charming and unique activities: holding the festival rituals, singing roadblocking songs, toasting roadblocking wine, performing trombone suona, Gelao Maolong, Gelao marriage customs, mountain song duet, impression of Yaoshang, etc. The festival is also a great opportunity for the tourists to see and learn the culture of Gelao. It also conducts ethnic folk competitions with unique rural characteristics, such as bullfighting, bull pulling, kung fu, arm-wrestling, toothpicking, and catching and releasing live chickens. [12]

Mountain Sacrifice Festival

March of the Lunar Calendar, when the spring mountains are bright, the spring rains are melting, the spring swallows return, and everything recovers, it is the key moment of spring plowing and production, and it is also the day for Gelao people to sacrifice mountains. Sacrifice generally in the third day of March, but also in some cases in March first Yin or first Si day. Sacrifice mountain village as a unit of their respective organizations. A village with only one family name, the mountain festival by the long room hereditary presidency; more than one family name in the village, the presidency of the rotation, every year by several households **** with the duty, the way to determine the duty by casting lots, the presiding officer facing the tree, respectfully offer sacrifices, call the famous mountain God to enjoy the offerings, and pray for the mountain God blessed the whole village clean and safe, the harvest, the six animals thrive, the man will be plowing oxen and harrowing, the woman will be spinning and weaving, and have more children.

The hill where the sacred tree is located is regarded as a sacred place by the Gelao people, and is highly protected, and people are not allowed to let the cattle and horses trample on it, and they are not allowed to cut down the trees on the hill, and they can't go into the hill at will to cut down the firewood and grass, which objectively plays the role of sealing off the hill and cultivating the forest. [10]

Rush Spring Water

Zunyi County and the Gelao people of the Taojin Gelao-Miao Autonomous County, there is the custom of "rush spring water".

On the first day of spring in the lunar calendar, families cleaned their houses, picked up enough water and prepared firecrackers. "Spring" this day, do not wash clothes, that washing clothes will make the spring water dirty, and do not sweep the floor, do not pick the water. The person who "grabs spring water" is an unmarried man or woman in the family. If there are several unmarried men or women in the family, then the parents will assign one of them who is honest, capable, resourceful and courageous; if there is no unmarried man or woman in the family, they will have to borrow one from a relative or a neighbor and invite him or her to live in the house on the first night.

The first time the rooster crowed, "grab spring water" people quietly get up, put on the water tools to walk to the water in the dark, do not make a sound, and can not be loud, otherwise it is thought to be alarmed "spring water". Then gently scoop water with a bowl, generally scoop twelve bowls (leap month scoop thirteen bowls). After scooping, you open your mouth and yell, "Spring water!" Then ignite firecrackers, shaking the whole cottage crackling, whose firecrackers go off first, it means that the family grabbed the "first water", the family's dolls are diligent. People have to go to the well or spring to carry water, on the way home, but also shouted "spring water to my home, to my home ..." When they got home, they immediately boiled the water and boiled the "spring water". Then burn a pot of tea to the whole family get up, each person drink a cup of "spring water" tea, and then drink a cup of honey rice flower tea, eat the Lantern, blessing the whole family peace. [13]

Liuhe Banquet

The so-called "Liuhe" refers to "unity, forbearance, tolerance, sincerity and goodwill, courtesy and respect", which is the behavioral norms and moral code of Gelao forefathers and Gelao people, and the most characteristic spiritual dependence in Gelao culture. It is the most characteristic spirit of Gelao culture.

So, to commemorate the Gelao forefathers for clearing the land and cleaving the grass, advocating "harmony" and promoting the "seven rules" (benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, loyalty, filial piety, respect, and concession), every year, during the festivals or at the end of the year, the people would bring out the best food of their own families and gather in the ancestral hall of the village to fight over wine and food, ******************** and to make a good living. They would gather at the village ancestral hall to fight for wine and food, ****criticize a year's hard work and ****celebrate a year's harvest, which is the "Liouhe Banquet" inherited by Gelao people till now.