What are the traditional customs of Miao nationality?

Miao traditional marriage mode-Miao marriage is a specific form of social life organization formed by the combination of men and women, which formed the relationship between husband and wife recognized by the social system at that time. In the historical process of Miao nationality's marriage development, it experienced blood marriage system and pairing marriage system. With the development of productive forces, the marriage of Miao nationality has gradually changed from pairing marriage to monogamy. In the process of this change, women are by no means so accustomed to the change of husband and wife's place of residence. Therefore, after the wedding, the bride returns to her parents' house, and only stays in her husband's house for a few days during holidays or busy farming hours, and only stays in her husband's house when she is pregnant ("confinement" means that after the husband and wife get married, the woman lives with her husband, and the Miao people in Xiangxi and Guizhou live by calendar.

love

Miao people often choose the annual "Flower Mountain Walk" (which later became a healthy entertainment and gathering place), which is a good opportunity for Miao young men and women to fall in love and find spouses. By singing and dancing together, young Miao men and women can know and understand each other. When you meet the right person, you pour out your love to the other person. One day in love, the man gave the woman a flower foot binding and a flower waist seal, and the woman also took out her embroidered flower handkerchief and Baotou as gifts. Some girls hold a small round mirror in their hands as a token of the first engagement of Miao young men and women. After you find someone you love in Huashan, take the mirror as the basis of your life, or make an appointment to meet next year. Young men and women who take part in the Huashan outing, whether married or unmarried, can freely choose to sing songs, and no one else can interfere or stop them. However, the content of folk songs should be healthy, especially married men and women, and they should not belittle themselves and their spouses when singing, so as not to affect family relations. Besides stepping on Huashan Mountain, the flute and whistle are also the media for young Miao men and women to fall in love. Young men and women who can't express their love easily express their feelings through flute and loud whistle. As soon as the men and women who know each other hear the sound of the flute, they know who played it and who sent it. As long as a girl hears the flute, she knows that the other person is asking her out on a date at a certain time and place.

Generally speaking, a girl who is embarrassed to speak can also convey the meaning of confession to her lover through a contemptuous tone. In addition, there are duets. Although strangers to each other, as long as you are familiar with the last song, you will know each other's clarity. Most Miao men and women are married by duets. There are two forms of duet, one is face-to-face duet; One is to sing to each other across the mountain (the bamboo tube at the bottom of the tube is tied tightly with pig urine bubbles, with a long line in the middle and one on each side). After the line is stretched, it can be called "earth phone". All married women, their husbands are generally not allowed to sing.

In the traditional marriage of Miao nationality, matchmaking is an important means to promote marriage (even free love) between men and women. There are several forms of matchmaking: if men and women don't know each other, the uncle first proposes to the woman with the man, and then asks the media to do it after the woman agrees; If both men and women know each other in vain and are congenial to each other, the matchmaker uncle will directly take the man as a matchmaker; If a man and a woman voluntarily become partners, the woman has already lived in the man's house, and only the matchmaker and uncle need to go to the woman's house to act as matchmaker.

Miao matchmakers are all men, so they are called "matchmakers". A marriage needs two matchmakers, called "big matchmaker" and "second matchmaker" respectively, and the woman should also find a suitable matchmaker to talk to her accordingly. Matchmakers and grandfathers usually bring two pots of wine, two pounds of meat, a certain number of cigarettes and several hundred yuan, as well as a rooster and a hen. The time for matchmaking is usually at night. After everyone is seated, the man will propose a cigarette to the woman's parents. If the woman's parents receive cigarettes, it means that this marriage is progressive and promising. If the woman's parents don't pick up cigarettes, it means that the woman's parents don't agree. After the woman's parents took the cigarettes, the young man poured a bowl of wine he brought to the woman's parents and Baekje's media people and uncles. The two sides chatted and drank, and the matchmaker indicated his intention, introduced the man's name, age, family background, personality and other basic information, and solicited the opinions of the woman's parents, uncles and aunts. If you agree, call the woman out and ask her for advice. The man should take the opportunity to propose to the woman. If the woman agrees, the marriage will be settled. After that, the matchmakers of both sides can discuss the banquet and bride price (on the spot or at another time). When discussing, the male butterfly will set a table in the middle of the room with six small bowls full of wine on it, and then invite the matchmaker and uncle to sit at the table. The man's matchmaker sits in E: seat, the woman's matchmaker sits in separate seats, the uncles of both sides sit around, and the uncle of the woman's parents sits at the table.

No one else is sitting. After some twists and turns, after all matters are properly discussed by both parties, the man and his family can leave the woman's house and return overnight if the journey is short. If you are far away, you can go to relatives and friends for the night and go again the next day. Never spend the night at a woman's house.

wedding

Miao traditional marriage has two forms: arranged by parents and free love. In arranged marriages, girls are generally older than boys, and both men and women are mostly related. When the girl is underage, the man's parents give her clothes and skirts, which is engagement, and the girl will not formally get married until she grows up. When getting married, the man's family should give the woman some money as identity money, and the woman's family should also give her daughter a certain dowry, such as a cow or a pig as her daughter's dowry.

Free marriage, Miao customs vary from place to place. Today, young Miao men and women in Maguan and Malipo counties choose their spouses in the form of folk songs with the annual "Huashan Festival". "Maguan County Records and Customs Records" records that whenever Miao women set foot on Huashan Mountain in the first month, "many Miao women are ashamed to stand still. A Miao man smeared grease on a long rope, and the two dragged it around, pretending to pollute women's clothes. Miao women are forced to play, or get together in groups of three or five, leaving it to Miao men to choose. " If a young man has a crush on a girl, he will open a flower umbrella, cover the girl and sing a courtship song first. "If a girl has feelings, she will answer with songs. If she doesn't agree, she will silently refuse or slip away from the umbrella. After the conversation, the two sides hit it off, so it was convenient for the man to inform his parents and ask the butterfly man to propose marriage to the woman's house. If a man and a woman marry voluntarily, and their parents disagree, the woman follows the man. The man hid the woman in a relative's house and then asked the matchmaker to tell her parents. "

In addition to the male marrying the female, the Miao nationality's "red Miao" in Maguan and "self-Miao" in Malipo occasionally rob to get married. There are two kinds of wedding robberies. One is a symbolic ceremony after the love between men and women matures. Specifically, the man asked several relatives to wait for the girl to go out and "grab" the girl next to the woman's village in advance. As soon as the woman's brother found out, he asked someone to pretend to chase him all the way to the man's house, let the man entertain him with wine and rice, or give him some money. "After the girl was robbed of her husband's family, the man covered her with an umbrella. In the pre-arranged residence for her, the man's aunt or other female elders use a live rooster to circle the girl's head three times, which is called' catching the soul'. The girl can officially become a member of the man's family. After two or three days, the man's family formally hired a matchmaker to go to the woman's house to explain the situation and propose marriage. At this time, the woman's parents will have some formal quarrels, and finally promise the man to discuss the gift money and choose an auspicious day for the wedding. Once the woman's parents agree to the marriage, the man must send the robbed girl back to her family. " Another kind of marriage robbery is real robbery, that is, the man made an appointment with his peers in the village where the woman lived. When he saw the girl leave the village, he forcibly took the man's house. In their view, once a girl is robbed of the man's house, she loses the right to return to her family. In the future, the man still has to send a matchmaker to the woman's house to be a matchmaker, and the wedding can only be held after the girl and her parents agree. Weddings are usually held in October, winter or twelfth month (during which there is a low season, food and no thunder).

The wedding of Miao people is grand and lively. There are matchmakers, grooms, chaperones, aunts, brothers and sisters, and relatives, and one day they travel to two days (the number of people attending the wedding is also odd to even). When the wedding team arrives at the woman's house, it must go through five levels: performance, clearing the scene, recognizing relatives, guessing tune and blocking the road before marrying the girl. Setting the gate is a checkpoint set in front of the woman's house. There is a doorman at this door. When the wedding procession arrives, the woman's gatekeeper gets up to greet her, or offers cigarettes or tea, and starts a duet competition on this topic. Ritual clearance is a difficult point for the woman's family to count gifts and gifts. If it doesn't pass, the guests attending the wedding can't enjoy dinner. Recognition of relatives is a ceremony held by the man to bow down to his parents, uncles, brothers and sisters in order to repay the kindness of the woman's family to her daughter and thank her for her warm hospitality. Guess the key level is the song level. Blocking the road is a ceremony in which several women propose a toast to the wedding procession when it returns (called a farewell toast, which actually makes people drunk for fun). These five levels are a test for the intelligence of the man's matchmaker, the economic strength of the man's family and the alcohol consumption of the wedding guests. As a form, of course, it also tests the sincerity of the man.

The bow-down ceremony in the wedding ceremony is that the groom and the best man should bow down to their relatives and friends four times during the marriage, so as to test whether the man is persistent in the marriage. The first time I bow down to the bride for betrothal, the matchmaker takes the groom and the best man to meet her relatives, such as mother-in-law, parents, sister-in-law, younger brother and sister-in-law. The groom and the best man propose a toast to the relatives of the woman and bow down on the spot. The second bow down was the night when the groom went to the woman's house to marry the bride. After the woman's family, relatives and helpers are all present, a straw mat will be laid in front of the hall, presided over by the man's matchmaker, so that the groom and the best man can worship the ancestral temple first, and the matchmakers of the two parents-in-law, three uncles, four husbands, five cooks, six brothers' sisters-in-law, seven brothers' helpers and eight people will send the bride. Bowing is very strict. The groom and the best man should not only kneel on the ground, but also kowtow twice with their hands touching the ground. For the third time, before the wedding procession leaves, a straw mat is laid in front of the woman's house, and the groom and the best man should bow down to the woman's parents, matchmaker and wedding helper. After the groom marries the bride home, he will bow for the fourth time that night. The procedure and atmosphere are the same as the second bow down, and the groom and the best man bow down to the man's relatives and helpers. Every time I bow down, the bride doesn't participate.

On the way to the man's house, the bride was accompanied by her sister-in-law. On the way, she is going to have lunch. No matter how far it is from the bride's family to the groom's house, she must go home at night (if the bride and groom live in the same stockade, the couple will also take a walk in the wild, have lunch in the wild and go back to the groom's house at night). As the saying goes, "Miao people beg for their wives and don't enter the nest until dark." When the bride arrives at the groom's door, she must hold a ceremony to enter the bridal chamber, and don't make trouble in the bridal chamber at night. "The bride and groom can't sleep together that night." This is because most Miao people think it is not good to have guests during the wedding. The bride is accompanied by a dowry, and the next day or the third day is accompanied by her husband back to her family (commonly known as "Huimen"). In the three years after their marriage, every time the couple returned to the woman's house, they would set off muskets or firecrackers when they entered the door. In the past three years, every year on the second day of the first month, the man has to bring meat, chicken, half a loaf and other food to his father-in-law's uncle and aunt's house to pay New Year's greetings. In Wenshan Prefecture, the marriage of Miao nationality is slightly different in different places and branches. The marriage between a man and a woman and "Hongmiao" (Mengbei) in Maguan County is basically a voluntary union. The man secretly took the woman to his home and then proposed to her home. In Miao language, "Zhi Bo" actually means "grabbing a marriage" (but from the perspective of modern people, it is actually free love, also called "sneaking away". After two or three days, the man sent two matchmakers to pour wine for the woman's parents and their relatives and friends as gifts. After the wine is poured, it is necessary to give the woman's parents a certain amount of gift money, and prepare dozens or even hundreds of pounds of meat and bowls of wine to entertain the woman's relatives and friends. When a man takes a woman away, if the woman's brother knows, he will chase her, even to the man's house. The man's family will treat her to a meal, and sometimes give the suitor a certain gift before sending her back. Besides Zhi Bo, some parents invited the matchmaker to get engaged. "Red Miao" in Jia Han's answer is popular in "transferring houses", that is, if a brother dies, his brother or younger brother can marry his wife. If the brother of the deceased refuses, he can pass it on to his cousin, and if the cousin also refuses, he can pass it on to his husband. At the foot of the river slope, there is a village (Mazhai) and "Xiaomiao Village" (Meng Si) which are very popular. Aunt and uncle's children get married, many of them are early marriages, which are arranged by parents. When engaged, the man has to pay a gift. On the day of engagement, the family, relatives and friends of both men and women * * * eat areca as a symbol of unity and friendship. The "white seedlings" near Tangzi in Malipo County were very popular before liberation. "From the survey data of 26 couples, there are 7 pairs of uncles and aunts, the younger brother marries the nephew, and the younger brother marries his brother's wife. There is polygamy, and 4 out of 26 couples are polygamous. " The "white Miao" next to the Yao nationality in Majie is popular with the custom of robbing marriage. The man sent two boys to wait beside the village where the woman lived in advance, and then grabbed the girl when she came out. After grabbing the girl from her in-laws' house, she symbolically put an umbrella in front of her aunt's house, and then an old woman caught a rooster and circled the girl's head three times, that is, "catching the soul." After the ceremony, the girl officially became a family member. She can't leave the man's house whether she is voluntarily robbed or really robbed. Three days after the robbery, the man sent two matchmakers to his house. When the matchmaker goes, he should bring some alcohol and tobacco to entertain her parents. After proposing marriage and paying the gift money, we will officially pick up our relatives on another auspicious day. But on the eve of the wedding, the robbed girl must be sent back to her family.

Miao people have many taboos in the process of concluding marriage and holding ceremonies. If you avoid picking up the bride when it is thundering and raining, it is considered unlucky, and the children will not grow well in the future; Women can't walk in front of their elders, they can only walk around their seats. Women who are not heads of households cannot build houses; Daughter-in-law can only eat at the same table as her husband and mother-in-law, not her father-in-law.

Marriage choice restriction

For a long time, Miao people rarely intermarry with other ethnic groups, including Han people. In addition to some obstacles caused by history, different customs and languages have also brought great difficulties to intermarriage. In addition, the long-standing practice of intermarriage (between two or more clans of the same tribe) also makes it difficult for Miao people to intermarry with other ethnic groups. In some Miao areas, children born to married sisters cannot get married. Because by convention, sisters' husbands, whether of the same surname or of the opposite sex, are regarded as brothers. My sister's husband is called brother, and my sister's husband is called brother. The children born have the same names as brothers and sisters. According to Miao people, the prohibition of marriage between brothers and sisters also applies to cousins.

Influenced by exile, the Miao people who have more contact with the Han nationality are limited by the date of birth, so Miao men and women should choose the matching date of birth. If it belongs to a tiger, it is not worthy of a pig, and a dog is not worthy of a mouse. In some places, you can't marry in the same outfit, nor can you marry in the same generation. In addition, Miao people have strict marriage restrictions, that is, they cannot marry with the same surname.

divorce

Relatively speaking, Miao people's marriage is relatively stable, but divorce is rare, generally because of family difficulties, infertility and so on. The Miao people in Wenshan occasionally divorce, and the procedure is extremely simple, which is a traditional way. If the man asks for a divorce, the man is responsible for compensating the woman for the loss; If the woman files for divorce, she will be responsible for compensating the loss of the man, but both parties must ask "witnesses" to testify. Witnesses are generally prestigious people in the village or at home. "In some places, when testifying, the witness takes a bamboo pole and splits it in two, which means to make a clean break. Men and women each take a section, turn their backs on each other and never repent. " The divorce ceremony ended like this. Others were persuaded by friends, and then they left separately.

Life customs-The main festivals are Mountain Treading Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. Bigamy funeral custom, burial. Women's clothes are brightly colored and batik skills are superb. Folk literature is rich in content. I like blowing sheng's harmony and dance with Sheng. Yang opera is popular in Miao areas in southeast Sichuan. Mainly in agriculture, but also in animal husbandry and forestry. The staple food is corn, which takes longer than tofu. The houses in east Sichuan are dry-column-style, while those in south Sichuan are bungalows. Dress

Miao costumes reflect the characteristics of Miao people's long history, scattered residence and diverse customs. There are strict differences in costumes among branches, counties and villages of Miao nationality. The main colors of their clothes are also different. The so-called "White Miao", "Black Miao", "Flower Miao" and "Han Miao" are all called by their own names or nicknames according to their clothing colors or styles, and some are called "Long skirt Miao" and "Short skirt Miao" according to women's skirts. In fact, the same name is strict, and women's clothes in different regions are different. Malipo people are also "white seedlings", wearing blue cloth with round neck and narrow sleeves lined with three black cloths and white clothes inside. The collar and chest are white, the forehead is wrapped with a white towel, and the white towel is wrapped with a black towel, which is black and white; The "white seedlings" around Zhenxiong and Weixin are dressed in blue-green long skirts and pleated skirts. All collars, cuffs and waists are embroidered with five-color silk thread, and black and blue cloth strips about five inches wide and more than ten feet long are wrapped around their heads. The outstanding white lies in white leggings. Most Miao costumes are decorated with patterns, embroidery, embroidery, batik, knitting and lining, which are very beautiful and dazzling. Most Miao women wear bracelets and earrings, big collars and silver locks on their chests, and some also hang silver beads of different lengths, which are luxurious and rich.

life

It is the communication custom of Miao people to ask their surnames before meeting. When young men and women meet for the first time, according to the rules, they should ask each other's surname first. If the two sides share the same surname, they should be brothers and sisters, treat each other with courtesy, and can't joke, sing and dance. If the surnames are different, you can make jokes and sing and dance. However, if you want to consider courting each other, you can express your love with words and songs. Spinning is also a social custom of Miao nationality. Miao men like to wear swords After giving birth to a boy, parents, relatives and friends should prepare an iron as heavy as the child and bury it in the ground. After that, the boy will dig out the iron and forge it once a year on his birthday. When the child reaches the age of 16, he will beat this iron into a Miao Dao and wear it on his body.

festival

Ganmiaochang

This is a traditional Miao festival. Popular in Xuyong and Gu Lin. It is held twice a year on February 13 and July 3 of the lunar calendar. According to legend, the origin of Miaochang was formed by the Miao people after an uprising failed. The government won't let them be together. People secretly contacted each other in the name of playing Lusheng on the dam, and later it gradually evolved into a fixed festival.

Ribbon Festival

Popular in Dongxia, xuyong county. It is held on the fifth day of the second lunar month every year. At that time, dozens of young men and women in Fiona Fang. If both parties like it, they can give each other belts as engagement gifts. Those who repent afterwards can claim back their belts and dissolve the relationship.

Sheep and horse festival

It is popular in Longchi and Shidi in Xiushan County. It is held every year from April 26th to 28th of the lunar calendar. At that time, people will kill pigs and sheep, treat guests and give gifts, and celebrate festivals grandly.

Dry autumn festival

Spread in Xiushan County. Beginning of autumn Festival is held every year. At that time, people will flock to the venue from all directions to participate in and watch activities such as swinging, lion dancing, playing dragon lanterns and climbing knives and ladders. As for the origin of this festival, it is said that in ancient times, a clever young man, looking for a beloved girl for the people, turned a swing for one person into a swing for eight people to attract people from far and near to swing. On the swing, he finally found his beloved girl. Since then, people get together to play on the swing every autumn. Year after year, it becomes catching up with autumn.

Wash feet on new year's eve

This is also a Miao festival custom. Every year on New Year's Eve, every family goes to the stream to dig some calamus with leaves, pull some black foam leaves and peach leaves, and put them in a pot to simmer a pot of water at night. After the water is hot, pour it into the basin to wash your feet.