Customs of the Shui and She People

Historically, the She people migrated from place to place, and their material life was particularly simple. They lived in mountain valleys, thatched roofs, bamboo hedges and wooden houses, and lived in clusters. Generally, they live in thatched houses and wooden houses. Nowadays, as the living standard of the She people changes, more and more people are building small houses. Fire cages and fire pits are indispensable to the family life of the She people. Because of the cold climate in the mountainous areas, families sit around the fire pit in the severe winter months and roast the fire to keep warm. In the mountainous areas of the She people, there is little paddy land and much dry land, so there is less rice cultivation and more mixed grains. They generally use groundnut rice mixed with rice as their staple food, and pure rice is only used when entertaining VIPs, and they like to eat shrimp, seaweed, tofu, and so on. Especially like to drink "rice wine" and "wheat wine".

The traditional dress of the She people is colorful and splendid. The She people's clothes are greenish-blue in color, and most of them are made of self-woven linen. Nowadays, the clothing of She men is no different from that of Han Chinese, while some She women in eastern Fujian and southern Zhejiang still have distinctive national styles in their clothing. The collars, cuffs and right lapels are laced with flowers, and there is a custom of wearing shorts and wrapping the legs. Especially the women's hair style is different from that of the Han Chinese. Young girls like to use red floss and hair wrapped together, braided into a long braid, coiled on the head. Married women generally wear a phoenix crown, that is, with a small refined bamboo tube, red cloth outside the handkerchief, under the suspension of a foot-long, one-inch-wide red damask. Old, middle and young women of different ages, hair also ringed with black, blue or red floss. The crown is decorated with a round silver plate, three small silver plates hanging from the plate; hanging in front of the forehead, the She called it a dragon bun, indicating that it is the "Three Princesses" to wear the phoenix crown (legend has it that Emperor Gaoxin betrothed his three princesses to Panzou, who is credited with chopping off the head of the King of the Injun Rong Fans. The crown also inserted a silver hairpin, and then wear a silver collar, silver chain, silver bracelet and earrings, look extraordinarily colorful.

Before liberation, She marriage families generally practiced monogamy and still retained their ancient marriage customs. Generally the same family name is not married, this ethnic group within the Pan, Blue, Lei, Zhong four surnames in the self-marriage. Originally, the clan exogamy system was the traditional marriage custom of the She people. However, due to the ethnic suppression and discriminatory policies of successive rulers, intermarriage between She and Han was strictly forbidden, and was once an internal rule of the She people. After the liberation, with the implementation of the policy of ethnic equality and solidarity, intermarriage between the She and Han ethnic groups has been increasing. In ancient times, young She men and women had the tradition of free love, and it was the custom of the She forefathers to sing songs and get married. However, with the development of the feudal landlord economy, influenced by the Han's concept of marriage, to the dissolution. Before the liberation, the phenomenon of feudal sale and arrangement of She marriages was very serious. After the liberation, it was abolished, and now young She men and women are basically free to love each other and have their own marriages. The form of burial is earth burial, retaining the custom of picking up the bones and reburying them.

The traditional festivals of the She ethnic group include the Dragon Scattering Festival in the fourth month of the lunar calendar, the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh lunar month, the Autumn Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Chung Yeung Festival and the Spring Festival. In addition, the 15th day of February, the 15th day of July and the 15th day of August in the lunar calendar are the ancestor worship days of the She people every year.

Excerpted from "The Complete Book of Ethnic Work", edited by Qianli Yuan