What are the customs of Yao people

Yunnan Yao Folk Customs and Customs With a long history and splendid national culture, able to sing and dance, hard-working and brave Yao **** there are more than 2,134,000 people, the Yao people live and die in the south of the motherland in the mountainous areas of Guangxi, Hunan, Yunnan, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Hainan and other provinces and districts, is a more typical mountainous ethnic groups in southern China. Here the rainfall is abundant, the forest is lush, the natural resources are very rich, there are unique plants, animals, minerals and other resources. For example, Jianghua Yaoshan, known as the "Green Treasure House", and Jinxiu Dayao Mountain, known as the largest natural plant kingdom in Guangxi and the "Township of Cedar"....... The Yao people have their own language, which belongs to the Yao language family. The Yao language belongs to the Yao branch of the Yao language family of the Sino-Tibetan language family, but the situation is more complicated, more than half of the people speak "Mian", which belongs to the Yao branch of the Miao-Yao language family; two-fifths of the people speak "Bunu", which belongs to the Miao branch of the Yao language family; and some of the people in the Guangxi area speak "Laja", which belongs to the Zhuang-Jiangxi branch of the Yao language family. Some people in Guangxi speak "Laja", which belongs to the Zhuang-Dong language group. Most of them are fluent in Chinese and Zhuang, and they do not have their own national scripts, but generally use Chinese as a common language. Oral literature is extremely rich. There are 63 kinds of self-proclaimed names of Yao, such as Mian, Men, Min, etc., and 390 kinds of other names, such as Panyao, Indigo Yao, and Hongtou Yao, etc. The Chinese People's Republic of China was founded. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, they were collectively called the Yao. Restricted by the living area, most Yao people still retain the primitive hunting, fishing and farming culture, as well as exquisite Yao brocade, Yao clothes, ancient legends, beautiful Yao songs, graceful dances, unique marriage customs and religious beliefs. Yao women are good at weaving, dyeing and embroidery, and their costumes have exquisite patterns and designs, which are rich in variations. Most of the clans are called by their costumes, for example, those who wear headdresses with boards supporting them are called top-board Yao, and those who wear indigo clothes are called indigo Yao. The language of the Yao people is complex, with many dialects, no writing, and the Chinese language is commonly used. In order to commemorate their ancestors, October 16th of the lunar calendar is designated as "Panwang Festival". The Yao mainly believe in primitive religions, worshiping the gods of the village, the family, the mountains and the winds, etc., and also divining the auspicious days and sacrificing to the gods for their activities in life and production. Religious beliefs of the Yao people are complicated, and Wicca, Taoism and primitive religions vary from place to place. Ceremony The hospitality of the Yao people is even greater than that of the Han areas. All guests who enter the Yao home are treated with respect and hospitality. The funny "hanging bags" and "Guadan wine" are the typical manners of Yao hospitality. When a guest arrives at a Yao house, he or she only needs to hang the bag he or she is carrying on the hook on the main pillar of the house to indicate that he or she wants to dine in the house. No need to explain in advance, the host will naturally stay in the guest dining at home. If you do not understand this rule, the old bag and other things on the side, the host will think that you have to go elsewhere, the meal often falls through. Yao people have great respect for their ancestors, used to read the names of their ancestors a few generations before the meal, said that the ancestors first taste after the children and grandchildren to be used. Especially for the sumptuous meal is so. Every festival must have pork, chicken, duck and wine to worship ancestors, eating seats also have to pay attention to: the elderly and honored guests must sit on the seat. In the event of guests, to wine and meat hospitality, some places to offer the chicken crown to the guests. Yao in the toast to the guests, generally by the young girl to raise the cup Qi Mei, in order to show respect for the guests; there are also highly respected old man for the guests to toast, is regarded as a great gift. Yao family hospitality generous and courteous. Preserved meat, mountain treasures, wild game and local specialties are the most common dishes in Yao family hospitality. At the banquet, the golden and thick bacon is regarded as the best, and the host will enthusiastically give the guests large pieces of bacon. Whether the guests like it or not, they should accept it so that the host will be happy. Guadan wine is a special wine for Yao family to entertain guests. This kind of wine is made of glutinous rice. It is brewed into a paste wine, mixed with spring water or cool water, drinking with a melon ladle scooped out and poured into a bowl, even liquid with slag to drink. It is not very strong and has a sweet flavor. When dining, the youngest girl in the family poured wine and rice, and the host frequently toasted to the guests. At this time, the guests do not have to be too modest, should be generous and open to drink. In this way, the host believes that the guests look up to the Yao family, will be more and more happy, and more cordial. If the formal see outside, rather unwelcome. In Dashan Yao, also like to honor guests with oil tea, in case of guests, are accustomed to three bowls. Named "a bowl of sparse, two bowls of pro, three bowls to see the true". Yao old people also like to drink tea, so tea is also a hospitality drink. When entertaining guests, chicken, meat, salt in a row in the bowl, regardless of the host and guest, must be eaten in order to clip, shall not be disordered. Guests and the elderly eat every bowl of rice by the women on behalf of the loaded rice. Salt has a special status in the food customs of the Yao people, the Yao district does not produce salt, but there can be no shortage of salt. Salt in Yao is a great gift to invite Taoist priests and relatives, commonly called "salt letter". Anyone who receives the "salt letter" must put aside no matter how important things are and go to the appointment on time. Clothing In the past, due to the different characteristics of the Yao people in terms of their residence and clothing, there used to be "Overhill Yao", "Red-headed Yao", "Daban Yao", "Pingtou Yao There have been different names, such as "Koushan Yao", "Red-Headed Yao", "Daban Yao", "Pingtou Yao", "Indigo Yao", "Shayao" and "White-Headed Yao", etc. The custom has been maintained. In terms of customs and habits, they have always kept their own traditional features, especially in the clothing of men and women, which is more obvious. Yao women are good at embroidery, with exquisite patterns on the lapels, cuffs and hems of their pants. Their hair is plaited around their heads, surrounded by fine beads of five colors, and the neck of their lapels is embroidered with colorful motifs to their chests. Men like to store their hair in buns and wrap their heads in red or green cloth, wear collarless lapel long-sleeved clothes, white cloth "kangshi" slung over the clothes, and wear pants with big legs. Yao men and women grow up to fifteen, six years old to change the flower hat to wrap the head, marking the body has matured. Customs to the Yao family guests, but also know the local taboos, otherwise it will cause the host's resentment. These taboos are: taboo feet on the fireplace support frame; taboo in the fireplace burning paper with words; into the Yao family taboo to wear white shoes and white hats, because the symbol of mourning; taboo sitting on the threshold; wearing straw shoes can not go upstairs; can not sit on the housewife burns the fire of the stool; to the wooden rows, taboo "umbrella", the words of "umbrellas When we go to the wooden row, we should not say "umbrella", and when we say "umbrella", we should say "rain cover", because "umbrella" and "scatter" are homophonic; when we meet someone to cut wood, we should not say "eat meat", "die", "eat meat" and "die". ", "death" and other ominous words and so on. Worship Pan Wang of the Yao people in the past generally prohibit eating dog meat; worship "Milo Tuo" of the Yao people in the past is prohibited to eat sow meat and eagle meat. In Chenxi County, southwestern Hunan Province, cucumbers were forbidden to be eaten before the fifth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. The vast majority of the Yao forbade cat meat and snake meat. In some places, lard is forbidden in the first few days after the birth of a woman. Yao sacrifice to the gods, generally pigs, chickens, ducks, eggs, fish and other food, avoid using dogs, snakes, cats, frogs. Wedding customs Young men and women are free to socialize, many Yao young men and women take the opportunity to "play the song hall" to choose the person of interest, once the men and women are in love with each other, the parents of both sides through the matchmakers to go to the marriage, and pork and wine as a gift. When the wedding is held, are to feast, according to traditional custom, the wedding banquet must be invited to Zhai old to participate, the bride and groom drink wine. But do not intermarry with other ethnic groups. Family organization monogamy, more aunts and uncles cousin marriage. Intermarriage with the same surname is not taboo. It is more popular for the Indigo Yao to marry their family members, and the Baitou Yao practice the custom of "robbing the marriage". The Yao people practise a monogamous marriage system, and generally do not intermarry with other clans; they can get married outside of the five generations of the net clan. Some marriages are arranged by parents, and some are free love marriages. Those whose marriages are arranged by their parents are often promised to others by their parents at a young age, and if their parents have died, they are left to their brothers and sisters-in-law and uncles. The main way to freely choose a spouse is through song pairing. Song pairing is generally carried out in the Spring Festival and outside the village young men and women come to the village to step on the song, there are also young men in the village to invite each other to friendly neighboring villages song pairing. The location of the songs is usually chosen near the village, when men and women are on one side and sing in a question-and-answer style. The tunes of the songs are simple, but the lyrics are complex, depending on the depth of the feelings of the men and women singing to each other. After the collective song of observation, comparison, consideration, if a young man to a young girl to happen to have a good feeling, it can be sung with the young girl alone, but the location can only be seen in the crowd of places, both sides have a certain understanding of the male that is to the female side of the proposal to disclose the views of the two sides, such as the two sides of the love of the heart, can be given each other a small piece of jewelry as a token. In some areas of the Yao people, mutual tokens when the little girl to bite the young man's arm, if the young man's arm is bitten and cum thick, it is said to have a destiny, otherwise the marriage is difficult. The song is popular in the Yao society in the long term in a free form of marriage, and therefore in the long-term development process has gradually formed some *** with the observance of the rules. As the village young men and women can not be on the desire, the presence of the elderly can not be on the song; their own family can not be on the song; men and women shall not be alone or in a secluded place on the song and so on. Yao marriages are characterized by matchmaking, and even couples chosen through song pairing have to be engaged through matchmaking. Matchmaking usually consists of the man's family sending a matchmaker to the woman's family to hand over tobacco leaves to indicate a marriage proposal, which is called "asking for smoke", the woman's parents accept the tobacco leaves, it is said to agree to the marriage proposal, and if the tobacco leaves are returned, it is said to be rejected. There are also those who choose to get married through songs and then matchmaking. In Yao marriages, the uncle enjoys the right to give priority to his niece as his daughter-in-law, and only when the uncle is childless can he marry someone else. When the eldest daughter of the family gets married, the aunt and uncle will preside over the wedding, and when the second daughter gets married, the eldest sister and brother-in-law will preside over the wedding, and the eldest sister will comb her hair for her. If a family has no male heir, it is common for the family to recruit a family member. Widows are generally sympathized with by the community and can remarry. If they are in lack of care, their property will be equally divided among the brothers of their original husbands, and the widows can take away their own personal belongings. Customary law is the standard for maintaining the marital life of Yao families. Unmarried men and women fornication, such as being discovered, must ask "Yao eyes" to kill chickens for the "wash face" to recognize the mistake, such as the woman is pregnant and give birth to a child, generally that is married to a large wife. A married man and an unmarried woman in an adulterous pregnancy, the man can be taken as a concubine, and vice versa, the man will be punished. A married man and a married woman adultery, was found by the husband, it will be "Yao eyes" by the adulterer of the husband of the penalty of five yuan half open (pre-liberation Yunnan prevailing a kind of goods advance), returned to the husband; continue to commit adultery, will be heavily punished. Divorce is regarded as a serious matter by the Yao people, and when the two sides really cannot be reconciled, they must be broken by the "Yao eyes", or else they will be condemned by the people of the village. Both sides voluntarily divorced, divorce, the two sides each with a machete, bamboo Jane a section (or a section of bushels of wood), far into the material Zhai, to the mountains to the bamboo tube broken into two halves, each holding half, and immediately walk away in the opposite direction, that each walk each way, and never look back; or a section of silk thread, with a knife to cut, each holding a section, said that the two are cut off. If one party initiates a divorce and the other does not agree, the party initiating the divorce is required to return part of the gift money paid to the other party at the time of the marriage. Food Customs The Yao people have three meals a day, usually two meals and one porridge or two porridges and one rice, and three dry meals during the busy season. In the past, Yao people often add corn, millet, sweet potato, cassava, taro, bean curd and so on in the rice porridge or rice. Sometimes they also use the method of "simmering" or "baking" to process food, such as simmering sweet potatoes and other potatoes, simmering bitter bamboo shoots, baking young corn, baking poi and so on. Living in mountainous areas of the Yao people, cold food habits, food production, are considered easy to carry and storage, so the staple food, side dishes both rice dumplings, bamboo rice are their favorite food production. Labor Yao are on the ground picnic, we come together in a piece, out of the dishes brought *** with the food, while the staple food, but each eat their own food carried. Frequently eaten vegetables are various kinds of melons, beans, greens, radishes, chili peppers, as well as bamboo shoots, mushrooms, fungus, ferns, parsnips, yellow flowers and so on. The Yao region also produces a variety of fruits. Vegetables are often made into dried or pickled vegetables. Some Yao in Yunnan prefer to make their vegetables very light, basically boiling them in plain water with salt. Some directly after boiling in white water, dipped in salt and chili pepper preparation of dipping water, in order to maintain the original flavor of a variety of different vegetables; meat is also often processed into bacon. The Yao people in Guangxi generally cook meat by dry frying, boiling in water, seasoning with salt, and less with spices; while meat is made into a very strong flavored dish, fresh meat or bacon, first fried and baked, and then boiled. Yao people like to eat insect pupae, often eat pine pupae, kudzu pupae, wild bee pupae, bee pupae and so on. The Yao people also like to utilize the characteristics of the mountainous areas to process and make their own cane sugar, sweet potato sugar, bee sugar and so on. Most Yao people like to drink wine, usually home brewed with rice, corn, sweet potatoes, etc., often drink 2 or 3 times a day. Yunnan Yao people like to use mash soaked water wine to drink, go out, commonly used bamboo tube to put the drink on the water. Yao people in Guangxi area also like to use cinnamon, ginger and other decoction tea, that this tea has a refreshing, clear fatigue effect. Yao people in many areas like to play oil tea, not only their own daily diet, but also with oil tea to entertain guests. Typical Foods: Yao people have a large population and a wide distribution, and there are unique flavor foods in different places, among which the typical foods are: oil tea; zongbao; hobaozha. Festivals In addition to the Spring Festival, Ching Ming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, etc., the Yao people also have their own unique traditional festivals, such as Panwang Festival, Festival of Spring Festival, Danu Festival, Juggling Songtang, Paga Festival, etc.. Festivals because of the large number of people, rice generally do not use iron pots and pans to cook, but with wooden Zhen steam, this rice aroma is stronger. Every festival. Yao people also want to do poi. Festival dishes are mainly chicken, duck, fish, pork, tofu, vermicelli and various vegetables. In some places, the Yao people also cook umi rice on April 8th. The Yao girls in Jiangshui County, Hunan Province, eat flower eggs, make flower poi and eat flower candies on the eighth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar every year when they celebrate the "Picnic Festival". When the girls are eating flower eggs, flower candies and flower poi poi, the young men are not allowed to peep, and offenders will be punished. Juggling Songtang is a large-scale entertainment activity for Liannan Paiyao to worship ancestors and celebrate the harvest, which is mostly carried out after the 16th day of the 10th month of the lunar calendar, and the length of time varies, about 3-9 days. At that time, every family has water wine, glutinous rice poop to entertain the guests, Yao sacrifices to the gods, generally with pigs, chickens, ducks, eggs, fish and other food, avoid using dogs, snakes, cats, frogs and other meat. The Yao people must cut cows to offer sacrifices for funerals. The number of head of cattle depends on the family, some kill as many as 7 or 8 heads. In some places, pork and tofu are the main ingredients of the funeral banquet. Yao Panwang Festival: The 16th day of the 10th lunar month is the grandest Panwang Festival of the Yao people. In the ancient times, the king of Yao Mountain and the king of Yao Mountain fought against each other. The King of Evaluation offered a reward to the one who could take the head of the High King, and would marry the most beautiful three princesses to him. Unexpectedly, the next day, a colorful dog named Pandu brought the head of the High King. The king did not break his promise and promised his beloved third princess to the colorful dog and made the dog the king of Pandu. On the wedding night, the colorful dog turned into a strong man, the princess was very happy. Later, the princess for the king of the pan gave birth to six men and six daughters, passed down the twelve Yao family name. One day, King Pan went to the mountains to hunt, but was accidentally killed by an antelope that fell off a cliff. Upon hearing the news, his children caught the antelope, skinned it to make a long drum, and danced angrily to avenge their father's death. From then on, every day, the Yao people would gather together to sing and dance in honor of King Pan. Today, the "Pan Wang Festival" has gradually developed into a celebration of the harvest of the fellowship. Young men and women take this opportunity to sing songs to express their love and look for a good match. Girls' Street: It is a traditional festival of the Yao people, which is held on the first day after the Spring Festival every year. Every year, girls of all ethnic groups put on colorful national costumes and flock to the market from all directions. Festival of the town, a joyful atmosphere, in the square, girls of all ethnic groups in a circle, singing and dancing to the accompaniment of musical instruments. There is also a striking tournament of gyros. Gyro is made of hard wood, the competition, two groups separated by a certain distance, each group of people take turns with their own spinning gyro to touch each other's spinning gyro. After hitting the gyro is still spinning for the winner. In addition, the streets and alleys are filled with colorful silk threads, lace, silverware, jewelry and other goods and a variety of delicious snacks. Men and women, bustling, crowded the street. Among the happy crowd, there are Yao girls dressed in peach blossom figure costumes, wearing earrings and bracelets; Miao girls wearing short clothes with big collars and pleated skirts, with three or four necklaces around their necks; Ha girls wearing black clothes and pants, with big silver rings on their chests - "bisuo"; and Ha girls wearing clothes with flowers and laces, with silver rings on their chests - "bisuo". girls, Yi girls dressed in lace, embroidered with beautiful patterns of clothing, wearing a silver bubble "cockle hat". They sell their agricultural and sideline products in the market in groups and buy lace, colorful silk threads and silver jewelry such as earrings and bracelets in front of the stalls. As the sun set, people in the town dispersed one after another, while the fields outside the town were filled with singing. Pairs of young men and women of all nationalities, on the hillside, under the trees, by the stream, by the lake, singing. Songs, piano and laughter are intertwined, swinging in the "girl street". Spring Festival of Yao People There is a unique and interesting activity of Yao people in Spring Festival, which is the performance of "Plowing Play". On the first day of the Lunar New Year, people gather in the village square to watch the "Plowing Play". "Cultivation play" by a person playing a cow, a companion to support the plow farmer, a person playing a hoe farmer, three people singing and dancing, after watching, young men and women indulge in song and dance. Song and dance, the girls, if they fancy the man of the hour, they carefully embroidered flower belt or their own silver jewelry, hanging in the young man's waist, to show their love, some areas of the Yao newlyweds, in the Chinese New Year Festival with gifts to the father-in-law's home to pay homage to the woman must be hosted a banquet. During the feast, the father-in-law sang a song wishing the newlyweds hard work, harmony, old age. "Catching Birds Festival": Every year on the first day of February, is the Yao people's "Catching Birds Festival". Every year on this day, no matter how sunny or rainy it is, young men and women from mountain villages within a radius of 50 or 60 miles put on festive national costumes lined with blue and trimmed with white, wear colorful bandanas, wear embroidered shoes and socks, and hold up green cloth umbrellas, and gather together as a group. Pairs of men and women, or four men and four women, sit in pairs on green lawns and rocky outcrops, or snuggle up under tea tree roots and pine trees, and sweetly sing love songs, mountain songs, charades and riddles from sunrise to the rising of the moon, and when they are thirsty, they drink a cup of fresh spring water, and when they are hungry, they eat a few poi rakes. Birds forget to return to their nests, singers do not want to go home, until the night dew soaked the handkerchiefs, they only male to send female, female to send male, sent over the ridge, sent over the mountain, send a ride, sing a section, almost into the walled village door, and only affectionate, reluctant to part. On this day, the young people are busy catching up with the song, looking for a soulmate; the elderly will be at home, the overnight pounding out of glutinous rice, pinched into the size of a coin, poked on a bamboo branch, inserted in the altar side or next to the door of the hall, called "bird rake", let the neighbors and children to take food. It is said that the bird pecked the rake, it will be stuck to the shell of the beak, and will not spoil the grains anymore. In the evening, the people of Kengshan cross the village string of fire pit, tasting each family's "bird rake", hoping for a good omen. Inverted Draft Festival: October 16th of the lunar calendar, is the Yao people's traditional celebration of the harvest. At this time, crops such as rice, sweet potatoes, buns, corn and so on have been harvested, and the Yao people designate this day as the "Inverted Draft Festival". Before this day, whoever planted who harvested, not allowed to cut indiscriminately, or according to the township rules and regulations of the people to impose a fine. After this day, anyone can go up and down the hill to collect the fruits of the field, who collects who gets, no interference. "Songtang" Festival: It is a festival for young men and women of Yao nationality to talk about love and sing for their spouses. According to traditional custom, it is held once every three to five years. Generally held on the sixteenth day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar lasts three days, nine days. When the festival comes before, each family has to notify friends and relatives from near and far to come to visit in advance. On the night of the festival, young men and women gather around the bonfire and sing love songs, passing on their love through songs, and the songs are long and deep, and they go on all night long before they stop. During the festival, people wear new clothes, put on a new headscarf, inserted brocade chicken feathers; streets and alleys, bustling, very lively. "At the beginning of the festival, the tablets of the ancestors are carried out from the temple for parade and worship. It is accompanied by gongs, drums and waist drums, as well as the firing of earthenware and copper cannons. When the middle-aged and elderly people carry the statue of Zu Gong and parade around the streets, a group of young women and young men gather in the square and sing songs to the young girls in pairs or groups of three. Sometimes there are as many as eighty or ninety pairs of young people participating in the singing. As the young men sang one after another, the girls carefully looked at the singing young men and secretly chose their favorites. The boys also sing to their heart's content to win the hearts of the girls, and after getting to know each other in the singing hall during the day, they can sing to the girls alone at night to woo them. During the festival, each family makes 20 to 30 pounds of sticky rice patties to entertain relatives and friends. Each family also produces some water wine (about seven catties) for people to drink as they like. Architecture The Yao people are good at adapting their houses to the local conditions, and there are "half-floor", "full-floor" and "courtyard" houses. The "half building" is generally five columns and three rooms, with two side mansions attached to each end, or one side mansion, or one side mansion extending in front to build a compartment. The main door is mostly in the upper floor of the house between the partial mansions. This kind of building is mostly built by Hongyao. The "whole building" is relatively called "half building"; it is generally built along the river or on a flat foundation in the mid-level of the mountain. The scale and ancillary buildings are the same as the "half building". Hua Yao and Pan Yao mostly live in the "whole building". The "courtyard" in the flatter ground connected to build four "full building" synthesized houses, the middle has a small square open space courtyard, so called "courtyard". This kind of building is only along the river along the red Yao rich people live