The Miao people pay great attention to etiquette. Guests visit, must kill chickens and slaughter ducks hospitality, if it is a long way to the guests, the Miao people used to invite guests to drink ox horn wine. Eat chicken, chicken head to honor the guests in the elders, chicken legs to give the youngest guests. In some places, there is also the custom of sharing the heart of the chicken, that is, the oldest master of the family uses chopsticks to flick the heart of the chicken or duck to the guest, but the guest can not eat it himself, and must share the heart of the chicken equally with the old people in the audience. If the guest has a small capacity for alcohol and does not like to eat fat meat, he can explain the situation and the host will not force him to do so, but if he does not eat and drink enough, he will be regarded as looking down on the host.
The Miao people pay attention to the true feelings, very warm, the most taboo pomposity and hypocrisy. The master of the road to meet the guests do not take the first step, do not walk in front; conversation with honorific address; welcome guests to wear festive clothing; to the guests to the village outside the wine to welcome; guests to the door, the male host to call the door to inform the hostess at home, the hostess to sing the door to welcome the guests; in front of the guests, the hostess does not climb up the stairs; banquets to chickens, ducks to treat the guests as a delicacy, especially to the heart, the liver of the most expensive, to be the first to give to the guests or the elderly, the guests will be divided to the crowd to enjoy, the order of the guests to enjoy, and then to the guests. The guests would then share the food with all the people, in the order of the eldest and then the youngest. Guests should not call the host "Miaozi", they like to call themselves "Meng".
Costumes
It is the nature of the Miao girls to wear silver jewelry, they pull their hair in a bun on top of their heads, wearing about 20 centimeters high, beautifully crafted silver flower crowns, flower crowns inserted in front of the 6 uneven heights of the silver wings, most of which are made of two dragons playing with the beads pattern. In some areas, in addition to inserting silver pieces of silver crown, but also inserted about 1 meter high silver bullhorn, the tip of the corner Department of colorful floating, more noble and rich. Silver crown along the lower edge of the circle hanging silver flower belt, hanging a row of small silver flower pendant, the neck wearing a silver collar has several layers, more than a silver piece of beaten flowers and small silver ring even set and become. Chest wearing silver locks and silver pressure collar, chest, back wearing a silver cloak, hanging many small silver bells. The earrings and bracelets are all silver. Only the two sleeves show embroidery in a fiery red color, but the cuffs are also inlaid with a wider circle of silver ornaments. Miao girls often have several kilograms of dress, some of which have been inherited for several generations. Known as "flower clothes and silver Sai Tianxian" beauty. Miao silver craft, ornate and elaborate, ingenious, fully displaying the wisdom and talent of the Miao people. Miao clothing is not exactly the same everywhere, men with cloth head, wearing shorts, but the Miao women's dress is generally more elaborate, especially dress, extremely fine, a lot of flowers and decorations, some skirts have more than 40 layers, so the name "pleated skirt". The embroidered patterns on the dresses are ancient and colorful. The women are good at weaving, embroidery and batik, and their craftsmanship is very exquisite.
Customs
When you are a guest at a Hmong home, you should not eat the head of a chicken. Guests are also generally not allowed to clip chicken livers, chicken morsels and chicken legs; chicken guts and chicken morsels are to be honored for elderly women, while chicken legs are reserved for children. When you leave your Hmong host's home, be sure to politely say "wow chow", meaning "thank you", to thank the Hmong family for your hospitality.
Some Miao areas, avoid scrubbing drinking pots, rice packets, rice pots at any time, can only eat new rice when washing, to show that the old rice to meet the new rice. Scrubbing at any time will wash away the family wealth, rice is not enough to eat. Drinking raw water in the mountains is not to drink directly, must first hit the grass mark to show that kills the sick ghosts. Do not move the clothes of others put on the roadside, so as not to infect leprosy. Avoid children playing with small bows and arrows at home for fear of hitting their ancestors. It is forbidden to cross a child's head, otherwise the child will not grow tall. It is forbidden for women to sit on the same bench with their elders.
Marriage
The Miao are monogamous, young men and women have traditional social activities before marriage. For example, "meeting girls" is a way for Miao youth to fall in love freely. The traditional festival of the Miao people is the annual Huashan Festival (held on the fifth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, also known as "Stomping Huashan"), which is the most prosperous festival of the Miao people, during the festival, young men and women in festive costumes gather to sing songs and perform drumming, jumping lions and Lusheng dance, which is a lively and extraordinary event.
An essential food for young men and women in the process of marriage is glutinous rice. Miao people in Chengbu, Hunan province, painted with mandarin ducks of glutinous rice as a token to give each other; held a wedding, the bride and groom to drink a cup of wine, the bridegroom also invited the bride and groom to eat painted with dragons and phoenixes and bong dolls pattern of glutinous rice.
Food customs
The Miao people in most areas eat three meals a day, with rice as the main food. Deep-fried food is most common in the form of deep-fried poi. If you add some fresh meat and pickles as filling, the flavor is even more delicious.
Much of the meat comes from livestock, poultry raising, Sichuan, Yunnan and other places of the Miao people like to eat dog meat, there are "Miao dog, Yi wine," said. Miao cooking oil in addition to animal oil, mostly tea oil and vegetable oil.
The main condiment is chili pepper, and in some areas there is even the saying that "no spicy dishes". There are many kinds of dishes for the Miao people, and common vegetables include beans, melons, greens and radishes, and most of the Miao people are good at making bean products.
The Hmong people around the world are generally happy to eat sour dishes, sour soup is a must for every family. Sour soup is made from rice soup or tofu water, which is put into a tile jar and fermented for 3-5 days, then it can be used to cook meat, fish and vegetables.
The food preservation of the Hmong people is commonly done by pickling, and vegetables, chickens, ducks, fish, and meat are all preferred to be pickled into sour flavors. Almost every Hmong family has an altar for pickled food, collectively known as the sour altar.
The Miao people have a long history of brewing wine, from the production, fermentation, distillation, blending, cellar have a complete set of processes. Oil tea is the most common daily drink. The Miao people in western Hunan also have a special kind of Wanhua tea. Sour soup is also a common drink.
Typical foodstuffs include: blood dunking soup, chili bone, turtle and phoenix soup in Miao township, sheep cabbage, worm tea, ten thousand flowers tea, pounded fish, and fish in sour soup.
Festivals
The Miao people used to believe in the spirit of all things, worship nature, and worship their ancestors. There are many festivals, in addition to traditional annual festivals and sacrificial festivals, there are also festivals specifically related to eating. Such as: eating duck festival, eating new festival, fish festival, tea festival. In addition to the preparation of wine and meat for the festival, but also must prepare seasonal food.
Miao Nian Miao Nian Miao Nian is generally first in the first month of the first day of the month, lasting three, five days or fifteen days. Before the year, every family should prepare abundant New Year's food, in addition to killing pigs, slaughtering sheep (cattle), but also to prepare enough glutinous rice wine. The New Year's dinner is sumptuous, with "all seven colors" and "all five flavors", and the best glutinous rice is used to make "New Year's Poi". They are also known as the "New Year's Panda", which is made of the finest glutinous rice.
Fish Killing Festival Mostly in the riverside, women bring rice, bacon, sausage and other food and wine, as long as they catch fish, that is, the bonfire, set up pots and pans to cook the fish until they are full of fun to return.
"Drum Festival" is the largest Miao folk festival. Generally, it is a small festival for seven years and a big festival for thirteen years. In the lunar calendar from October to November of the Bhai day, when you have to kill a bullock cattle, dancing Lusheng dance, sacrifices to see the ancestors. When the food invited friends and relatives *** get together, in order to enhance the relationship, family harmony.
Treading the flower mountain is the territory of the Miao people's grand traditional festival, generally in the first, third and sixth days of the first month of the lunar calendar every year. Where there are Miao people living in the counties, these days are to set up flower poles, held a grand stamping flower mountain activities. This is not only a good time for young Miao men and women to talk about love, but also an important place for Miao people to carry out cultural, sports and recreational activities. Miao men, women and children, dressed in gold and silver, rushed from all directions to the foot of the flower pole, blowing Lusheng, playing loud scorn, jumping tripod, playing big knife, bullfighting, wrestling, fighting with painted eyebrows, climbing the flower pole.
Playing back festival Popular in parts of the territory of Funing County, held in the first three to fifteen days of the first month of the lunar calendar every year, is the festival of the Miao young men and women. During the festival, young men and women gather in the beautiful scenery on the hillside, when the beat back began, the male swarmed out, rushed to their chosen girl in front of one hand, one hand to hold the girl's neck, one hand blindfolded the girl's eyes, the other young man to beat her back. The girl, not to be outdone, laughs and struggles at the same time. When she breaks free, she catches the lads and returns the favor. The whole field, men chasing women, jumping around. Tired of playing, both men and women that is to find a place to play the earth phone (that is, with two bamboo tubes, the center with a long line, each on one side of the bamboo tube speech, singing can be heard), pouring out each other honeyed words of love, in order to enterprises to form a partner. After the love affair, they will tell their parents and choose an auspicious day to get married.
Architecture
Because of the long-term dispersed residence, the formation of different areas of their own characteristics, the houses are mostly wooden structure, with tile, cedar bark or thatched roof, Qianzhong or Qianxi region, there is a thin slate roof. Mountainous areas are mostly footstools; Hainan Island and Yunnan Zhaotong and other places are living in long thatched houses or tree trunks crossed into the "pitchfork room"; western Hunan area is a stone house.
The Hmong live in mountainous areas, and their houses are mostly made of tree fences, bark for walls, and tiles for the time of weaving; or they may be made of bamboo or wooden tiles, with bedrooms, kitchens, and stables, with simple furnishings. Part of the Hmong live in the dam area, the housing also has water and soil structure of the tiled room, divided into three rooms, the left and right room each set a side door, the center room set the main door, that is, the main door. In some of the Hmong, the front door is generally not allowed to casually enter and exit, where the home in the event of a wedding, funeral, or sacrifice to the activities, only by the front door to enter and exit.