Daily diet custom
The Wa people live on rice. Wa people in Ximeng area like to cook vegetables, salt and rice into thick rice. Wa people in other areas eat more rice. Generally speaking, there are three eclipses during the busy farming season and two dinners at ordinary times. Chicken porridge, such as camellia porridge, is the top grade in home cooking.
It is difficult to eat instant rice in upland rice, and the Wa people eat peppers regardless of gender. There is a saying among the people that "Chili is not short of food". The meat of the Wa people mainly comes from family feeding, including pigs, cows, chickens and other poultry. In addition, there are habits of preying on mice and insects. After catching the mouse, burn it, take out the internal organs, wash it, and cook it with rice to eat porridge. Some also use fire pits to dry mouse meat and make it into a dry bar for storage. The rodents hunted by Wa people are bamboo rats, squirrels and voles. In some areas, Wa people also have the habit of preying on insects. According to the special fish in the season, there are more than ten kinds of * * * fish, such as edible bamboo pupa, red caterpillar parasitic on vegetation, broom worm parasitic on wax gourd tree and wax gourd worm. When eating, cook edible insects and rice into porridge, add vegetables, salt and pepper, which is spicy and delicious.
Wa people are used to eating around the fire pit. Housewives put their meals in wooden bowls and distributed them to all members. Generally, it is divided at one time according to the amount of food. If outsiders are present, they can also share. In addition, the Wa people do not drink boiled water, but are used to drinking cold water.
Beekeeping by Wa people is very common, but the method of beekeeping is very special. First, use hollow logs, seal both ends, leave a few small holes for wild bees to go in and out, and put them under the rafters in the Woods or on the roof to breed and make honey. They are cut two or three times a year and eaten with pupae.
Delicious chicken rotten rice
Chicken rotten rice is called "Mania is not forgiving" and is a delicious food to welcome guests. It can be eaten as both a meal and a dish. Much softer than ordinary rice and much drier than porridge. There are two ways to do it, one is called hand-torn chicken rice, and the other is called knife-cut chicken rice. The preparation method is unique. Take fresh and tender black-bone chicken, cut it into pieces, cook it in a pot, and then add fennel leaves, green peppers, spicy materials, coriander, onion, garlic, fragrant seeds, mint and other seasonings to cook it slightly. Its color is bright, its taste is waxy and smooth, and it has its own characteristics.
Bitter tea
Besides drinking, Wa people prefer to drink bitter tea. Wa people should use big sand pots to make bitter tea, and use big tea pots if there is no sand pot. Tea, usually raw green tea, or homemade big leaf tea, is boiled once or twice. Cook slowly like a vegetable on a fire pit. Cook the tea thoroughly until there are only three or five mouthfuls left in the pot. The remaining few mouthfuls are bitter tea. I'm used to lifting cans when drinking. In the Wa nationality in Nuoliang area of Cangyuan, the newly brewed tea is almost as strong as that in tea cream, and drinking half a mouthful is enough to quench their thirst. The bitter tea cooked in this way is like Chinese medicine soup simmered with slow fire. Although it is bitter, it feels good after drinking it. It has a magical thirst quenching effect on the Wa people who are far away from the stockade and working in the fields. ?
Sparkling wine
Soaking wine is also the Wa people's favorite drink. In the year of good weather and good harvest, the Wa people brew sparkling wine not only on holidays, but also on weekdays. The method of making soaked wine is very simple. Most of them are sliced millet, sorghum, sweet potato and canna taro, fried and dried, or sealed in jars or bamboo tubes, ranging from 7-8 days to months (the longer the time, the better the alcohol content).
When guests need to drink at home, the host will open the jar to the spring water, filter out the residue and drink it. The host will brew wine. Generally, the host will taste the first bite and then propose a toast to the guests according to the seating order.
Soaked wine contains a small amount of alcohol and yeast, which can help digestion. Drinking sparkling wine often is not only harmless to the body, but also beneficial to health. Wa people's custom of soaking wine is also a symbol of friendship. For a long time, the habit of giving wine to each other has been circulating. Some people get married in the stockade, and relatives and neighbors with the same surname send wine to the couple. The host brought out buckets of soaked wine for the people attending the wedding. ?
Wa people only started drinking shochu in recent decades.
The typical foods of the Wa nationality mainly include: Camellia porridge, which is made from Camellia chicken and rice, a specialty of forests in southwest Yunnan; Burning snake meat; Fried ant eggs with green peas; Fried firewood worms, etc.
Chew betel nut
A common hobby of the Wa people in Ximeng. Almost everyone, men, women and children, carries betel nut bags or betel nut boxes with them. There is a piece of betel nut in your mouth when you rest or talk after work on weekdays. Their betel nuts are not the fruit of trees, but are cooked with chestnut leaves and limes. Because it is simple to make, most people will do this habit of chewing betel nut. It was once quite common among all ethnic groups in southern China and even in Nanyang Islands. This kind of betel nut will gradually turn black if chewed for a long time, and it will not fade for a long time. According to the Wa people, this method can not only make the teeth black, but also protect the teeth from being eaten by insects. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a record of "Blackpool people" in southwest Yunnan, which probably referred to the Wa people who chewed betel nuts with black teeth. Wa people regard their teeth as black and their lips as red, and think that the darker their teeth are, the more pleasing they are.
Festivals, Sacrifices, Etiquette and Dietary Customs
In the past, Wa people generally believed in animism. In some areas, Wa people believed in Buddhism, and almost all festivals were accompanied by sacrificial activities.
In addition to killing chickens and pigs, traditional sacrificial activities also require unique cattle hunting. For example, on the Sowing Festival (March in the Gregorian calendar), the whole village gets together for a cattle race, and the cattle race ceremony is presided over by the owner who donated the cattle. At that time, the owner will stab the cow's heart with an iron handle and kill it, and then divide the beef equally to customers to pay homage to their ancestors. Cow bones belong to their owners, and cow bones are regarded as a symbol of wealth. After the ancestor worship ceremony, the whole family had lunch and began to sow dry valleys.
"South Mud" is a New Year's festival, which should be held in the last month of the year in the calendar (Hou Li). At four o'clock that night, the leaders and young people of the whole village will gather at the Wangs' house and chip in to buy a pig and a chicken to slaughter. Every family will bring a pot of glutinous rice and a rice cake and set up a small table. After that, they exchanged gifts and congratulated each other. At dawn, they worship the sacred tree, start hunting and catch fish and shrimp for good luck in the New Year.
Other festivals, such as catching the new water festival, lighting new fires, pulling wooden drums and other activities, should kill chickens and pigs for sacrifice. Among them, the sacrifice of Lamuye is large in scale, and the whole process takes more than ten days. Several festivals need a piece of cloth, and the whole family buys wine to celebrate. Before and after pulling leaves, ginger, banana leaves and chopsticks are not allowed.
Wa people's hospitality etiquette
Wa people are generous and hospitable, and treat guests with wine first, thinking that there is no wine as a gift. Wa people have various customs of entertaining guests and toasting. One is that the host of the toast takes a sip from himself first to dispel the various warnings of the guests, and then hands it to the guests in turn. Guests must drink the wine offered to them and try their best to dry it to show honesty, otherwise it will be regarded as disrespect for the host; Another form is that both the host and the guest are squatting on the ground, and the host hands the wine to the guest with his right hand. After the guest takes it with his right hand, he touches the ground slightly or bounces the wine on the ground with his right hand to show respect for his ancestors. Then the host and the guests drink together.
Wa people have the habit of not toasting without knowing their heart. Whenever the son goes out and the guest leaves, the host will also send a "farewell gift". That is, to propose a toast to relatives or guests. At that time, the host will use a gourd (a container for holding wine) to hold wine, take a sip first, and then send it to distant guests or relatives. Guests need to drink all the gourds to show that their family and friendship will never forget.