Tujia people build houses in the mountains, which are generally diaojiao buildings, with people living upstairs and livestock closed downstairs. To build a house, you have to face the mountain and water. Generally, there are four pillars and three rooms, and the middle room should be set up with ancestral temples. Both the left and right rooms are occupied, mostly two small rooms, and they are called "the second room". There is a fire shop in front of the second room, and there is a kang in the middle of the fire shop for heating and cooking. There is an iron tripod on the kang. There is a kang rack hanging above the fire kang, which is used to dry kang supplies. Especially before the Spring Festival, it is used to dry kang bacon and sausage.
Marriage Tujia people have the custom of marrying their cousins. Generally, it is the daughter of an aunt's family who marries the son of an uncle's family, which is called "bone species" and "the way to see with one's own eyes", which is regarded as in-laws plus in-laws. Tujia wedding, to send three favors. Girls should practice "crying wedding songs" before getting married. If you want to cry to your relatives and friends, you have to stop eating for 1~2 days in advance, which is the so-called "no tea, no rice". The girl gave birth to a child after marriage, and the man went to the girl's house to report the good news. The son-in-law carried a pot of wine to the woman's house and put it on the incense burner in the hall, with the spout facing outwards, indicating the birth of a boy; The spout is inward, indicating a girl. Later, the relatives of the woman's family sent food, chicken, meat and eggs to the man's family to eat "moon rice wine", and the man's family also gave gifts.
Most Tujia men and women like to wear big sleeves and trousers with embroidered birds on them. Pants should be waist-length. Both men and women like to wear white handkerchiefs on their heads and white cloth shoes on their feet, which is generous and beautiful. A woman wears silver ornaments on her head and a silver knife, bell and toothpick on her chest. There are all kinds of headdresses on the hats of boys and girls, and there are silver bells behind the hats, which jingle.
Funeral Tujia funeral, the death of the elderly, most of them have to hold a grand funeral. Teacher Tu should be invited to preside over the selection of burial date and cemetery, and there should be one mountain and one mountain. During the funeral service, "paper money" should be thrown on the road, and iron objects are prohibited in the grave. Therefore, a person's relatives should dig a well and wait until the dead are buried. During the burial, please ask Teacher Tu to open the coffin, clear the coffin and "throw rice". When throwing rice, relatives knelt in front of the coffin and picked it up with clothes behind their backs. Some chewed the rice carefully, swallowed it on the spot, and some took it back to cook, indicating that future generations should unite and live in harmony and inherit the old man's legacy.
Festival Tujia people have a traditional festival "Catch the Year". Every year, China New Year is celebrated on December 28th and 29th of the lunar calendar, and this custom has been preserved in some villages where Tujia people live in compact communities. "April 8th" is a festival for Tujia people to send caterpillars. We should read proverbs from ourselves and pray that the crops will be free from pests and have a good harvest.
It is believed that Tujia people worship their ancestors, think that ancestors are the greatest gods and bless future generations everywhere. It is generally believed in the "King of Earth", and it is said that the "King of Earth" is the ancestor of Tujia people. Every festival, burning paper, offering sacrifices to ancestors and "local kings". Tujia people also believe in the land god. During the Spring Festival, when visiting relatives and friends and passing by the Earth Temple, we should burn incense and paper. Many Tujia people also worship the "Three Kings Temple", including three gods, Ran, Yang and Tian, and pray that the Three Kings God will bless the population and six kinds of animals.
BACKGROUND: The family lives in some areas at the border of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Guizhou, which lasts for three years every year and the following year: the 29th (or 28th) of the twelfth lunar month, the "New Year"; June 25th of the lunar calendar passes the "June Year"; The first day of October passes the "October Year".
China New Year (referred to as "Spring Festival" for short) is on December 30th (or 29th) of the lunar calendar. Tujia people are all rushing to celebrate the New Year one day in advance, so they call it "rushing to celebrate the New Year". Why do Tujia people celebrate the New Year? There are four different sayings in the border areas of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Guizhou: one is to resist foreign aggression. It is said that during the Jiajing period, the Japanese invaded China, and Yongshun Tusi Peng Yina was ordered to go to war. He led 3000 soldiers to the front line one day ahead of schedule, defeated the Japanese army, and made "the first meritorious service in Southeast China". In order to commemorate the victory of this campaign, but also to express the deep memory of the broad masses of the people for the Japanese soldiers, the Tujia people in Yongshun County decided to celebrate the New Year on the 29th (or 28th) of the twelfth lunar month, a tradition that has lasted for hundreds of years. Another way of saying it is to defeat alien harassment. Due to frequent ethnic wars, Tujia people often can't celebrate the New Year safely. As a result, the leader of this country made a surprise attack with clever tricks. The leader asked the people to celebrate the New Year one day in advance, and then led the soldiers to make a surprise attack. The enemy ate wine and meat during the Chinese New Year and was unprepared. Tujia people beat him out of the water and evacuated hastily. There is also a saying that Tujia ancestors were poor and worked long-term for the rich. They are too poor to be reunited with their families in the New Year, so they have to celebrate the New Year one day earlier. It is also said that taxi families in Xiyang and Xiushan in Sichuan celebrate the New Year on March 3 and April 17 of the lunar calendar respectively, because Tujia people were ordered to go out to war during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, and the date of returning to the DPRK was different, so the time of the New Year was different.