The Zhuang ethnic group (formerly known as Tong, Zhuang: Bouxcuengh, English: Cuengh (Zhuang), Vietnamese: T?y-N?ng) is the ethnic group with the largest population among the ethnic minorities in China. The following are the etiquette taboos of the Zhuang people that I have compiled for you. You are welcome to read!
1. Hospitality
The Zhuang people are a hospitable nation. In the past, guests who visited any house in the Zhuang villages They are all considered guests of the whole village, and often several families take turns to treat them to dinner, sometimes five or six families will eat at one meal. They usually have the habit of being guests to each other. For example, when a family is killing a pig, they must invite one person from each household in the village to have a meal together. Be sure to have wine on the table when entertaining guests to show your grandeur. The custom of toasting is "drinking cups". In fact, cups are not used, but white porcelain spoons are used.
When a guest comes home, he must provide him with the best food and accommodation within his ability. He is especially enthusiastic towards the elderly and new guests. When dining, you must wait for the eldest person to sit down before you can start the meal; the younger ones are not allowed to eat the dishes that have not been touched by the elders first; serving tea and rice to the elders and guests must be held with both hands, and cannot be handed from in front of the guests or from the front. Pass it to the elders behind your back; those who finish first should say to the elders and guests one by one, "Eat slowly" before leaving the table; the younger ones cannot eat after everyone at the table.
2. Ordinary etiquette
Respecting the old and loving the young is the traditional virtue of the Zhuang people. When you meet an elderly person on the road, you should take the initiative to say hello and give way. Do not cross your legs in front of the elderly person, do not say dirty words, and do not step in front of the elderly person. When killing a chicken, the head and tail must be presented to the old man. When meeting an elderly person on the road, a man should call him "father-in-law", and a woman should call her "grandma". When meeting a guest or a person carrying a heavy load, you should take the initiative to give way. If you meet an elderly person who is carrying a heavy load, you should take the initiative to help and send him to the place where you leave.
When a married man and woman meet their elders, the man will call him "dad" and the woman will call him "mom". In school, teachers generally call themselves students when they see them. When talking to teachers or elders older than themselves, they rarely use the word "I" or try to avoid it as much as possible.
3. Taboos
Social taboos: Father-in-law is not allowed to enter the daughter-in-law’s bedroom. Literate people dare not write divorce papers. When there are guests at home, women do not come to the table to eat with them. The next generation cannot accompany guests to drink slowly. The elder brother cannot talk casually with his sister-in-law.
Taboos related to childbirth: in the fifth month of the lunar calendar, you cannot pick excrement or urinate on the Dragon day. Do not work in the fields on June 6th. When starting to build a house, you need to read the almanac. If the almanac says "it's not appropriate to break ground", choose another auspicious day.
Taboos related to superstition: Avoid saying unlucky words during the Spring Festival. On the first day of the first lunar month, you are not allowed to blow fire, sweep the floor, visit the house, pound rice, wash clothes, use knives or axes, and borrow things from outside. All loans and borrowed items must be paid off before New Year's Eve. You cannot sit on the threshold, you cannot step on the tripods on the stove and fire pit, you cannot carry a hoe or wear a bamboo hat into the house, and you cannot climb or cut down trees on Longshan Mountain.
Taboos related to women: Pregnant women are not allowed to see the bride in the wedding home. When there is a pregnant woman at home, a straw hat is hung on the door, implying that outsiders are not allowed to stay inside. When a married woman returns to her natal home, she is not allowed to Take things from the altar. No new tiles are built on the kitchen roof of a pregnant woman. Women are not allowed to light lights in their bedrooms if they have given birth less than 3 days ago. Women’s clothes cannot be washed together with men’s clothes. Women cannot comb their hair on New Year’s Day. .
4. Family
The Zhuang people have a monogamous family. Before liberation, there were some cases of polygamy. Many families have three generations living under one roof. After the son gets married, if he can afford it, he will build a new house and live separately. It is customary for parents to leave their youngest son to settle down in the old house. The younger son has the right and obligation to provide for his parents and inherit the ancestral home. Other property is divided equally among the sons of the family. As members of the family, women and men work together to take care of the housework. In productive labor, men are mostly responsible for plowing, transporting fertilizer, and repairing and building houses, while women are mostly responsible for transplanting rice, weeding, growing cotton, harvesting cotton, etc. Weaving and raising livestock and poultry, etc.
The Zhuang people have a strong sense of family. As long as they find out where their ancestors and brothers live, they will go to seek relatives and contact them no matter how far away they are. The surname that was the first to establish a village is respected, and the elder of that surname is often elected as the "elder" of the village, presiding over the mediation of civil disputes and the village's celebration activities.
5. Festivals
The Spring Festival is regarded as a major festival of the year by the Zhuang people. In the middle of the twelfth lunar month, roads are built, houses are cleaned, and new clothes are purchased. The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month celebrates the off year, which is similar to the Han people's "giving away the stove". After the Little New Year, every household begins to prepare festive food, killing chickens and pigs, making rice cakes, making rice cakes, and making rice dumplings in the estuary area. On the first day of the new year, people rush to pick up fresh water, dragging the straw-shaped symbol of the cow while walking. The heads of horses, pigs, chickens, etc., imitate the sounds of the six animals in their mouths, in order to "prosper the six animals". In some areas, after worshiping ancestors early in the morning on the first or third day of the lunar month, the children are asked to read for a while, the parents play with the abacus, and the women take a small amount of fertilizer and grain seeds and scatter them in the fields to show that all industries will be prosperous and their livelihoods will be successful in the new year. Hekou Most of the people living on the banks of the Red River and Nanxi River in the county are descendants of the "Black Banner Army". They also celebrate the "Little New Year" on the 29th of the first lunar month, also called "Eating Li Jie" (which means celebrating old age in Zhuang language).
It is said that during the Sino-French War, the Spring Festival could not be celebrated as scheduled due to the busy war. After the victory of the war, it was already the 28th day of the first lunar month, so people just made up for the Spring Festival and celebrated the victory. People who call themselves "Nong people" celebrate the Spring Festival on the first and second day of the second lunar month every year. To carry out New Year greeting activities.
The dog was made into a straw man with mountain grass and cut into clothes from red paper. The village elder carried the straw man to lead the way, and four strong and capable men were selected to drag the pigs and dogs and follow behind with the chickens. Go around the main street of the village. Send the man and the dragged pigs, dogs, etc. to the foot of a fixed stone or tree in the east of the village, build a thatched house, slaughter the pigs, dogs, chickens, etc., and use them for sacrifice. The second time in the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the road was repaired in Longkou, and the village was cleaned on the horse day. This time, except that chickens were killed instead of dogs, it was the same as the last time. On this day, all the people in the village Every farmer must send one person to participate. The meat must be eaten on the spot and cannot be taken back to the village. It is believed that by cleaning the village and driving away monsters and ghosts from the village, humans and animals will be protected from disaster and the crops will grow well.
On the day of the Secret Festival, the villagers will go to the forest fixed above the village, set up a stone at the foot of the selected tree, and kill a pig to offer sacrifices to the gods. The owner of the village who sacrifices to the gods of the village must choose a person with good facial features and good limbs. The old priest must first lead two assistants and six other people to clean up the woods. The pig's head and pig's feet are boiled and eaten during the sacrificial ceremony. The remaining pork, glutinous rice and white wine are taken home in a portion by each household, which is considered to be the wine and meat given by the "secret". Each family must save this portion of wine and meat for cotton planting. On the day of the opening of the rice field gate, they were brought to the cotton fields and rice fields to offer sacrifices. There were pregnant women or farmers who had just died. They could only wait outside the wall while others brought wine and meat. The old priest and his assistant were the ones who presided over the sacrifice. In the first two days of the festival, you must go to the hot springs to take a bath, you are not allowed to sleep with your wife, and you are not allowed to eat beef, dog meat, fish and other fishy foods 7 days ago. On the day of the festival, place a pot outside the forest designated as "secret". Fragrant facial water, everyone who enters the venue must first wash their hands with fragrant facial water. The water used to kill and scald the pigs, and the scraped pig hair must be buried deep in ponds. If the burial is not deep enough, flies will be attracted. I think there will be more flies and mosquitoes in the village this year. On that day, there will be a "leopard driving" activity, that is, one of the people who participated in the "secret giving" will be selected as the "leopard", and he will serve the bowl before eating and when it is getting dark. The meat was given to the leopard. The leopard carried the bowl of meat and circled the head of a match forward and backward three times, and everyone shouted loudly, meaning to chase the leopard. People who serve as "leopards" will not return to have dinner with everyone after eating that day, and they are not allowed to go out to visit the village. Otherwise, it is believed that the people and animals in the village will be harmed. During the festival, every household steams yellow and red glutinous rice, boils colored eggs for the children to eat, and chops pine trees into ponies for the children to drag around the village. On this day, people from other villages are not allowed to enter the village, and people from this village are not allowed to go up the mountain to carry firewood. They are not allowed to wash vegetables in the well that morning. Violators are punished by the village elders according to regulations. During the festival, they treat each other and the whole village rests for 4 to 5 days. Men, women and children of all ages wear new peasant clothes. During the day, young men and women go to the mountains to sing antiphons, and at night they dance and dance in the village.
Eat new rice. Every year, before the millet is harvested and after the rice has matured, each family chooses the day to eat new rice. After the millet matures, they go to the fields to cut 4 to 6 rice and carry it back to be processed into rice. , kill a red rooster, make water tofu, boil the newly dug taro, carry it to the altar table to offer to gods and the ancestors on the dining table. A man who goes to cut grain must get up early and eat before going to the fields. If he cuts new grain while hungry, it is believed that the whole family will be hungry that year. On the way back and forth, you are not allowed to answer anyone you meet. When eating new rice, you must bring back the married girl. After the elders take a bite first, others can add more food. Don’t let the first bowl of rice go to waste.
?Tuoluo is full of years? Gejiu, Mengzi and other places celebrate the New Year's Day on the 28th day of the ninth lunar month for the elderly who died that year. Before the festival, the old man's daughter and son-in-law will bring chickens and wine back to their parents' home to burn paper, offer meals, and invite relatives and friends to visit their graves. Dedicate to ancestors. In the past, the New Year Festival was held for three consecutive years, but now it is usually only held for one year. There are two folk legends about the New Year's Day: One is that in ancient times, there was an emperor who asked a Zhuang chef to prepare an imperial meal. One day the emperor asked him: What is the sweetest thing in the world? The chef said, "Salt is the sweetest." The emperor was furious. He killed the chef and hired another chef. This chef did not add salt to the dishes. The emperor asked the chef: "Why not add salt?" The chef replied: "The emperor said salt is not sweet, so he did not dare to add it." The emperor realized his mistake. If you kill someone, cook "Full Year's Eve" for the chef who killed the wrong person. Second, in ancient times, there was an emperor's concubine who was a country woman. One year, the concubine's mother passed away. She chose the day of departure (September 28) to go home to mourn her mother. The emperor said: "It's raining." , you don’t go back. The concubine said: No matter how heavy the rain is, you have to go. The emperor said: It’s going to rain, it’s going to rain. On this day it really rained. It is said that every September 2nd It will rain on the 18th, and it will be cloudy for three days even if it doesn't rain. If the sky is not cloudy, the harvest will not be good.
6. Funeral
The Zhuang people once practiced wooden coffin cremation. .
It is recorded in the old records: "Tuliao" dug a cellar for a person's death, placed a coffin on it, beat it randomly, beat earthen drums on the famous day, took it out and burned it in three days. "Sharen" buried his death in a thin coffin, and his daughter-in-law dressed in makeup Luo Li, said Zhanchang, Bi, put them out in the wild, burn them and cover them up. According to people, they died in person, vegetarian food and linen clothes, and they were cremated by local shamans and divination, regardless of the sun and moon, and they were killed at the end of the year. In modern times, the Zhuang people are generally the same as the Han people. Burial in wooden coffins is carried out. The only people who claim to be "Yiren" are named Dai Xiao, such as Wu, who wears a white hat and white short clothes; Zhang, who has a white head and wears a white long coat; Shen and Lu, who wear linen hats and linen clothes; Wang, who The dead coffin lay sideways. Before entering the coffin, you should first sift the ashes on the bottom of the coffin with a sieve, and then pat the coffin with your hands to check if there are any strange traces in the ashes to determine whether the soul of the deceased has left the housewife and left his ancestors. The pillow of the deceased should be made of a triangular shape. The white cloth is put into the sieve to remove the rice that is free of millet and barnyard grass. When the Yuanyang Zhuang people mourn, they hang a black cloth bag with millet and rice flowers on their shoulders, hold a hen in their arms, kneel in front of the coffin, put a long knife on their head, with the blade facing inward, kowtow three times and then shake the knife If you fall on the ground and look in the direction of the knife edge, facing inward indicates that the deceased is unwilling to go out and will continue to kowtow, and facing outward indicates that the deceased has no worries. The children of the deceased must wear mourning clothes on their backs until one month after the burial. On the third day after the burial and On the 30th day, chickens should be killed and sacrificed on the graves. Three years after the death of Hekou sand people, the corpse and bones should be picked out from the coffin on an auspicious day and put in earthen jars for reburial. The Zhuang people of Maitreya died, that is, When the bronze drum is beaten, the villagers will know the news of death when they hear the sound of the drum. When a woman dies, the main relatives of her mother's family must arrive before loading the coffin. Those who come bring sacrificial curtains, pigs and sheep, etc. When a man dies, his brothers can be placed in the coffin as long as they arrive. Regardless of whether a man or a woman is placed in a coffin after death, glutinous rice flour is used to imitate cattle, sheep, houses, etc. and placed in front of the coffin to offer sacrifices for the deceased. Sons who keep filial piety, l No haircuts or shaving are allowed during the year. Baotou Xiaobu can only be reserved for making clothes for grandchildren.
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