Tujia language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, and some people think it belongs to the Burmese-Yi branch, a very old and unique language in the Tibeto-Burman language family. Most people speak Chinese, and only a few inhabited areas still retain Tujia language. There is no national script, but the Latin script created by 1984 is currently used. Common Chinese. Worship ancestors and believe in many gods.
Cultural etiquette
Tujia people love to sing folk songs, including love songs, crying wedding songs, rocking songs, labor songs, food songs and so on. Waving dance, Youyang folk songs and Youyang ancient songs are listed in the national intangible cultural heritage list. Youyang County set a Guinness World Record with 65,438+10,000 people dancing in swing dance in 2065,438+00, and was named "China Folk Culture and Art Town" by the Ministry of Culture in 2065,438+01∽ 2013. Traditional dances include "waving dance", "sweet bell dance" and "Maogu Temple". Musical instruments include konoha, Dongdongkui, and beating people.
Tujia traditional festivals include: Eating New Year's Day, Sheba Day, Catching the New Year, Ox King's Day, Flower God's Day and Washing God's Day.
Etiquette mainly includes: greeting each other when meeting, and being hospitable at home. If you visit Tujia people on New Year's Day, the host will take out snow-white Ciba to bake. When both sides are golden, blow it clean, fill it with sugar or honey, and offer it with both hands. In some places, it's still a little particular to entertain guests, that is, after giving the baked rice cake to the guests, the guests are not allowed to blow, and they will bite if they want to take it. At this time, the host will take it back, blow it clean, dip it in sugar and give it to the guests.
Daily diet custom
In addition to rice, Tujia people's daily staple food is the most common one, mainly corn flour, and some rice is mixed in pots or steamed with wooden retort. Sometimes I also eat bean rice, that is, mung beans, peas and rice are cooked together. Baba and Tuanxiang are also the seasonal staple foods of Tujia people, and some even eat seedlings. In the past, sweet potato has been regarded as a staple food in many areas, and it is still a standing food in some areas after winter. The main feature of Tujia cuisine is sour and spicy. Every folk family has pickled sauerkraut jars, which are almost inseparable from meals. Fried meat with sour pepper is considered delicious. Pepper is not only a dish, but also a condiment that can not be separated from every meal. For example, in the transplanting season, a "premature" meal should be added in the morning, mostly snacks such as glutinous rice dumplings or mung bean powder. It is said that eating glutinous rice balls as a "premature" meal means a bumper harvest and good luck. Tujia people also like to eat camellia soup.
Festivals, Etiquette and Dietary Customs
Tujia people attach great importance to traditional festivals, especially the Spring Festival. At that time, every household would kill Nian pig, dye it red and green, dry it to make mung bean powder, cook rice wine or suck wine. Pork dish is an essential dish for Tujia people to celebrate the New Year. Every year, the second day of the second lunar month is called "Social Day". At this time, you will have a social meal. Eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival. Glutinous rice Baba is one of the most popular foods of Tujia people. Baba is played on the Double Ninth Festival, and Baba is given by my daughter during her confinement. When repairing the house, Baba is thrown on the beam. Gifts given to relatives and friends in festivals are generally exchanged. In addition to glutinous rice Baba, there are sorghum Baba, millet Baba and corn Baba. Bacon is the first dish of Tujia nationality. After the winter solstice, use large pieces of pork.
Pickled with salt, pepper and spiced powder, hung on the kang, burned and smoked in the cypress branch. Generally speaking, inviting guests to tea means eating camellia oleifera, glutinous rice or glutinous rice balls, poached eggs and so on. Tujia people in Xiangxi, Hunan like to cover bowls with meat, that is, cover a large piece of fat at the mouth of the bowl, followed by lean meat and ribs. In order to show respect and sincerity to the guests, the meat of the guests should be cut into large pieces and the wine should be put in a big bowl. Regardless of weddings, funerals, building houses and other weddings and funerals, banquets should be held. The general habit is nine bowls, seven bowls or eleven bowls of vegetables per table, but there are no eight bowls or ten bowls of tables. Because eight bowls of tables are called spoons to eat flower mats, and ten bowls and ten bowls are homophonic with stones, they are all considered disrespectful to guests, so they avoid eight and ten. Tujia people hold banquet tables (only one bowl of cook the meat, the rest are vegetarian dishes, mostly before and after the official period), banquet tables (with seafood), crispy button tables (with a bowl of crispy meat made of rice noodles or fried noodles) and five dishes and four linings (four dishes and five bowls, all of which are meat dishes). When sitting, the seats are divided into generations, old and young, and the dishes are placed in an orderly manner. Tujia people's drinking, especially during festivals or entertaining guests, is essential. Among them, sweet wine and miscellaneous wine brewed with glutinous rice and sorghum are more common, with low degree and pure taste.
Sacrificial diet custom
Tujia people used to be superstitious about ghosts and gods and worship their ancestors. Every year during the Spring Festival, they have to make big sacrifices to their ancestors, and they also have small sacrifices on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Ancestor foods include pig's head, jiaozi, Baba, chickens and ducks, and whole grains. Before each meal, someone used chopsticks to put a small amount of food on the meal in silence, indicating that the deceased ancestors were invited to eat first, and then began to eat. On the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, every village should set up a wave hall, in front of which pig heads, fruits and other sacrifices will be placed. In October, on the first day of October, winter is sacrificed, and chickens and ducks are slaughtered for a banquet. In addition, Tujia people worship the kitchen god, the earth god, the grain god and the tapir god, and they also offer sacrifices to Lu Ban when building houses. Besides wine and meat, they also want a rooster.
Typical food
Tujia people like to eat Baba bacon, oil tea, white pepper and other foods. In addition, there are: combined dishes, the most common dishes eaten by Tujia people on holidays, are often served together with Baogu shochu; Tuanxiang is a Tujia-style snack, which is fried with glutinous rice and often used to soak in water as tea to entertain guests. Mung bean powder (rice flour), made of rice, mung beans and other raw materials; Fried rice cakes, also known as oil fragrance or "Dengzhanwo", are fried with rice and soybeans as the main raw materials.