First, the customs and habits of Miao people.
1, clothing
The costumes of the Miao nationality in Huayuan are cloth handkerchiefs wrapped around their heads, flower handkerchiefs in You Ya and green handkerchiefs in other areas. Handkerchiefs are 1~3 meters long and wear multi-layer herringbone. Wear a double-breasted dress with long and small sleeves, short and big trousers and blue feet. Most of the materials are self-woven "home clothes", and plaid clothes are the most distinctive. Miao women's costumes are more complicated, and their headdresses are similar in color to men's, but they are mostly stacked together, extending from the forehead to the back of the head, flat and round, like the bun of ancient officials and women. Women in You Ya like to wrap flowers and towers, but the wrapping methods are different, such as goose crown and autumn chrysanthemum. Women's clothes are all breast enhancement, with large and long waists, large and short sleeves and no collar. Pants are short and big, with aprons at the waist, piping, embroidery or knitting on the chest, cuffs, aprons and trouser legs, and railings in the middle, which are colorful and dazzling. In summer, young men and women like to wear wool hats and Ma Xie.
Jewelry is the favorite of Miao women, with a wide variety and beautiful shape. It can be divided into gold ornaments, silver ornaments, threatening ornaments and jade ornaments, with silver ornaments being the most common. Silver ornaments include silver hat, silver basin, rockhopper, earrings, collars, bracelets, rings, dentists, buckles, silver flowers, silver medals and shawls, and common ones include earrings, collars, bracelets and rings. All kinds of silver ornaments have different shapes, such as rims, flat rings and disk diagrams. Earrings include melon seed earrings, pomegranate earrings, plum blossom pin earrings, circle earrings, faucet earrings, Baba earrings and so on. Miao women should wear silver ornaments whether they are married, visiting relatives and friends, being guests, going to the market or having festivals.
After liberation, Miao costumes gradually changed. Now, except for Jiwei, Buzuo, Yaxi, Paibi, Paifang and Dongmaku, most of them wear Miao costumes, and the clothes of young men and women in other towns are no different from those of Han nationality.
Step 2 prescribe diet
Rice is the main grain, and other miscellaneous grains are gradually transformed into raw materials for food industry or livestock feed.
In most areas, Miao people have three meals a day, and rice is the staple food. Fried Baba is the most common fried food. If you add some fresh meat and sauerkraut as stuffing, the taste will be more delicious.
Most meat comes from livestock and poultry. Miao people in Sichuan and Yunnan all like to eat dog meat, and there is a saying that "Miao's dog is Yi's wine". (This contradicts the biggest taboo in Xiangxi. What can we do? Then let's buy our own food instead of dog meat. In addition to animal oil, Miao's edible oil is mostly tea oil and vegetable oil.
In addition to fresh vegetables produced by Miao people, the most distinctive feature of Laicai is pickled hot and sour vegetables, such as sauerkraut, sour soup, hot and sour seeds, Chili sauce and so on. They are all Miao home-cooked dishes. The Miao family has always been hospitable. Guests always treat each other with wine and meat, including glutinous rice wine and corn wine, as well as pigs, cows, sheep, fish, chickens and ducks. It's not convenient to buy fish in Miaoxiang at ordinary times. In order to prevent guests from being poorly prepared when they arrive, most people will use special methods to pickle sour fish, sour meat and bacon for their guests. With the development of commodity economy, meat is abundant and can be bought at any time. There are few fish with pickled vegetables, and no one eats pickled vegetables. The tables and drinks for entertaining guests are no different from those of the Han nationality.
Step 3 get married
Engagement, usually the man's family takes the initiative to find the woman's relatives. When a man sees a girl or a man and a woman in love, he must prepare a gift and let the matchmaker go to the woman's house to "talk". If the woman's family is happy and enthusiastic, the matchmaker will report to the man's family and formally propose to the camera. The more times the matchmaker goes back and forth, the better, commonly known as "the more the more expensive." The bride's family discussed and agreed, and the marriage was finalized. By setting off firecrackers and eating wine, she was officially engaged. After the engagement, the man should choose a date to give the woman a gift, usually one year before the wedding. Gifts include bazin, wine, meat, rice, sugar and so on. The amount of gift money depends on the economic conditions of both parties, mainly to let the woman invite relatives and friends at home to have a wedding banquet and recognize new relatives. Subsequently, it was convenient for the man to "ask for a high salary" from the woman and take the woman's birthday, so as to invite Mr. Yin and Yang to choose auspicious dates and designate relatives. The night before the wedding, the man arrested a brother as the "master" and took the team carrying the sedan chair and dowry to the woman's house to celebrate the wedding. In the past, the bride had to live apart from her family. On the wedding day, the bride's sisters like to play jokes. They mix bamboo shoots, shells, hair or pepper water with pot ashes and smear them on Guan's face, which makes people laugh. Usually late at night or early the next morning. After the bride trimmed her eyebrows, she cried and worshipped her parents, and her brother got on the sedan chair. The bride is accompanied by relatives and girlfriends when she gets married. In particular, women with full children are invited to be "mothers", and male and female singers are also invited to Sina's house to compete for songs. After marriage, Guan played lanterns to lead the way and went to the man's house. At the same time, all the guests who go to the woman's house for a wedding reception go to the man's house to eat "tap wine", which is called the "guest of honor", and other individual guests in the man's house are called "deputy guests". When the bride is connected to the door of the man's house, the man's house will burn a fire to symbolize auspiciousness and wealth, and then the bride will enter the house according to the selected auspicious moment. When entering the house, the man's family should hide in high places, which means that the bride will not suppress the whole family in the future. When the bride enters the room, she will take the cooker given by the man's middle-aged woman to show that she will become the family director from now on. Then, sit on the stool with "Fu Paper" on the right side of the fireplace until all night. In the afternoon, all the guests came to congratulate him, and the man gave a banquet in honor of the "guests". In the evening, the bride and groom invited "Bajiangsha" (Miao language, meaning singer) to sing a duet, and the guests enjoyed it. The next morning, a drinking ceremony was held. An old man congratulated the host and guest and raised a glass to congratulate the couple on their love and harmony and all the best. They also sang songs to celebrate, told the old saying of getting married and gave gifts to each other. During the wedding, relatives of the man invite guests to dinner in partnership, commonly known as "family banquet". So the wedding date is two days. Before the guests leave, the bride and groom can only meet and can't stay together. After the individual, the newlyweds entered a normal life.
Second, the Miao taboo
Miao people pay attention to truth and sincerity, and are very enthusiastic. Most of them avoid glitz and hypocrisy.
1, Miao people are most afraid of being treated as "Miao Zi" by outsiders, which is considered as the biggest insult to Miao people. They like to call themselves "Meng". It is forbidden to kill and beat dogs and not to eat dog meat; You can't sit in the Miao ancestral hall, and you can't step on the tripod on the kang with your feet; Do not whistle at home or at night; Can't shoot ash and eat chaff baked by fire; No bound Miao people are allowed to be used when frolicking; Don't enter the house when straw hats, branches or wedding and funeral ceremonies are hung on the door; Lu Yu is newly married, so don't wait in the middle.
2. When guests come to Miao family, they must toast each other with wine. If the guest accepts it, the host will regard it as a confidant. If the guests can't drink well, they should also take a shot of the symbolic products.
When Miao people kill chickens to entertain guests, they always give the heads, livers and breasts of chickens to the elderly or the most distinguished guests, drumsticks to children and chicken wings to young men and women, wishing them unlimited future. Generations live under one roof, so young men and women should not be too close.
4. Miao people have a close relationship with nature, and believe that there are gods attached to bridges, trees, roofs and kitchens. Whenever festivals or VIPs come, they will burn incense and offer sacrifices to comfort their ancestors and pray for peace. It is inappropriate for guests to express their criticism of such activities.
5. Miao people should avoid sending festive gifts with white cocks; Avoid outsiders touching the shrine of the hall at will; Avoid the iron tripod in the fire; Put a sign at the door, indicating that there are patients at home, and outsiders are not allowed to enter.
6. It is forbidden to kill or beat dogs and not to eat dog meat; You can't sit in the Miao ancestral hall, and you can't step on the tripod on the kang with your feet; Do not whistle at home or at night; Can't shoot ash and eat chaff baked by fire; No bound Miao people are allowed to be used when frolicking; Don't enter the house when straw hats, branches or wedding and funeral ceremonies are hung on the door; Lu Yu is newly married, so don't wait in the middle.
7. Don't step on a cast iron tripod in Camus' fire pit, it is used for cooking. It is said that the tripod was made by three fire-protecting ancestors, and no one can step on it, otherwise it would be disrespectful to the ancestors.
8. Don't sit on the right side of the fire pit above the pillar. The Miao people call it "Hangd hangd (hangd ghao, with ancestral temple, is where the elders sit. Young people and children are strictly forbidden to sit here, let alone fight, fetch water or swear words here, otherwise it will be blasphemy to their ancestors and anger between God and man.
9. Avoid shaking "Longyan" Miaojiatang has a rock plate in the center and a "dragon cave" under the rock plate. It is said that shaking the "dragon cave" will scare the dragon away and the owner will suffer.
10, when parents are alive, don't wear a white handkerchief to show mourning and filial piety for their loved ones.
1 1. Don't smell the cuckoo's chirp. Every spring, birds sing. If you hear a sparrow sing for the first time when you go to the toilet, it is considered unlucky and must be removed. The solution is that the listener (if he is young, he must fucking solve it) dresses up as a beggar and goes out to beg for food 1-3 days, begging for food. He must cook in the wild, and he can't hear the sound of chickens and dogs to eliminate the disaster. Tujia people also use cuckoo azo dyes to predict their luck in a year. If you smell the cuckoo's crow for the first time while sleeping in bed, it's good luck. If you first smell it when you are walking or working, it means that you will have to work for a year because you built it.
12. Don't smell owls. In the eyes of Tujia people, owls are ominous birds, especially when crying. It is said that hearing an owl call the village will kill people.
13, avoid snake entanglement, the so-called snake entanglement is snake mating. According to legend, if people see it, they will suffer disaster. There are two solutions: one is to take off a pair of trousers outside yourself and cover it on your head or around the snake. The second is to blame others. If there is a companion, call the companion's name immediately. If the other party agrees, disaster will befall the people who should be there. But in general, killing two snakes with stones or wooden sticks can eliminate disasters. There are also words that are solved without fighting: "I wish you a fairy to heaven, and I wish you a rope to wear copper coins"; Tujia people say, "it's a dragon ascending to heaven, a snake drilling grass, and people and money are empty."
14. Maternity taboo: pregnant women are not allowed to enter. The wrong person should wash his feet and drink a bowl of cold water when going out to prevent the maternal milk from being "trampled dry". Maternal avoid eating old beef, pork, pheasant, small fish, vegetables, peppers and so on. In some Miao areas, it is forbidden for pregnant women to meet pregnant women or go to other delivery rooms, otherwise the delivery period will be prolonged.
15. Taboos of living customs: In some Miao areas, washing and drinking rice retort, rice bag and rice basin are forbidden at any time, and only when eating new rice is to show that the old rice is removed and the new rice is welcomed. Washing at any time will wash away the family wealth and there is not enough food. Drinking raw water in the mountains should not be directly drunk. You must mark the grass first to show that you are killing sick ghosts. Don't touch other people's clothes on the roadside, so as not to catch leprosy. Avoid children playing with small bows and arrows at home for fear of shooting their ancestors. Avoid crossing the child's head, or the child will not grow tall. It is forbidden for women to sit on a bench with their elders.