Dining taboos
There are many food taboos. In the old days, Han people were taboo against dropping grains of rice while eating or having leftover rice at the bottom of the bowl after eating, otherwise they would be struck by lightning; if a child could not finish his meal, he would marry a pockmarked wife or a pockmarked husband in the future. It is forbidden to say "hold the rice" when eating, because it is only said "hold the rice" after the death of the person when "making seven" sacrifices to the soul and inviting the deceased to have a meal. It is forbidden to use a chopstick to chop rice. Only when the coffin is brought out during funerals, five or seven bowls of white rice are placed on the coffin with a chopstick inserted in the center. It is said that ghosts eat with single chopsticks, so it is taboo. Avoid looking in the mirror while eating, as you may stutter. When eating at other people's homes, avoid turning the bowl around, because "turn" and "earn" are homophonic, and the host should avoid "earning other people's jobs" by doing so. When eating, avoid placing chopsticks on the bowl, avoid flipping bowls and plates, and avoid adding water or rice with your backhand. Guests should not turn over the fish. Young people should avoid drinking wine from the bottom of the bottle. These eating taboos are widely circulated among the people. When families eat at the same table, adults will spread these taboos to their children and urge them to implement them. Although these taboos are superficially superstitious, they are usually based on considerations of hygiene, economy, and etiquette.
Food taboos are caused by love for animals. For example, in some areas of the Han people, there is a custom of abstaining from beef. For farming people, cattle are an indispensable work tool. Because they are helpful to people, they work hard all year round, and they are humane, so they cannot bear to kill them for food. The Han people still have the custom of not eating horse meat. They believe that horses, like cattle, have meritorious service to people, so they cannot bear to kill and eat them. People in Nanchang and Oujiang areas are taboo on eating turtles and turtle meat. They believe that turtles are objects of merit. It helped Tang Monk and his disciples cross the 800-mile Tongtian River when he was studying for scriptures, and then transported the scriptures back. Therefore, people respect him as a god and are forbidden to kill or eat him.
There are also many taboos on how to use tableware: for example, it is taboo to hold the bottom of the bowl flat with the palm of your hand, and it is taboo to hold the edge of the bowl with your hands. This is a "beggar's gang" appearance. It is not allowed to place the bowl upside down on the table because it is unlucky. Because the sick person puts the bowl on the table after taking the decoction, which means that he will no longer take the medicine when he is sick. It is unlucky to place chopsticks of different lengths on the table before or during the meal. Generally we call it "three long and two short", which means death. Because the Chinese used to believe that people should be put into coffins after death. The components of a coffin are two short wooden boards at the front and back, and three long wooden boards at the sides and bottom. The five wooden boards put together make a coffin that is exactly three long and two short. , so this is an extremely ominous thing.
The way to hold chopsticks is to hold them with your thumb, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger, and extend your index finger. This is called "swearing on the street" in the eyes of Beijingers. People in Beijing generally point their index fingers at someone, usually with an element of blame. Therefore, pointing at someone when using chopsticks for eating is tantamount to blaming others. This is the same as swearing and is not allowed. There is another situation that also means the same thing, that is, pointing with chopsticks when eating and talking to others.
It is considered impolite to put chopsticks in your mouth and make a hissing sound from time to time while eating. Because sucking chopsticks with your mouth while eating is a rude behavior in itself, and coupled with the sound, it is even more annoying. Therefore, this behavior is generally considered to be a manifestation of lack of education and is also not allowed.
Be careful not to drop your chopsticks on the ground when eating. The so-called "falling to the ground with shock" refers to accidentally dropping the chopsticks on the ground, which is a sign of serious impoliteness. Because the ancestors all sleep underground and should not be disturbed, dropping chopsticks is equivalent to disturbing the ancestors underground. This is disrespectful, so this behavior is not allowed. But there is a way to break it. Once the chopsticks fall to the ground, you should quickly use the chopsticks to make a cross on the ground according to the direction where you are sitting. Its direction is east-west first and then north-south. It means that I am not a thing and should not disturb my ancestors. Then I pick up the chopsticks and say that I deserve to die.
When eating, you put your chopsticks in the dishes and keep pulling at them. If you want to eat this or that, you stir the chopsticks around, just like robbing a tomb. This kind of uneducated behavior is very annoying. Disgusted.
Do not use chopsticks upside down when eating. This practice is very looked down upon. As the saying goes, it is absolutely not allowed to be so hungry that you don't care about your face and turn your chopsticks over.
It is also not okay to use a chopstick to pierce the dishes on the plate while eating. It is considered a humiliation to the diners at the same table.
When serving someone else's rice out of good intentions, inserting a pair of chopsticks in the rice and handing it to the other person for convenience is considered disrespectful, because it is only done when offering incense to the dead. If you insert a pair of chopsticks into the rice, it is undoubtedly equivalent to offering incense to the dead. Therefore, inserting chopsticks into the bowl is never acceptable.
Taboos for Pregnant Women
In the old society, people could not give a completely scientific explanation for miscarriage, dystocia, mutilated children and freaks, so they fabricated various superstitious statements to warn them. Women in general are not only required to fast and gaze, but also have many strict rules and regulations in terms of behavior and behavior.
Fasting
Everyone wants to give birth to a healthy, beautiful, smart and lively child. If you want to give birth to a good baby, mothers must abide by these dietary taboos, avoid eating what is not allowed, and eat as much as possible. Although these taboos have no scientific basis, they are mostly based on sensory associations.
Do not eat rabbit meat. Rabbits have three-petal mouths, and fetuses that eat rabbit meat will also have three-petal mouths.
The theory that eating rabbit meat will give birth to children with cracked lips has been circulating at least since the Eastern Han Dynasty. Wang Chong, a famous scholar at the time, specifically recorded it in his "Lunheng". The influence of this popular belief is so great that in some places pregnant women cannot even see rabbits, otherwise the consequences will be equally dire.
Do not eat dog meat. The idea that eating dog meat is harmful to the fetus probably originated in the Tang Dynasty. In addition to the alarmist theory that eating dog meat will cause fetuses, there is also a more intuitive association: dogs love to bite people, and pregnant women who eat dog meat will transmit their dog nature to their fetuses. The fetus will also bite after birth, at least when it is feeding. nipple.
Don’t eat donkey meat. If you eat donkey meat, your children will be "donkey-like" and disobedient in the future.
Avoid eating roosters. After eating the rooster, the child born in this way cries at night.
Avoid eating crabs. After eating crabs, the child was slurping foam and drooling. It was also said that eating crabs made it difficult to deliver the fetus. Taiwanese folklore believes that if a crab is eaten, the child will be born like a crab and grab and twist other people's hands and feet.
Don’t eat ginger. Ginger's "multi-digit" appearance will naturally make people think of giving birth to a child with extra digits. This common belief has been popular at least in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Do not eat old turtles. The old turtle has a short neck, and the fetus that eats the old turtle will also have a short neck.
In addition to the external shape that arouses people's associations, ginger is also associated with the pungent and irritating characteristics of ginger, which can easily cause sores in children. In any case, ginger is therefore eliminated from the diet list of pregnant women.
Movement taboos
If all kinds of dietary taboos restrict the mouth of pregnant women, then the various movement taboos restrict the legs of pregnant women.
For example, when building a house and raising beams, it is very particular. There must be relative rituals and auspicious days and times. Pregnant women must be strictly prohibited from being present, because in the countryside, raising beams is considered a sacred matter and concerns the family. Prosperity, no one dares to underestimate it, it will be unlucky to be hit by a pregnant woman, and it cannot be cracked. Therefore, many places choose the auspicious time for Liang Liang to be in the early morning.
When digging a well, pregnant women cannot touch it, otherwise the dragon's veins will be broken and water will not come out, or the water will be bitter and astringent.
When making wine, if a pregnant woman hits you, the wine will not be brewed.
When collecting medicine, if it hits a pregnant woman, the medicine will lose its effect.
When making tofu, if you hit a pregnant woman, the tofu will spoil.
When raising silkworms, if you bump into a pregnant woman, the silkworms will die. When it reaches its peak, whoever goes out early in the morning and encounters a pregnant woman will have a bad day and everything will fail. Even if you sit at home behind closed doors, there is no guarantee that disaster will come from the sky.
Banned sight
The principles behind the implementation of these taboos are the same, and they are all based on the primitive thinking of mutual interaction between people and the outside world.
Pregnant women cannot watch mothers giving birth, otherwise they will have difficulty in giving birth in the future. This taboo has a scientific basis. Pregnant women may easily experience mental stress when they see the painful expressions of women who are giving birth and hear their cries. When they give birth, they may become nervous and even cause dystocia.
Avoid seeing snakes, otherwise the child will stick out his tongue. As for people born in the year of the Tiger, it is forbidden to meet them. This is naturally an interpretation of the saying that tigers can hurt people.
Don’t watch puppet shows, otherwise you will give birth to children without bones. In Lishui, Zhejiang, there is still a custom that pregnant women are not allowed to watch movies, TV shows and colorful-faced shows.
Don’t watch painted faces in plays, as this will prevent future children from having painted faces.
You cannot enter the new house to see the bride, because she is a "double person" with "four eyes". After seeing the new house, the bride will either become a widow or have no children. This means that the "four-eyed people" are unclean and will attack others. However, in northwest Hubei, it is popular that the "four-eyed man" can cure some diseases by moving his eyes and hands. Regardless of whether it works or not, neighbors must come to invite him. Especially for those men or young men of the same generation, if there is some dust in their eyes, they should ask the four-eyed person to blow it with their mouths; if their arm is sprained, they should ask the four-eyed person to shake it; if they have a headache or cold, they should ask the four-eyed person to touch it. This custom is really strange.
No contact
In addition to the above taboos based on similar foundations, there are also some taboos based on contact sensing, such as sitting under a grape trellis. It will give birth to evil spirits and give birth to a molar pregnancy. Touching the scale will prolong the pregnancy, because scales in the past were in hexadecimal digits. If a pregnant woman touches the scale, it means that she will be pregnant for sixteen months. This is a great torment for both adults and children, and can cause dystocia. . The same taboo is that you cannot cross the rope, because the rope is like the umbilical cord of the fetus, and it will be entangled and difficult to give birth after crossing; you cannot sit on the bench with your buttocks full, otherwise the fetal position will fall backwards and it will easily cause difficult labor; you cannot hold other people's children, because the child you have hugged will get sick. Commonly known as "replacing the fetus"; you cannot go to temples. It is commonly believed that gods are supreme, pure and selfless, bless the people, and should be devoutly respected. Conception is a product of blasphemy. If it goes before the gods, it is a disrespectful act. You cannot cross the pole, as it will cause miscarriage and dystocia. You cannot wrap ropes or threads, as it will cause the umbilical cord to wrap around the neck of the fetus. You cannot put your head in the doorway. brain, which will cause the fetus to be unable to deliver smoothly. The most inexplicable thing is that the baby cannot raise its arms. It is believed that the fetus survives by sucking nutrients from its mother's milk tendons. If a pregnant woman raises her arms, the fetus will not be able to bite the milk tendons and starve to death.
Don't put a knife on the stove, because when the child is reincarnated, he must get the permission of Kitchen God Bodhisattva. After he is pregnant, if he puts a knife on the stove, he is dissatisfied with the Kitchen God, and the Kitchen God will cancel the original promise of giving birth to a child, so he will give birth to a child. Most of the children will still be born or suffer miscarriages. Pregnant women are not allowed to enter neighboring villages. If they have to enter, they must first prepare sacrifices to worship the land god of the village. Otherwise, the evil ghosts and monsters in the village will possess them and cause dystocia.
Number taboos
Among the numbers, the most auspicious numbers are six and eight. The so-called "Six-Six Dashun" and "If you want to succeed, you must never leave eight". reason. In today's society, it is nothing new to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a phone number or a license plate number that contains the most sixes and eights. There are many taboo numbers. Generally speaking, avoid odd numbers because good things come in pairs. "Two" is an even number, but funerals are taboo on such days because people don't want bad things to come in pairs. "Three" is a homophone for "San", which means longevity and harmony. The number "three" should not be used in weddings, birthdays, congratulations and gifts; "four" is a homophonic word for "death", so this number should not be used for house numbers, car license plates, telephone numbers, mobile phone numbers, etc.; "five" is a homophonic word for "nothing". ", so it is not appropriate to use this number in negotiations, collection of accounts, etc., lest nothing be accomplished; avoid "seven" when traveling away from home. There is a saying that "seven will not leave, eight will not return, and you will fly home on the ninth day of the lunar month"; the elderly are prone to taboos 9. The rate of accidents or deaths is higher than the general age. It is a Western custom to avoid "Thirteen" because Judas, who betrayed Jesus, was ranked thirteen. However, after China opened up, some high-end hotels also avoided this in order to cater to Westerners. Do not set the number thirteen; avoid "seventy-three" and "eighty-four" in terms of age, because Confucius died at the age of seventy-three and Mencius at the age of eighty-four. Folks say, "Seventy-three and eighty" Fourth, the King of Hell does not invite you to go. "The number "two hundred and five" is taboo. It is customary to regard "two hundred and five" as a pronoun for fools and idiots; there are also numbers such as "7086" and "5354". Taboo, because it has the same pronunciation as "Qi Liao Ba Lu" and "I will scatter and I will die".
Daily behavioral taboos
It is forbidden to wash your feet before traveling far. Taiwanese people believe that if they wash their feet before going on a long journey in summer, it will get hotter as they go, and it will get colder as they go in winter.
Do not pluck out white hair. As the saying goes, "Pull out one hair, three roots will grow." It is generally believed that the more white hair you pull out, the more white hair will grow.
Centenarians should avoid talking about their actual age and always say they are ninety-nine. When an old person dies, avoid saying "die". Instead, say "old". Middle-aged people should avoid saying forty-one when reporting their age.
It is forbidden to sweep the floor after the sun goes down, because at this time the gods of luck and luck in the family have gone home, and if they are swept out, the family fortune will be ruined. Do not sweep from the inside to the outside, as this may sweep away wealth and blessings. On the contrary, if you want to get rid of bad luck, you have to sweep it from the inside out. When cleaning, you should not stack chairs with their legs facing up. This is because there is also a custom of overturning chairs during funerals, which will remind people of funerals, so naturally try to avoid it.
It is forbidden to hold an umbrella in the house. It is believed that holding an umbrella in the house will make you bald.
Don’t go to the balcony to dry or collect clothes in the middle of the night. If you really don’t have time to dry clothes, it’s best to wait until the sun is out at noon the next day before collecting them.
Do not visit patients in the afternoon and evening. Use someone else's medicine pot to boil the medicine. Do not return it after use. The corpses of those who died outside are not allowed to enter the door and must stay outside the door.
Married women should not spend the Spring Festival at their natal home, read their family tree, celebrate the Lantern Festival at their natal home, or give birth to children at their natal home. Pregnant women should avoid looking at dead bodies and visiting mothers who have given birth.
It is prohibited to go out at night in July. As the saying goes, "In July, lonely ghosts wander around." People are afraid of encountering ghosts at night. Unless there is an emergency, no one will risk going out at night. Another example: if you unfortunately encounter a ghost, you only need to cough a few times and the ghost will leave. Or if people who walk at night often sing while walking, the ghost will not dare to come out. After the founding of New China, most superstitious taboos were abolished.
Taboos on zodiac signs in marriage
In the "Charts of Good and Bad Marriage for Men and Women" listed in some folk almanacs, those born in the zodiac of tiger are not forbidden to be paired with cows, sheep, and dogs, but only those born under the zodiac sign of cattle, sheep, or dogs are taboo. Monkey, snake. It is strange that people born in the year of Ox, Sheep and Dog are all assigned to Tiger. It seems that the subsequent conflict between the zodiac signs is no longer a continuation of the conflict between the five elements, but has become a "synthetic fact" of various folk cultures. The ballads include:
Since ancient times, a white horse is not worthy of an ox; a sheep and a rat are compatible and will fall apart; a golden rooster does not meet a dog; a green dragon sheds tears when seeing a rabbit; a pig and a monkey meet like a knife to cut each other; tigers and snakes are not compatible with each other. When a snake is paired with a tiger, a man will defeat a woman; when a pig is paired with a monkey, it won't end; when a rabbit sees a snake, it's like being cut with a knife. The white horse is afraid of the green cow. Black pigs are afraid of apes, snakes are afraid of tigers as if they were cut by a knife, sheep and mice break up when they meet, black dogs cannot enter the sheepfold, and roosters shed tears when they see dogs. Chen Zishen avoids snakes, chickens and cows, Siyou Chou avoids tigers, horses and dogs, Yinwu Xu avoids pigs, rabbits and sheep, Haimaowei avoids dragons, rats and monkeys.
Most of these folk proverbs and ballads were collected in the Central Plains area. Compared with the zodiac marriage taboos in Taiwan's folk calendar, there are many differences. This is an inevitable feature of customs. As the saying goes, "There are different styles in ten miles, and different customs in hundreds of miles." However, this comparison also exposes the implausibility of this zodiac marriage taboo. A man and woman cannot get married here because they are subject to zodiac taboos. If they were the same two in another place, they might not be restricted at all. Isn't this a very dramatic thing? It can be seen that the zodiac marriage taboo is untrustworthy and has no scientific basis.
Festival Taboos
The Spring Festival is the beginning of the New Year, and the first day of the first lunar month is also the first day of the New Year, so there are many taboos.
For example, avoid breaking things. If you break them, say auspicious words such as "Every year (broken pieces), peace" or "The more you beat, the better"; avoid eating without fish when eating New Year's dinner, and avoid eating all the fish if there is one, just to ask for a favor. "There will be plenty of fish every year"
It is auspicious. On this day, it is forbidden to use knives, axes, scissors and other utensils, to carry water, to work in the fields, to borrow fire, to collect debts, to shop, to do needlework, to kill animals, to cry, and to avoid paying New Year greetings to those wearing heavy filial piety. Say anything unlucky. If the Spring Festival dumplings are boiled and broken, don't say "broken, broken", but say "earned"; if the steamed buns are steamed, don't say "cracked", say "laughed". In addition, you should avoid sweeping the floor. You cannot take out the garbage even if you sweep the floor. You think it will sweep away your wealth. It is also forbidden for the benches to fall to the ground, because the coffin rests on two benches when the person dies. When the coffin is taken away during the funeral, the benches are kicked down before starting. In addition, it is taboo to eat tofu in many places, because it is customary to eat tofu during funerals, and the old man who dies is called "falling on a mountain of tofu." In short, anything considered unlucky is prohibited during the first month of the year, especially the first day of the lunar month.
There are also many taboos on other festivals. For example, the second day of February is known in ancient times as "Zhonghe Festival" and is commonly known as "dragon raises its head". It is forbidden to use scissors and needles, and it is forbidden to touch the edge of the well when grinding or fetching water, for fear of injury. dragon. One or two days before Qingming Festival is the "Cold Food Festival", and fireworks are prohibited. Avoid going out at night during the Ghost Festival in July to avoid disturbing ghosts and gods and causing disaster. Avoid rain during the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, otherwise the harvest will not be good next year. In some places, it is taboo for a married daughter to return to her parents' home during the Double Ninth Festival in September. There is a saying that "if you go home to celebrate the Double Ninth Festival, your mother-in-law will die." In addition, there are also taboos in some festivals. For example, there is a taboo against no rain at the beginning of autumn, because it is believed that thunder will rain on that day. It heralds a good harvest. There is a proverb that says, "When thunder strikes in autumn, dogs and cats will not eat porridge." There is also a saying that thunder is forbidden at the beginning of winter. As the saying goes: "Thunder cannot move, and nine out of ten cattle pens will be empty." "Probably means that livestock will die.
Marriage taboos
There are also many marriage taboos, which shows people's cautious attitude towards marriage. In terms of spouse selection, intermarriage with the same surname is prohibited in many places in our country. This has always been the case, as the ancients said: "If a man and a woman have the same surname, their lives will be different. "In addition, according to the perspective of fortune telling, men and women whose eight characters and five elements are in conflict with each other are taboo to get married; in terms of date of marriage, it is taboo to get married in a year without the Spring Festival, in May, June, and July, and to get married on a single day; in the auspicious day selection technique, it is taboo to get married. , it is forbidden to get married during the moon breaking, weekdays, closing sun, closing sun, calamity evil, disaster evil, moon evil, moon punishment, moon harm, Hai day, etc. On the wedding day, when the bride goes out, the sisters-in-law must avoid it and cannot see each other off. . Because "aunt" and "lone" have the same pronunciation, and "sister-in-law" and "sweep" have the same pronunciation, which are both unlucky. During the wedding, the bride should not wear a black dress, and the bride's clothes should not have pockets to avoid carrying them. According to the fortune of the natal family, avoid breaking utensils, avoid having children cry, avoid people wearing mourning, widows, and four-eyed people (pregnant women) entering the new house, and avoid others sitting on the new bed; on the third day of the wedding, the newlyweds return to the bride's house with gifts. This is called returning home, but remember to rush back to your husband's house before sunset on the same day and not stay at your parents' house overnight. If there are special circumstances that make it impossible to go home, the couple must sleep in separate rooms to avoid the bride's honeymoon. Mother's family.
The ancients described the taboos in sexual life in detail. The excerpt is as follows:
During intercourse between men and women, there are even more taboos. You must be careful. If you violate them, heaven and earth will be ruined. In order to take away one's life, ghosts and gods will harm one's body, and for fear of having unworthy children and losing longevity, the things to be avoided by observing the precepts are listed below: earthquakes in the sky and earth, storms, thunder and lightning, twilight and moonlight. Breaking, great cold and great heat, eclipses of the sun and moon, birthdays of gods and Buddhas, Gengshen Jiazi, natal day, Sanyuanba Festival, May 5th, famous mountains and rivers, Shentong shrines and temples, monks and Taoist temples, in front of statues of sages, before and after wells and stoves , the fire is noisy, the above-mentioned taboos must be observed, and no intercourse is allowed. If you violate it, you will lose your life in a big way, or if you give birth to a boy, you will have an ugly appearance, incomplete body, and die prematurely from all the taboos. Previously, the 18th day of the fifth lunar month is the day when the yin and yang meet in the year of heaven and earth. People must avoid it and be careful not to have sex. If the offense is serious, it will cost your life, and if it is serious, it will shorten your life. If you get pregnant at this time, the mother and the baby will not be safe.