1. Funeral customs of the Bai people
Before the Yuan Dynasty, all the Bai people believed in Tantric Buddhism. Affected by this, cremation was popular in Bai areas. After the Yuan Dynasty, due to the influence of the Han nationality and Han culture in the mainland, burials were gradually changed to burials. Funeral ceremonies are generally grand.
(1) Putting a coffin in a coffin and keeping a vigil: When an old person dies, the funeral is usually a happy event. After choosing an auspicious day, reciting sutras and offering sacrifices to relatives and friends, the funeral can be carried out. During the stay at home, the children should keep vigil day and night. During the period of salvation, wine and meat are held, and relatives and friends who come to make drink offerings are invited to a meal.
(2) Carrying out the coffin for the funeral: During the funeral, neighbors bring their own carriers to help carry the coffin. Reciting sutras to lead the way for the deceased, the filial man walks in front of the coffin with a cane and a mourning stick, and the filial daughter walks behind the coffin. The coffin is carried to the coffin-circling place and placed on a high stool. The chanter performs the coffin-circling ceremony. After reciting the "Coffin Surrounding Sutra", it is called "building a bridge to cross the road". When crossing a bridge, the dutiful man kneels on the bridge and carries the coffin over his body, which is called "carrying the coffin".
2. Nanjian Yuanyang Bridge
Yuanyang Bridge is located in Xinjie, more than 20 kilometers south of Nanjian County. It is located between Ailao Mountain and Wuliang Mountain, connecting the Bianjiang River with upstream. The old bridge was built in 1941. It is a hollow house-style profile bridge with an earth forest structure. The bridge is nearly 17 meters long. The bridge deck is made of wooden boards laid horizontally. There are 14-meter-long wooden benches on both sides, which can accommodate hundreds of people to sit in the cool air. Water flows under the bridge, but people remain on the bridge.
What is interesting is that local young men and women of various ethnic groups, including Yi, Miao, and Han, use the bridge as a matchmaker. Every Xinjie Day (Chicken and Rabbit Day), people from nearby villages such as Baohua, Wuliang, and Yongcui gather from dozens of miles away to gather at the bridge head and on the bridge. It is very lively, and the two benches are even more packed.
There are "horoscope" gentlemen who specialize in fortune telling and marriage planning, there are doctors who sell medicine and treat diseases, and more of them are boys and girls who come from far and near to fall in love. The young men and women who come here to meet each other and come here for fame, regardless of their status, whether they are of the same family or not, and no matter what nationality they are, as long as they like each other and like each other.
Proposers are usually led by someone and agree to meet on the bridge at a time. After meeting and getting to know each other, if a man and a woman like each other, they will tell each other their birth dates and go to the fortune teller to get married. Only if the "horoscopes" are not in conflict with each other can the relationship be maintained, and then the auspicious date for the wedding will be determined.
Some boys and girls also come here because of their reputation. They sit on the bridge stools and wait. When they find someone of the same age and similar appearance, they take the initiative to ask questions. After greeting each other, they report each other's age, zodiac sign, and address. and family situation, etc. "Once alive, twice familiar." After a few new days and a few meetings, most people can get married.
The Yi guys and Amei from deep in Ailao Mountain like to woo each other by singing antiphonally. When a young man falls in love with a girl, he sings: "The boy comes across the mountains and the girl crosses the river. We can't meet each other across the mountains and rivers. The wise master built a golden bridge to meet each other. The river has swollen and the sand is entangled. A pair of mandarin ducks and a pair of shrimps; if the mandarin ducks form a pair and play in the water, the girl will be the master of the house."
The girl will answer readily: "There are mountains and rivers, but no roads. The man sings a little tune and the sister comes to get along; good flowers bloom in the deep mountains, and the brother comes with bees and colorful flowers." Questions and answers, each other, each other. Ups and downs, the singing is like trickling water under the bridge, with deep affection. ?
Yuanyang Bridge is the throat of an ancient double post road in the south from Dali to Simao. The old bridge was destroyed by water in the 1980s. Today's new bridge is made of reinforced concrete at the original site. Its length, width, height and the buildings on the bridge are similar to the old bridge. It retains the local architectural characteristics and rare customs. The three characters "Yuanyang Bridge" at the head of the bridge are still very eye-catching today.
3. Marriage Customs of the Bai Nationality in Dali
The Bai Nationality in Dali, like other fraternal ethnic groups in my country, has experienced the stages of group marriage, pair marriage, and individual marriage. Nowadays, exogamy is practiced and monogamy is the basic form of family organization. Brothers in the family split up after they get married, and parents usually live with their youngest son. The son-in-law has the right to inherit the family property, and women have a higher status in the family. ?
The young men and women of the Bai ethnic group in Dali area are relatively free before marriage, and most of the marriages are decided by themselves. Finding a partner usually involves getting to know each other and becoming a close friend through "duoge", and then goes through several stages of marriage, engagement, welcome, and becoming a couple. The parents of the man and woman and the matchmaker go to the woman's house to propose marriage.
The woman's father agrees to the engagement. When the engagement occurs, the man must choose an auspicious day to send wine, roosters and betrothal gifts to the woman's house. The betrothal gift must contain "six words". Three catties and six taels of tea or six catties and six taels of wine, six catties and six bottles of wine, six catties and six taels of candy, etc. mean "blessings and fortune". The bride's family will treat each other with "three courses of tea" to express their agreement, also known as the "promise ceremony of chicken and wine". ?
A wedding usually takes three days and the ceremony is very grand. The wedding day is called the "happy day". The day before the wedding is called "Stepping on the Gate". On this day, the man has to carry the dowry to the woman's home. In the evening, he has to play suona and sing "Chui Chui Qiang" and "Dabenqu" at the man's home until dawn to celebrate.
On the wedding day, "the man, accompanied by relatives and friends, will go to the bride's house to welcome her," and the bride will cry goodbye to her parents, siblings. When going out, the drummers have to play the tune "Getting the Bride", and the sound of the suona is intertwined with the bride's cries from time to time. There were constant sounds of playing and playing along the way. The companions threw rice and flowers to the bride as they walked, and pinched the bride from time to time to express their "blessings."
When the bride arrives at her home, the bridegroom’s brothers must carry the bride to the bride’s house. At this point, there is still an early custom of “robbing a bride”.
There is a fire in the new house.
When the bride enters the house, the family will burn spicy noodles in the fire to make the bride cough. They will add pepper powder to the bride’s food and wine to make it difficult for the bride to swallow to express “intimacy” and “wealth”. In Bai language, “spicy, numb” and "Kindness" and "richness" have the same pronunciation.
The bride and groom must worship heaven and earth, worship their parents and uncles, and feast the guests with eight large Bai bowls. There is a recognition ceremony in the evening, where the elders give the bride money to meet her, while the peers discuss the wedding. During the wedding ceremony, the bride should take out the stewed plums, carved plums, fruits, candied fruits and other foods brought from her parents' home and respectfully give them to her peers to taste, which is also called "shaking fruit wine". Everyone was eating and making noise until late at night. ?
On the third day, the bride has to go to the kitchen to cook fish to honor her parents-in-law. Three to eight days after the wedding, the bride's family will take her son-in-law and daughter home for dinner. After seven days, you have to go to the main temple in your village to offer sacrifices to your deity and ask him to protect your family and give birth to a son soon.
4. Dali Bai people beat old friends
Da: means to make friends; Lao: means lifelong, from childhood to old age; Friends: means reliable friends of the same gender and age friend. Making old friends means making good friends of the same gender and age who have close contacts throughout your life. This is a common custom in the life of the Bai people in Dali. ?
The Bai people in Dali usually hit their old friends for three reasons. First, through a certain period of communication and understanding between teenagers in life, study, and work, they ask each other if they like each other, agree on each other, and unanimously decide to use the form of beating old friends to solidify the friendship for a long time.
The second is that both teenagers hope that their parents will be good friends with each other, and even they already have old friends. They think that their children will fight against their old friends, thus making the relationship between the older generation and the older generation unclear. Friendships continue and develop into the next generation.
The third is that one of the parents of young people discovers in life that the corresponding young people in other people’s families are worth learning and interacting with their children in terms of character, knowledge, health, etc., so through a third party Make old friends by doing work in the middle.
Because beating an old friend will be a major event that will affect the life of a child, the parents of the first generation are extremely cautious about their children’s beating of old friends.
They not only have to examine each other's children's character, knowledge, health and other aspects to see whether they are worthy of friendship. At the same time, we must also examine the other party's family situation, such as whether the other party's family is loyal, kind, hard-working, harmonious, healthy, etc. If the situation is unclear, we will not agree lightly. ?
Once the two young people establish a relationship as old friends, the families of both parties are called the in-laws' families. In order to show the closeness of their relationship, parents on both sides usually omit the word "gan" when calling each other. Within three years of establishing the relationship as old friends. Both families must visit each other at least once a year. It was a grand occasion to receive the first visit from the in-laws.
When holding a sumptuous banquet, relatives and neighbors of the same family must be invited to accompany them. As teenagers who fight old friends, they must kneel down to their parents in public and change their names to pretend that the other's parents are their biological fathers. ant.
The names for other relatives and friends are the same as those for old friends. After helping the two friends who are fighting, both parents should say some encouraging and auspicious words to their children and give them appropriate gifts. Gifts can be books, stationery, clothing, red envelopes, etc. Both parents must also ask all relatives, friends and neighbors present to take more care of their two children in the future.
In this way, the relationship between old friends is made public and legal among relatives, friends and neighbors of both families. From now on, not only will the teenagers who are old friends be in close contact with each other on a regular basis, but the families of both parties will also establish a close relationship. No matter what happens to either family, they must report it in time and help wholeheartedly.
The relationship between the two families is really not like relatives but better than relatives. Through activities such as beating old friends in Dali,
many teenagers and their families have been able to effectively expand their interpersonal circles, which is beneficial to the healthy growth of teenagers and their families' foothold in society. Not without its benefits.
5. Floating beams and vertical pillars of the Binchuan Bai people
The vertical pillars in the houses built by the Binchuan Bai people can be called a "festival" that is not a festival. When the Binchuan Bai people build new houses with vertical pillars, they usually choose a day when the four-level walls are being built (but if the walls are all made of stone, there are also cases where the pillars are erected first. (The vertical pillars are the wooden frame part of the house that is erected). < /p>
First of all, the "auspicious day" of the zodiac must be selected for the erection of the pillars. Under the command of the leading carpenter, the completed frame is erected first, and then a few young adults climb the earthen frame. Swing the hammer and drive the beams into the tenons accurately and neatly.
It is said that the smoothness of the tenon connection depends on the openness and generosity of the new house owner. , neat; otherwise it will be awkward, quarrelsome (that is, the size of the tenon connection part is not appropriate), and even mistakes may occur.
When the roof trusses are upright, there are many couplets on each pillar. To post, there are some that foretell the future, some that praise the times, and some that allude to the difficulties of starting a business, and some that thank relatives and friends, such as "I used all the materials from the Han Dynasty, cypresses, and pine trees, and the land is all Wushan and Chushui." Willows, listen to the melodious sound of birds behind the house and sing a few songs. Spring fills the hall."
Another example is "Hard work creates a great cause, and hard work creates a grand plan." , Shengsing and singing are everywhere, the spring scenery will last forever, and there is no need to return," etc. These couplets are extensive in content and rich in connotation. They can quite show the joy of the owner and often win the praise of relatives and friends.
At noon, it is the climax of the pillar erection ceremony - floating beams.
First of all, place an Eight Immortals table in the center of the square and invite the elders to sit around the table (note; the Bai people respect their elders very much. Whenever the village entertains guests, the elders in the village must be invited to sit) , the owner of the new house toasts the elders with wine, cigarettes and candies one after another.
You should offer six rounds of wine, six sticks of cigarettes, and six handfuls of candy. ]. Then under the command of a master, a thick beam tied with red silk and lit with firecrackers was slowly raised by two strong men on the roof truss with ropes. The master directed with his hands and spoke with his mouth. Reciting four words and eight sentences: "A big beam is floating, and the whole family is happy.
Today the beam is flying to build the Hua Hall, and you will have good fortune and longevity. Since the beam is flying today, future generations will always be safe and healthy. ". In an instant, firecrackers exploded, drums blared, firecrackers, suonas, gongs and drums, and hammers struck, forming a deafening symphony.
As soon as the rice is in place, "throwing the buns" begins. The master hangs a steamer
(some are packed in baskets) with large and small buns on the rice. He throws the big ones to the owner first, and while throwing them, he reads: "There is a flower on the rice. If a gold ingot is thrown to the owner's house, it will catch the glory and wealth, but not the wealth and splendor." After throwing the big ones, start from the east and throw the small ones in all directions.
Throwing it in his hand, he said in his mouth: "One throw will fill a bucket of gold and silver. Two throws will fill the barn. Three throws will bring good fortune and longevity. Four throws will fill the house with children and grandchildren. Sow them all over the southeast and northwest. From now on, it is decided. "Wannian Zhuang" - these four words and eight sentences do not necessarily have a fixed format and text. Most of them are improvised based on experience and talent.
The chanting was very rhythmic, and the singing was equally beautiful. Men, women, old and children waiting in all directions were excited to grab the buns. Among the buns, there were some with jujubes and candied fruits, as well as melon seeds and coins. , and stuffed with chili peppers, to name a few.
The most interesting thing is that when removing the buns from the house beams, coins, melon seeds, confetti, and warm water are also thrown in. Therefore, after this ceremony, many people often have their heads and faces covered with buns. It's water. If someone is playing a prank
(joking), they will pour water on a few people, which will make people almost drowned.
But even so, no one will get angry. At this time, the tassels on the beams were fluttering and the red leaves were curled up. The ground was crowded with people and boats in costumes. There was laughter and laughter in my ears, and bees and butterflies were flying in front of my eyes. It was simply a sea of ??joy.
At this time, relatives and friends who had been waiting by the roadside of the village also picked up rice cakes, brought gifts, red silk ribbons, and set off firecrackers to congratulate. According to the rules of the Bai people in Binchuan, Zhuzhu does not entertain guests on this day. The more people who come to congratulate voluntarily, the better the fate of the owner.
The host respectfully thanked the guests, offered cigarettes, poured tea, and hosted a banquet.
Every bowl of food at the banquet was filled with spicy chili peppers. (The word "hot" in Bai dialect is the same as "kin"). Each table is led by a virtuous and generous young woman who is responsible for toasting, representing the host's hospitality. She persuades and pours frequently to make you want to stop.
Reference material: People’s Government of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture—Famous Customs and Customs