What are the customs of Miao nationality?

Miao people generally practice patriarchal clan system. Family members live together for more than two or three generations, but less for more than four generations. Most of them separated from their parents and set up another family after their son got married. Parents often live with their youngest son or their favorite son.

In the family, male parents have greater power, followed by female parents, and adult children have the right to "participate". Only men can inherit family property. At the time of separation, except one for parents as a "pension field", the rest were inherited by the son. Brothers split equally. There is no eldest son (or youngest son) inheritance system. In some places, the eldest son of an ex-wife can get more points, but there is no system. Women have no right to inherit. In some places, such as some Miao people in southeastern Guizhou, unmarried girls are also given a small amount of land as living expenses, which is called "girls' field". Parents or brothers who live together are responsible for it, but girls are not entitled to enjoy it after marriage, and some of it is not recovered until the girl dies. A husband has the right to inherit property. If a widow does not remarry, she can also inherit the property of her late husband. If she changes her house, she will be inherited by her ex-husband's son.

The relationship between the immediate relatives and collateral relatives of Miao people is generally close, with only a slight degree of intimacy. They form a family, take care of each other and support each other in poverty. In the same generation of family members, regardless of immediate collateral, regardless of relatives and friends, they are all brothers and sisters. Those who are related to their parents are called uncles and parents. People the same age as grandparents are called grandfathers or grandmothers. Grandfathers and grandmothers are generally referred to as generations above grandfathers. We usually call the next generation by their first names.

Miao people are very particular about family education and rules. It is a traditional virtue to be filial to parents, be friendly to brothers and sisters, respect the elders and care for the younger generation. Uncle and sister-in-law can't cross the line Elders can't make fun of their daughters-in-law and grandchildren. Younger generations should not be frivolous in front of their elders.

There is a strong cohesion within the Miao family. In daily life, we care about each other. If a family has great difficulties, help the family; The poor have no clothes to wear, but the whole family is strong. Disputes are similar, small things are criticized and persuaded, and big things are decided by prestigious people in the clan. In the family, the concept of unity with the outside world is also very strong.

Miao families used to have their own surnames, namely Miao surnames. Originated from ancient clans, it is generally called so-and-so or so-and-so branch. Some branches are named after their leaders, while others are named after place names and animal names. In order to trace the genealogy, people often adopt the system of father-son serial surnames when naming names, which can trace back to the origin of the family in the order of serial surnames. Father and son are linked by the child's name and the father's name, and some are linked by the grandfather's name. For example, the father's name is Bao, and the son's name is Yan Bao. As in my grandfather's name, it is connected as Yanbaoli. This is the formal naming method for ordinary direct descendants of adults, except that children take nicknames. The naming of Anshun area is very grand, and families with drums will hold ceremonies and hold a reception at the dinner party to name it. Ziyun District was named as a grand banquet, which was connected by many square tables. From the main room to the courtyard outside the house, the family sat on one side and the father-in-law family sat on the other side. Discuss over dinner. The name is auspicious, but it can't be the same as the names of parents and elders on both sides.

marriage customs

In ancient times, men and women established their feelings by singing and got married without their parents' consent. Marriage is also completed independently by both men and women, and both parents only temporarily sponsor or confirm it afterwards, which can be described as freedom and autonomy. If the location is agreed, men and women will take the woman home to get married on the Dragon Boat Festival in May. After getting married and having children, the relationship between husband and wife was completely established, and the husband accompanied his wife to visit his parents-in-law.

Youfang is the main form of communication between men and women in Qiandongnan, and many villages have Youfangpo and Youfangping as fixed social places for men and women. If you leave this place to travel, you will be considered immoral and will be punished. Unmarried men and women in northwest Guizhou mostly meet by "jumping flowers" during the day, and then secretly sing and talk at night, so they are also called "stepping on the moon" or "jumping on the moon". Through contact, if the two sides love each other, they can set a life. Let the man's parents invite the matchmaker to the woman's house at once. This is called "engagement".

Weddings are usually held after the autumn harvest in 10, and some are postponed until July and February of the following year. That is, the off-season, the specific date is determined by luck. When getting married, the man goes to the woman's house to get married, accompanied by her mother and sisters, escorted by relatives, and the bride walks with an umbrella. However, horseback riding is popular in northwest Guizhou, and brides in Songtao and other places sit in sedan chairs. At the wedding reception, the bride wears gorgeous makeup, behaves dignified and unsmiling. The groom's dress is very ordinary and quite inconspicuous. When Miao people get married in most areas of southeastern Guizhou, the groom generally does not appear in front of relatives and friends who come to congratulate. During the wedding reception, the bride only stays with her sister or sister-in-law, and then goes back to her parents' home. This phenomenon is probably related to the legacy of matriarchal system.

Miao weddings in Ping Huang, Shi Bing and Kaili are unique: after men and women decide to get married, the man first finds three or five good boyfriends to pick up the bride at the woman's house; The bride also invited several good girls to accompany her, and they all came to the man's house. Her parents killed the chicken and gave her a warm welcome. Young men and women from the village also came to celebrate. After three days, the man invited someone to the woman's house to report the good news. If the woman's parents agree, treat her with wine and meat, and send someone to bring embroidered dresses and jewelry to the girl. On the thirteenth day, it was the day when the man formally invited the guests. On that day, he organized people to send the girl back to her door, while the woman's house entertained her with wine and meat. At this point, the wedding is over. When individual guests go, the host should put several jars at the entrance of the village to stop the guests from toasting. Guests must sing in appreciation, and those who sing badly will be fined, otherwise they will not be released.

In parts of southern Guizhou and southeastern Guizhou, after the wedding, the bride goes back to her mother's house and stays at her husband's house until she is busy with farming or has something to pick up. Lived in my husband's house for two or three years.

Among the Miao people in many areas, there is still the custom of cousin marriage to varying degrees, that is, my uncle has the right to take my niece as his daughter-in-law, which is called "returning the mother's head". It is generally necessary to marry a long niece or take a fancy to a daughter, whether the woman likes it or not, which is the so-called "uncle wants it, but he can't run away." If you marry outside, you must prepare a heavy gift for your uncle's family, called "pay your mother back." However, some Miao cousins in Qingzhen, Xiuwen and Bijie are the opposite: it is not my uncle's son who marries my aunt's daughter, but my aunt's son who has the right to marry my uncle's daughter, which is called "the niece drives my aunt out".

Among Miao people, divorce is relatively free. Generally, one of the divorced parties first proposes to compensate the other party. If the man divorces first, he may not ask the woman for a "bride price", but also pay another "bride price". If the woman divorces first, she must pay the man's "engagement money" and "marriage fee" before she can remarry.

In most areas, widows are free to remarry. Folklore is "inside first, then outside". If my brother dies and he doesn't get married, my brother has the right to marry his sister-in-law, which is slightly mandatory. If the woman resolutely disagrees, she can also marry outside. If the younger brother dies and the elder brother is widowed, the elder brother can also marry the sister-in-law, but he can't be forced. This kind of marriage, commonly known as "house transfer", is limited to brothers and sisters. Widows are "transferred", and their minor children are raised by the transferred husband. If they marry others, they can take the baby away in its infancy, and the inheritance will be taken care of by the uncle; When he grows up, the man must return to family of origin, and the woman will take the initiative to listen to him.

There are many restrictions on Miao marriage. The biggest taboo is not to intermarry with the same surname, otherwise it will be regarded as incest. This kind of sexual surname is based on the Miao nationality, but not the Han nationality. However, in some places, the Miao surname is lost, and the Han surname shall prevail. In some areas, it is difficult to find a spouse due to the fact that there are few heterosexual surnames and too many descendants, so we have to set up another surname for the distant branch of the surname and "break the surname and start a new stove" with the near branch.

funeral

The funeral forms of Miao nationality are very complicated in history. There are cave burial, hanging coffin burial, earth burial, tree burial and so on.

Cave burial: after a person dies in a coffin, the coffin should be parked in a natural cave. This burial method is mainly popular among some Miao people in Huishui, Longli, Guiding, Pingtang, Duyun, Dushan, Luodian, Pingba, Changshun, Ziyun and Wangmo counties. In recent years, a large number of sites of this burial method have been found in ethnic archaeological research. There were coffins in caves from Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to Ming and Qing Dynasties, with the most in Tang, Song and Ming Dynasties, but it was not recorded until Ming and Qing Dynasties. Tianxing Cave in Jiaoma Township of Changshun County and Coffin Cave in Pingba County are several large-scale cave tombs. In addition to countless rotten beds, there are more than 100 recognizable coffins, as many as 500 or even 1000, and they are all displayed in the east and west. This kind of burial is extinct now.

Hanging coffin burial: after a person dies in a coffin, the coffin is stored in a gap in the cliff, or a hole is dug in the cliff to insert a stake, and the coffin is placed horizontally on the cliff. As early as the Tang Dynasty, this kind of burial method was recorded in Wuxi area. In the Ming Dynasty, this burial method was widely used among Miao people in central and southern Guizhou. It gradually decreased or even disappeared in the Qing Dynasty. Until War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, only a few families kept this custom.

Burial: It has a long history, including wooden coffins and sarcophagus (central Guizhou). There are two kinds of funerals: along burial and horizontal burial. Horizontal burial is a very old burial custom, which used to be popular among Miao people in northwest Guizhou, north Guizhou and south Sichuan, and some people still use this burial method now.

Tree burial: It is a kind of tree burial wrapped with bark after death, which is recorded in Geography of Sui Shu. Today, it has disappeared in most areas, and only a few areas are used for abnormal deaths.

When the old people die, they usually burn "gas money", and some even put it by the fireplace, which is obviously influenced by the Han nationality. On the one hand, after death, inform the whole village by shooting; Send someone to inform my uncle's family, relatives and friends. It is also necessary to shave and bathe the deceased, put on a shroud, and die in the mourning hall for relatives to mourn. In Huishui area, the bodies should be parked on bamboo mats and hung on the beams of the pillars in the hall, five or six feet from the ground. This may be a variation of ancient hanging coffin burial.

During the burial, relatives and friends came to mourn, especially the "mourning" of women. Even if the women in the village had no kinship with the deceased, they all came to mourn and felt extremely sad. The working people, old and young, were also moved to tears.

Before the corpse enters the coffin, some money will be stuffed into the mouth of the deceased in Qiandongnan area as a "toll" for the soul of the deceased to return to the native land of the East, which is called "buying water money".

During the mourning period, the priest should be asked to "clear the way" for the deceased, explain the whereabouts of the deceased, tell the story of the origin and migration of ancestors from the beginning of the world, and ask the deceased to return to the native land of the East, the birthplace of the nation, and meet with their ancestors.

At the funeral, the dutiful son "clears the way" in front of the funeral procession with a bow and arrow or sword. It is intended to show that the ancestors came here to open up mountains and roads, cut through thorns, exorcise demons and lower dragons. Therefore, when the old man dies, we should also remove obstacles for him and let the deceased return to his ancestral home smoothly.

The cemetery is usually chosen by Mr. Feng Shui. Some areas in Qiandongnan Prefecture are family cemeteries and some are mass graves. Wooden coffins are widely used in tombs. The burial style is mainly suitable for soil burial, that is, the head is facing above the ridge and the feet are facing downward. Wangmo and Luodian still maintain the ancient custom of facing east.

Some Miao people in Loushun also have the ancient custom of "stopping burial", that is, burying the coffin in the mountains for several years after the funeral.