Customs of the Miao people

What are the customs and habits of the Miao people? The Miao people are one of the oldest ethnic groups in my country. They have a large population and a vast distribution. The Miao people in western Hunan belong to one of them. In the long-term historical development process, the Miao people have formed their own unique customs and habits in terms of clothing, festivals, weddings, funerals, entertainment, etiquette, taboos, and diet.

1. Clothing

In the ancient costumes of the Miao people in western Hunan, there is little difference between men and women, and they are all "colorful"; they wear floral clothes on the upper body, pleated skirts on the lower body, and long hair. , wrapped in an ocher flower handkerchief, wearing boat-shaped floral shoes, and various silver ornaments.

During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, during the "reform of the land and return to the mainstream", after the Communist Party of China issued the directive that "clothes should be divided into men and women," the changes were drastic, and many people even changed into women's clothing. For example, in today's Yongshun, Longshan and other counties, the Miao people's clothing is no different from that of the Han people. However, in Huayuan, Baojing, Fenghuang, Jishou, Guzhang, Luxi and other counties, the Miao costumes still have their own characteristics.

The clothes of Miao men are relatively simple; they wear cloth handkerchiefs on their heads, double-breasted clothes with long and small sleeves, short and large trousers, and they like to have green foot bindings. There are two kinds of headbands: green handkerchiefs and flower handkerchiefs. The handkerchiefs are more than one foot long, and some are as long as three feet long. When worn, they usually form an oblique cross shape and are as big as a bamboo hat. The colors of the clothes include plaid, all-green, all-blue, etc. Among them, plaid cloth is the most distinctive. There are usually seven buttons on clothes. Some young men, in order to make others admire their wealth and generosity, wear as many as seven pieces of clothing. Only button the bottom pair of buttons on the outermost layer of clothing, button the bottom two pairs of buttons on the second layer of clothing... and so on, until all seven pairs of buttons on the innermost layer are buttoned. In this way, all the layers of new clothes can be seen from the outside, giving it a unique taste.

In contrast to the simple clothing of Miao men, the clothing of Miao women is very exquisite and complex.

Handkerchief: The headkerchief worn by Miao women varies from place to place. Miao women in Fenghuang County often wear a short handkerchief, one kong, more than three feet long, which is wrapped from the forehead to the back of the head, including the ears. Miao women in Huayuan and other counties like to use black handkerchiefs (those whose parents have died wear white handkerchiefs), fold them neatly, wrap them flatly and squarely, and tie them together at the end, just in line with their foreheads and eyebrows. Miao women's headbands in Jishou County are more mixed. The area adjacent to Fenghuang County wears flower handkerchiefs, and the area adjacent to Huayuan County wears black handkerchiefs. Miao women in Luxi, Guzhang and eastern Jishou areas wear white headbands. There are four pairs of cyan flowers and butterflies embroidered on the handkerchief, which is simple, beautiful and unique in charm. The so-called "the four corners of the handkerchief on the head are embroidered with moths" refers to this kind of white handkerchief.

Jewelry: Miao women’s jewelry is exquisite in shape and comes in many varieties. In terms of raw materials, there are gold jewelry, silver jewelry, copper jewelry, aluminum jewelry, jade jewelry, etc., among which silver jewelry is the most common. From the parts worn: silver hats, silver basins, phoenix crowns, Sushan earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, toothpicks, buckles, etc. Bracelets and rings must be worn regularly. In terms of style, earrings alone include melon seed drop earrings, pomegranate earrings, plum blossom needle earrings, hoop earrings, dragon head earrings, plum blossom drop melon seed earrings, rake earrings, dragon head melon seed drop earrings, etc.

Clothes, pants and others: Miao women’s clothes are large and long beyond the waist, with large and short sleeves and no collar. The size of the cuffs is about one foot or more. It is customary to have piping, embroidery or yarn on the chest and cuffs, and add railing petals to them. Some also need to embroider cloud hooks on the edges of the opening and the front and rear sides. Clothing styles are always full-breasted, not double-breasted. To make a set of Miao women's clothes and trousers, the sewing and embroidery work is exquisite, and it takes dozens of working days. The trousers are shorter and have larger hems. The piping, embroidery or yarn on the edges of the trousers is the same as the clothes. The ceremonial skirt is long and wide, with embroidered patterns all over the hem and legs, rolled railings and large and small petals, which are colorful and dazzling. The shoes are fully embroidered, with a pointed head and a large mouth, and a heel on the back for easy wearing.

After liberation, in some areas where Miao and Han live together, the Miao costumes were greatly influenced by the Han, and some young people have changed to Han costumes.

2. Festivals

The Miao people in western Hunan have many festivals and large-scale activities. The most representative ones are:

1. Catch the New Year's Eve. In the first month of the lunar calendar, the Miao people in western Hunan are most enthusiastic about attending the New Year Festival, and the date is decided by each place. Catch the New Year's Eve. On that day, men and women, young and old, dressed in festive costumes, invited each other and went to the market in groups. The New Year's Eve fair was crowded with people, bustling and extremely lively. People can not only exchange materials, but also participate in or watch activities such as playing swings, lion dances, playing dragon lanterns, and climbing knife ladders. Young men and women also take advantage of this opportunity to find lovers and fall in love. The singers and singers even showed off their skills, hanging out in small groups, talking about ancient ways and the present, singing loudly, singing to each other, or wrapping roots, congratulating each other, narrating traditional stories, or singing new lyrics impromptu. The more the singer sings, the more interested he becomes, and the more the listener listens, the more energetic he becomes. Even if it snows heavily and the weather is freezing cold, the New Year Festival will still be held as scheduled.

2. March three. This is the Miao people in western Hunan... >>

What are the customs and habits of the Miao people? The customs, historical figures, and classic culture of the Miao people

The Miao people are one of the oldest ethnic groups in my country. , has a large population and a vast distribution, and the Miao people in western Hunan belong to one of them. In the long-term historical development process, the Miao people have formed their own unique customs and habits in terms of clothing, festivals, weddings, funerals, entertainment, etiquette, taboos, and diet.

1. Clothing

In the ancient costumes of the Miao people in western Hunan, there is little difference between men and women, and they are all "colorful"; they wear floral clothes on the upper body, pleated skirts on the lower body, and long hair. , wrapped in an ocher flower handkerchief, wearing boat-shaped floral shoes, and various silver ornaments.

During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, during the "reform of the land and return to the mainstream", after the Communist Party of China issued the directive that "clothes should be divided into men and women," the changes were drastic, and many people even changed into women's clothing. For example, in today's Yongshun, Longshan and other counties, the Miao people's clothing is no different from that of the Han people. However, in Huayuan, Baojing, Fenghuang, Jishou, Guzhang, Luxi and other counties, the Miao costumes still have their own characteristics.

The clothes of Miao men are relatively simple; they wear cloth handkerchiefs on their heads, double-breasted clothes with long and small sleeves, short and large trousers, and they like to have green foot bindings. There are two kinds of headbands: green handkerchiefs and flower handkerchiefs. The handkerchiefs are more than one foot long, and some are as long as three feet long. When worn, they usually form an oblique cross shape and are as big as a bamboo hat. The colors of the clothes include plaid, all-green, all-blue, etc. Among them, plaid cloth is the most distinctive. There are usually seven buttons on clothes. Some young men, in order to make others admire their wealth and generosity, wear as many as seven pieces of clothing. Only button the bottom pair of buttons on the outermost layer of clothing, button the bottom two pairs of buttons on the second layer of clothing... and so on, until all seven pairs of buttons on the innermost layer are buttoned. In this way, all the layers of new clothes can be seen from the outside, giving it a unique taste. Report Respondent's Supplement 2009-08-08 15:20 Zhuang Customs and Habits

Architecture

The Zhuang people like to live close to mountains and rivers. Among the green mountains and green waters, wooden buildings are dotted, which are the traditional residences of the Zhuang people. People live in the wooden building above, and livestock are kept below. No matter what kind of house it is, the shrine must be placed on the central axis of the entire house. The front hall is used to hold celebrations and social activities, the side rooms on both sides are occupied, and the back hall is the living area. Life in the house is centered around the firepit, and three meals a day are served beside the firepit. ?

Clothing

The Zhuang people mostly use self-woven homespun cloth as clothing material, with various styles. The clothing of Zhuang women is generally blue and black, with slightly wider trouser corners, a jacquard towel on their head, and an exquisite apron around their waist; young men usually wear button-up tops with a belt around their waist.

Marriage custom

"Cannon fire" into the bridal chamber

A marriage custom of the Zhuang people. On the wedding day, the bride has to go through the baptism of "cannon fire" before she can enter the house. This wedding custom is popular in Zhuang villages such as Yufeng, Tianyang County, Guangxi. Before the bride comes to the groom's house, she has to stop for a moment and be ready to "charge" into the door, because there are "cannon fire" groups composed of seven or eight young men in three places, including the door, the hall, and the bridal chamber, holding skewers. Strings of firecrackers are waiting for the bride to come. When the bride is about to approach the door, the "gunners" light firecrackers, forming "walls of fire" to block the bride's way. If the bride is timid, she will have to retreat outside the door and wait for the second "charge". The "gunners" also summed up the experience of victory and prepared for the second "blocking". It can be said that the bride cannot get in without two or three "charges". The onlookers were on three floors inside and three outside. It was so lively. After a hard fight, the bride jumped into the door and came to the door of the bridal chamber. This was the last hurdle that was difficult to pass because the "gunner" had to fire the "artillery". At this time, the clever bridesmaids and bridesmaids "reconnaissance" left and right, and when the "fire" is sparse, they jump into the bridal chamber with the bride in their arms. Immediately there were thunderous cheers, congratulating the bride on her "successful success". After the wedding banquet, when it is time to turn on the lights, the guests also watch the bride go out in the dark to "fetch water" under the guidance of the bride-to-be. The bride will fill the water tank, which is a test of whether the bride can endure hardship. In this way, the bride cannot enter the bridal chamber until late at night.

Memorizing characters

In some places at the junction of Yishan and Huanjiang counties in Guangxi, young Zhuang people get married, and the custom of "memorizing characters" is still popular today. "Carrying the word" is a transliteration of Zhuang dialect. In fact, what is being memorized is not a "word", but a broad strip one foot four feet long and more than one foot wide. The woman's mother woven or dyed it herself or bought it in deep black. This color is the best) sewn from homespun cloth. On the day of the daughter's wedding, the husband is asked to assign a "carryer" to "carry" the cloth belt back to the groom's house in preparation for the birth of his nephew. This custom is called "backing characters" in the local Zhuang language. The person who "recites the word" must meet three conditions: a biological father and a biological mother; an unmarried young man; and a smart and knowledgeable person. The "recitation" ceremony is held in the main hall of the woman's home. The person who presides over the ceremony must be a respected elder from Murakami who is a grandfather. The elder first offered two glasses of famous local wine to the person who "recited the characters". The person who "recited the characters" was very...>>

Customs and customs of the Miao people

Eat: 1. Eat oil tea. Camellia oleifera is a kind of tea made by boiling fried popcorn rice with water. If the guest drinks it, the host will be happy. If the guest doesn't drink it, it will be regarded as looking down on the host. Some people also drink 3 cups, the first cup is oil tea, the second cup is bitter tea, and the third cup is sweet tea. 2. Eat mountain loaches (xizards, collectively known as four-legged snakes). Add a small amount of rice flour to the processed mountain loach and marinate them together in a jar to entertain distinguished guests. 3. Eat greens. During the Lunar New Year, I like to eat green vegetables, which are generally not chopped.

Wearing: Miao costumes vary from region to region. For men, the elderly generally wear collarless blouses with diagonal buttons, a belt, trousers, and leggings.

Middle-aged and young people wear cardigan tops, which are short and small. The fabrics are mostly home-made spotted clothes. Women's clothing has a different style. They wear collarless embroidered clothes with embroidered borders, and are decorated with flower petals. Wear wide-legged trousers with trim, embroidery or gauze on the lower body. The eye-catching women's headbands are usually more than one foot long and come in two colors: green and blue. Some are silk handkerchiefs with black and white linings.

Accommodation: 1. There are usually 2-3 houses on stilts on stilts, with cornices and raised corners, and there are white wooden railings around the corridor, and the railings are carved with various patterns. The lower level of the stilts is used to store grain, farm tools, pile firewood, soil ashes, or pen cattle, sheep, pigs, and toilets. The upper floors are inhabited. 2. The stove is square in shape and 60-70 cm high. It is covered with wooden boards around the top and built with bricks and stones around it. A square fire pit is surrounded in the middle, which is used for making fire for cooking. The lower floor around it is a space for confining chickens and ducks. . When the weather is cold, the host and guests sit on the stove, laughing, talking about family matters and resting. There is a wooden frame of different shapes hung on the stove, on which seeds, tea baskets, straw sandals, etc. are hung.

Festivals and religious beliefs

Festivals, in addition to the festivals of the Han people, the Miao people also have the following festivals.

1. On the third day of March, young men and women sang love songs.

2. On the eighth day of April, we eat black rice to commemorate Yang Zaisi. There is also a legend that in memory of a girl, black rice is cooked with leaves. The girl should be taken back to her parents' home in advance to eat black rice together. Those who are nearby do not need to go back to their parents' home, but they have to send it to them. . This custom is limited to Yang surname.

3. On the sixth day of June, people worship the God of Earth by hanging paper on the field and burning incense. Generally, family trees are posted once.

4． On the second day of October to celebrate the Little New Year, rats must be killed and eaten.

Belief: 1. Respect Yang Gong and think again. In the past, there were 16 Feishan temples in the township. A grand temple celebration event is held every autumn. Singing human dramas for several days and nights, among which carrying Huashan and praying for wealth are must-sings every time. The main content is to educate family harmony. During the temple celebration, pig heads are placed, incense is installed, and paper is burned. 2. In the past, cattle were killed to worship ancestors. A cattle killing ceremony was held in a natural village as a whole. The offal of the cattle was used to worship ancestors, and each person took a portion of the meat home. 3. Worship the Banner Butterfly, which is said to be the ancestor of the Miao people.

Wedding and funeral customs

Love: Songs are used as matchmakers. On the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, young men and women, neatly dressed, rush to the mountains and rivers in groups to sing and fall in love. Those who agree with each other will invite each other to leave, showing that they are in love. Usually when looking after cows and sheep, they also sing to each other and give red gifts. If both parents agree, they get married. If they don't agree, there is a custom of escaping from the marriage.

Marriage: Usually one month before the wedding, sometimes half a year, the wedding starts. Asking the elders for a piece of earthenware and then giving them gifts has changed a lot now. When a man and a woman get married, the woman and her guests go to the man's house to eat and drink for three days and three nights. During these three days, the bride can only sleep with her mother and cannot sleep with the groom. Three days later, the bride and her bridesmaids return to her parents' home to live for two, three, or five years. The man needs help with farm work, so he takes the woman to live with him at his home. After the woman becomes pregnant, the bride can be taken to live with the man's parents for a period of time.

Funeral: When the old man is depressed, he should be carried to the central hall and sit in the middle. There is a bucket (container) and a cool sieve. To wash the corpse, the elder will carry water from the well, add peach leaves and calamus leaves and boil it into warm water for washing the corpse. After washing the water (pour it into the toilet), let each of the descendants taste three points to express that they will not worry about eating. They ask for food, clothing, and water, and a white thread is wrapped around the body of the deceased, one for each year. Teeth that are usually lost should be kept and placed in the coffin during burial. The hair is not allowed to be burned after death. When entering the coffin, there is silver in the mouth, tea leaves and rice in the hands, and they have to go to Feishan Temple to light it.

Ethnic customs and religious customs of the Miao people The Miao people used to believe in animism, worship nature, and worship their ancestors. "Guzang Festival" is the largest sacrificial activity among the Miao people. Generally, there is a small sacrifice every seven years and a big sacrifice every thirteen years. It is held on Yihai day from October to November of the lunar calendar. At that time, a Guzi ox will be killed, Lusheng dance will be performed, and ancestors will be sacrificed. Invite relatives and friends to gather together during meals in order to enhance feelings and family harmony.

The main beliefs of the Miao people include nature worship, totem worship, ancestor worship and other primitive religious forms. In the traditional society of the Miao people, they believe in ghosts and gods, and witchcraft is prevalent. There are also some Miao people who believe in Christianity and Catholicism. The Miao people who believe in Buddhism and Taoism mainly speak the eastern dialect of Miao, which is called Bad deib zhal (Badai Zhou) in the Miao language.

Eating habits

Rice is the staple food of the Miao people in most areas. Fried food is the most common fried food. If you add some fresh meat and sauerkraut as filling, the taste will be more delicious. Meat mostly comes from livestock and poultry breeding. The Miao people in Sichuan, Yunnan and other places like to eat dog meat. There is a saying that "the dogs of the Miao people are the wine of the Yi people." In addition to animal oil, the edible oils of the Miao family are mostly camellia oil and vegetable oil. Chili is used as the main condiment. In some areas, there is even a saying that "no dish is complete without spicy food". The Miao people have a wide variety of dishes. Common vegetables include beans, melons, green vegetables, and radishes. Most of the Miao people are good at making soy products. The Miao people in various places generally like to eat sour dishes, and sour soup is a must-have in every household. Sour soup is made from rice soup or tofu water. After fermentation in an earthen pot for 3-5 days, it can be used to cook meat, fish, and vegetables. The Miao people generally use the pickling method to preserve their food. Vegetables, chickens, ducks, fish, and meat all like to be pickled to make them sour. Almost every household of the Miao people has a jar for pickling food, collectively called a sour jar.

The Miao people have a long history of brewing wine and have a complete set of techniques from making koji, fermentation, distillation, blending and cellaring. Camellia oleifera is the most common daily beverage. The Miao people in western Hunan also make a special kind of Wanhua tea. Sour soup is also a common drink. Typical foods mainly include: blood soup, chili bone, Miaoxiang turtle and phoenix soup, cotton cake, insect tea, Wanhua tea, pounded fish, fish in sour soup, etc.

Trilobite tea

The Miao people in Chengbu County, Hunan Province will make a kind of "tea essence" that looks like tea but is not tea------trilobite tea. According to the "Compendium of Materia Medica" written by Li Shizhen, a medical scientist in the Ming Dynasty: "This tea is put in a cage to contain borers, so the feces is used." This shows that trilobite tea first appeared in the early Ming Dynasty. Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty's "Chengbu Xiangtu Zhi" records: "There is Badong tea, which can be used slightly. There are also teas that are rough and bad, but are placed in old cages. After one or two or several years, the tea turns into insects, and the remaining tea is called insects. Tea is long-lasting when collected, and can eliminate phlegm and smooth the flow of energy. "Chengbu Trilobite Tea was brought to Beijing as a tribute for 170 years.

Clothing Features

There are no less than 200 kinds of Miao costumes in southeastern Guizhou. It is the area with the most types and best preservation of Miao costumes in my country and the world. It is called the "Miao Costume Museum". Generally speaking, Miao costumes maintain the traditional Chinese folk craft techniques of weaving, embroidery, picking, and dyeing. They often use one main craft technique while interspersing other craft techniques, either with embroidery or with embroidery. Dyeing with embroidery, or combining weaving and embroidery, makes these clothing patterns colorful and colorful, showing distinctive national artistic characteristics. From the content point of view, most of the clothing patterns are based on various living objects in daily life, which play an important role in expressing meaning and identifying ethnic groups, branches and languages. These image records are called "epics worn on the body" by experts and scholars. From the modeling point of view, the traditional Chinese line drawing or almost line drawing modeling technique is adopted, with a single line as the outline of the pattern. From the perspective of production techniques, the five forms in the history of clothing development, namely the braided type, the weaving type, the sewing type, the patchwork type and the tailoring type, all have examples in the Miao costumes in southeastern Guizhou. The historical hierarchical relationship is clear, and it can be called clothing production. History Exhibition Hall. From the perspective of color, they are good at choosing a variety of strong contrasting colors, striving to pursue the richness and richness of colors, generally red, black, white, yellow and blue. From the composition point of view, it does not emphasize highlighting the theme, but only focuses on adapting to the overall sense of the clothing. From a formal point of view, it is divided into dressy and casual wear. Full costumes are the costumes worn during festivals and weddings. They are complicated and gorgeous, embodying the artistic level of Miao costumes. Casual clothing is quieter and simpler in style than dress-up styles, uses less materials and requires less work, and is suitable for daily wear. In addition to the distinction between costumes and casual clothes, Miao costumes also vary by age and region.

Miao Architecture

Due to their unique migration history, the Miao people have formed their own unique architectural style in the selection of building materials and construction of houses. The Miao people like wooden buildings, which are usually built with three floors. The first floor is generally used to solve the problem of uneven slope terrain, so it is usually... >>

Customs of the Miao people The Miao people have a long history. The Miao people mainly live in southeastern Guizhou Province, Damiao Mountain in Guangxi, Hainan Island, Hunan, etc. The Miao people live in high mountain areas and mainly focus on agriculture. Their crops include upland rice, cereals, etc. The Miao people have rich folk oral literature and poetry. Of course, the Miao people are also good at singing and dancing. The customs are as follows:

Clothing: Miao clothing is relatively unique. Different branches have different styles, and different ages within the same branch have differences. After liberation, young people began to wear Han clothing.

Diet: Rice is the staple food, followed by corn and wheat. Most people living in mountainous areas eat corn as the staple food, followed by potatoes, rice and wheat. Miao men, women, old and young like to eat glutinous food. They often make glutinous rice into various foods during New Years and festivals, including colorful glutinous rice, glutinous rice cake, brown cake, etc. When visiting relatives and friends, they often bring various foods made from glutinous rice as gifts. Miao men, women and children like to drink, and every house has shochu and glutinous rice liqueur during the holidays. Wine is needed to offer sacrifices to ancestors, and it is indispensable to receive guests without wine. Non-staple foods include meat, vegetables, fruits, tofu, etc. The four flavors of sour, sweet, spicy and salty are essential. Every year in the twelfth lunar month of winter, when the New Year pig is slaughtered, people like to make bacon, sausages and blood tofu for self-feeding and entertaining relatives and friends. The Miao people who live in high and cold mountainous areas like to make sweet wine with rice noodles. They prepare it in the first winter and can eat it for a whole year in the second year.

Residence: Most of the Miao people live in mountainous areas, with a small number living in flat Tianba areas. Houses are generally built with local materials based on the local conditions. Those with better economic conditions generally build stone and tile houses, slate houses, and wood-plank thatched houses. Families with poor economic conditions mostly live in thatched houses with earthen walls or thatched houses with woven bamboo strips as walls and cow dung on the walls. Some poor households in alpine mountainous areas live in low and simple Badi sheds.

Marriage: The Miao people are monogamous families. Generally, three generations live under the same roof, and in a few cases, four generations live under the same roof. Parents have the responsibility to raise and educate their children, and children have the obligation to support their parents. When the children grow up, the brothers separate and the women get married.

Funeral: The funeral procedures of the Miao people are divided into deathbed, breath-taking, coffin, road opening, funeral ceremony, mourning, burial and mourning. Wooden drums and reed instruments are indispensable in funerals.

Worship: The Miao people worship bamboo, which is called Laidi in Miao language; worship ancestors, which is called Laizhai in Miao language; and worship wooden drums, which is called Laizha in Miao language.

Festivals: a. Flower dancing: The first month of the lunar calendar is the time for the Miao people to dance.

b. Jumping field: The content and form are basically the same as jumping flowers, but there is no sheng, no flowers and trees, and no regular schedule. The dance takes place in the market near where the Miao people live. In April, the people jump to show off the rice fields, and in July, they jump over the rice fields to show off the flowers.

c. Sacrifice to the sacred tree on March 3rd: Most of the Miao people in the county live in mountainous areas. There are woods behind each village. The largest one is the sacred tree. In Miao language, it is called Yousheng, and the sacred tree is called Yousheng. For the sake of wisdom, every year on the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, the Miao people hold sacrifices in villages. They set up a bamboo frame in front of the foot of the sacred tree, place sacrifices on it, and sacrifice a red rooster. After reciting the sacrificial words, the sacrifice is over, and the participants Eat on the ground. Only men are allowed to participate in the sacrifice to the sacred tree, and only men can speak Miao language.

b. April 8th: It is the anniversary of the Miao people's commemoration of the Yanglu and Miao soldiers who sacrificed their lives in opening up Guizhou and defending Guiyang. Glutinous rice is eaten during the festival to express their condolences to their relatives.

d. Duanyang Festival: The Miao language calls the Dragon Boat Festival the fifth day of May as the Eastern Edict, and April 8th is a festival to commemorate deceased relatives. During the festival, people can get rid of all kinds of diseases, dig up herbs, and scatter glutinous rice in the river. Feed the fish inside.

e. Chinese New Year: Before the Ming Dynasty, the Miao people used October as the beginning of the year, and the first day of October as the Miao New Year. After the Ming Dynasty, both the Miao and Han people celebrate the New Year on the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month. The Miao call it the New Year. On the first day of the first lunar month, the whole family must live in harmony and not say unlucky words. On the third day of the lunar month, each family gathers to worship their ancestors. On the 15th day of the year, it is a small New Year. Before having a meal, people should offer sacrifices to their ancestors, go around the garden, feed livestock, and feed fruit trees.

What festival customs do the Miao people have? The Miao people are an ethnic group with a very rich national culture. You can go to Miao areas to experience different folk customs. The Miao people are mainly distributed in Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Hubei, Hainan, Guangxi, Wait for the province. The festivals of the Miao people mainly include the following types.

The New Year's Day

The New Year's Day is the "Spring Festival" of the Miao people, also known as the "Hakka Year". During the Chinese New Year, every household kills pigs and sheep, roasts wine and bakes cakes to celebrate the harvest, hoping for good weather and abundant grains in the coming year. According to custom, the Miao people express their blessings and hopes for the New Year by singing antiphonal songs. Early in the morning, compatriots of all ethnic groups from the five townships and four towns in the Guizhou, Hunan and Chongqing (Guizhou, Hunan and Chongqing) border areas rushed to the foot of Tianxingpo at the junction of the three provinces and cities to express their joy of welcoming the new year with songs. You also need to sing "Spring Song", with lyrics roughly meaning missing spring, looking forward to spring, cherishing spring, holding back spring, etc.

April 8th

A traditional festival of the Miao people. Legend has it that this festival began in the Ming Dynasty. Every year on the eighth day of April, the Miao people dressed in costumes gather at the fountain in Guiyang City, playing the sheng and flute, singing and talking to each other, to commemorate and pay homage to the legendary ancient hero Yanu.

In addition, April 8 is also a festival of the Buyi people. Some people call it the "Ox King Festival", while others call it the "Shepherd Boy Festival" or the "Yang Opening Festival". On this day, both humans and cattle eat "Niuwangba" or glutinous rice and take a day off to show their condolences to the cattle.

Stepping on Huashan Festival

Stepping on Huashan is a traditional festival of the Miao people. Miao people in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other provinces are popular in mountain climbing and jumping in the first and second months of the lunar calendar or in April and May, which originated from the courtship activities of young men and women. During the festival, young men and women sing antiphonally, dance the Lusheng dance, and seek spouses; old farmers come to the flower fields to exchange production experience, teach production techniques, and wish for a bumper harvest. Miao people living in mountainous areas also hold bullfighting competitions during the festival. The Miao people in Pingbian County also hold competitions such as lion jumping and flower pole climbing.

Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival is a Miao festival popular in Shidong and Songtao areas in western Hunan and southeastern Guizhou. Most of them are held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. In addition to dragon boat racing, there are also horse racing, bullfighting, drumming and other activities on this day.

Sisters' Day

In the Miao village on the banks of the Qingshui River in eastern Guizhou Province, the Miao family's "Sisters' Day" falls from the 15th to the 18th of March on the lunar calendar every year. During the festival, the Miao family traditionally eats "sisters' rice". This kind of rice is steamed after dyeing glutinous rice into colorful colors with wild flowers and leaves collected by girls in the mountains. There are also lively bullfighting scenes and "touring" activities in the festival.

What are the customs and etiquette of the Miao people? They mainly live in the southeastern part of Guizhou Province, Damiao Mountain in Guangxi, Hainan Island and the junction areas of Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangxi and other provinces and regions. In ancient Chinese classics, there are records about the ancestors of the Miao people more than 5,000 years ago. These are the clans and tribes known as Nanman from the Yellow River Basin to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

The Miao people have their own language. The Miao language is divided into three major dialects: Xiangxi, Qiandong and Sichuan-Guizhou-Dian. After 1956, a text scheme in the form of Latin letters was designed. Due to the long-term exchanges between the Miao people and the Han people, a large part of the Miao people are proficient in Chinese and use Chinese.

The Miao area is mainly based on agriculture, supplemented by hunting. The Miao people's arts and crafts such as cross-stitching, embroidery, brocade, batik, paper-cutting, and hand-made jewelry are magnificent and colorful and well-known at home and abroad. Among them, the batik craft of the Miao people has a history of thousands of years.

There are more than 130 kinds of Miao costumes, which can be compared with the costumes of any ethnic group in the world. The Miao people are good at singing and dancing, and are particularly famous for their love songs and drinking songs. Lusheng is the most representative musical instrument of the Miao people.

Customs

The Miao people attach great importance to etiquette. When guests come to visit, they will kill chickens and ducks to entertain them warmly. If they are distinguished guests from afar, the Miao people are accustomed to treat the guests to drink horn wine first.

When eating chicken, the chicken head should be given to the elder among the guests, and the chicken legs should be given to the youngest guest. In some places, there is also the custom of dividing chicken hearts, that is, the eldest host in the family uses chopsticks to give the chicken or duck hearts to the guests, but the guests cannot eat them themselves and must divide the chicken hearts equally among the elderly people present. If the guest is a light drinker and doesn't like to eat fatty meat, it can explain the situation. If the host does not force the meal, but does not eat and drink enough, it will be regarded as looking down on the host.

Wedding Customs

Glutinous rice is also an indispensable food in the marriage process of young men and women. The Miao people in Chengbu, Hunan, give each other glutinous rice cakes with pictures of mandarin ducks as tokens. During a wedding, the bride and groom drink cups of wine, and the officiant invites the bride and groom to eat glutinous rice cakes with pictures of dragons, phoenixes and dolls.

Food customs

Rice is the staple food of the Miao people in most areas. First, dry the rice in the sun and pour it into a pot to pound it to remove the bran. Eat it now, with 3 to 5 kilograms of rice pounded each time. Electricity and water power are now used to mill rice in many places.

Fried food is the most common fried food. Fried dada is made by first soaking sticky rice and a small amount of soybeans and beating them into a paste. Then the thick paste is poured into a mold made of iron sheets and fried in boiling oil until it turns golden brown. If you add some fresh meat and sauerkraut as filling, the taste will be more delicious.

Most of the meat comes from livestock and poultry breeding. The Miao people in Sichuan, Yunnan and other places like to eat dog meat. There is a saying that "the dogs of the Miao people are the wine of the Yi people". Dog meat is hot in nature, has the functions of warming the abdomen and strengthening the stomach, and is a strong and nourishing food. In addition to animal oil, the edible oils of the Miao family are mostly camellia oil and vegetable oil. Chili is used as the main condiment. In some areas, there is even a saying that "no dish is complete without spicy food".

The Miao people have a wide variety of dishes. Common vegetables include beans, melons, green vegetables, and radishes. Most of the Miao people are good at making soy products. The Miao people who live in high and cold mountainous areas like to boil vegetables in plain water into mussels and eat them. The Miao people in Sichuan also make soy milk into bean curds to entertain guests.

The Miao people in various places generally like to eat sour dishes, and sour soup is a must-have for every household. Sour soup is made from rice soup or tofu water. After fermentation in an earthen pot for 3-5 days, it can be used to cook meat, fish, and vegetables. In summer in southeastern Guizhou, when a guest comes in, the host will always serve him sour soup first. After drinking it, he will feel sour and cool to quench his thirst.

The Miao people generally use the pickling method to preserve their food. Vegetables, chickens, ducks, fish, and meat all like to be pickled to make them sour. Almost every household of the Miao people has a jar for pickling food, collectively called a sour jar.

The Miao people have a long history of brewing wine and have a complete set of techniques from making koji, fermentation, distillation, blending and cellaring. Sipping wine is unique. When drinking, a bamboo tube is inserted into the urn. The drinkers form a circle along the urn. The elder drinks first, and then rotates from left to right. After the wine juice is absorbed, it can be poured into drinking water until it is light and tasteless. Once the wine is opened, the remaining wine, no matter how strong or light it is, will not be used again.

Camellia oleifera is the most common daily beverage. The Miao people in western Hunan also make a special kind of Wanhua tea. In addition to tea, sour soup is also a common drink.

Typical foods mainly include: blood soup, chili bone, Miaoxiang turtle and phoenix soup, cotton cake, insect tea, ten thousand flower tea, pounded fish, fish in sour soup, etc.

Festivals

The Miao people used to believe in animism, worship nature, and worship their ancestors. There are many festivals. In addition to traditional New Year festivals and sacrificial festivals, there are also festivals specifically related to eating. Such as: Duck Eating Festival, New Eating Festival, Fish Killing Festival, Tea Picking Festival, etc. In addition to preparing wine and meat for the festival, seasonal food is also necessary.

The Miao Year usually begins on the first Mao day of the first lunar month and lasts for three, five or fifteen days.

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