Miao folk custom

Miao people attach great importance to etiquette. When guests visit, they will kill chickens and ducks to entertain guests. If you are a distinguished guest from afar, the Miao people are used to inviting guests to drink croissant first. When eating chicken, the head of the chicken should be given to the older guests, and the drumsticks should be given to the youngest guests. In some places, there is also the custom of dividing chicken hearts, that is, the oldest owner in the family gives chicken hearts or duck hearts to the guests with chopsticks, and the guests can't eat them themselves, so they must divide the chicken hearts equally among the old people present. If the guest drinks less and doesn't like fat meat, it can explain the situation. If the host is not reluctant, but dissatisfied with eating and drinking, it is considered to look down on the host.

Miao Festival: Treading Mountain is a grand traditional festival of Miao people in China, which is usually held on the first, third and sixth day of the first lunar month every year. In all counties where Miao people live, flower poles will be erected these days and a grand stepping on Huashan Mountain will be held. This is not only a good opportunity for young Miao men and women to fall in love, but also an important place for Miao people to carry out cultural and recreational activities. Miao people, old and young, dressed in gold and silver, rushed to the foot of the flower pole from all directions, playing reeds, playing tricks, bullfighting, wrestling, playing thrush and climbing the flower pole.

Back-pounding Festival is very popular in some areas of Funing County. It is held from the third day to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month every year. This is a festival for young Miao men and women. During the festival, young men and women gather on the scenic hillside. When the back-beating began, men flocked out and rushed to the girl they chose, with one hand around the girl's neck, the other hand covering her eyes, and other boys hitting her on the back.

Miao costumes: It is the nature of Miao girls to like to wear silver ornaments. They wore a bun on their heads and a beautifully made silver corolla, about 20 cm high. There are six jagged silver wings inserted in front of the corolla, most of which are the patterns of two dragons playing with beads. In some areas, in addition to silver pieces, silver horns with a height of about 1 m are inserted into the silver crown, and the tips of the horns float in color, which makes them more noble and rich. There is a silver ribbon at the lower edge of the silver crown, and a row of small silver pendants hang down. The silver collar worn around the neck has several layers, mostly made of silver pieces and small silver rings. Wearing a silver lock and a silver collar on his chest, wearing a silver cloak on his chest and back, and hanging many small silver bells. Earrings and bracelets are made of silver.

Only the two sleeves are embroidered with lux as the main tone, but the cuffs are also inlaid with a wide circle of silver ornaments. The costumes of Miao girls often weigh several kilograms, and some have been accumulated and passed down by generations. Known as "a fairy dressed in strange clothes and wrapped in white." The craftsmanship of Miao silver ornaments is gorgeous, exquisite and ingenious, which fully shows the wisdom and talent of Miao people.

Miao diet: In most areas, Miao people have three meals a day, and rice is the staple food. Fried Baba is the most common fried food. If you add some fresh meat and sauerkraut as stuffing, the taste will be more delicious.

Most meat comes from livestock and poultry farming. Miao people in Sichuan and Yunnan all like to eat dog meat, and there is a saying that "Miao's dog is Yi's wine". In addition to animal oil, Miao people's edible oils are mostly tea oil and vegetable oil.

Pepper is the main condiment, and in some areas there is even a saying that it is inseparable from pepper. There are many kinds of Miao vegetables. Common vegetables are beans, melons, greens and radishes. Most Miao people are good at making bean products.

Miao people everywhere generally like to eat sauerkraut, and sour soup is a must for every family. Sour soup is rice soup or tofu water, fermented in a crock for 3-5 days, and then used to cook fish and vegetables.

The food preservation of Miao people generally adopts pickling method, and vegetables, chickens, ducks and fish like to be pickled into sour taste. Almost every Miao family has a jar for curing food, which is collectively called a sour jar.

Typical foods mainly include: blood soup, Chili bone, Miaoxiang Guifeng soup, cotton vegetable cake, insect tea, scented tea, fish paste, sour soup fish and so on.

Miao architecture: Due to long-term scattered living, different regions have their own characteristics. Most houses are made of wood, and the roofs are covered with tiles, fir bark or thatch. The roofs in central or western Guizhou are covered with thin slate. Mountainous areas are mostly diaojiao buildings; Hainan Island and Zhaotong, Yunnan Province are inhabited by long thatched houses or "fork houses" built with cross trunks; Xiangxi area is full of stone houses.

Most Miao people live in mountainous areas, and their houses are made of hedges, bark, tiles, or gables, bamboo chips or sawdust, and are divided into bedrooms, kitchens and stables, with simple furnishings. Some Miao people live in the dam area, and their houses also have tile houses with water and soil structure, which are divided into three rooms, with side doors on the left and right and a gate in the middle, that is, the main entrance.

Extended data:

Miao nationality is an ancient nation, scattered all over the world, mainly distributed in Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangxi, Qiong and other provinces in China. In Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and other countries and regions in Southeast Asia, the main beliefs of Miao people are primitive religious forms such as nature worship, totem worship and ancestor worship. Miao society is superstitious about ghosts and gods, and witchcraft is prevalent.

References:

Baidu encyclopedia-Miao style