What are the Dong people’s common sense of civilized etiquette?

Treating guests to a meal and bathing in the soup is a popular custom in the northern Dong area. On weekdays or during festivals, no matter whose family is killing pigs, they will invite brothers from the Fang clan or neighbors to have a taste of it, which is called "eating and soaking the soup." Patients or the elderly and those with limited mobility will also be served with a bowl. .

Having a party banquet (also known as a joint meal) is a concentrated expression of the Dong people’s hospitality. When a family has guests, and it is impossible for everyone to go to dinner, everyone will hold a banquet to entertain them. The banquet is usually concentrated in a spacious and clean family, and each family in the family is represented by an adult man. (If the guest is a female guest, the women will take care of it.) They will offer their best food, wine and glutinous rice to accompany the guests. At the beginning of the banquet, the elders first held up their wine glasses and gave a welcome speech. At banquets, it is common to drink "Zhuan Zhuan Jiu" and change glasses of wine. That is, everyone drinks from the wine glass next to him, once on each side. When the wine is half drunk, the head host pours two glasses of wine, exchanges glasses with the guests, and then "exchanges glasses of wine" with the guests according to the order of seniority or class size. When eating vegetables, you should also eat "Zhuan Zhuan vegetables". Dishes from each family are passed down from person to person so that everyone can taste them. Xi San felt proud that the food he brought was eaten. The Dong people have gatherings, ranging from a few brothers to a family or even the entire village. If a guest once served as a leader in this village and did good deeds for everyone, and later returns here, then he becomes a guest of the entire village, and the banquet is held in the entire village. At that time, every household in the village will send an adult to participate.

Long banquets are arranged in Hunan Passage and Sanjiang and Longsheng areas of Guangxi. For large-scale banquets, long banquets are arranged, that is, they are connected by boards, with people sitting on both sides, and the dishes are skewered according to people. Set up several bowls of vegetable soup to accompany the wine. The men drank wine during the banquet and ate skewers of meat themselves; the women ate the communal dishes and took the skewers of meat home. This is a custom unique to the local Dong people. The guests take home the skewers shared by the host and share them with their family members, which means that everyone in their family has eaten the host's wedding wine and meat, expressing their congratulations. If it is white, it means that although you did not come to attend the funeral, eating the skewers of the bereaved family is also a way of remembering and mourning the deceased.

When distinguished guests come to Dong people’s homes, they usually treat them with the best bitter wine, sour fish, sour meat and various sauerkraut that have been pickled for many years. Therefore, there is a saying of “bitter wine and sour tea” to entertain the distinguished guests. explain. When the Dong folk entertain guests with chickens and ducks, the host must first offer the chicken or duck heads or chicken feet and duck webs to the guests. The guest should take it with both hands or pass it to the elder at the table to show that the host and guest respect each other and treat each other with sincerity.

When visiting a Dong home and eating pickled fish, the host will put a bunch of sour fish pieces into the guest's bowl, but it is best not for the guest to eat them all, leaving 1 or 2 pieces to show that "there is more than enough to eat" ". On birthdays, weddings and funerals, banquets of varying sizes are held.

Wedding customs of Dong people are very simple, elegant and interesting. For thousands of years, choosing a mate based on songs and using songs as a ritual has been the traditional habit of the Dong people. The strange wedding customs make people ponder for a long time.

Meeting gift: The meeting gift for Dong lovers does not require many or very expensive items, but it does require a lot of songs. Before the two parties meet, they should prepare a lot of emotional songs and make friends and find a partner by visiting relatives and villages. Songs that should be prepared include knocking songs, love songs, sitting at night songs, eighteen songs, and sixty songs. When young guests come to the village, the young girls and young ladies will invite groups of singing partners to sing in antiphonal songs, and the elderly and children will come to listen to the songs. The Dong people do not want guests to bring any gifts, only songs. The tribesmen often sing: If you don’t want silk, you want folk songs, and you can pour ten loads of white rice into the basket. Who would want to carry a load of rice? If you can’t sing, don’t enter the house. Visitors must show off their singing talents and if they can outshine the young girls in the village, the host will be very happy. He will get up in the middle of the night to make tea and supper, and entertain him even more hospitably the next day. It is up to you to choose the future life of the girls in the village. If you come to Zouzhai and can't sing, the master will treat you with dignity and provide you with simple meals. Not only will you be ridiculed, but the young man will also give you a song: If you don't know how to blow firewood, don't go uphill; if you don't know how to take a bath, don't cross the river. In the temple The Bodhisattva did not speak and returned to the nunnery to knock the wooden fish.

For the engagement ceremony, young Dong people make a lover by going to the village, and then both parties secretly make an appointment to meet at a good place, convey their love through songs, and choose a spouse based on the songs. Couples sing from sunrise to sunset, and from sunset to sunrise. Make a pledge of eternal love and make a lifelong commitment in person. "The mountain ridges are high and have tops, and the streams are long and flowing. We will grow old together well, and we will love each other for hundreds of years." The girl took off her earrings, necklaces or bracelets and gave her beloved things to her descendants. The young man took off a thoughtful piece of clothing and gave it to the girl on the spot. Giving gifts to each other is called "pour color".

Reception gift: As long as both parties of the Dong are willing to get engaged and agree on a date, the man can go to pick up the bride as long as he carries glutinous rice cakes, two pig legs, and a load of grain. The woman's family never asks for gifts from the man. But the most important thing is to choose a few good singers and use many, many songs to deal with the girl's "Guan Qin Li"

Guan Qin Li: "Guan Qin Li" has three meanings. One is to express the girl's companions and relatives. The second is to create a lively atmosphere for the wedding through "Guan Xi". The most important thing is that the girls want to see the bridegroom's intelligence. When they see the bride coming from a distance, they quickly close the pavilion door. At this time, the girls sang the song "Panmen", such as: "Brother, your surname is Wu or Yang, how many oceans are there in the world?" How many provinces does China have? How many suns are there in Hunan cities? "The groom and the bridegroom must answer each other accurately... The girls will open the door only if they answer correctly. If they answer incorrectly, they will continue to interrogate. After opening the pavilion door and closing the main hall door, the groom will be called upon to answer. For example: "What bird is calling to lay rice seedlings? ? What solar term makes millet yellow? At what time of year does a cow take a bath? Which month and day is the Double Ninth Festival? The groom must answer: "On the 15th day of the eighth month, the grains will turn yellow, and the sunbirds will drop the rice seedlings at the sound of the sunbirds. In the fifth month, the cows will take a bath at the Dragon Boat Festival, and on the ninth day of the ninth month, the Double Ninth Festival will be held." "If you can't answer the right answer, you won't be able to enter the house no matter how much money or silver you choose, and the bride-to-be will be locked out. If the groom can quickly tune into the wedding song, he will give the bride's family the greatest face, and people will praise the girl for getting married. Good husband.

Dowry gift: When the Dong family marries a girl, the dowry is very simple. The bride’s family does not ask for any dowry fees from the groom, nor does the groom require any dowry from the bride. When she gets married, she only brings a flower basket with woven floral patterns, which contains Dong cotton and brocade belts embroidered by her own hands, as well as clothes and cloth she woven by herself. , sickles and other production tools, as well as rapeseeds, grain seeds... The bride does not need to carry it on her back, and she should be accompanied by her female companion when walking to her husband's house. If she meets a girl who is getting married at the same time, she will take the initiative to give her a wedding dress embroidered with beautiful patterns. The sling is a symbol of wishing the other party good luck and good luck in giving birth to a child.

Accompanying guests: Whether you are marrying a daughter or a daughter-in-law, relatives, friends and neighbors from the village will come to receive the guests. Pigs and sheep will not be killed at the wedding ceremony. Relatives and friends did not send money or gifts, but all families came to accompany the guests, bringing marinated meats and chickens...some even brought Donghe rice wine and glutinous rice, which was very rich. The host could hold a happy event without spending a lot of money. , showing the Dong people's style of unity, friendship, and hospitality. When one person has something to do, everyone helps.

Face-washing ceremony: When the bride is brought into her husband's house, the young people in the village must perform a face-washing ceremony at night (the Han people call it "bridal chamber"). After the bride and groom enter the bridal chamber, the descendants will come to have bridal tea. The descendants will say flattering words to the bride during the tea, such as: "The couple will be married in the first month, and the baby will be born in the eighth month..." "The uncle of the child will have tea." "The child's uncle smokes" and asks the bride to light a cigarette, etc. After finishing the tea, the descendants ask the bride to wash her face. Of course, the bride will not wash her face so honestly, and she sometimes has it in her hands. The ash from the black pot is hidden, and the bride is given a big face, making everyone laugh. After washing the bride's face, everyone leaves happily.

Welcoming guests often go to Dong villages. When encountering an unusual welcome method, hosts block the way of guests by setting up barricades either at the village gate, in the streets, at the gates, under the Drum Tower, at the end of the Wind and Rain Bridge, or in front of their homes. Behind the roadblocks are young men and girls in Dong costumes led by village elders. They stand side by side. If the guests want to pass through the roadblocks and human walls, they must sing to the girls. Everyone is holding a big bowl of home-brewed rice wine. If you don't sing and drink, you can't even think about it.

Road blocking is particularly popular in the Dong area. When a young man from a village goes to another place. When visiting a village, the girls from the main village often tie leaves and grass on ropes at intersections and in front of the village gate, blocking the way. Sometimes they also place spinning wheels, cloth machines, bamboo baskets, chicken coops and other obstacles. The girls from the main village lined up behind them and started to sing the song of blocking the way. The young men in the song had to sing the song of opening the way to overthrow the obstacles of the girls. Excuses. There were chants and answers inside and outside the barricades, and onlookers continued to cheer and cheer.

The following is a group of lyrics that young men and women of the Dong ethnic group sing to each other.

Girls sing, "We are in the Zhengzhai Village, we are in the Zhengji Village, and you should not come to the Ji Zhaiji Gate."

If you don’t believe me, go to heaven and ask the Jade Emperor to write a document. If he is willing to change the rules of this forbidden village, we will open the gate of the village.

You guys sing "Moji Village, please open the gate of the village quickly."

We have asked the Jade Emperor, and he asked us to make arrangements ourselves. He does not care about human affairs, and he cannot write human words.

The girls sang "We are in the Zhengji Village" again, and there were cats in the village last night.

Mao Zai has just given birth and strangers are not allowed in. Go back today and come back tomorrow.

The boys sang "Moji Village" again, "No cats will be born this month."

If you are really lucky to have a cat, don't be afraid to open the gate of the village as soon as possible.

No matter how good the boys are at opening the way and singing, they still can’t get into the village gate, because the girls still have to ask various questions with songs, and they have to give clever answers with songs, and finally they have to use songs to invite them. The girls removed the roadblocks on the road one by one, and had to drink the rice wine given by the girls before they could enter the village gate. This kind of road blocking activity is often carried out by young men and women from two villages when they are dating or marrying a bride. The lyrics of road-blocking songs often contain funny and romantic content. Through the road-blocking songs, the young men and women of the two villages went from being strangers to acquaintances and understanding each other, laying the foundation for further interactions with each other. When there is a wedding, the host usually sets up a roadblock at the entrance of the alley that must be passed to enter the house. A grass sign is tied to the rope blocking the road. Bowls of rice wine, fish, meat, and glutinous rice are placed on the table under the rope. Rice and eggs dyed red. After singing the roadblock song, the guests passed through the roadblocks. The girls hung two Easter eggs symbolizing good luck on the guests' chests, and drank the festive rice wine. Then they brought the Dong's unique salted fish and colorful The glutinous rice was stuffed until people's mouths were bulging and they were speechless before they gave up and asked the guests to go to the new house to see the bride.