Dai is a religious nation, and they all believe in Buddhism, also known as Hinayana Buddhism [5]. It is said that Buddhism spread to the south was introduced by a man named Ajudarasi, with a history of more than 1000 years.
Dai people call religion "Shashana" and their Buddhism is "Shashana Pazhaodama". Pazhaodama refers to the Buddha Gautama Siddhartha-Sakyamuni.
In Xishuangbanna, there is an interesting traditional religious custom, that is, Dai men must become monks, which is considered civilized, not barbaric. Only men who have been monks can get the favor of girls. A little boy from a good family entered the Buddhist temple at the age of seven or eight, and returned to the secular world after three or five years. When they wore new clothes, were escorted by their relatives, boasted and beat, and walked into the Buddhist temple amid the laughter and laughter of everyone, they proudly thought that they had begun to get the protection of the Buddha and could grow into useful people. Then they shaved off their hair, put on their robes, and began to read the scriptures calmly, learn culture and stand on their own feet. Now because of the nine-year compulsory education, the little boy goes to school to learn Chinese and other scientific knowledge during the day and studies Dai culture in the Buddhist temple at night, which is very hard.
national culture
Calendar system
Dai people have more than 1000 years of old Dai language and ancient Bayleaf Scriptures. Dai people have their own unique calendar. The difference between Dai calendar and Gregorian calendar is 638 years, that is, Gregorian calendar is 639 years as the first year of Dai calendar. The year of Dai calendar is solar year, but the month is lunar month. Dai calendar is divided into three seasons, from 1 month to April as the cold season, from May to August as the hot season, and from September to1February as the rainy season. September is a leap month every three years, and this calendar is still widely used in Thailand and Myanmar.
Medical science
Dai medicine (Dai), Mongolian medicine (Mongolian), Korean medicine (Korean), Uygur medicine (Uygur), Tibetan medicine (Tibetan) and Zhuang medicine (Zhuang) are the six most famous national medicine systems in China.
literature
Dai people love poetry very much, especially long narrative poems. Narrative poems such as Zhao Shuli, Nan Manna, He E and luo sang are valuable cultural heritage of the Chinese nation.
drama
Dai Opera Dai Opera is one of the unique minority operas in Yunnan, which is popular in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, counties and cities in Dehong Prefecture and some Dai communities in Baoshan.
Dai opera originated from Dai Song, dance performances and Buddhist scriptures with certain characters, and then absorbed the artistic nutrition of Yun opera and shadow play, and gradually formed a relatively complete form of opera. At the end of Qing Dynasty, the chieftain department of Ganya in Yingjiang organized the first Dai troupe in Dehong history. Soon, Dai opera spread to other areas in Dehong, and ten chieftain yamen in Dehong successively set up Dai opera troupes and built theaters. At the same time, Dai drama spread from Tusi yamen to the people, and a large number of folk Dai drama performance organizations appeared. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the Dai drama has made new development. 1960 established the first professional performance group-Luxi Dai Troupe, 1962 expanded to Dehong Dai Troupe.
1962, He E and luo sang participated in the drama performance of southwest ethnic minorities, which caused a sensation and was known as the "Pearl of Southeast Asia". Except for professional groups such as Dai Opera Troupe in Dehong Prefecture, almost all the larger Dai villages have amateur performance teams. At present, Dai dramas are basically enjoyed by the elderly, but young people are not interested because they don't understand them. The inheritance of Dai drama is increasingly difficult.
[National Festival]
The main festivals of the Dai people are the Dai calendar New Year-Water-splashing Festival, Closing Festival and Opening Festival.
the Water Sprinkling Festival
The "Water-splashing Festival" is a traditional festival for the Dai people to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year. The time is in the middle of April in the Gregorian calendar. The main activities during the festival are ancestor worship, building sand, splashing water, throwing sandbags, dragon boat racing, setting off sparks and singing and dancing carnival. The annual Water-Splashing Festival is held in June of Dai calendar, which is the biggest festival. In Dai language, it is called "Sanggan Bimai". At that time, the Buddha will be worshipped and a banquet will be held to entertain monks, relatives and friends to splash water on each other. Now, water splashing is the main content of the Dai New Year Festival, which is deeply loved by people of all ethnic groups.
Closing festival
"Closing the door" is called "entering the depression" in Dai language, which means that the Buddha enters the temple. Yunnan Dai traditional religious festival, lasting for 3 months, begins on September 15 (mid-July of the lunar calendar) of the Dai calendar every year.
According to legend, every year in the Dai calendar in September, the Buddha went to the Western Heaven to lecture with his mother, and then returned to the world three months later. Once, just as the Buddha was going to the west to talk about his menstrual period, thousands of Buddhists went to the countryside to preach, trampling on the crops of the people and delaying their production. People complained bitterly and were very dissatisfied with Buddhists. When the Buddha learned about this, he felt uneasy. From then on, whenever the Buddha went to the Western Heaven to give a lecture, all Buddhists were called together and it was stipulated that they were not allowed to go anywhere during these three months, and they could only repent to atone for their sins. Therefore, people call it "closing day".
Open door festival
"Opening Day", also known as "Chuva", is a traditional festival of Dai, Bulang, De 'ang and some Wa people who believe in Hinayana Buddhism. Popular in Yunnan, it originated from the habit of rainy season life of ancient Buddhism, similar to the restoration of Buddhism in the Central Plains. The time is December 15th of the Dai calendar (around mid-September of the lunar calendar).
The opening day symbolizes the end of the rainy season in the past three months, and it also means that the marriage taboo between men and women has been lifted since the closing day. From now on, young men and women can start free love and hold weddings. On this day, young men and women dressed in costumes went to the Buddhist temple to worship Buddha, offering food, flowers, wax strips and coins. After the sacrifice, a grand cultural rally was held to celebrate the end of fasting since the closing day. The main contents include setting off sparks and rising, lighting lanterns, singing and dancing. Young people will also jump lanterns in the shape of birds, animals, fish and insects around the village. At this time, when the rice harvest is finished, it is also a festival to celebrate the harvest.
National taboo
It is forbidden for outsiders to ride horses, drive cattle, carry loads and enter the stockade unkempt; When entering the Dai bamboo house, you should take off your shoes outside the door and walk gently inside. You can't sit above or across the fireplace, enter the owner's inner room, or sit on the threshold; The tripod on the fireplace can't move, and the fire can't be pushed; Don't whistle and cut your nails at home; Don't use clothes as pillows, and don't sit on pillows; When hanging clothes, the coat should be hung at a high place, and the pants and skirts should be hung at a low place; Take off your shoes when entering the Buddhist temple, and avoid touching the head, Buddha statue, spear, banner and other Buddhist sacred objects of the young monk. Don't talk loudly at will.
Ethnic diet
Daily diet custom
Most Dai people have the habit of eating two meals at a time, with rice and glutinous rice as their staple food. Dehong Dai's staple food is japonica rice, and Xishuangbanna Dai's staple food is glutinous rice. Usually eaten immediately [chūng]. People think that japonica rice and glutinous rice can only lose their original color and fragrance if they are eaten immediately, so they don't eat overnight meals or seldom eat them, and they are used to kneading rice with their hands.
Migrant workers often eat outdoors. They can eat with banana leaves or rice, plus salt, pepper, sour meat, roast chicken, Mi Nan (which means sauce in Dai language) and pine. All dishes and snacks are mainly sour, such as sour bamboo shoots, sour pea powder, sour meat and wild sour fruit; I like to eat pickled cabbage. It is made by drying vegetables in the sun, then boiling them in water, adding papaya juice to make the taste sour, and then drying them for preservation. Put a little stir-fry or put it in soup when eating. This kind of sauerkraut is eaten almost every day by Dai people in some places. It is said that Dai people often eat sauerkraut because they often eat sticky rice food that is not easy to digest, and sour food helps digestion.
The daily meat is pigs, cows, chickens and ducks, and don't eat or eat less mutton. Dai people who live in the mainland like to eat dog meat, are good at roast chicken and roast chicken, and are very fond of aquatic products such as fish, shrimp, crab, snails and moss.
Eating with moss is a unique flavor dish of Dai people. The moss eaten by the Dai people is the moss on the rocks in the river in spring, preferably dark green. After fishing, tear it into thin slices, dry it, and put it on with a bamboo stick for later use. When cooking, the thick ones are fried and the thin ones are roasted with fire. Crushed into a bowl after crispy, then poured in boiling oil, then stirred with salt, and dipped in glutinous rice balls or bacon, which was extremely delicious.
Cooking fish, mostly sour fish or roasted citronella fish, in addition to making fish chops (that is, grilled fish mashed with coriander and other spices), fish jelly, grilled fish, white sauce eel and so on.
When eating crabs, they are usually chopped into crab paste with shell and meat for cooking. Dai people call this crab sauce "crab rice cloth".
Bitter gourd is a daily vegetable with the highest yield and consumption. In addition to bitter gourd, Xishuangbanna also has a kind of bitter bamboo shoots, so there is also a bitter taste in Dai flavor. The representative bitter vegetable is a mixture of cowhide and cold dishes cooked with ingredients such as ox gall.
Insect specialty
There are many kinds of insects in the hot and humid areas of Dai nationality. It is an important part of Dai food to make various flavor dishes and snacks with insects as raw materials. Insects that are often eaten are cicadas, bamboo worms, Okubo, soft-shelled turtles and ant eggs.
Catching cicadas is in summer. Every evening, when the cicada community is in the grass, the cicada wings are soaked with dew and can't fly. The women quickly picked cicadas into bamboo baskets and baked them in a pot to make sauce. Cicada sauce has the medicinal functions of clearing away heat and toxic materials, relieving pain and swelling.
Dai people generally like to eat ant eggs. They often eat a yellow ant that nests in trees. When taking ant eggs, drive the ants away first, and then take eggs. Ant eggs vary in size, some are as big as mung beans and some are as small as rice grains. They are white and bright, washed and dried, and fried with eggs. They are delicious. They can be eaten raw or cooked. Make a sauce when you eat it raw, and fry it with eggs when it is cooked. Commonly used sour fruit and bitter gourd.
Special beverage
Dai people are addicted to alcohol, but their alcohol content is not high. They brewed it themselves, and it tastes very sweet. Tea is a local specialty, but Dai people only drink big leaf tea without spices. When drinking, only stir-fry on the fire until it is burnt, and drink it slightly after brewing. Chewing betel nut, mixed with tobacco and lime, all day long. Because of long-term chewing, the lips and teeth are black and the mouth fluid is like blood, which makes people feel beautiful. Pottery-burning industry is relatively developed, and tableware is mostly fired by women.
Etiquette and eating habits
Religious diet custom
Dai people generally believe in Buddhism spread from the south to the upper seat, and many festivals are related to Buddhist activities. Songkran Festival is the biggest festival held by Dai people every June. At that time, Buddhists will be worshipped, and monks, relatives and friends will be entertained to splash water on each other. During the Songkran Festival, besides wine and vegetables, there are many Dai snacks.
If there is a kind of Ciba, it is a round cake made of glutinous rice and sugar stuffing, and it is wrapped with banana leaves coated with wax oil. It can be baked with fire or fried with honey. Shredding is to stir rice flour with water into granules, steam it, mash it into balls, roll it into thin and big round cakes, cool it and stack it. When eating it, blanch it in a bowl and sprinkle with various seasonings. Water-splashing Ciba is made of glutinous rice flour, steamed with brown sugar, wrapped with a layer of fried bean flour, and then wrapped with banana leaves as a reward.
There is also a crispy rice made of fried glutinous rice paste. The more important festivals are the Harvest Festival (July 15 in Dai calendar) and the Opening Festival (June 65438+ February 15 in Dai calendar), both of which are Buddhist festivals spread to the south. Dai people in Xinping, Yuanjiang, Jinggu and Jinping celebrate the Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. Its content and activities are basically the same as those of the local Han nationality. Typical foods are dog meat soup pot, dried pork, salted eggs and dried eel.
Festive diet custom
Every Dai family in Xishuangbanna should help build a house. The completion of the new house is to congratulate the new house. First of all, the young man went upstairs, carrying a cow's head and singing a song of blessing. Mature men carry boxes, and married women carry bedding. The girls took the food in turn, then set up a tripod on the fireplace, put it on the table, bought wine and prepared dishes, and sang songs to congratulate the new house. The villagers also want to give some auspicious gifts to their owners.
"Catch yellow chicken" is a way for young men and women in Xishuangbanna to seek love by eating rumors, that is, girls take braised chicken to the market to sell. If the buyer is a girl's lover, the girl will take the initiative to take out a stool and let him sit next to him. Through conversation, if the two sides love each other, they will hold the chicken and carry the stool to pour out their feelings in the Woods; If the buyer is not the girl's lover, the girl will double the asking price; Another example is "drink some wine". When a man and a woman are engaged, the man picks up the dining tables and goes to the woman's house to treat them. When the guests dispersed, the man was accompanied by three men, and the woman and her three women set a table. "Eat some wine" means eating three dishes: the first one is spicy; The second way is to put more salt; The third course should have sweets. It means passion, depth and sweetness.
On the wedding day, the wedding will be held in both parties' homes, mostly in the woman's home first. At the wedding reception, the table should be covered with green banana leaves, and the dishes include blood flourishing (white flourishing) symbolizing good luck, rice cakes and various dishes. Before the banquet, the bride and groom should make a tie ceremony, that is, the wedding uses a white line to bypass the shoulders of both sides, and two white lines are tied to the wrists of the bride and groom respectively, symbolizing purity. Then, the old man kneaded the glutinous rice into a triangle, dipped it in salt, and put it on the top of a tripod on the fireplace to let it fall off naturally after burning, symbolizing that love is as strong as iron. The bride in Daping Township of Yuanjiang should sit on the bench with the groom after entering the door, eat glutinous rice mixed with four eggs and drink two glasses of wine; When the bride of the Dai family on the Yuanjiang River enters the door, the man gives each farewell four pieces of meat, four ribs, four meatballs and four pieces of crispy meat, and then has dinner.
Sacrificial diet custom
Dai people also worship the village gods. Dai people call it "going to Raman" or "Piman", which is a kind of protector. They worship twice a year. Before sowing, they pray for a bumper harvest, and after the autumn harvest, they are grateful. They collectively kill a cow or a pig, and each family prepares a tribute and sends it to the room dedicated to the social god. After reading the sacrificial words, everyone will eat. New members of the club should provide chicken, wine and bacon strips to the god of society.
In Menghai and other places, the custom of slaughtering cattle and eating fish hides still exists. In the western version of a tribal god, some sacrifices must be black cows and white pigs. The Dai people in Yuanjiang and New Equality generally worship dragon trees and dragons. When the Dai people in Yuanjiang sacrifice the dragon tree in the third month of the lunar calendar every year, the whole village will slaughter the red bull. Before slaughter, it will be covered with white ash and covered with red and green cloth. In the same month, in order to protect the safety of livestock, pigs will be sacrificed to Heaven and Earth.
Among the Dai people, especially in some remote areas, there are still some taboos in cooking, such as: burning firewood from the roots first; Don't cross the fire pit; You can't just move a tripod or something on the fireplace.
Typical food
Dai-style hot and cold pickles have typical dishes and snacks. Such as: coconut casserole chicken, fried sesame crisp, beef skin, sour meat, grilled fish, pickled cow's head and so on.
national costume
women's clothes
tradition
Dai costumes Dai women's costumes are colorful and beautiful. Generally speaking, Dai women are slim, pure and beautiful, and graceful, so they are called "golden peacocks". They are not only beautiful, but also good at dressing up, dressing themselves up as beautiful as flowers and pure as jade with unique costumes.
Dai women generally like to wear short sleeves and skirts to fully show their slim figure. Wear white or crimson underwear on it, with a tight coat, narrow sleeves and big collar, and double-breasted ones in pink, light yellow, light green, white, sky blue and other colors. Nowadays, it is mostly sewn with georgette, silk, polyester and other materials. Narrow-sleeved jacket tightly wrapped around the arm, almost no gap. Many people also like to sew with flesh-colored materials. You can't see the sleeves without looking carefully. The front and back skirts are waist-high and tightly wrapped around your body. The short-sleeved shirt and skirt are tied with a silver belt, and the skirt is ankle-length. The waist is slim and small, and the hem is wide. This kind of clothing of Dai women fully shows the beauty of women's chest, waist and buttocks. In addition, the fabric used is soft and bright, which gives people a sense of elegance whether walking or doing things.
Modern Times
Women's clothing not only maintains the traditional characteristics of the Dai people, but also absorbs the style of the Han people. The traditional tops and skirts of Dai people are still favored by women. The coat sleeves they wear are so slender that only one arm can pass through them. The shirt is tight and narrow, only waist-length, just over the silver belt of the skirt, mostly in light color. When it's cold, put on all kinds of colorful sweaters and suits.
Old women wrapped their heads in white towels. Middle-aged women have long hair and put it on their heads, surrounded by various scarves, and young girls also wrap their heads with scarves. Girls and young women wear braids and have the same hairstyles as those in the mainland. Only on festivals do girls tie their hair slightly to the left and decorate it with hairpins and flowers. When young women curl their hair, it is not long enough, so they put a sock on it to increase the length of the hair and roll it into a bun.
Ladies like to bring bracelets, rings, earrings, necklaces, etc. These objects can be decorated with gold, silver and jade, or they can be imitated. A few days after the baby girl was born, her parents pricked her ears with sterilized needles and prepared to wear earrings. For women, a silver belt is even more indispensable. The belt is decorated with various patterns such as peacocks and lotus flowers. Women think that the wider the silver belt, the more beautiful it is.
Tongpa is still very popular, but it is mostly used by middle-aged women, and many girls have changed their purses.
men's clothing/clothes/garments
Dai men usually wear collarless double-breasted or large-breasted small sleeve shirts and long-sleeved trousers, with white cloth, blue cloth or crepe as the head, and some wear tweed hats, which looks chic.
Dai people, both men and women, always like to carry a shoulder bag (handkerchief) made of cotton thread on their shoulders when they go out. The satchel is brightly colored, simple in style, and has strong life color and national characteristics. The patterns are rare birds and animals, flowers and trees or geometric figures, which are vivid and realistic. Each pattern contains specific contents, such as: red and green are to commemorate ancestors; Peacock pattern indicates good luck; The elephant pattern symbolizes a bumper harvest and a better life, which fully shows the Dai people's yearning for and pursuit of a better life.
Men, women and children like to wear slippers barefoot.
] Selected Works of National Customs
Dai people all believe in Buddhism, but primitive religious activities are also very common, such as worship of gods, ghosts, agriculture, hunting, spiritual objects and so on.
The origin of Songkran Festival
Songkran Festival is the New Year's Festival of the Dai people, and it is also the most important festival of the Dai people. It is held in April of the lunar calendar (equivalent to May of the Dai calendar) every year and usually lasts for three to four days. The first day is "Mairi", which is similar to Chinese New Year's Eve. Dai language calls it "ten thousand business letters", which means to send the old. At this time, people have to tidy up their houses, clean up, and prepare for the New Year's Eve dinner and various activities during the festival. The next day is called "Angry Day", which means "Empty Day". According to custom, this day is neither the year before nor the year after, so it is an "empty day"; The third day is called "Maipaya Wanma". It is said that this is the day when the soul of the late Maipaya returned to Earth with a new calendar. People used to regard this day as the arrival of the King of Heaven, that is, New Year's Day in the Dai calendar. the Water Sprinkling Festival
The Songkran Festival originated in India and was a ceremony of ancient Brahmanism, which was later absorbed by Buddhism. 12 century to 13 century, it was introduced into the Dai area of China with Buddhism. With the deepening influence of Buddhism in Dai areas, the Water-splashing Festival has been circulated as a national custom for hundreds of years. During the spread of the Water-splashing Festival, the Dai people gradually combined it with their own myths and legends, giving the Water-splashing Festival more magical significance and national color.
Up to now, there is still a very interesting myth circulating among the Dai people: in ancient times, there was a demon in the Dai area. He did many evils and abused his power, which caused crop failure, people's anxiety and people's unhappiness. People hate his guts, but they can't cope with it in many ways. Later, the devil married seven civilians. Seeing that their compatriots are living a miserable life, the girls are determined to find a way to destroy the devil. The clever seven girls found his fatal weakness from the devil's words, that is, only the devil's own hair can kill him. One night, the devil fell asleep as drunk as a fiddler. The girls bravely tore a hair from his head and tied it tightly around his neck. Sure enough, the devil's head fell off at once. But as soon as the head touched the ground, the ground caught fire. On the verge of disaster, the girls immediately took over their heads, the fire went out and the devil disappeared with them. In order to prevent the fire from rekindling and endangering the people, the sisters decided to hold the devil's head in turn and change it once a year. Every year, when people change people, people will hit the girl with their heads in order to wash away her blood and the fatigue of adults. Later, in order to commemorate these seven witty and brave women, the Dai people splashed water on each other on this day every year, thus forming a grand festival of the Dai people to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year-the Water Splashing Festival.
Everyone who has been to Yunnan knows the famous Water-splashing Festival of the Dai people, but there are two legends about its origin. The legends of Xishuangbanna and Dehong both come from the story of "Seven Princesses Killing Fire Demons", but the story of the Dai Water-splashing Festival in Huaping, Lijiang is unique. The Dai people here are the northernmost Dai tribe in China and even in Asia. Their story goes like this: It is said that a long time ago, A Dai village near the Jinsha River lived in the deep forest. Because the forest is on fire, the villagers are in danger of being swallowed up by the fire. Li Liang, a native of A Dai, rushed out of the fire net to protect the village and picked buckets of river water from Jinsha River to water the mountain fire. After a day and a night of hard work, the mountain fire was finally put out and the villagers were saved. Li Liang was sweating with fatigue. The villagers called Qingshui to quench Li Liang's thirst, but drinking 99 barrels of water could not quench his thirst. Later, Li Liang jumped into the river, became a dragon, and went along the river. Some people say that he has become a big tree. To commemorate Li Liang, every year on the third day of the third lunar month, Dai people clean every household, sprinkle pine leaves, and build a half-mile-long green shed along selected rivers or wells. The shed is covered with thick pine needles, and there are water tanks filled with water on both sides. At noon, when the sun is at the top, everyone goes under the shed and sprays pine branches on each other to express their memory of Li Liang and their wishes for the New Year. This activity has continued to this day and has become a festival for the Dai people to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year-the Water-splashing Festival.
In addition, it is said that Zhuge Liang once came here to teach Dai people to bathe, build tall buildings and plant plants. So every year on the third day of the third lunar month, everyone will splash water on each other to express their blessings.
Blessing of Songkran Festival
On the "Mairi" day, early in the morning, people will pick flowers and leaves to worship in Buddhist temples, and bring clean water to "bathe for the Buddha"-welcome the dust for the Buddha. After the "Bathing Buddha" ended, they began to collectively splash water on each other.
Groups of young men and women used various containers to hold water, pouring out of the streets, chasing and playing, splashing everyone out of the water. "Spit, wear family crazy", "splash wet, have fun all your life"! The waves symbolizing auspiciousness, happiness and health are blooming in the air. People are splashing and laughing loudly, and they are extremely happy, soaked and in high spirits.
Love in Songkran Festival
Songkran Festival is also a wonderful time for unmarried young men and women to find love and cultivate happiness. During the Songkran Festival, unmarried young men and women of the Dai people like to play the game of "losing packets". The flower bag carefully made by the girl is a token of love.
On the day of packet loss, the girls tried their best to dress up, then came to the "package field" with flower umbrellas and small flower bags, separated from the boys by thirty or forty steps, and began to throw flower bags at each other. If the young man can't catch the flower bag thrown by the girl, he has to put the flowers prepared in advance in the girl's hair. If the girl can't get the bag thrown by the boy, he has to put the flowers on the boy's chest, so he gradually chooses the other person, and a romantic love story begins. ...
Songkran Festival activities
row dragon boats
Dragon boat race is one of the most exciting activities of the Songkran Festival, which is usually held on the third day of the Songkran Festival "Mai Paya Late Horse". On that day, people dressed in festive costumes gathered on the banks of Lancang River and Ruili River to watch the dragon boat race.
There is a green dragon boat moored on the river, and dozens of lean sailors sit on it. At the command, the dragon boat ready to go flies forward like an arrow. Suddenly, the drums, gongs, trumpets and cheers of the whole river came and went, and the sounds corresponded. The festive atmosphere here has reached a climax.
"Soaring"
Let It Fly is another reserved program of the Songkran Festival. Goldman Sachs is a kind of fireworks made by Dai people. The bottom of the bamboo pole is filled with gunpowder and other ingredients, placed on a high shelf made of bamboo, connected by wires, and often set off at night.
When lifting, igniting the fuse will make the gunpowder burn, which will produce a strong thrust and push the bamboo into the sky like a rocket. Bamboo emits white smoke, making a whizzing scream, and at the same time emitting gorgeous fireworks in the air, just like flowers, dazzling and wonderful. On the ground, cheers, cheers come and go, and there are endless comments and exclamations, which are very lively.
Water-splashing Festival Dance
Dai people can sing and dance well, and dancing is indispensable in the water-splashing festival. Large-scale dances are mainly arranged on the third day of the Songkran Festival, such as Elephant Foot Dance and peacock dance. From the dolls of seven or eight years old to the elderly of seventy or eighty years old, they all put on holiday costumes and gathered in the village square to participate in group dances.
Elephant foot dance is warm, steady and chic. Dancers form a circle and dance with manganese gongs and elephant drums, cheering "me, me" or "water, water" while dancing! Peacock dance is beautiful, elegant and lyrical, which is the soul of Dai dance. Dancing is based on various postures of peacocks, and in the recreation of interest and beauty, it embodies the aesthetic purport of Dai children. There are also many dancers who indulge their improvisation. Some sing and dance, and some even drink while dancing. They are crazy and unrestrained, and they are not tired after dancing for days and nights.
Dai family
Family form
The basic form of Dai family is monogamous patriarchal family. Because there are differences in social development in different places, the forms of family marriage are also different.
In Xishuangbanna, there were still many remnants of couple marriage before liberation, which showed that the family and marriage relationship were not very stable, and marriage and divorce were relatively free. However, due to the existence of families and village communities, the marriage of young people is directly related to their rights and obligations to families and village communities, so they need the consent of the heads of families and village communities.
When the love between men and women is mature, the man invites his uncle and aunt to propose to her. At this time, the woman's parents generally don't speak as usual, and the head of the household and the village head will answer, asking about the number of years of "coming to the door" and how to entertain relatives and friends, and they can get married with the consent of the head of the household. After marriage, the man must work in the woman's house for several years as promised before he can take his wife back. When another family is established, the village community will give it to the "land". If the two sides disagree, with the consent of the head of the delegation, handing each other a pair of wax strips is a divorce procedure; If the man has not heard from him for several months, the woman can find another spouse; When one party dies, no matter how old, it is necessary to go through the divorce procedure, that is, stick a pair of wax strips on the coffin of the deceased and send the museum materials to the entrance of the building, which means divorcing the deceased.
The marriage patterns of Dai families in Gengma and Menglian are similar to those in Xishuangbanna, but the remnants of husband and wife's marriage are weaker, mainly because they cannot divorce easily.
Family marriage
Family marriage in Dehong and Dai areas in the mainland has a more distinct feudal color, and marriage is completely based on buying, selling and arranging. Generally, there are many other fees for the bride price of 300 yuan, such as "opening the door", "closing the door", "going to court", "Buddhist fees", "dowry fees" and "matchmaker fees", which add up to more than ten yuan. This has essentially become a woman's value.
Many young men from poor families, unable to afford the money, took the method of stealing their relatives to get married, that is, when the feelings of men and women were mature, the date of "robbing marriage" was determined. A young man twice his partner, armed with a machete and copper coins, ambushed at a predetermined place, and when the girl came, he "grabbed" and ran. The girl pretended to shout to inform her family that the man took the copper coins and fled. After the fait accompli, please ask the matchmaker to propose marriage to the woman's house, and both sides invite leaders, relatives and friends to discuss and solve it. After the dowry was fixed, they officially got married.
In addition, in these areas, the phenomenon of adoption is also very common, but it is completely different from Xishuangbanna. It is not a legacy of primitive customs, but a product of feudal marriage. The adopted son's social status is extremely low, and his children have no right to inherit property.
Dai people's marriage papers
The wedding of the Dai people is called "golden debt" by the people, which means wedding banquet. The wedding date can only be set from the "opening day" to the "closing day" every year (after the Dai calendar1February 15 and before the following September 15), and the main content of the wedding is the blessing and string tying of the bride and groom.
The wedding will be held at the bride's house. At that time, pigs and chickens will be killed (some people even kill cows), and rich banquets will be held to entertain relatives and friends and villagers in this village. On the wedding day, a "Mao Huan" (literally translated as a soul table) was set up in the bride's hall, with one or three tables, banana leaves, a pair of cooked male hens, glutinous rice filled with banana leaves, rice wine, salt sticks, salt, bananas, red cloth, white cloth and white thread. Both male and female chickens need to be covered with leaf caps made of banana leaves, which is called "Suolei Cave" in Dai language. After the wedding is ready, the bride's girlfriend will accompany the bride to freshen up and wait for the groom to come to the door. The groom also washed and changed at home, accompanied by relatives and friends, and held a wedding on the bride's bamboo building.
At the beginning of the ceremony, the wife who presided over the wedding sat in the middle behind Mao Huan, and the elders sat around the table. A couple knelt in front of the wife who presided over the wedding, surrounded by relatives and friends. The person sitting in front of "Mao Huan" put his right hand on the table and listened to the wedding ceremony. Take off the leaf hat that covers the food at the wedding, and bless the bride and groom first: "Today is a beautiful and auspicious day, and now is the best time of the day. You two get married with love, Jinfeng and Tongfeng get married, and life will be happy and beautiful. I hope children have children, and I hope you have daughters. I wish you happiness and never give up. " .
After the wedding, the bride and groom each grabbed a ball of glutinous rice and put it on the table, dipped it in rice wine, salt, boiled salt and plantain, and put it on the table. The officiating person picked up a long white line, wrapped it around the shoulders of the bride and groom from left to right, and put both ends of the white line on the "Mao Huan" to show that the hearts of the couple are tied together. Then take two white lines and wrap them around the wrists of the bride and groom, wishing the newlyweds a hundred years of harmony and no disaster. The elders present also took two strands of white thread and tied them to the hands of the bride and groom. They tied the thread and read some wishes. After tying the thread, the wedding is basically over and the wedding reception begins. The bride and groom toasted the guests.