More importantly, I think bananas are easy to obtain and should be the oldest fruit planted in Banna. Banana culture has far-reaching significance. Flowers, fruits and stems are edible and inexhaustible. 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.
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.
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. " .
The Buddha once said, "My heart is shaking like a banana leaf", which symbolizes that the swing of the banana leaf is inner anxiety. The above is the explanation of why the green banana leaves are placed at the Dai wedding banquet. I hope I can help you.