What does Hani's wedding mean by "cow excrement welcoming the bride"?
On the first day of many people's wedding in Hanihaka, both men and women have to set up a "green shed" at home. This green shed should be built by the bride and groom's usual good friends going up the mountain to cut wood and bamboo, and picking branches of pine and cypress trees. The green shed is decorated with red, which is full of festive atmosphere. On the day when the "green shed" is set up, the woman's family will prepare several tables of banquets and invite the girls of the bride's family to have a "wedding banquet". During the dinner, female companions congratulated their soon-to-be-married girlfriend, encouraged her to respect the old and love the young when she arrived at her in-laws' home, and gave her a little gift as a souvenir. After the "green shed" is set up, choose a day that belongs to the "dog" as the wedding day. On the wedding day, the groom should ask his best partner to accompany him. The number of people who accompany you must be even, which means in pairs. The person who marries him should put on his best clothes, bring a sunshade and a rain hat (bamboo hat) and surround the groom. When the married man arrived at the woman's house, a group of Cardo girls who had been waiting in the "green shed" rushed into the crowd, holding olives in their hands and laughing at the groom. At this time, the group accompanying the groom quickly took out the sunshade and rain hat they carried with them and covered them with olives to prevent them from hitting him. And there should be one or two capable guys who braved the olive rain and rushed into the "green shed" and poured all the olives in the bamboo basket on the ground. At the same time, the other guys who accompanied the groom also ran into the "green hut" as quickly as possible and sat down. At this point, the girls' attacks are over. According to the legend of the olive fight, the woman greeted the groom with the "olive fight", which means to let the groom taste the bitterness first and test whether the groom's heart is sincere. After this, the life of both husband and wife will be very sweet. Another meaning is that olives have a sweet aftertaste and are full of fruits, which symbolizes the prosperity of family business and the continuous descendants after the combination of men and women. Therefore, when the woman's partner launched an "attack" on the groom who came to get married, the man could only parry and evade, even willing to be beaten but unable to fight back. It is a special custom for Hani and Wa people to greet their relatives with cow dung. When the wedding party is about to arrive at the man's house, the group waiting on the road will keep throwing cow excrement at the bride, and the bride will be protected by the groom and the wedding party and block the cow excrement with a bamboo reed fan prepared in advance. It is said that this can isolate the bride from the disaster brought by her family. After the bride is whipped by cow dung, crops will be bumper and poultry and livestock will flourish.