Dai characteristics

Characteristics of Dai Nationality: There are 56 nationalities in China, and the Dai nationality is one of the ethnic minorities in China. It is also a nation with a long history and distinctive culture, and has its own folk cultural characteristics. I hope it helps you.

Dai characteristics 1 etiquette

Since ancient times, the Dai people have been a nation that pays attention to etiquette. When foreigners arrive at the Dai family, the host will take the initiative to greet them, serve tea and water, and entertain them for dinner. No matter men, women and children, they always smile at their guests, speak softly and never shout, swear or swear. When women walk in front of guests, they should fold their skirts and bow their waists. The guest is downstairs, not from the upstairs where the guest is. Every family has several sets of clean bedding for guests. In some Dai villages, there is also a "Sarah room" that specially receives guests along the road. When you visit the Dai family, you will be treated as "splashing water" and "tying the thread" by your host. When the guests arrived, there was a small booth of Dai people at the door. Water soaked in petals was filled in a silver bowl, and it was gently splashed on the guests with branches and leaves. After taking a seat on the bamboo building, Lao Mitao will tie a thread on the guest's wrist and wish him good luck, peace and happiness. The distant guests who have been to the Dai village were moved by the warm and friendly reception of the Dai people and left an unforgettable impression.

Holidays and festivals

The main festivals of Dai people are "Harvest Festival", "Opening Festival" and Water-splashing Festival. The "Zen Festival" is in the middle of July, which is a busy farming season. Most Buddhist festivals are concentrated in this period, so as to concentrate on production. At the same time, a grand "Buddha worship" activity will be held to offer food, flowers, silver coins and paper money to the Buddha. The "liquidation date" will last for about three months until the "opening date" in the middle of 10. The biggest festival of the Dai people is the Water-splashing Festival. The time is April every year. According to the time series, April in the solar calendar is equivalent to the first month in the Dai calendar. Songkran Festival is also the New Year of Dai people. According to the traditional custom, early in the morning, people will bring flowers and green leaves to the Buddhist temple for sacrifice and clear water to welcome the Buddha. After all this, large-scale splashing water on each other began. I saw groups of young men and women, filled with water in copper bowls and washbasins, pouring out of the street, playing and chasing, splashing on everyone and getting soaked from head to toe. This is auspicious water, blessed water, and people can pour it as they like. No matter who splashes, they are very happy and laugh loudly ... During the Songkran Festival, there will be a dragon boat race on the broad Lancang River, and the water boats will be decorated with colorful flowers and dressed as Jackie Chan, Peacock and Big Fish. Dozens of young men and women struggled to paddle forward, and the audience on both sides of the strait was like clouds, gongs and drums were loud, and cheers thundered. At night, there will be fireworks in the village, which are made by the Dai people themselves. Use a bamboo dozens of feet long, fill the root with gunpowder and other ingredients, and put it on the elevated bamboo. When the fuse is lit and the gunpowder burns, bamboo flies into the sky like a rocket, emitting gorgeous fireworks in the air, just like flowers, the stars are shining and dazzling, making the night sky of the festival particularly beautiful. Songkran Festival is a popular festival, and a happy festival usually takes three to five days.

marriage customs

Chasing yellow chickens is a way for young men and women in Xishuangbanna to seek love by eating rumors, that is, girls take yellow chickens 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 carry chickens and stools to pour out their feelings in the Woods; If the buyer is not the girl's lover, the girl will double the asking price. "Eat a little wine", men and women are engaged, the man cleans 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 three women and 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. Congratulations on the completion of the new house. The young man went upstairs first, carrying a bull's head and singing blessing song. Mature men carry boxes, married women carry bedding, and girls carry food in turn. Then they set up a tripod on the fireplace, set the wine table, prepare dishes and sing songs to congratulate the completion of the new house. The villagers also send some auspicious gifts to their owners. 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.

Dress

In traditional Dai costumes, men mostly wear double-breasted or large-breasted collarless tops and fat pants, and a few people wear dark tubular skirts with white, blue, light blue and light yellow cloth heads. Due to different regions, there are obvious differences in women's clothing. Women in Xishuangbanna wear white, crimson or light green tight-fitting narrow-sleeved tops, all kinds of foot-long skirts and silver belts. Women's hair accessories are very particular, with high bun and flowers on it. There are also large cloth towels wrapped around their heads. Dehong and Gengma's women, wearing waist-high coats and colorful skirts, have their hair tied behind their heads and the rest dragged behind their backs. The material used to be homespun, but now it is mostly silk and plain cloth, which shows the graceful figure of Dai women.

prescribe a diet

Rice and glutinous rice are staple foods. Dehong Dai's staple food is japonica rice, and Xishuangbanna Dai's staple food is glutinous rice. Usually eaten immediately. People think that japonica rice and rice need to be eaten immediately without losing their original color and fragrance, so they don't eat overnight meals or rarely eat them, and they are used to pinching rice with their hands. 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 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. Cooking fish, mostly sour fish or roasted citronella fish, in addition to making fish chop naan (that is, mashing grilled fish into mud and mixing coriander, etc.). ), fish jelly, grilled fish, eel with white sauce, etc. 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. There are many kinds of insects in the hot and humid areas of Dai nationality. Flavor dishes and snacks made by insects are an important part of Dai food. Common insects that eat are cicadas, bamboo worms, Okumo, soft-shelled turtle, ant eggs and so on. 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. Typical foods include dog meat soup pot, dried pork, salted eggs and dried eel.

build

People have lived in bamboo houses for 1000 years. This kind of building is very suitable for the climate of tropical rain forest in South Asia. This bamboo building is divided into two floors. There is a fence on the ground floor, which is a place to store sundries and raise livestock. Upstairs is where the family lives. Every bamboo building has a balcony where families can enjoy the cool breeze and dry clothes. Inside the room is a large living room, covered with bamboo mats, where family members sit for dinner, rest and reception. There is a fire pit in the center of the house, which can cook food and keep warm. The living room is connected to the bedroom, usually three to five rooms, depending on the number of family members. Visitors are usually not allowed to spend the night in the bedroom. The furniture at home is very simple, and most of it is made of bamboo. All the tables, chairs, beds, boxes, cages and baskets are made of bamboo. Every family has a simple quilt and a tent. Occasionally, some felt, lead iron and other utensils, farm tools, pot knives, etc. are used, which are rarely redundant. Pottery utensils are also very common, and the patterns of water tanks are all local. Building a new house is a major event in Dai people's life. Before building a house, you must first choose a good address and lay a good foundation stone. Next, you should prepare eight main columns. Because the whole bamboo building is built on these eight main pillars, the material selection of the pillars is very important. When the selected wood is carried into the village from the Woods, the villagers will blow horns to welcome it and splash water to bless it. The four-column "male column" and the four-column "female column" should be separated from the eight columns, and the columns should be covered with men's and women's clothes to show the difference. When building a house, the whole village will come to help, which is the tradition of Dai family. At that time, the host should prepare rich food and wine to entertain the villagers who come to help and the relatives and friends who come to congratulate. The whole atmosphere is like a holiday.

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. No outsiders are allowed to peep in the bedroom. In the past, it was stipulated that if the host found an outsider spying on the host's bedroom, the man would be the host's door-to-door son-in-law, or work hard in the host's home for three years, and even the female guests would have to serve in the host's home for three years. Therefore, tourists should never peek at the master's bedroom because of mystery, whether they are visiting or being guests. Although the past customs have been broken, peeking into the bedroom is always unpopular.

religion

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. No outsiders are allowed to peep in the bedroom. According to the previous custom, if the host finds an outsider peeking at the host's bedroom, the man will be the host's door-to-door son-in-law, or work hard in the host's home for three years, and even the female guest will serve in the host's home for three years. Therefore, tourists should never peek at the master's bedroom because of mystery, whether they are visiting or being guests. Although the past customs have been broken, peeking into the bedroom is always unpopular.

Dai ethnic characteristics 2 1, beliefs

In terms of religion, the Dai people in the frontier generally believe in Southern Buddhism, belonging to Hinayana Buddhism, while retaining the remnants of primitive worship of ghosts and gods. Dai people in mainland China worship "Dragon God" and "Dragon Tree", and religious professionals "Bo Meng" and "Shi Niang" perform divination and cure diseases on behalf of others. In Jinggu and other areas, there are also people who believe in Buddhism in the upper class.

2. Clothing:

Women traditionally wear short sleeves and skirts. Dai men wear collarless double-breasted or large-breasted small sleeve jackets, long-sleeved trousers, blankets when it is cold, and white or green cloth on their heads. The custom of male tattoos is very common, which not only shows courage, but also can ward off evil spirits, protect the body and decorate the body.

Step 3 prescribe diet

The Dai people's staple food is rice. Dehong area eats japonica rice, Xishuangbanna and other places like to eat glutinous rice, which is usually eaten immediately. The famous fragrant bamboo rice of Dai people is also called bamboo rice. Migrant workers often eat in the wild. They can eat bananas with glutinous rice balls in Ye Sheng, plus salt, pepper, sour meat, roast chicken, glutinous rice and pine. Meat includes pigs, cows, chickens and ducks. They don't eat or eat less mutton. They are good at roast chicken and roast chicken, and like to eat fish, shrimp, crab, snails, moss and other aquatic products. The vegetables we often eat are cabbage, radish, bamboo shoots and beans.

4. Architecture

Column architecture is the characteristic of Dai folk houses. Dai bamboo houses in Xishuangbanna and Dehong Ruili have unique styles. The building is nearly square, with two floors. People live on the upper floor, about 7 feet from the ground, and there is no wall on the lower floor, which is used for raising livestock and stacking things. The top is double oblique and covered with woven "grass rafts". Climb the stairs, there is a corridor, there is a drying platform, you can dry things, you can also enjoy the cool.

Dai people in most areas of Dehong live in bungalows, with bamboo as the wall or adobe as the wall, covered with thatch and mostly quadrangles. The Dai bamboo building in Yishan, Chuxiong, has a wide and gentle roof. Its main functions are ventilation, sun protection and cooling, followed by rain protection. Houses are overhead and people live upstairs, which can avoid the hot summer heat and humidity on the ground and prevent insects from invading; The beams and columns are connected inside and outside, which is seamless and very strong, which can prevent the worry of earthquake; There are only a few pillars downstairs. If the river overflows, the bamboo building is safe under normal circumstances. In Yishan Dai area, bamboo houses are built in every household, most of which are the main residence of Dai people.

5. Dai opera

Dai people have traditional Dai dramas. There used to be a form of musical words in Xishuangbanna, which is the embryonic form of Dai opera. Its plot is relatively simple, mainly showing the disguised struggle between knife hunters and dragons, phoenixes, turtles and cranes. The development and perfection of Dai opera is mainly in Dehong area. Therefore, Dai drama is also called "Dai drama in western Yunnan". Produced in Zhanxi and Ganya of Yingjiang River in Dehong at the beginning of19th century.

6, festivals

Dai festivals are mostly related to religious activities. The main festivals are Door Festival, Opening Day and Water-splashing Festival.

Extended data:

Dai, also known as Dai and Shan, has a national language of Dai, which belongs to Zhuang-Dai branch of Zhuang-Dong language family of Sino-Tibetan language family.

Dai people regard peacocks and elephants as mascots, and folk stories are rich and colorful. Dai people like to live by the water, love cleanliness, often take a bath, and women like to wash their hair, so they have the reputation of "water nation". In the past, Dai people generally believed in Buddhism, and primitive religion spread to the south.

According to their distribution areas, the Dai people in China call themselves Dai Lu, Dai Na, Dai Ya, Dai Zhan and Dai Duan. Xishuangbanna and other places call themselves "Dai Lu", Dehong and other places call themselves "Dai Na", Xinping and Yuanjiang in the middle and upper reaches of the Red River call themselves "Dai Ya", Ruili, Longchuan and Gengma border areas call themselves "Dai tension", and Mangjing and Mangna in Lancang are branches of Dai tension. Han people call Dai Lu Shui Dai, Dai Na Handai and Dai Ya Huayaodai.

Dai is the main ethnic group in Thailand and Laos, accounting for 40% of the total population in Thailand. Dai is the second largest ethnic group in Myanmar and a minority in China, India, Viet Nam and Cambodia. According to the data of the sixth census in 20 10, there are more than 260,000 Dai people in China.

Dai characteristics 3 Dai festivals

Closing and opening days:

The closing day, called "Howasa" in Dai language, is fixed on September 15 in Dai calendar (mid-July in Gregorian calendar). Kaimen Festival, called "Onvasa" in Dai language, is fixed on the day of 65438+February 65438+May (Gregorian calendar 65438+1mid-October). In these two festivals, men, women and children from all villages will hold a grand Buddha worship activity in the Buddhist temple, offering food, flowers and coins to the Buddha, chanting scriptures and dripping water in front of the Buddha, and praying for the Buddha's blessing. The three months from the closing day to the opening day is the time of "closing the door" and the most frequent period of religious activities in a year. Worship Buddha and listen to Buddha for 7 days. In the evening, there will be fireworks, firecrackers, Gao Sheng (Kongming Lantern) and "catching up". During the closed period, young men and women can fall in love, but they can't get married and go out; You can get married and go out after opening the door.

Songkran Festival:

The Water-splashing Festival of the Dai people over the years is a traditional festival of the Dai people. Dai language is called "Sanggan Bimai" or "Lenghe Sanggan Language", which means June New Year. The time is in late June or early July of Dai calendar (mid-April of Gregorian calendar). It was held on 10 day after Tomb-Sweeping Day, symbolizing "the best day". Festivals usually last for three days. Two days ago, it was to send the old and welcome the new. In the early morning of the festival, men, women and children in Dai villages bathed in costumes, went to the Buddhist temple to worship Buddha, and built 4 or 5 towers in the temple. Everyone sat around the tower and listened to the Buddha chanting. After that, the women each picked a handful of water to "welcome the dust" for the Buddha statue. After the ceremony in the Buddhist temple, the young men and women quit and poured water on each other to bless them. Then they marched around in groups and threw water at pedestrians to show their blessing. Every year during the Songkran Festival in Xishuangbanna, the Dai people hold a grand dragon boat race in Lancang River. After the competition, they took the dragon boat apart and put it in the bamboo building of the Buddhist temple for safekeeping. Before the arrival of the Songkran Festival in the second year, they reassembled the dragon boat they had dismantled, which was called "Drought Black".

Flower Street Festival:

The biggest festival of Huayao Dai is the "Flower Street Festival" on the 13th day of the first lunar month. On this day, thousands of young men and women gathered in Flower Street from the surrounding villages. The flower street of the festival is very lively, and little girls (girls) dressed in ancient costumes line up and walk slowly through the flower street, competing for each other and having unlimited amorous feelings; Boys are looking for the right person, keep your eyes open. It hit it off, and the two met in the lychee bushes under the phoenix bamboo. The girl untied the rice from her waist and turned over the green banana leaves. I saw that the fragrant glutinous rice was dyed half golden and half bright red by the flower juice, and the banana leaves were filled with rare delicacies such as pork loin, fried eel dried fish and salted duck eggs layer by layer. Two people eat together and talk about sweet words. After dinner, the big proposal is settled.

Wedding:

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.