The Susu people have unique customs and ancient methods of courtship
Lisu young men and women talk about love, and most of the ways to connect their feelings rely on traditional singing exchanges. There is a saying among the Lisu people: "Without a good voice, you can never think of finding a good daughter-in-law." It can be seen how important singing swaps are in the marriage and love lives of young men and women. Young men and women get to know each other through activities such as festivals, weddings, bumper harvests, social gatherings, business exchanges, and hanging with girls, and develop a love heart. They can find opportunities to sing songs with each other.
There are many ways of courtship among the Lisu people. For example,"burying lovers in rivers and sand" is one of the oldest ways for Lisu men and women to woo. The "Heshi" Festival is approaching, and Lisu youth from the Fugong area have come to the wide beach of the Nujiang River to accompany and dance with musical instruments such as mouth strings, pipa, and "Dili Tu" bamboo flute to exchange feelings. Groups of three to five, unrestrained, seeking a spouse.
Once they have a heart-to-heart connection or have known each other in ordinary times and are willing to become partners, the young man will dig a hole on the beach, make an appointment with several close same-sex partners, carry the lover into the sand pit, and bury it with fine sand. After that, the friends quickly left, and the young man immediately dug up the sand, expressing his admiration. Although the girls are usually gentle and quiet, they are fierce and generous at this time. Often, seven or eight people act in unison and use sneak attacks to bury the young men into the sand pit. No matter how strong the young men are, they cannot escape this love farce.
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"River Sand Buries Lovers" also includes crossbow shooting. Young men often win the love of girls with their superb crossbow shooting skills. In the crossbow shooting field, people formed a semicircle and competed to watch the wonderful performance of the Arrow of Love. I saw a wooden bowl full of rice on top of the girl, with an egg on top of the rice as a target. The young man stood four or five meters away, calmly firing his crossbow bolt. With a swoosh, the egg broke and the egg juice splashed. Immediately, applause broke out on the field. Among this thrilling action, one is to show the young man's crossbow shooting skills, and the other is to test the girl's sincerity towards the young man.
Of course, some young men are not sure about shooting crossbows. They would rather miss the egg than hurt their loved ones. They just say that they are not brave enough and strong enough. This does not affect them becoming partners. After shooting the crossbow, the young man will hold the bamboo wine, also known as Tongxin wine) to let the lover drink dry, in order to set life. People drank, sang, and danced, immersed in the atmosphere of joy.
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blowing leaves is to call a couple or inform each other that they have something to do and cannot go. It is called "Shiqian Mu" in Lisu. At a wedding banquet, cross your chopsticks or place them upside down on the bowl. The ends of the chopsticks indicate the direction of the tryst. In public, they signal that they will go to a certain village for an appointment tonight, which is actually telling couples where to meet.
These secret codes are all traditional practices in the past. Now, with the openness of men and women, there are not many, but occasionally such ancient secret codes appear.
"Ole": Headdress full of love
The white and black Lisu ethnic groups live in the Fugong and Gongshan areas. Young girls like to tie their braids with red lines decorated with small white shells, while married women prefer to wear beaded hats "Ole". "Ole" is woven from coral, material beads, sea shells, and small copper beads.
The specific production method is: first select more than a dozen white sea shells with a diameter of about two centimeters, drill them out of small holes, and thread them flat into a round sleeve that can cover the back of the head. Tie a small copper bead under the shells in the upper half of the shell circle, and then cross the small copper beads into a string. In this way, a curtain-like, half-moon-shaped bead hat is formed with a string of seashells behind the head and a string of copper beads in front of the forehead as the upper and lower sides, and a string of red and white corals and material beads as the center. Wearing it on the head can just cover the head and ears on both sides.
Lisu women wear "Ole", with sea shells hanging high above their heads like silver moon, and the beads below like stars holding the moon. The copper beads at the lowest end are embedded in the forehead and are golden, giving people a feeling of beauty and dignity.
Regarding "Ole", there is still a beautiful and moving legend among the Lisu people:
In ancient times, there was a severe drought, the river dried up, the crops dried up, and hunger claimed countless lives. There was a Lisu young man and woman who were instructed by the God Mis to settle in a place with beautiful mountains and clear waters. The man chased the mountains and hunted, and the woman managed the housework. The two gradually developed a love for each other. Despite their hard work, life is still very difficult.
The Lisu people mainly live in the river valleys and slopes on both sides of the Nujiang River, Lancang River and Jinsha River in western and northwest Yunnan. In the past, due to the different colors of the linen clothes they wore, they were divided into white Lisu, black Lisu and flower Lisu. Lisu young men and women talk about love, and most of the ways to connect their feelings rely on traditional singing exchanges. There is a saying among the Lisu people: Without a good voice, you can never think of finding a good daughter-in-law.
The simple animal skin clothes worn by young men can no longer cover their bodies and keep them warm. The girl saw it in her eyes and hurt in her heart. So he decided to weave a comfortable and fitting suit for the young man. After going through hardships, she finally found the nettles, and then she kept tearing, boiling, rinsing, and twisting. After countless days and nights, she finally woven it into a cross-grain linen gown.
Seeing the scene of her beloved girl working hard for her, and the mountain breeze blowing, her blown hair blocked her view from time to time, making her eyes often shed tears. The young man thought to himself, could he make a hat to hold the girl's black hair? One night when the bright moon was hanging high, he looked at the sky and imagined how great it would be if he could make a hat out of something as white and shiny as the moon and dress the girl like the green mountains under the moon!
So, he traveled all over thousands of mountains and rivers, and finally found seashells at the foot of Tanggula Mountain as he wished. Using the hemp thread that the girl had rubbed, he strung the ground seashells and white and red tree fruits into strings, making a beautiful and generous "Ole". On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival with a bumper harvest, the young man held out the "Ole" and put it on the girl's head with the moonlight. The girl took out a long gown and draped it over the young man. The two people were deeply connected and finally formed a lifelong partner, giving birth to children and reproducing descendants.
From then on, Lisu young men who fell in love must make an "Ole" and give it to their beloved girl as a token of love. The girl also needs to weave a long gown herself and give it back to her beloved. This custom has been passed down from generation to generation and has been passed down to this day.
"Chewing Tobacco" and "Face Wine"
Lisu men and women have the custom of chewing tobacco and drinking alcohol. When guests come, they must present tobacco; men and women seeking a partner must throw tobacco boxes as a token. This shows the position of tobacco in the lives of Lisu people.
When chewing tobacco, first put the tobacco into your mouth, then put some black colloidal substance made from betel root, plum bark, and chestnut leaves and hydrated lime and chew slowly. Soon, his lips looked like coconut red. Nowadays, some women believe that chewing tobacco is unrefined and quitting smoking has gradually become their conscious behavior.
"Tien Wine", also known as Double Cup Wine and Tongxin Wine, is a playful way for Lisu men and women to have social scenes. They often hide the high-concentration wine they brew at home and reserve it for guests. As for large occasions with banquets and songs, temporarily brewed water wine is often drunk to avoid getting drunk. The more primitive containers used by the Lisu people when drinking alcohol are bamboo tubes, and now ceramic utensils are sometimes used.
When drinking, the owner takes a bamboo tube of wine and drinks it face to face with the guest. No wine should overflow and drip, otherwise you will have to start over. Drinking "face-to-face wine" will never avoid suspicion between men and women. It is normal for a couple to have a banquet together, for a husband and his wife to drink face-to-face, and for a wife to have a "double cup" with other men.