Female taboos in traditional folk customs

In traditional folk customs, there are many taboos against women, reflecting a very strong tendency of misogyny. A woman's menstruation, a woman's pregnancy, and a woman's reproductive process are all symbols of filth and uncleanness, and are a potential threat to natural and social life. Women themselves are also symbols of uncleanness and are regarded as a "disaster" that may destroy the real order. Although there are some case studies and comprehensive studies on this kind of issue, most of them are analyzed from the perspective of folk psychology and historical culture. They rarely draw on a gender perspective, and rarely examine their origin and evolution from an anthropological perspective. This paper intends to start with the taboos of folk customs against women, integrate gender research and anthropological methods, and conduct a detailed examination of the reasons for traditional misogyny complex.

There is widespread disgust and exclusion of women in traditional folk taboos, and the most misogynistic custom is the disgust and exclusion of women's biology. Women's periodic physiological phenomena-menstruation, women's life-giving process-pregnancy and childbirth, as well as women themselves, are all taboo objects. They are regarded as sources of pollution and harmful substances in folk psychology. During these special physiological periods, women must abide by certain regulations, and even women who are not in this period must behave cautiously.

First of all, traditional customs impose taboos on women during menstruation. In traditional discourse, all secretions excreted by the human body are unclean, but all excretions, including nasal fluid and feces, are not as disgusting as women's menstruation. Menstruation is a factor of filth and danger, which can cause harm to others, especially men. Li Shizhen said in the Compendium of Materia Medica: "When women enter the moon, they will have foul liquid. Therefore, gentlemen stay away from it because they are unclean and can damage yang and get sick." In the Qing Dynasty,"the custom regarded it as ominous to hear the crow and see the filthy things of a woman, so spit and expel them. Covering phlegm, saliva, saliva, and saliva to eliminate dirty things is the technique of using dirty things to get rid of dirty things." Because menstrual blood is regarded as ominous and unclean, there is a folk saying that "riding a horse to worship will lead to a broken family and death." The most taboo is that the bride's menstruation on the wedding day, believing that it will bring bad luck to her in-laws 'family. Menstruation women are forbidden to participate in weddings, sacrifice to gods, etc. These taboos are not only widespread among the Han people, but are also widely reflected among ethnic minorities.

In folk concepts, not only are women who have menstruation unclean and dangerous, but even articles related to menstruation are unclean and dangerous. Women's menstrual belts should be placed in a secret place and should not be seen by others. If men see them, it will be unlucky. Before liberation, there was a custom of robbing widows in the remote mountainous areas of western Henan. Middle-aged widowers could gather men to rob them. If the widow was unwilling, she could take out her menstrual belt and use it as a weapon to resist. Men often scattered like birds and beasts when they saw it, because "the looters believed that such obscene objects would cause bad luck all year round, and they were afraid of avoiding them."

Secondly, traditional folk customs have taboos about women during pregnancy. If it is barely reasonable to say that menstruation easily gives people a feeling of impurity due to visual connection, it is difficult to explain the taboos and exclusion of pregnant women from the concept of impurity. There are few records in traditional discourse and literature that regard pregnant women as unclean. However, in real life, pregnant women have many restrictions on their words, deeds and diet. Some of the restrictions are based on good wishes. For example, for the purpose of prenatal education, they are not allowed to eat fierce and ugly things (ferocious and violent), they are not allowed to eat sparrows (sexual promiscuity), etc., they are not allowed to do heavy physical work for the purpose of protecting the fetus, they are not allowed to enjoy great joys and sorrows, they are not allowed to eat beanise (easy to abortion), etc., and they are not allowed to eat rabbit meat for the purpose of eugenics.(lip removal), You are not allowed to eat ginger (six fingers), you are not allowed to watch puppet shows (no bones), etc., you are not allowed to eat mule meat for the purpose of praying for a natural childbirth), you are not allowed to eat donkey and horse meat (prolonged pregnancy), you are not allowed to eat duck meat, mulberry (inverted fetus), etc. Although these regulations and taboos cannot be characterized by misogyny complex, they are achieved by controlling and constraining women.

In fact, there are still many taboos for pregnant women in the public that have nothing to do with abortion protection, abortion prevention and natural childbirth. The pregnant women in the taboos are completely regarded as dangerous and unclean sources of pollution, showing a strong tendency to misogyny. In old China, pregnant women were not allowed to go to temples to pay incense, participate in worship activities at home, and were not allowed to serve wine and food to worship Bodhisattva. In rural areas, women who are living are not allowed to come close to watch important matters such as drilling wells, building stoves, and raising beams. They are not allowed to participate in weddings and weddings. They are not allowed to look at other people's children who are under one month old (children will lack milk), let alone cuddle or touch children (children will be difficult and sick), etc. Pregnant women are also prohibited from participating in some highly technical tasks, such as pregnant women are not allowed to enter the garden to pick melons and fruits (the fruits will not bear fruit when touching them), they are not allowed to watch others make tofu (the soy milk does not condense), and wine making (the wine making is sour).

Thirdly, traditional folk customs have taboos about childbirth. In traditional folk customs, childbirth is regarded as a "bloody disaster"."Folk customs believe that the blood, amniotic fluid, and dirty things that accompany the birth of a baby will blaspheme and bring disaster." Maternal childbirth is regarded as an ominous thing and is rejected in thousands of ways. During the pre-Qin Dynasty,"a wife was about to have children, and at the beginning of the month, she lived in a side room." In the Han Dynasty, when women were in labor,"no one would communicate with them when they entered the mountains, traveled far, or crossed rivers and swamps." I also avoid evil in the house of a suckling child. It takes more than a month to enter the tomb and the road." Although this extreme rejection of pregnant women is not very common in later generations, pregnant women are still regarded as unlucky to give birth. Pregnant women are still quarantined. Men are taboo to enter the delivery room, and even boys are taboo to enter. There is also a Hakka saying that "when you see life, you will haunt you; when you see people die, you will gain benefits."

In the private sector, World Customs Network, it is a happy thing for a girl to come back, but pregnant women who are approaching labor are ostracized. There is a saying in the Han people that "see death but not life", which means that it is okay for a girl to die in her mother's family, but she cannot give birth to a child in her mother's family. In Lanxi, Zhejiang, pregnant women must rush back to their in-laws 'home as soon as possible before giving birth. If they are too late, they will be helped by the midwife to go to the deserted countryside to "build a place to live in." Women in Hui 'an, Fujian Province practice the marriage custom of "not leaving their husbands' homes", but if they are in the middle of giving birth, they must live in their in-laws 'homes. People believe that giving birth to a child at her mother's home will be detrimental to her mother's home. This concept is reflected in the saying on a slope in Heilongjiang,"If you dirty the grass on the kang of her mother's home, you will have a bad life." There is also a folk saying "borrow death not life". If such a thing happens, witchcraft methods must be adopted to solve it.

Because labor is unclean, women during confinement also have many taboos, and their activities are greatly restricted to avoid the disaster she may bring. A pregnant woman visiting someone else's house before the full moon is a "pregnant woman rushing to the house" and "hot blood rushing to the door". This is an ominous sign, because "during the confinement period, the 'blood' has not disappeared completely and the stench is heavy, which is commonly known as 'bloody ghost'." Pregnant women are also not allowed to enter temples or worship ancestors or gods.

Again, traditional folk customs impose taboos on women themselves. Women themselves are also regarded as ominous in traditional folk customs. Women are not allowed to participate in many things. For example, after the Ming and Qing Dynasties, women were not allowed to enter clan ancestral halls or participate in ancestral worship activities. This taboo still exists in some places in rural Shandong. Because women are unlucky, you cannot ride in the same boat with women and travel for a while, otherwise you will be in great trouble. During the Warring States Period, when Zhao Jianzi led his army across the river, he lacked a paddle man. A girl named Juan volunteered to serve the Zhao army, but Zhao Jianzi refused: "If you don't want to go, choose scholars and doctors, fast and bathe, and don't cross the boat with a woman." This custom is still popular in modern China. In the past, in many places in my country, women were not allowed to go out before the fifth day of the first month, nor were they allowed to go to the homes of neighbors and relatives to celebrate the New Year or visit. This ban was even more severe in the Rehe area. If women go hastily, they will be hated by others."This means that women are regarded as ominous things elsewhere."

Women are not only unlucky, but also unclean. She will contaminate clean things. Therefore, the vulgar villagers in "Besieged City"(Fei Zhong Shu) resolutely refused to allow Sun Roujia to sit on his own grain bag, but Zhao Hsin-mei and other men could. Because women are unclean, they must abide by inevitable taboos when doing certain jobs. If they behave improperly, it will bring adverse consequences. Among them, it is a common taboo that women are not allowed to step over various production tools. Before liberation, in rural areas in northern my country, women were not allowed to go to wheat mills, let alone sit on stone rollers, otherwise they would be considered to harvest less food; on the southeastern coast, women were not allowed to board ships, otherwise the ships would capsize when going out to sea.

Because women are unlucky and unclean, even women's clothes are unlucky. Men's clothes, hats and other taboos are forbidden for women to cross over. Women's clothes cannot be hung on men's clothes. Men's bedding cannot be hung on top of women's bedding to dry. Women's underwear cannot be hung outdoors, nor is it allowed to be hung high. Men are forbidden to walk under women's underwear and pants that are drying. If water from women's underwear and pants drips on men's heads, it is considered bad luck.

These folk taboos mentioned above all reflect a strong tendency of misogyny. Menstruation is a female physiological characteristic and is considered unclean and filthy; body is the process of women giving birth to new life and is considered dangerous; childbirth is the moment when women give birth to new life and is considered dangerous and unclean; Women themselves are not clean, they cannot move around at will, and their lower body clothes cannot be dried at will. These taboos mean that women are unclean and dirty, causing damage to what is clean and sacred. In a nutshell, women themselves are symbols of uncleanness and filth.