Lahu customs and habits
in the Lahu society. Due to their long-term hunting life, they are not afraid of hardships and dangers and violence. At the same time, they have formed a moral trend of unity, mutual assistance and respect for the elderly. They treat people who get along sincerely with each other with each other so enthusiastically, and hate those who are treacherous and disloyal. Over the long years, these customs have formed unique etiquette that they abide by together.
Hunting meat, sharing food and respecting the elderly for hunting are indispensable parts of the Lahu people's life. They are not only sideline production, but also hunting and protecting crops. Hunting includes activities involving one person and one household, as well as collective activities involving one village and one village. Collective hunting takes place during the first and February of the old calendar. During the hunting, almost all the men in the entire village are mobilized. More than a dozen people or dozens of people go all the way, and they go for a few days or more before returning. Regardless of the size of the game, each person participating in the hunting, whether adults or children, will receive a share of the hunting meat. If the prey is too small, even if it is cooked into porridge, one person will have to eat it in one bowl. If a big wild animal such as a red deer is hunted and the head is taken by the hunter or the person who puts a bullet on the head. There are two tenderloin meat. The hunter can get one as a reward, and the other is given to the oldest old man in the stockade. That is not something to enjoy. Except for the tenderloin, the rest of the hunting meat was distributed equally. When distributing meat, any passers-by can also get a share of the hunting meat as long as they encounter it.
There is a saying in the Lahu people's respect for the elderly: "Give enjoyment to those older than you, because the oldest people see the sun and moon first, and the oldest people are the ones who understand the most reason in the village." Every detail of life reflects the Lahu people's virtue of respecting the elderly. Usually, when an elderly person comes at home, the young man will consciously give up his seat and ask the old man to sit in the fire pond near the direction of the sun. Then he will offer cigarettes and then roast tea. Eat the first bowl of tea for himself and the second bowl for the old man, which means that the old man can rest assured. When offering cigarettes or tea to the elderly, you have to raise your hands above your head, and the person receiving it must also receive it with both hands. It is very rude to accept it with one hand. When offering cigarettes and toasts, the first person who is given a toast will not be transferred to someone older than you present. In the future, this person will not be respected by everyone. When the old man is sitting, young people are not allowed to walk in front of the old man, but must walk behind him. When serving rice, serve it to the elderly first. When the old man orders something, he has to wait until the old man has finished ordering before replying.
The clothes worn by the Lahu people were still grown cotton before liberation, spinning with simple spinning wheels, and weaving cloth with extremely simple woven fabrics. After weaving the cloth, it was dyed blue and blue to make clothes. The Lahu people like black best and think black is the most beautiful. After liberation, the country transferred various cotton and chemical fiber supplies from the mainland every year. Since the Lahu people like the cloth they weave themselves, the state transfers a large amount of cotton and cotton yarn every year for the Lahu people to spin and weave themselves. Nowadays, young men and girls of the Lahu nationality love not only their own national costumes, but also new costumes made of various fabrics and chemical fiber products.
There are generally two types of clothing for Lahu women: one is a dress open to the right, with a fork on both sides equal to the waist, and a long gown that is as long as the feet. At the fork, hem and cuffs of the long gown, lace with red, white and other geometric patterns is inlaid, and dozens of bright silver bubbles are also inlaid along the collar and open front or wearing a large silver medal Lahu ethnic "Puba"). Some wear a skirt under them, and some wear black trousers under them. The other is a short shirt with a large open opening, almost like a double opening, with patterns of floral cloth on the hem, no collar, small cuffs, and the length of the shirt is only up to the waist bones. Under the blouse, wear a white sweatshirt, exposed above the skirt. Women wearing these two costumes wear a four-meter-long black head on their heads, decorated with threads at both ends, and some wear large towels. For women wearing long pants, most calves are covered with leg covers in winter, and both ends of the calf covers are embroidered with colored thread.
Both men and women of the Lahu ethnic group shave their heads, but women have to leave a lock of hair on the top of their heads, called soul hair, to show the difference between men and women. Nowadays, most young girls have long hair and braids. But in rural areas, women shave their heads after marriage. On the one hand, this is for hygiene, and on the other hand, it means that you are married. Lahu women generally wear larger silver earrings, silver collars, and bracelets, while men also wear bracelets and collars.
Lahu men wear hats, and some people also wear full heads. The hat is made of six to eight triangular pieces of blue and black cloth, with a wider blue cloth set on the bottom as the edge, and a piece of thread of various colors about 15 centimeters long hanging down at the top. Nowadays, many people wear skullcaps. But on festivals, women wear lace clothes with black head heads or large towels on their heads, and men wear hats or black head heads. During festivals and fairs, both men and women must carry a rectangular back bag called "dough rub" in Lahu language). The back bag is made of self-woven blue cloth, and the mouth of the bag is inlaid with several layers of colored cloth to simulate a geometric pattern of olive leaves. The bag rope is woven with colored thread, with thread spikes left at both ends. The back bags of the Lahu people in Nuofu and Donghui areas are woven of multicolored threads such as red, white, and black, and are decorated with shells and several threads and pompoms. When performing collective dances, both men and women carry a backpack.
Most of the Lahu men wear collarless short clothes with double placket, and young people also wear a coat with a black face and white lining. They think that black clothes with white lining means dressing up as beautiful as a magpie. Lahu girls wearing very small open-brimmed clothes lined with a white sweatshirt under their short clothes, and the hem was exposed above the skirt. It also meant to compete with the magpie for beauty. Older men wear collarless cardigans, and old and young wear diagonal trousers with large trousers.
Marriage of the Lahu People In some areas, the Lahu people do not marry with the same surname, and it is forbidden to intermarry children of brothers and sisters with their parents, that is, uncles, cousins, and cousins do not intermarry. In most areas, the children of uncles and uncles intermarry, which is called "closer to closer". Due to this kind of affinity and early marriage, the health of the descendants of the Lahu people has been affected to a certain extent. After liberation, the new marriage law and family planning were implemented, which achieved good results.
The Lahu people practice strict monogamy, and polygamy is condemned by the masses. They say that heaven and earth, mountains and water are all one pair, and those who sing love songs should also be one pair. Divorce is rare. After a husband dies, he can transfer the house, but he can only transfer the house to his brother, not his brother. There is no discrimination for widows to remarry.
Marriage among the Lahu people is free. The time they fall in love is usually in winter and spring, especially the New Year's Day, which is the best time for them to fall in love. Most of the places where they fell in love were outside the village, with public houses. The main way they fell in love was to string girls. At night, the young man played Lusheng beside the village, and the little girl came out to sing love songs. Their love songs were simple and sincere. Sometimes the young men from Village A invite the young women from Village B, and each man and woman will sing love songs together. If the young man falls in love with a little girl, he will find an opportunity to snatch her turban and run to a quiet place, where the girl will follow. If the woman does not love the man or already has a partner, she will ask the man for his scarf back and refuse. If both parties have love, sit down to express their love for each other and give each other gifts. The woman will give the man an embroidered purse, belt, and flower back bag; the man will give the woman a ring and earrings to confirm the relationship. After the two parties made a peace, the man invited a matchmaker to go to the woman's house to discuss the marriage. When the matchmaker goes to the woman's house to discuss the marriage, he has to bring two packs of tea and a pot of wine. When the matchmaker proposes marriage to the woman, he does not propose marriage directly, but uses a metaphor to propose marriage. In short, the woman's family knew which young man the matchmaker was proposing marriage for, but they did not say it directly with each other. During the question and answer, they walked around the mountains, turned around the corners, and went in many circles. If you agree, you will answer back and forth around the word "no" and will not accept gifts. When getting married, the man goes to the woman's house first, and usually walks to pick up the bride to the man's house. After the ceremony, the bride and groom put on bamboo tubes on their backs and carried new water for the matchmaker, parents, and guests to drink. The guests said some auspicious and blessing words while drinking the water. In the evening, the Lusheng dance was performed to congratulate the bride and groom. After staying in the man's house for a few days, they went to the woman's house and took over the marriage.
Residence of the Lahu people
The Lahu people live in mountainous areas. They also call themselves mountain people,"Kekeo" in Lahu language). The villages of the Lahu people are generally built on the top of the mountain and halfway up the mountain. The bamboo fence in the stockade is repaired once a year by all the men, women and children in the stockade. Usually, whoever sees something broken will consciously repair it for free. There are three gates in the stockade, namely the front door, left door and right door. The back mountain of the stockade is a mountain god's land. No one can break down the forest in the mountain god's land. It is a restricted area. If anyone cuts it down, they will be fined or fined for building roads.
One of the names of the Lahu villages is to name them after people, such as Zhaluo Village. Although Zhaluo is not the leader, Zhaluo is the village builder, so this village is named after Zhaluo. There are many such villages, such as Sanbao Village, Zhapaiduo Village, Natoma Village, Naliuma Village, etc. The second type is named after the leader of the stockade, such as Zhaduo Stronghold, where Zhaduo is the leader of the stockade. The third type is named after the terrain and mountain shape, such as Habma Village. Because the rocks in this place are white, and "white" in Lahu language is "bu", this village is named Habma Village, which translates as Baishitou Village. Another example is Hanima Village, because this village is in the red stone forest, which translates as Red Stone Village. Whether it is named after the person who built the village or after the leader, although the person is no longer alive, the village is still named when it moved from the old place, such as Laba Village. There are several places with Labazhai, and there are also large, small, upper and lower divisions.
There are two types of houses in the Lahu people: one is a building, which is divided into two floors, with people living on the top and cattle tied, firewood piled, etc. below; the other is a floor-to-floor house. The Lahu people's houses are relatively simple. They use wood to make columns and beams, the roof has a certain slope, cover them with thatch, and surround them with bamboo strips or reed strips to make walls. Lahu men can build houses. The houses are generally three-bedroom. When entering the door, they are usually set in the middle. When entering the door, there are a divine table. There are two beds in the left compartment. There is a fire pit between the two beds, and the right compartment is stacked with grains and other things. Nuofuba Kanai Lahu West lived in a building. The number of cells in the room was divided into cells according to the number of small family members in the family and a fire pond was set up. Generally, there were two small families and one fire pond. There were also two families and one fire pond each divided into an earthenware pot for cooking.
Marriage of the Lahu ethnic group
In the past, the Lahu people generally did not intermarry with foreigners, let alone mainlanders. But this concept has long been broken. Nowadays, many brother ethnic groups in the border areas are marrying people of various ethnic groups from the mainland. According to relevant laws, the children born to belong to are decided by their parents before the age of 18, and by the children themselves after the age of 18. Therefore, the Lahu ethnic group or other ethnic groups born in the mainland emerged. The Lahu ethnic group consists of a few surnames such as Zhang, Li, Shi, Tie, Hu, and Huang, and many new surnames have also been added.
There are many taboos among the Lahu people, but now they have changed a lot. The most ethnic taboo is that you are not allowed to eat dog meat. People who eat dog meat are not allowed to enter the house. After seven days, you have to take a bath and change your clothes before entering the house.
Funeral of the Lahu People The Lahu people worship their ancestors and attach great importance to funeral. The traditional burial method of this nation is cremation, which regards cremation as sacred. Some are also buried in the ground, and those who die prematurely are not allowed to be cremated. When the old man died of illness, a gun was fired to announce the funeral and express his condolences.
Cremation: Funeral objects differ depending on economic conditions. Those with good conditions wear new clothes, new head heads, and silver bracelets; those with poor conditions wear old clothes for the deceased without bracelets. In addition, the man also gave a backpack, a crossbow, an earthen pot, a bowl and spoon, a tool for peaking salt, a little rice, a pig's front and rear legs, a pig's beak and pig's ears, as well as chicken wings, chicken feet, and two eggs. After the woman died, she was given no bows and crossbows, only a bamboo basket, and other sacrificial objects were the same as those of the man. These martyrs were burned with fire along with the bodies of the deceased. The ashes were put into a small wooden coffin and sent to the cemetery for burial.
Burial: A coffin is made of thin wooden boards for burial. After burial, the earth mass is formed into a rectangle. The tomb door is built with stones in front of the deceased. You can be buried here during martyrdom, and the tomb of a couple can also be buried in the same place.
Before the funeral of a person's death, the wizard "Mo Ba" first summoned the soul beside the deceased. During the summoning, he used a bowl of rice, a little salt, and two candles burning. Mo Ba prayed. Then two women lit torches and took the deceased's funeral objects to lead the deceased to the burial ground. The entire village attended the funeral. After the funeral, everyone attending the funeral in the village brought a bowl of rice and went to the deceased's house to cook together.
The Lahu Family The Lahu people are equal in family life and run the family together. When family affairs or shopping, the men and women discuss and decide with each other. The Lahu people are very popular in the custom of living with their wives. Men move to live with their wives after marriage, which is called "doormen". Three years after their son-in-law comes, they separate and establish a new household. When men go out to their homes as adults, they rarely return to their original family. Daughters and sons have equal rights in terms of inheritance. If there is only one son, the son can also seek the wife's consent before coming to the house when he gets married. He will no longer separate his family and stay in his parents 'house. If there are two sons, whoever supports their parents will leave their parents 'house. If there is only a daughter, the daughter will also have to support the elderly. There are no latter or caregivers with other surnames. After the old man's death, his property belongs to the entire village. Specialty resources are buried under the rolling mountains of Lancang, rich minerals are buried, especially non-ferrous metal mines, which is one of the Kuangqu mining areas in the treasure house of non-ferrous metals in southwest Yunnan.
The famous Munai Lao Factory mined silver as far back as the second year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1404). The residue from smelting silver piled up like mountains and still contained a large amount of lead and became surface lead ore. There are also untapped primary lead mines, and the reserves are also rich. During the Guangxu years, lead smelting gradually began in Lancang, and large quantities of crude lead were shipped and sold abroad. Iron ore reserves are also very large. More than 50 iron ore deposits have been discovered, distributed throughout Lancang County. There are also abundant gold, manganese, copper, crystal stone, and non-metallic minerals include coal, gypsum, etc. These underground treasures have been gradually explored and mined and will provide a large amount of ferrous and non-ferrous metals for the construction of the motherland.