Manchu customs

Manchu (Manchu: , transliteration: manju), formerly known as the Manchu, is one of the ethnic minorities in China and the largest branch of the Tunguska ethnic group. The Manchu has a long history, and it is speculated that it can be traced back to the Sushen Xinkai Culture and Cha Achong Culture 7000 years ago. Sushen, Yilou, Wuji, Yili, Bohai, and Jurchen are the ancestors of the modern Manchu people. Heishui Yuyu was a direct ancestor of the Manchu Dynasty and later developed into a Jurchen. The Manchu nationality is also the only minority group that has established the Central Plains Dynasty twice in China history.

Historically, the Manchu were a fishing and hunting people. They were known as the people who drew bows and strongly advocated the so-called Mandarin riding and archery (Mandarin is Manchu). Emperors of successive dynasties have repeatedly warned: "Riding and archery and Mandarin are the basic tasks of Manchuria." They are "simple and simple, land wheat, and although they know how to farm, they make a living by fishing and hunting. When encountering hard ice in winter, women are particularly good at catching Shao by skating on wooden boards." Archery is a tool for hunting food and defending against wild beasts. It is also a military weapon used on the battlefield, so it plays a very important role in Manchu social life. Later Jin Nurhachi regarded riding and archery as the foundation of building a country. In the eight-banner system he implemented, Manchu people were organized in each banner, producing in peacetime and collecting in wartime. At that time, everyone was familiar with archery and regarded the high and low arrow technique as their honor and shame. No matter whether princes, ministers or flags, they were all strong and good at archery.

Due to historical reasons, the Manchu people are scattered across the country, with the largest number living in Liaoning Province. Others are scattered in Jilin, Heilongjiang, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Gansu, Shandong and other provinces and regions, as well as large and medium cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Chengdu, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Yinchuan. Forming the characteristics of large dispersion and small settlement. Manchu autonomous counties such as Xiuyan, Fengcheng, Xinbin, Qinglong and Fengning have been established in the main inhabited areas, as well as several Manchu townships.

The sixth national census in 2010 showed that the Manchu population in the mainland of China was approximately 10.410,585 million, and that in Taiwan was approximately 12,000, ranking third in the total ethnic minority population in the country, accounting for 0.77% of the country's total population. The Manchu language is spoken by the Manchu and belongs to the Manchu and Tungusic language family of the Altaic family. In the middle of the 17th century, after Manchu and Han lived together for a long time, they generally began to use Chinese. Most of them had mastered Chinese and reached a fairly high level. The number of people proficient in using Manchu began to decline. Nowadays, most of them switch to Chinese and Chinese characters. With the support of the local government, Manchu teaching began to enter official classrooms in Manchu primary and secondary schools in various places.

The Manchu people once believed in Shamanism. "Shaman" is a Tungusic word that means "crazy person". Translated as wizard. The Manchu Shamanism has four meanings: nature worship, totem worship, ancestor worship and idol worship, so it worships many and miscellaneous gods. The methods of memorial ceremonies are also different. There are differences between the court and the people, between the rich and the poor, and between regions and families.

In the early Qing Dynasty, most of the shamans in the royal palace were smart women who were familiar with the dialect of the Aisin Gioro clan. They were called the shaman's wife. They were responsible for the emperor's holding various canons and chanting Manchu to worship gods. They were different from the folk shamans who treated people for medical treatment. Until the founding of New China, the Manchu still maintained Shamanism in Ningguta and Aihui in northeastern China.

The Manchu national totems mainly include crows, willow branches, wild boars, fish, wolves, deer, eagles (Haidongqing), leopards, pythons, frogs, etc. The ancient Manchu surnames were mostly the names of clans and tribes, that is, the ancient totem names. For example, the "Zaihulu" family located in Changbai Mountain, Ying'e, Hunchun and other places means "wolf"; the "Saqda" family, which has lived in Hada, Hetunala, Ningguta and other places, means "female wild boar"; the "Nimaha" family living in Liaoyang means "fish"; the "Chuoluo" family living in Heilongjiang means "peach", etc.

Qipao is called "Yijie" in Manchu. It is a unique garment of the Manchu and a common name for flag people's clothing. Manchu men, women and old all wear cheongsam. The style characteristics of the cheongsam are: round neck, twisted placket, left lapel, wedges on all sides, waist waist, buckles, and narrow sleeves (some with arrow sleeves). This kind of clothing is easy to mount and adapts to the living habits of hunting people. The left lap and waist waist not only keep warm and facilitate immediate activities, but also perfectly reflect the person's natural posture.

Arrow sleeves are called "waha" in Manchu. In front of the already narrow cuffs, a semicircular cuff is connected. The longest is generally half a foot and looks like a horse's shoe, also known as "horse's sleeve." During the Qing Dynasty, when officials went to court to meet with the emperor or other princes and ministers, they had to flick off their hooves and kneel with both hands on the ground. This became a special etiquette. Since the 1930s, qipao has gradually become the main dress of the Han nationality. At this time, the man's cheongsam style was changed to a long gown with straight sleeves. Women's cheongsam gradually evolved into various styles that emphasize color decoration and beautiful human body lines, which are popular among Han women. Because qipao is very suitable for the shape, virtuous personality and national temperament of China women, it gradually became a very distinctive dress of the Chinese nation.

The Manchu jacket is worn in conjunction with the qipao. Its style is very similar to the small cotton-padded jacket worn by modern people. Round neck, double-lapel, with open wedges and buckles, length up to the navel, sleeves up to elbows, and wedges on all sides. Because its body and sleeves are short, it can be made of leather or cotton in winter and put on the outside of the robe for easy riding, so it is named "Makuai".

The flag head is called "Dalachi" in Manchu. It is a headdress worn by Manchu women in general etiquette or wedding occasions. The specific method is to use iron wire or bamboo rattan as the hat frame, use blue satin, blue velvet or blue yarn as the face, and wrap it into a fan-shaped headdress about 30 centimeters long and about 10 centimeters wide. Fasten it on the bun when wearing. It is often embroidered with patterns, inlaid with jewelry or decorated with various flowers, and decorated with long tassels.

This headdress is mostly used by upper-class women of the Manchu family. It is only decorated by women of the common people during weddings, festivals, or sacrifices to their ancestors. Wearing this wide and long decoration limits the twisting of the neck and makes their bodies straighten. Coupled with the long flag suit and high-soled flag shoes, they walk gracefully, looking particularly stable and elegant. In addition to "flag costumes" and "Dalachi", Manchu women's "flag shoes" are also very distinctive. In the old days, Manchu women were different from the Han people. They advocated strong feet, mountain climbing and horse riding, and refused the bad habit of foot-binding and regarded their big feet as their beauty. As a result, sufficient creative space was gained in the decoration of shoes and socks, and the "flag shoes" were created. This kind of flag shoe, decorated with exquisite embroidery, has a wood base and the root starts from the center. This kind of shoe is commonly known as "flag shoe" or "high-soled shoe".

The Manchu hairstyles and headdresses are also very distinctive. Manchu men all wear long pigtails. After entering the Pass, Han men were required to keep hair until the Revolution of 1911 overthrew the Qing Dynasty. Manchu women, like boys, did not grow their hair until they reached adulthood, either in knots or in knots. There are several styles and names for bun, such as two-handle head, shelf head, and big plate head. Among them, the most common is Liangtou, a typical hairstyle for Manchu women. The two heads are to comb the long hair neatly, tie it on the top of the head, then divide it into two strands, and comb it into a horizontal bun. The rest of the hair is combed into a swallow-tail shaped bun and pressed against the back of the neck. Therefore, when Manchu women walked, they could not rotate their necks at will, making them very solemn.

Manchu women not only pay attention to hair styles, but also pay attention to headwear. Among the many headdresses, big flat headdress is the most common. This is a silver hairpin about 30 centimeters long and about 2 or 3 centimeters wide, running across the bun. In the upper layer of Manchu women in the Qing Dynasty, they not only had to wear flag heads (a fan-shaped crown made of blue velvet and blue satin), but also had to insert various silver ornaments, such as flower needles, temple pins, large and small ear gouges, etc. The earrings of Manchu women are also different. They have to put three ears on their ears and wear three earrings. This ancient custom continues to this day.

Manchu food is also very unique, and there has always been a saying of "ordering Chinese food completely." Nothing best represents the integration of Manchu and Han food cultures is the "Manchu and Han banquet". Its dishes maintain Manchu characteristics in terms of selection, production and eating methods. Most of them, such as Hericium erinaceus, bear's paw, ginseng, and antler antler, come from the Northeast. It is a high-quality product that combines Mandian dishes and Han dishes. It was formed during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty and has been passed down for more than 200 years. According to the "Yangzhou Painting Boat Record" during the Qianlong period, there are more than 100 "Manchu and Han dishes" in Yangzhou.

In daily life, Manchu folk also have many flavor snacks and a wide variety of snacks. I like to eat millet, yellow rice dried rice and yellow rice cakes (bean buns), and eat "aijig cakes"(dumplings) during festivals. On Lunar New Year's Eve, for dinner, we eat white boiled pork, roasted pork and "Saqima", a unique Manchu flavor food. Today, dumplings, hot pot, pickled cabbage, Beijing-style cakes, etc. in northern China are all related to Manchu food culture.

The Manchu people also attach great importance to etiquette. In the past, the younger generation treated the older generation with a small gift every three days and a big gift every five days. The younger generation must pay their respects to their elders every three days. When they see their elders every five days, they must kowtow. The method of cheating is different for men and women. Men bend down, extend their right hand and their left hand to support their knees, as if lifting an object. Women squat down with both hands on their knees. When you meet an elderly person you don't know on the road, you should bow and ask "Saiyin"(Manchu, meaning good). For example, if you are riding a horse, you have to get off your horse and dodge by the roadside to make way, wait for your elders to pass, and then mount your horse and hurry on. When relatives and friends from afar meet, all men and women hug their waists and receive the present.

In the old days, Manchu marriage valued family status, and early marriage and older women were popular. This is related to the fact that the men in the flag are soldiers on the expedition and hope to have children early. In aristocratic and official families, marriage was prevalent, and most of the people were appointed by the court. Generally, the chief of the flag bearer also asked for marriage. The "talent selection" of the Qing Dynasty court was to select concubines for emperors and princes, and was generally limited to the internal selection of officials of the eight banners and three grades. Men and women in the Eight Banners can get engaged when they are sixteen or seven years old, and the age of engagement and marriage for men may be younger. Marriage is arranged by parents. The man asks a matchmaker to go to the woman three times. Carry a bottle of wine each time, and you won't know whether it was successful until the third time. Therefore, there is a saying: "If it works or not, three bottles of wine". If it works, the woman's parents ask the man for a betrothal gift, such as pigs, wine, cabinets, clothes, jewelry, etc. The betrothal gift given by the man is all regarded as the girl's property.

In the old days, the Manchu marriage process was quite numerous, including a complete process of discussing marriage, small fixing, big fixing, ceremony, sending dates, unlocking, dowry, marrying, sitting in the tent, closing the knot, dividing the size, returning to the door, and living in the moon. When getting married, the bride has to sit on the kang in the bridal chamber for a day, which is called "sitting blessing". At night, a table is placed on the ground, with two wine jugs and wine cups placed on the table. The bride and groom hold hands, circle the table three times before drinking. A pair of candles are lit on the kang and will not go out all night long. One or several people outside the house sing a happy song, called "Empty Home", or someone sprinkled black beans on the windows of the new house. The excitement will end after an hour or two. Three days later, the bride and groom will return to their parents 'homes.

Manchu people also like to put up window grilles. Cut into various birds, animals, flowers, ancient and modern figures with various colored papers, and stick them on the windows, lifelike and full of vitality. There is another paper-cutting art, which is hanging paper, or hanging money. During the Spring Festival, every household uses five-color colored paper and cuts it into paper blocks about 40 centimeters long and 25 centimeters wide. The middle skull is carved with moire calligraphy and painting, such as the characters Feng, Shou, and Fu, and the lower end is cut into dog teeth and hung on the horizontal posts of doors and windows, indoor girders, etc., colorful and jubilant. The earliest hanging notes were decorations for ancestral worship places, and they were generally singular. It is rumored that their clan ancestors came from several ditches in Changbai Mountains. There are a few photos hanging. Paper-cutting art in Ning 'an and Hailun in Heilongjiang, and Dongliao in Jilin, enjoys a high reputation in the national art scene.

Manchu folk crafts, or "threading", are mainly popular in rural areas in Northeast China. It is cut and sewn from home weaving and cotton thread. Black and white are the main tone, and other colors are used occasionally. The decorations are mainly auspicious patterns such as pomegranate open hundreds of seeds, auspicious celebration, long gourd plate, blessing longevity Changchun, and eight treasures. Most of them are equipped with heavier black border decorations, often embroidered on pillow tops, purses, curtains, and cushions.

The Manchu people also have many festivals, but they are all the same as the Han people. There are mainly Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, February 2, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. Traditional sports activities such as pearl balls, horse vaulting, camel jumping and skating are generally held during the festival. "Horse vault" requires the horse to jump sideways while the horse is running; camel jumping is to jump from behind to the hump. Horse vaulting and camel jumping are both capture techniques used to make it easier to fly onto the enemy's horse when fighting head-to-head with the enemy, and have become one of the sports that are frequently exercised.

Running skates was a military technique that eight flag soldiers had to practice before the mid-19th century. During the Qianlong period, children of the Eight Banners were reviewed for skating on the ice surface of Beijing's Beihai every year in October of the lunar calendar as part of the training system for troops. The number of people participating in this parade reached 1600 (200 people per flag). Such a grand skating conference was unparalleled in the world at that time. In addition to performance speed, there are also figure skating, ice football competitions, ice acrobatics, skating archery, etc. The wooden skates used by the old flag men can also be found among the people in Beijing.

Manchu funeral also had an evolution process. Affected by factors such as natural geographical environment, the funeral rituals of the Manchu ancestors were relatively simple and crude. There were once forms such as sky burial, earth burial, animal burial, tree burial, water burial, and cremation. Before entering the Pass, the Manchu mainly relied on cremation. Since the late period of Emperor Shunzhi, influenced by the culture of the Han nationality, the Manchu nationality generally changed to coffin burial, and combined with the characteristics of the nation, formed a Manchu characteristic burial custom.

Before Qianlong, flag bearers stationed in various places still maintained cremations and buried their ashes back to Beijing because they wanted to send the dead and their families back to Beijing. After Qianjia, the garrison flag people were allowed to be buried locally, but it was also changed to earth burial. In the early days, Manchu aristocrats had a custom of martyrdom, but later it was changed to slaves who cut their hair and burned paper bundles.

In rural areas, dead people are not allowed in the West Kang and North Kang because the door is where the living can enter and exit. Therefore, after the dead person is put in the coffin, he can only be carried out through the window. After a person died, a pole was erected on the west side of the yard, about ten feet high, and a cloth flag was hung on it. The flag was nine feet long and made of red cloth and black cloth. The head and tail of the flag are made of black cloth, and the four middle strips are made of red cloth. During the funeral, relatives and friends had to grab the cloth from the flag and make clothes for their children, believing that they could ward off evil spirits and avoid nightmares. Today, the Manchu people in Guangzhou maintain a complete Manchu cemetery, and some characteristics of Manchu burial customs can still be seen.