Jinping: Legend of Marriage Prohibition between Hani and Dai

Before the 1950s, there was no marriage between the Hani and Dai people in Jinping, and there was no marriage between each other. The reason is that according to the older generation, there is a legend here.

Long, long ago, in a Hani tribe, there was an outstanding girl. She refused to agree to many young men from the same tribe who pursued her, because she had a Dai young man in her heart for a long time. For this matter, her parents and brothers at home advised her a lot: "Ah, I asked you to buy clothes, ah, I asked you to buy clothes for your son." [Note: Hani language means not to marry the Dai nationality. If you marry the Dai nationality, the love affair between your parents and brothers will be broken.] However, the girl has long been determined, and no matter how much she tries to persuade her. In this world, only the Dai young man with a beard is her sweetheart. Only he is her lifelong partner and dependence. Only he is worthy of her. In addition to liking Dai young men very much, the girl also has some reasons: Dai families have water pestle that you don't need to step on, hot water kettles that boil water to drink, stir-fry food if you don't taste good, etc. In short, the girl made up her mind to go.

The girl lived a comfortable life when she married a young Dai man. In less than a year, the girl increasingly felt that she was not used to life in a hot place. Due to her long-term use of bamboo tubes to collect water, there were deep bamboo tube marks on her armpits. She had either a little pain or a little itching all day long, either a little itching or a little pain. She couldn't eat well and couldn't sleep. Three years have passed, and the girl has not given birth to a man or a woman. However, after suffering from a strange illness, her hair has fallen out, her face is yellow and thin, and she has lost her former beauty and is abandoned by everyone.

The girl remembered what the elderly people and brothers said at home and was filled with regret. She said to herself: "Ma nanran Miou Deli Mapu, Ha nanran Miou Deli Pula, Ma nanran Miou Deli, Ma nanran Meiwu traffic jams and metal trees say fire Ma covers, Ha Wei Da Ma Tuo is the capture of Luo Qilimoa." [Note: Hani language: It means that the belly of a girl who is not sick does not swell, but when she is sick, the stomach of a girl will swell. She is sick so that there are no more than three hairs left. Just listen to the words of her parents and brothers.] The girl dragged her sick body and walked back to her mother's home with a crutch. She walked and walked. When she was hungry, she found some wild fruits and wild vegetables to satisfy her hunger; when she was thirsty, she drank some Qinggou water to quench her thirst. Because I was sick, I walked very slowly. I didn't know how long I had walked, but I had not yet walked halfway. One day, the girl's mouth was dry and exhausted from walking, and her body seemed to be broken and she had no strength at all. She threw her crutch aside and greedily drank water from a spring. According to the Hani custom, you must drink spring water with your hands. However, the girl did not forget this commandment and deliberately reversed it. She even drank water directly from the spring hole with her mouth. She drank for a long time and drank a lot of water, but still could not quench her thirst, so she climbed down to drink again. Drink and drink, until my stomach is about to burst, but I still don't quench my thirst. The girl drank and stood up, stood up and fell down and drank, drinking water for a full three hours. This was terrible. The girl's stomach ached violently, as uncomfortable as being twisted by a knife. After a while, an evergreen tree grew in the girl's stomach. The tree grew bigger and bigger, taller, and the longer it grew, the denser its leaves, and finally grew into the sky, blocking the sun. Suddenly, the earth was pitch black, and it was difficult to see five fingers when reaching out. People lived a long night without daylight. Even plowing fields and raking fields had to chandeliers on the horns. All activities were inseparable from lights.

One day, a few crows flew over the big tree. A young man picked up a slingshot and hit them. However, he couldn't hit the place where the crows stopped, and he couldn't hit them with a crossbow. The young man helplessly told the tribe leader that the tribe leader used an iron crossbow to shoot. Although he failed to hit the crows, this arrow was a great one. It penetrated a large leaf and made a big hole. Suddenly, a ray of light shot down. Only then did people realize that the darkness was brought by this big tree.

Under the order of the leader, the men of the entire tribe carried axes and knives and began to cut down this towering tree. However, when I arrived at the foot of the tree the next day, I saw that the gap cut on the first day had grown and closed, as if it had never been cut at all. Moreover, it was like this for three consecutive days. On the fourth day, the tribesmen went home exhausted to sleep. One man did not follow everyone home because his foot was cut off while cutting down a tree. He slept alone under the big tree. In the middle of the night, he heard two ghosts and gods say,"These people are so stupid! So many people couldn't even cut down a big tree for so many days. If they had been smarter and put some chicken dung on the axe mark they cut out so that the tree would not close, they would have cut down this big tree long ago." The next day, the man told the tribal leader what he had heard at night.

This method really worked. They cut down the big tree for three consecutive days and nights, and finally cut down the big tree. People saw the light, the sun, and the moon. There were sun, moon, day, and night days.

People blame this dark disaster on the marriage between the Hani girl and the Dai boy. Therefore, Hani girls no longer married Dai young men, and Hani young men no longer married Dai girls. It was not until the late 1950s that the taboo was gradually lifted, and the Hani and Dai people in Jinping got married and intermarried.