Hezhe folk culture
The word "Hezhe" means "downstream" or "east". The Hezhe people call themselves "Yanyibei","Nani Wo", and "Nanai", which means locals, and are also called "Hezhen"(meaning "Oriental People") and "Qileng"(meaning "People who live by the River"). After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the unified ethnic name was "Hezhe." The population is about 4200 people, mainly living in Tongjiang City, Raohe County, Yilan County, Aoqi Village, a suburb of Jiamusi City, etc.
The place where the Hezhe people live is the "Sanjiang Plain" and the Wandashan area formed by the lower reaches of the Songhua River in Heilongjiang Province and the Heilongjiang and Wusuli rivers. Three rivers fertile fields, landscape crisscross, here have famous specialties-locust fish, frog fish, three flowers five Luo, mink skin, muskrat...... since ancient times, is rich natural fishing ground and hunting ground. People often use the phrase "fish scooped from roe deer, pheasants flying into rice cookers" to describe the richness here.
The Hezhe people believed in Shamanism and believed that everything had a spirit. There are three shamans, River God, Unicorn Dragon, and River God, with each group having about 6 grades. They believe that there are as many gods as there are kinds of animals and reptiles, and the most respected among them is the human-faced god. Religious forms are mainly manifested in ancestor worship and nature worship. The ancestors of the Hezhe people believed that gods dominated the sun, the moon, the mountains and rivers, so they worshipped them.
Before taking their first sip of wine,
Hezhe people would dip their chopsticks in a little wine and throw it into the air and sprinkle it onto the earth to show respect for their ancestors and gods. But I don't like to drink tea. Sometimes I fry the millet and brew it with water, or I pick wild roses, young leaves and buds of small oak trees to dry it and brew it with water as tea. However, most of them like to drink raw cold water all year round.
When giving birth to children, Hezhe women eat millet porridge and rice porridge, crucian carp soup, Gaya fish soup, rabbit broth, as well as "Mowengu rice", noodles, noodle soup, eggs and other foods. Do not eat green vegetables within three days after giving birth to avoid diarrhea in the mother and baby. Eat hot rice during confinement to avoid catching cold and affecting your health and milk.
After the death of the Hezhe people, flour had to be used to make fried thin flour pieces and thin flour snacks of various shapes, which were served on the table and eaten by people participating in the memorial activities.
During the engagement process of young men and women, a banquet is held to entertain the elders and matchmakers of both sides; during the wedding, the man's elderly man has to toast three glasses of wine to the woman's elderly man. At the wedding banquet, the bride has to face the wall and "sit on the blessing" until the person who sent off the bride leaves the banquet before she can go down and eat pig's head with the groom. The groom eats pig's head, and the bride eats pig's tail, which means that the husband leads the wife. Follow, unite and harmonious, and finally the bride and groom eat noodles together to express their love and grow old forever.
The Hezhe people are mainly distributed along the Heilongjiang, Wusuli and Songhua rivers in Heilongjiang Province in northeastern China. It is the only ethnic group in northern China that relies on fishing and hunting for a living. From ancient times to the present,"fishing for food in summer and catching minks for barter in winter." Only a few people have engaged in agricultural production. The fishing and hunting economy determines the material culture and dietary characteristics of the Hezhe people.
The pictures on the website are located among ethnic minorities in China. Judging from the history of the development of food culture, they still retain raw food customs that are older than cooked food customs. For the Hezhe people living in northeastern China, fishing is their main production method, forming a unique "fish meal" there.
The Hezhe people have some unique fish and meat-flavor foods, which can be divided into raw food and cooked food. Eat raw dried fish, raw dried meat and fresh raw fish. There are many ways to eat fresh fish, mainly raw fish mixed with vegetables. There is also a kind of frozen fish fillets that are eaten in winter. If distinguished guests come, there is a plate of frozen fish fillets that is a first-class delicacy with wine. It tastes delicious and cool, and is still very popular among people. Delicious foods such as processed sturgeon, huso, and salmon roe have high nutritional value. Fish slices and lean meat are also steamed, roasted, fried, stewed, boiled, stir-fried and other techniques before being eaten. Among them, fish floss is indispensable for every meal. Typical foods include: raw fish mixed with vegetables, which Hezhe people call "Shasheng Fish"; semi-cooked special grilled fish, which Hezhe people call: Taraha (Hadu four accents) fish pine, and Hezhe people call "Tasihen".
The Hezhe people have the habit of eating raw fish. From fish skin and roe to fish meat and fish bones, there are wonderful ways to eat them raw. Shashi fish, fried fish slices, grilled "taraha", fried fish hair, and freshly shaved fish slices have become traditional customs of eating fish. When guests come, the fishermen use their knives to test whether you are a real friend. They cut a piece of meat from the lively fish and pick it up with the knife and hand it to you. If the guests bite off the fish fillet from the knife and eat it, they will get Warm hospitality; otherwise, you will never want to visit your house.
The Hezhe people often use "Shashuyu" to express their respect when they entertain relatives, friends and guests. The production of "Shasheng Fish" is made by using carp, carp, sturgeon, husuo, bighead carp and other fish to first remove the meat from the fish bones in two whole pieces, cut into interconnected fish strips, and then slice the meat from the fish skin. Cut into shredded fish, and then mix with shredded potatoes, mung bean sprouts, poplar skin, leeks, chili oil, vinegar, salt, etc. that have been scalded with boiling water. It tastes fresh and tender. This custom of raw food is preserved to varying degrees in many ethnic groups.
Shasheng fish: One of the favorite traditional foods of the Hezhe people. The Hezhe people are called "Talaka". They cut the carp and trout freshly picked from the river from the back, remove the heads, peel the bones, cut them into thin threads, soak them in rice vinegar, and wait until the fish becomes white. Add salt, ginger, onion, wild pepper, shredded potatoes, spinach, coriander, bean sprouts, and mix well. It tastes fresh but not fishy, cool, smooth and refreshing, and is extremely delicious. Sashimi is not only a dish that the Hezhe people often eat, but also an indispensable delicacy to entertain guests.
Stir-fried fish hair: Stir-fried fish hair is also a special delicacy of the Hezhe people. It is made of cutting various fresh and fat fish into shredded fish, adding white sugar and other seasonings to stir-fry them into "Tasihan"(fish hair). Stir-fried fish hair is the best dish with wine and tastes delicious. If you use it to make dumplings with leeks, it will taste very delicious. The stir-fried fish hair is also easy to store. It is very convenient to put it in the jar, store it in the cellar, and eat it at any time.
Suraka: Traditional food of the Hezhe people. It is called "shavings" in Chinese and is a method for Hezhe people to eat raw fish in winter. First, the skin of the frozen fish is peeled off with a knife. The fishermen cut the frozen fish into fillets as thin as shavings, mix them with shredded potatoes, mung beans, and vermicelli, and add seasonings to eat them. They are fragrant and crispy.
The Hezhe people like to eat "Lala Rice" and "Mowengu Rice". "Lala Rice" is a very thick soft rice made from millet or corn dregs, mixed with fish floss or various animal oils, and can be eaten. "Mowingu rice" is porridge made by cooking fish or animal meat with millet with salt. Nowadays, like the Han people, most families eat steamed buns, cakes, rice and various vegetables.
Lala rice: The staple food of the Hezhe people. Make a thick soft rice with millet or corn dregs, mix with fish floss or various animal oils, and serve it.
Mowengu rice: The staple food of the Hezhe people. Congee made by boiling fish or animal meat with millet with salt.
The Urigong Festival is a newborn festival for the Hezhe people, born in 1985. "Wurigong" means an entertainment or cultural and sports conference, which is held every two years, usually between the fifth and sixth months of the lunar calendar and lasts for three days. The festival is rich and colorful in content. In addition to various ethnic sports and competitive activities, there are also the most lively mass dinners and banquets.
Spring Festival is the happiest festival of the year for the Hezhe people. On New Year's Eve, everyone is busy cooking New Year's meals, cutting window grilles, and pasting lanterns. On the first day of the first day, girls, women and children put on new clothes embroidered with cloud edges and went to the homes of relatives and friends to pay New Year greetings. The hospitable Hezhe people set up a "fish banquet" to entertain the guests. The spicy and sour flavor of "stepped elongated"(raw fish), the fragrant and crispy "fried fish hair" and the transparent bright red Daha fish roe are very delicious. The respectable folk poet (Imakan) dedicated his best wishes to everyone in poetry during the Spring Festival. The old people toasted him, listened to his stories, and returned happily. Women play "blind paste" and throw bones. Teenagers are obsessed with skiing, skating, grass shooting, grass throwing and other competitions. There were songs and laughter everywhere.