Some customs and taboos of the She nationality

In the social life of the She people, although the objects of taboo matters vary from place to place, and the importance they attach to taboos vary, matters involving taboos are very common. It can be said that there are varying degrees of taboos in almost every field of production and life of the She people.

Language taboo Avoid calling elders by names, let alone using their nicknames.

Avoid calling the She people "She guests" and "She guests". They think this is a great insult to them.

When an old man dies, he should not say "dead", but rather say "passed away" and "old".

New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, especially early morning) Avoid saying unlucky words such as short, dead, and bad, otherwise it will be detrimental to the family's luck throughout the year.

Before your children go out, avoid cursing each other violently, otherwise it will be unlucky.

Clothing is taboo in eastern Fujian. It is forbidden to dry clothes in public before the 15th day of the first lunar month. Otherwise, if chickens cannot be raised well, they will be carried away by eagles.

Wearing clothes on the back side is usually taboo, otherwise it will shorten parents 'lives.

On the fifth day after the beginning of spring, avoid washing clothes in the river or drying clothes.

Traditionally, white clothing is avoided when visiting during holidays and holidays. Avoid using white cloth for wedding gifts.

In the middle of the middle hall, it is forbidden to dry clothes.

On the fifth and ninth days of the first month, it is forbidden to dry clothes in the open air.

Men's pants and men's clothes should not be dried together with women's pants.

Women's pants, especially underpants, are hung high in the aisles and upstairs, and people should not wear them under their pants.

Women's underwear is forbidden to be dried in public.

If you have parents and elders, don't wear white hats.

Food taboos Old customs Avoid eating dog meat and snake meat. Some She ethnic areas still avoid eating dog meat before the age of 18.

Avoid stewing snake meat in the stove or indoors, otherwise it will attract centipedes.

Avoid eating radishes and vegetables after taking traditional Chinese medicine, and avoid eating ginger after taking Tianqi.

Children should not eat chicken feet and pig tails, otherwise their writing hands will tremble; avoid eating fish eggs, otherwise they will not be good at arithmetic.

Pregnant women should not eat rabbit meat, dog meat, turtle meat, beef, river snail meat, etc., otherwise the fetus will develop poorly and develop malformations such as rabbit lips and humpback.

Pregnant women of the She nationality in eastern Fujian avoid eating ducks and duck eggs because of the saying that "ducks don't know when they die in July and a half."

Avoid not holding your rice bowl when eating, and never beating the table and rice bowl with chopsticks, otherwise you will become a beggar who "asks for diners").

When serving rice, avoid digging in the middle of the rice steamer, but first serve the surrounding rice.

Do not use chopsticks to hit children, do not use chopsticks to hit cats.

Whether adults or children, do not sit or lie on the dining table.

Do not entertain guests with tea or wine in a single hand, otherwise it will be regarded as rude.

Avoid empty bowls at the wine table. Even if you don't know how to drink, you have to pour some wine to "raise the bowl".

When visiting other people's homes, avoid eating up all the food on the plate. There should be some left over.

It is a custom in western Fujian that when visiting guests in the first month, avoid eating chicken heads or duck heads in chicken and duck meat plates. At the beginning of a banquet, avoid drinking immediately after holding the wine cup. Instead, you should sprinkle some wine sideways on the ground to worship the god of the table before drinking it. Otherwise, you will "offend the god of wine" and easily get drunk.

It is a custom in eastern Fujian that when guests have not left, they should not take away all the bowls and chopsticks. At least three sets of bowls and chopsticks should be left on the table, otherwise it will be considered as driving the guests away.

Communication taboo going out on the seventh day of the first month, and taboo coming back on the eighth day. Commonly known as "seven out and eight out".

The number of days when the bride returns to her mother's home for the first time should not be odd.

Avoid giving a handkerchief to others, and avoid picking up a towel left behind by the road.

In eastern Fujian, there is a custom to avoid giving gifts with odd numbers; in western Fujian, only odd numbers are taboo at weddings. In daily life, there is no taboo to giving odd numbers. Moreover, it is customary to give three, five, and nine numbers, which means "Three yuan and one","Five sons are admitted to the exam" and "Long time" are auspicious numbers.

Fertility taboos Regarding pregnant women: Avoid watching puppet shows and irregular statues of ghosts and gods, otherwise the fetus will have malformed facial features or cartilage on its limbs; Avoid hugging a child in swaddling clothes, otherwise it will make the child sick; Avoid attending weddings, otherwise it will "celebrate" and make the newlyweds disharmonious in the future; Avoid going to funeral occasions, otherwise it will "commit evil spirits", leading to freaks or dystocia; Avoid crossing scales, poles, harrows or cow reins, otherwise it will have a late delivery; Avoid touching the "Shoumu" coffin), otherwise it will easily cause the fetus to die; avoid using sea bowls, otherwise the baby will have a "wide mouth"; avoid sitting on thresholds and cloth bags; avoid looking at blood; avoid making wine; avoid nailing or turning around in the bedroom of pregnant women, worrying about being scared and moving the fetus; pregnant women should avoid picking fruits, as it is said that picking fruit trees will not produce results; avoid cutting clothes by a tailor, etc.

Taboos about children: Avoid going out as guests on "Red Yarn Day" and "White Tiger Day". When measles occurs, avoid eating lard and pork, scraping pans, and going to the toilet. I believe that scraping the pan will break the "hemp root" and cause endless measles; children should not eat mustard for dozens of days after measles. Children under a month old should not see strangers. When sitting on the moon, the mother and child's clothes and pants are not allowed to see the sun.

Production taboos for the She ethnic group mainly include the following aspects: avoid picking manure on the first, fifth and ninth days of the first lunar month; avoid working in the fields on the 20th of the first lunar month. As the She people say,"The 20th day of the first lunar month is not enough to make farmland," they believe that it is because the sun falls on the fields, which will lead to heavy rain.

Avoid going to the fields on the third day of March. Going to the fields will cut off water and lead to drought.

Do not sow rice seeds during the tide, and do not sow first in the seedling field at the outlet of the paddy field.

Avoid holding iron during the "Dragon Sealing Day", avoid water buffaloes going to the fields on the eighth day of April, and avoid patrolling the fields on the beginning of autumn.

Don't use cows at the beginning of summer, summer solstice, and winter solstice, and don't laugh when teaching cows to work.

On Qingming Festival and the first day of August, do not carry urine buckets and hoe fields, otherwise there will be a severe drought.

Don't walk around the fields on the beginning of autumn, otherwise you will disturb the seedlings and be detrimental to the harvest. As the saying goes: "People rest during the day, but crops rest in autumn."

The She people in Shiguping, Guangdong, avoid going up the mountain to pick tea on the 24th day of the seventh month and Bailu of the lunar calendar, otherwise insects will grow on the tea leaves.

People under the age of 18 cannot plant bamboo, otherwise it will not be conducive to having children.

Planting palm trees requires stones, otherwise people will feel uneasy.

If your own seeds have not fallen to the soil, don't give them away, otherwise it will be detrimental to the growth of your own crops.

Don't touch the sickle mouth with your hands before cutting rice.

When making wine, avoid eating oranges near the wine vat.

When incubating chickens and ducks, avoid splitting bamboo, digging soil and making loud noises nearby.

Avoid sowing seeds in the afternoon and eating when planting.

The She people in eastern Fujian avoid opening nests to sell chickens on the second, eighth, 14th, 20th and 26th lunar calendar. Avoid selling piglets on the sixth, twelfth, eighteenth, twenty-fourth and thirtieth days of the lunar calendar.

Avoid making loud noises on the road when going into the mountains for hunting.

Religious taboos should avoid babbling during sacrifice.

Avoid pointing at the Buddha statue with your fingers, thinking that this is disrespectful to the gods.

Except for the evening of the Lunar New Year's Eve, at other times, avoid reading the book of predicting destiny compiled according to a person's birth and eight characters. It is arranged by year. Starting from the year when the "Flowing Year" is done, the fate of each year is summarized in two sentences. Until the year when you are destined to die).

In eastern Fujian, female representative families are forbidden to burn incense, hold candles and worship in front of altars, to use ducks as offerings, and to urinate in front of shrines, stone mothers, and tree kings.

Women should avoid places where gods and ancestors are located during childbirth, otherwise they will collide with gods and bring disaster to their families and children.

On the 19th day of the second month of the lunar calendar, on Guanyin's birthday, avoid picking dung and doing dirty things.

You should sweep the floor on New Year's Eve. You should avoid sweeping the floor from the first to the fourth day of the first month, otherwise you will think your luck will be wiped away; on the first day of the first month, you should avoid paying off your debts, shopping, and borrowing money, otherwise you will lose your year's wealth.

The coffin prepared for the elderly cannot be opened at ordinary times, otherwise it will be unlucky.

When the old man dies, his sons, grandchildren, and daughter-in-law with competing signs cannot go to the funeral; during the funeral, the coffin should not touch both sides of the house door.