Traditional customs of the She ethnic group

is related to their living environment and migration history. "Shanha" means a guest in the mountains. The first to come was the main, and later to be guests. The Han people who came first regarded these later She people as guests. The word "She" comes from "She" and has a very ancient origin (the word "She" is used very confusing). It has appeared in classics such as the Book of Songs and the Book of Changes. There are two pronunciations of the word "She". It is pronounced yú (Yu), which refers to the newly reclaimed fields; it is pronounced shanxi (She), which means slashing and fire cultivation. The word "She" evolved into the family name, starting in the Southern Song Dynasty. It is generally believed that the She and the Yao people are of the same origin and belong to the Yao people in a broad sense: the legend of Panhu, the totem of the King of Pan, and the four surnames of Pan, Lan, Lei and Zhong are the same, and some words are the same. Moreover, since ancient times, the She people have used names such as "She Yao","Yaojia","Shanyao", and "Yao Ren".

In the Tang Dynasty, the ethnic minorities, including the ancestors of the She nationality, living in the border area of Fujian, Guangdong, and Jiangxi provinces, were widely referred to as "Man","Manliao","Dongman" or "Dongliao". At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, the ethnic names "She Min" and "Boxing Min" began to appear in historical books. The She people were originally distributed in the junction of Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces. As early as 766, they moved from Luoyuan, Fujian to Jingning, Zhejiang. Starting from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, after more than a thousand years, the She people did not fear hardships and dangers and migrated from their original place of residence-Fenghuang Mountain in Chaozhou City, Guangdong Province, to Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui and other provinces. Some even went to Guizhou and Sichuan. More than 90% lived in the vast mountainous areas of Fujian and Zhejiang, and the rest were scattered in Jiangxi, Guangdong, Anhui and other provinces.

In 1956, the State Council of China officially announced that the She people are a single ethnic minority with their own characteristics. From then on, the She nationality became the legal ethnic name. On April 22, 1985, the traditional third of March for the She people, Jingning She Autonomous County, the first She autonomous county in China, was established. It is also the only She autonomous county in China and is known as "She Township in China."

The She people also have their own language-She language, which belongs to the Miao Yao language family of the Sino-Tibetan family. They use Chinese and sing She songs, which are the source of Chaozhou ballads. The language spoken by 99% of the She people is close to Hakka, but it is slightly different from Hakka in pronunciation, and a few words are completely different from Hakka. During the migration process, the She people created colorful and distinctive national cultural characteristics while pioneering and colonizing the land. Folk songs are the main part of She literature, and are mostly expressed in the form of singing in She language. Therefore, She literature is basically folk oral literature. On festive days, they sing loudly. Even when they are working in the mountains and fields, visiting relatives and friends, they often talk through songs.

Before liberation, she ethnic marriage and families generally practiced monogamy, and still retained simple marriage customs. Generally, no marriage can be married with the same surname. Among the four surnames Pan, Lan, Lei and Zhong within the ethnic group, they are married each other. Originally, exogamy among the clans was the traditional marriage custom of the She nationality. However, due to the ethnic pressure and discriminatory policies of the rulers of past dynasties, intermarriage between the She and Han ethnic groups was strictly prohibited, which was once a clan rule within the She ethnic group. After liberation, with the implementation of the policy of ethnic equality and unity, intermarriages between the She and Han ethnic groups increased day by day. In ancient times, young men and women of the She nationality had a tradition of free love, and it was the custom of the ancestors of the She nationality to marry each other. However, with the development of the feudal landlord economy and influenced by the Han nationality's concept of marriage, the phenomenon of feudal transactions and arrangements in She nationality marriages was very serious before liberation. They were expelled after liberation. Now, young men and women of the She nationality basically fall in love freely and marry independently.

There is also a special place for the She people. Families without children often recruit for marriage. Many families with sons also allow their sons to marry into the marriage, while allowing their daughters to "recruit their sons"(that is, recruit their son-in-law). Generally, the children of a married person must take their mother's surname, and there are also two sons who will take their parents 'surname respectively. If both husband and wife are only children, they have to "make two families", that is, they have to take care of both families in the first few years of the marriage and live in an uncertain place. After maintaining this for a few years, it was decided to settle down in the family with better financial conditions.

She people love sports activities."Playing size","setting firewood mallet", mountain climbing during festivals, riding seahorses and bamboo forest competitions are all very interesting and unique sports activities that are spread among the She people. In particular, the trend of practicing boxing and martial arts is prevalent. After thousands of years of inheritance, it has formed a unique folk martial arts. Before liberation, the She people practiced martial arts to resist oppression and exploitation. After liberation, they did so to strengthen their health, cultivate their temperament, and enrich their cultural life. She ethnic martial arts are divided into two categories: stick skills and boxing skills. There are many types of stick techniques, and the names of actions are complex and diverse. Boxing is very popular. As part of boxing, there are amazing acupuncture skills. Old boxers who are proficient in martial arts generally know acupuncture and medical skills.

She people attach great importance to traditional festivals and ancestor worship. The 15th of the second, seventh and eighth months every year is the ancestor worship day and they believe in ghosts and gods. When worshiping the ancestors, two cups of wine, one cup of tea, six bowls of vegetables with three meats and three vegetables, plus dumplings at different seasons. In addition to wine and meat, which are indispensable during the festival, there are certain traditional habits for what to eat during each festival. But no matter what festival you celebrate, you must make glutinous rice cakes. In addition to slaughtering chickens and ducks, adults also have to make glutinous rice cakes on their birthdays.

The traditional festival of "March 3rd" is held on the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar every year. Its main activity is to go to the wild to "go green" and eat black rice to remember our ancestors. It is also known as the "Black Rice Festival." Black rice is dyed black with the juice of a plant. It is said that in the Tang Dynasty, Lei Wanxing and Lan Fenggao, leaders of the She ethnic group, led the She people to resist the ruling class at that time and were besieged on the mountains by the court troops. The soldiers passed the New Year by eating a kind of wild fruit called 'Wufan' to satisfy their hunger. On March 3 of the following year, they broke out of the siege and won. In memory of them, people regard March 3rd as a festival and eat "black rice" to commemorate them. During the festival, the She ethnic groups of dozens of miles nearby gathered in the singing venue to sing songs together from morning to evening, praising Panhu and remembering the ancestors. The entire She Mountain is immersed in a sea of songs. In the evening, each family eats "black rice" and holds ancestral worship activities late at night.

In addition, the She people also celebrate the Spring Festival. During the Spring Festival, in addition to slaughtering chickens and pigs, we also make glutinous rice cakes. I wish you good luck in the New Year and the days will be sweet every year. On the morning of the first day of the first day, the whole family bowed to the "ancestors of Pangu". The old man talked about the difficulties of his ancestors starting a business. After that, the family reunited, sang folk songs, and sent congratulatory gifts. Young men and women traveled to villages and villages, using songs to convey affection and friendship to each other.

The early burial practices of the She people were hanging coffin burial and cremation, but the current burial is in place. The site of the "Wanrentai" still exists in She Village, Lishui Prefecture (original prefecture) today. As the settlement time extended and mixed with Han people, the popular burial of local Han people was adopted. There are three general forms of burial in the She family today: ① "secondary burial" is adopted, also known as "bone picking burial".② Complete the coffin and burial of the tomb at one time.③ Stop the coffin and pick up the bones and bury it in the earth. The legend of hanging coffin burial of the She nationality is circulated in She villages in eastern Fujian, southern Zhejiang, and eastern Guangdong.

According to the customs of the She people, if the deceased is under the age of 50, they cannot open the hall (i.e., the main screen door), and they cannot be placed in the back hall for burial. Funeral ceremonies will be omitted. Anyone who dies outdoors cannot enter the door. The body will be collected and buried on the spot or outside the village, and the funeral will be simple.

There are two major characteristics of the She ethnic funeral customs: First, the shroud that a woman collects and puts into the coffin when she dies must be the wedding dress when she becomes a bride when she gets married. The second is to use songs instead of crying. Most of the songs are to commemorate the ancestors, mourn and praise the deceased's character during his lifetime, and pray for the deceased to rest in peace. There are also some counterverses caused by confessing their own shortcomings towards the deceased. The lyrics are sad and tear-jerking.