Yao female taboos
In the traditional Yao society, there are many reasons why women are regarded as taboo objects. Some stem from the Yao ancestors 'worship and fear of ghosts, some stem from the Yao ancestors' summary of survival experience, and some are the influence of the Han society.
First of all, the emergence of some taboos and customs originated from the Yao ancestors 'worship of gods and their fear of nature and ghosts. In ancient times, due to the limitations of productivity and people's cognitive ability, our ancestors were helpless about nature and were puzzled by the unpredictable phenomena of nature and life, thus giving rise to the transcendental view that "all things have spirits". They believe that various gods have boundless magic and determine people's happiness and fortune. On the contrary, people are afraid and in awe of the gods and dare not offend them in any way to avoid being punished by the gods.
The Yao ancestors believed that after death, the soul still exists. It has supernatural abilities and can harm and protect the living. Under the control of this primitive religious concept, people tried their best to conform to the will of the gods to eliminate the occurrence of misfortunes, which led to various restrictions on their actions and taboos. In order to make the living people live peacefully, people use various sacrificial rituals to please the souls of the dead according to their living environment, religious beliefs, and economic conditions. As a result, various sacrificial taboos have emerged. However, women have always been regarded as "filth","mildew","disaster stars" and "disaster water". Therefore, in sacrificial activities, women must be regarded as taboos.
Secondly, since the day of its birth, human society has begun to understand and transform nature, society and human beings themselves. In the process of understanding and transformation, people summarized production and life experiences and lessons. Since people's ability to understand nature and society was limited by the level of social development at that time, in different historical periods, people's understanding of nature and society was correct and wrong, and their summaries of production and life experience and lessons were also correct and wrong.
The Yao people are a wandering people. They have long followed the slash-and-burn production method. The level of productivity is low and economic development is seriously hindered. People's understanding of the causal relationship between things has also caused deviations and regard some accidental phenomena as universally applicable laws. For example, women in Yao society avoid eating cows that die due to childbirth, or hens that die without laying eggs, otherwise it will be detrimental to pregnancy and childbirth. This is the result of erroneous associations based on the characteristics of animals and their organs. It cannot be explained materialistic and scientific. Therefore, it can only be painted with mysticism and used supernatural ghosts and evil forces to force people to respect and obey.
In addition, due to the difference in the division of labor between men and women and the emergence of agriculture, men have gradually become the burden of their source of life; with the emergence and development of private property, women's subordinate status to men has been expanded to all areas of life, so the taboos of underestimating women and treating women as unclean objects are widely popular in society. In class society, ideas such as "men are superior to women" and "men and women are not close to each other" became popular and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, resulting in all objects that women have used or touched, or biological things they have are regarded as "unclean things".
Most of these taboos, customs and concepts related to women were formed during the period when patriarchy was dominant, especially when Confucianism was dominant in feudal society. The strong feudal patriarchal consciousness and the profound influence of the concept of male superiority over female superiority are their most prominent characteristics. On the other hand, we can also see from the content that the feudal cultural consciousness in the Han area has taken deep roots in the Yao people. Therefore, the female taboos in the traditional cultural system of the Yao people often equate women with concepts such as disaster stars, bad luck, filth, unlucky, and unclean things. The essence is the reflection and reproduction of the concept that men are superior to women in real life.
Women's taboos in daily production In Yao society, male farming and female weaving are a natural division of labor in production and have become a taboo over time. All production activities and production tools engaged in by men have been sanctified and become a boundary, thereby limiting women's actions. Hunting is an important productive activity in Yao society, and there are special taboos for women in hunting. Chashan Yao in the Jinxiulingzu area met women on the way up the mountain to hunt. The women had to give way, otherwise they would not hunt wild beasts. When a man in the family is preparing to go hunting, women are not allowed to comb his hair, otherwise they will get nothing and go home empty-handed, and even the hunter will be injured.
Jin Xiu's Shanziyao prohibits pregnant women from touching fishing and hunting tools, and prohibits women from stepping over these production tools, otherwise fishing and hunting will not go smoothly. Anyone who goes hunting in the mountains should go out before dawn and avoid seeing a woman combing her hair. If you encounter a woman who returns to the village empty-handed without lifting anything on her shoulders or hands halfway, you think that you will gain nothing from hunting that day. In Nandan Baiku Yao, women, especially pregnant women, are not allowed to cross hunting gear. Otherwise, they will not gain nothing but bring misfortune. I met a woman immediately after hunting and left the house, and there would be no harvest that day.
In Shanziyao, in the Shiwan Mountains, the mother is not allowed to go out to work before she has given birth for seven days. However, many taboos for pregnant women and pregnant women not only involve the pregnant women and the pregnant women themselves, but also have certain influences and restrictions on the behavior of their families. In Chashan Yao of Dayao Mountain in Jinxiu, after a woman becomes pregnant, the couple cannot ask others what they are doing when they are out to work. When village people work in the same place with a pregnant woman or her husband, they must be allowed to start work first. They believe that if they don't do this, the people working that day will have accidents such as cutting knives and axes, crushing stones on their hands and feet; during hunting, if a pregnant woman's husband is present, she must go and release the dog.
Taboos for women in daily life and diet In some branches of the Yao nationality, family members, especially women, are subject to certain restrictions in their daily diet and daily life, which are limited by both seniority and gender. Except for Chashan Yao, women from other ethnic groups of the Yao people in Dayao Mountain in Jinxiu are not allowed to eat with guests (except female guests). Jin Xiuhua and Lan Yao's daughter-in-law cannot sit with her family. Although Pan Yao's daughter-in-law can sit with her family, she can only stand or squat and cannot sit on a bench to eat. Usually, you can't sit in front of the elderly, you can only squat. This is the case at home, and there is no exception even when going up the mountain.
Panyao women in Liangjin District, Xing 'an County are generally not allowed to sit and squat before their elders after marriage and before giving birth. Women cannot live in a dormitory for one month after giving birth, but sleep in the kitchen. At Gongyao in Niuwei Mountain, Sanjiang Township, Gongcheng County, when the bride enters the door, her feet cannot step on the threshold of the hall. In Shanziyao in Shiwan Mountain, the pregnant woman is not allowed to look at the dyeing vat before she has reached seven days old, otherwise the cloth dyed will not be good. During pregnancy, women are not allowed to use green leaves to cushion their sitting or sleeping, otherwise they will miscarry. Pregnant women under a full moon should not eat meat such as cocks, sows, and boars, garlic, sour, and cold things, and should not take a bath with cold water, otherwise it will harm their health and cause illness. Jin Xiushanziyao said that sitting on the moon was not allowed to touch the hen that was incubating her eggs. If she made a mistake, the eggs would rot.
Female taboos in daily interactions Female taboos in Yao social interactions are mainly manifested in festivals or hospitality. In the Yao people in Yunnan, women do not visit their relatives on the first day of New Year's Eve or eat green vegetables. In Shanziyao, in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, pregnant women are not allowed to visit their families before they have given birth to a child for seven days. In Beilou Yao, Longshan County, Lingyun County, if a married woman guest comes to her home, she is considered to be unclean, so she is not allowed to be received to sleep in front of the Shentai, but can only sleep on both sides of the Shentai. On the first day of May, women are not allowed to visit the Yao people in Wenshan Prefecture, Guizhou Province. In the Yao people in Yunnan, when they return home the next day after marriage, the remarried woman cannot speak to the bride and will not agree. Jin Xiu Chashan Yao, when the bride enters the house and the newlyweds worship incense, pregnant women cannot go and watch, otherwise, the couple will not get back together and grow old.
Women's taboos in religious beliefs are a major event in the daily life of the Yao people. They are the main content and symbol of their traditional social and political life, and are sacred. In many religious activities, women are regarded as taboo, and women are regarded as unclean things and are not allowed to participate. The Yao people in Ganchang Township, Bama Yao Autonomous County wanted to kill a chicken and three kilograms of wine that had not been taken by the pregnant woman when they paid tribute to the King of Shehe. They believed that the pregnant woman was unclean. The sacrifices offered to the Queen of the Society were for the Witch Lord, and some people ate with the Witch Lord, but married women were not allowed to accompany them because they were afraid that they would be unclean.
Married women are not allowed to hang clothes higher than their ancestors 'shrines, climb the highest floor, climb the roof or cross the beams and thatch used to build houses. Otherwise, they are equivalent to being taller than their ancestors. If they ride on their ancestors' heads, their ancestors will suffer disaster. Whether they go back to their own homes or to someone else's homes, women who are raped must bring two kilograms of pork or a chicken weighing four to worship their ancestors or someone else's ancestors. The family must also ask the Witch to do it, otherwise they will die. Women are not allowed to return to their parents 'homes before three days after giving birth to their children, nor are they allowed to go to other people's homes for fear of being offended by their ancestors.
In Ao Yao and Pan Yao of Jin Xiugu Chen, pregnant women are not allowed to walk out of the hall for seven days. Seven days later, if you have to pass through the hall, you have to hold a bamboo dustpan and block the side of your body near the incense (ancestral shrine), believing that this will not cause foul air to rush into the incense. Jin Xiu's Shanziyao and Hualanyao also have similar taboos. Ganwang Temple in Mentou Village, Jinxiu Liuxiang Township, prohibits women from entering.