Traditional Buyi wedding customs

The Buyi people are an ancient nation with a long history and splendid culture. In Buyi society, festivals, customs and habits with ethnic characteristics and positive health are still preserved. Especially the marriage of the Buyi people is even more interesting.

The Buyi people have a unique way of falling in love. Usually, after the climax of the rush, young people stay behind, and girls and young men dressed in pornographic costumes stand on each side, looking for each other's favorite person. The mediator is called "Yinque" and is mostly the man's sister. If the young man likes a certain girl, the "silver sparrow" will "fly" to the woman's side with the gift and sing a song first: "I will pass on my love for my brother. This indigo is for you. He hopes that the indigo is dyed well, he hopes that the indigo shines..." and so on. If the girl disagreed, she would sing back and decline; if she was satisfied, she would look back and smile. Both men and women walked out of the crowd and went up the mountain to sing together. It is called "Langshao" in Buyi language.

The

"Langshao" is in Buyi, which means love. This social event is not limited to unmarried men and women, but also married people can participate. This is related to the ancient marriage system of the Buyi people, because early marriage and "not leaving the husband's house" are actually just betrothal. Therefore, participating in the "Lang Zhi" activity is the first love for an unmarried person. For a "married" youth, if he or she is satisfied with the marriage arranged by his or her parents, it is just to show off his ability to sing. On the contrary, it shows resistance to arranged marriages. In addition to singing love songs,"Langshao" also sings bitter songs, complaint songs and marriage escape songs. In the past, some young men and women sang together for many years and fell in love, so they both fled their hometowns and settled in distant places; some couldn't escape the net of feudal system, so they both sacrificed their lives for love.

The main way for young men and women to whistle is to sing. Through singing, they can get to know each other, understand each other, establish feelings, and then choose a suitable partner. Such songs are called "Langshao Song", and in some areas they are also called "Wanyu". "Wan" means song, and "You" means lover. Therefore,"Langshao Ge" and "Wan You" are generally translated into "love song". There are nine categories of Langzhi songs, including first acquaintance, temptation, praise, love, oath, mutual remembrance, sending off a husband, bitterness, and escape from marriage.

When a man and a woman meet for the first time, they sing a song of first recognition. After the two sides get to know each other, they find out each other's situation, that is, sing a sounding song. After finding out each other, the two sides fell in love and sang praises to each other from the bottom of their hearts. After praising each other, the two sides 'feelings deepened again, and they were both immersed in the sweet love life, and they sang sweet love songs. In order to consolidate their loyal love, both sides made a golden oath and sang the oath song. Young men and women's wave-whistle activities are usually held on festivals and rush days. They usually carry out farming at home. If they don't see each other for a long time, they will sing and recite songs. During the Langshao activities, most of the younger generation took the initiative to go to the girl's village for a date, and the girl sang the song of sending off the boy when parting. In the Buyi people, young men and women are often arranged by their parents, which often prevents lovers from getting married and is forced to marry strangers. After suffering, they sing bitter songs. When young men and women cannot achieve freedom of marriage, they both make an appointment to flee and sing the song of escape.

Some of the bean-tail activities of young men and women are held at home. Young men and girls are divided into one side and surrounded the fire pond to sing to each other. One song on each side means the scenery is real and the singing is made up and will not be performed. You cannot "turn the bean pole"(that is, no repetition is allowed), and often you have to sing all night. The host's home not only needs to supply sufficient green steel firewood, but also provides snacks, such as two cakes, glutinous rice, etc. There are also festivals carried out beside the stockade or roadside. It is a dialogue or duet singing by pairs of young men and women. The voices are soft and melodious.

In love, young men and women must give each other "keepsake". The younger generation gave the girl a towel, and the girl gave the younger generation a pair of blue cloth shoes with white hair soles. The soles of the soles were covered with sunflower road. The bottom edge of the fur was locked with "dog teeth". It was very exquisite to show the girl's craftsmanship. When they are so passionate that they decide to become a couple, they "lose their betrothal" each other, that is, they give each other one or two pieces of clothes they have worn once as a support, and are not allowed to go back on their words. If both parents agree, the man can invite a matchmaker to come to the woman's house to discuss the marriage; If his parents stop him, they both escape from the marriage.

The

is not only a form of social interaction for young Buyi men and women to choose a partner, but also a traditional entertainment activity for them. It is similar but different from the love affair of Han compatriots.

In the past, young men and women of the Buyi nationality only had freedom to marry, but not freedom to marry. Marriage was decided by their parents. There are two situations in which the so-called masters are in charge: one is that parents of both sides have a fancy to both men and women. Regardless of whether the young man agrees or not, the man's family invites a matchmaker to propose marriage to the woman's family. This is pure masters. One is that after the young man and woman establish a relationship with each other through the wave whistle, the younger generation will ask their parents to invite a matchmaker to propose marriage at the woman's house. This is semi-freedom or semi-decision-making.

When a man's family invites a matchmaker to propose marriage at a woman's family, there must be two matchmakers, both men and two women can be used. This is the so-called "double matchmaker". When the matchmaker comes to the woman's house for the first time, he has to bring 3 - 5 kilograms of sugar. The few kilograms of sugar brought by the matchmaker cannot be used easily. In order to show her daughter's gold value, the woman's family will not give the sugar to the family until the matchmaker comes three times to ask for marriage. This is called "walking candy", and this marriage has opened the door.

After the woman's family ate the "walking candy" from the man's first marriage proposal, every two or three months, the man asked the original media to bring the "good candy" to the woman's family for further "contract". The "good sugar" I brought this time is 3 - 5 kilograms of snacks, 1 pot of wine, and 3 - 5 kilograms of pork. At the same time, it depends on how many relatives the woman has in her family, and she also has to bring a few bags of sugar sugar to each family. When the matchmaker returns home, the woman will give the man a pair of green cloth shoes with a white sole on sunflower road as a return gift. After eating the "good candy", this marriage will open a second door.

Every six months or a year, before the man's family prepares to pick up his daughter-in-law, 4 - 6 middle-aged men in the family are invited to bring sugar, cocks, rice wine, pork, glutinous rice cake, gift money and other things to the woman's family to "eat chicken wine." While eating the "chicken wine", the man must write the auspicious date for the wedding on red paper in advance, called the "schedule", and the leader will hand it to the woman's family in public at the banquet so that the woman's family can make early preparations. The time from "eating chicken wine" to completing marriage is generally more than 10 months, and some are 1 - 2 years.

After receiving the order from the

, the woman's family would write down the woman's age on red paper, plus a bag of salt, a tael of tea, a liter of rice, and a bowl of soybeans, named "Salt Tea Rice Beans", handed them over to the leader and brought them back to the man's family. This "salt tea rice bean" means "always love each other, be simple and pure, be rich and prosperous, and make a fortune through hard work."

After eating the "chicken wine", when the man's representative returns home, the woman will hand over the twenty-zhang soil cloth she has knitted and 1 - 2 pairs of sunflower road white wool blue cloth shoes she has carefully made to the man as a gift in return. After eating the "chicken wine", even if the last door was opened, the marriage would be considered a complete success, and they could only wait for the daughter-in-law to take over.