Wearing a cool hat, a big blouse, carrying a child, holding a plow and barefoot in the fields is a traditional image of Hakka women. The custom of Hakka women wearing cool hats began in the late Song Dynasty. At that time, Hakka ancestors moved south from the Central Plains. In order to survive, women also cultivated and worked like men. But it is indecent for a woman to go out of the boudoir and make public appearances, so she puts on a bamboo hat and covers her face with a black cloth with two small holes. Later, in practical use, I found it inconvenient, so I cut the cloth short and sewed it around the brim to become a cool hat that is both practical and beautiful. It is precisely because of the need of work that Hakka women never bind their feet. they
The big-breasted shirt was also shortened from the original robe.
All the elderly women in Hakka area still keep the custom of putting silver hairpin on the bun behind their heads. Silver hairpin is generally made of silver, about 10 cm long, narrow in the middle, big at both ends, sharp at the end, engraved with patterns, delicate and delicate, and its shape is similar to the current "ear spoon". In the past, Hakka people, especially Hakka women, were often bullied by bandits, robbers or evil forces (including hooligans, local ruffians, unscrupulous people, etc.). ).
In order to defend themselves, they began to carry some short and sharp iron tools with them. After a long time, it began to evolve into a silver hairpin worn by Hakka women on the back of their hair. Silver hairpin has other functions: First, in case of headache, brain fever and other diseases, Hakka ancestors would wrap the cooked egg white and silver hairpin in cloth and wipe them back and forth on patients while they were hot. It is said that the effect is very good. 2. When a Hakka girl in Louke is going to get married, mothers always send her a silver bun wrapped in cloth, and repeatedly tell her daughter that if the groom "suddenly loses his body" during sexual intercourse, he can take a silver hairpin and stab the man's tailbone and turn a corner. Third, if you are bitten by a poisonous snake, stab the snake with a silver hairpin and bump out poisonous blood, which can prevent the snake venom from entering the heart.
After the Hakkas gained a firm foothold in Lingnan, because of the mountainous environment and few fields, men had to go out to make a living or study as officials, while their families changed from "parenting" (raising children) to "cooking" (doing housework) to "sewing clothes" and "ploughing fields"
The end of the land (agricultural land), no matter the size or life, is shouldered by women. They work at the end of the day and they live at the end of the day. They have been dedicating their lives silently and selflessly. Even a hundred years later, the tombstone doesn't even have their own names.
Hakka women can live independently, so they have a certain independent personality, but they are as difficult to get rid of the limitations of the times as Hakka men. On the issue of their marriage, on the one hand, many of their sisters can express their love by singing folk songs and form a good marriage with the man they like; On the other hand, in many places, finger-belly marriage, child bride, changing marriages and buying and selling still exist.
The bad habit of selling marriage makes Hakka women become direct victims, so there is a saying that "men are afraid of getting into the wrong line and women are afraid of marrying the wrong person". However, the strict regulations of "marrying a chicken with a chicken, marrying a dog with a dog, and marrying a fox all over the mountain" make them complain about this unfortunate marriage. There is also a custom of "crying and marrying" on the wedding day in Hakka areas. The bride cries in front of the sedan chair and thanks her parents for their kindness with sad folk songs. Crying songs, almost every word is blood, and stones will cry. If it weren't for the persuasion of three aunts and six grandmothers, it would be difficult for the wedding team to make it. Nowadays, the society has improved the marriage and fate of Hakka women, and they all have distinct colors of the times.
The highest "reward" for Hakka women is probably that they can drink Niang wine after giving birth to a baby and confinement. This kind of Niang wine is brewed from glutinous rice. When lying-in women are confined within one month after giving birth, they are cooked with pork, chicken and eggs. Has effects in caring skin, expelling pathogenic wind, removing blood stasis, promoting blood circulation, strengthening body constitution, and promoting lactation. At the same time, the main family will cook ginger wine and give it to relatives and neighbors to show good news. If ginger is sliced, it means a girl is born; if ginger is shredded, it means a boy is born. Hakka women are physically strong, and Hakka Niang wine is essential.
Robert smith, an American missionary, lived in Hakka area for many years. In "Hakka in China", he thinks: "Hakka women are really the most admirable things among women of any nation we have ever seen". Edel, an Englishman, also commented in his book Introduction to Hakka Species: "Hakka women are typical of the most beautiful working women in China". Hakka women have enriched the history of Hakka.