Thailand is close to the southwestern region of my country, and its customs are similar to those of the ethnic groups bordering my country.
The Dai, Jinuo and Blang ethnic groups in my country have the habit of dyeing their teeth with homemade "pigments" from vegetable grease smoke. Because the pigments made from vegetable grease smoke are shiny and like paint, they are also called "paint teeth". . Men and women of the Dai ethnic group in Yunnan begin to have sex at the age of fourteen or five. There is a custom of painting the teeth with wood smoke, and it is believed that the darker the teeth, the more beautiful they will be. Therefore, the bride specially dyes the teeth black when getting married. The Jinuo people mostly use pear wood as the "pigment" for dyeing their teeth. The method is to place the exploded pear wood in a bamboo tube and cover it with an iron pot piece. When the smoke grease on the iron piece turns into a shiny black paint, hold the iron pot piece and use the pear wood smoke grease on it to dye your teeth. The "pigment" of the Blang people's teeth is made from red branches. The method is to light the red branches and let the black smoke accumulate on the iron pot pieces for later use.
In addition to the decorative effect of "the darker the teeth, the more beautiful they are" mentioned above, blackened teeth are also like a layer of "varnish", which has a protective effect. At the same time, it is more obvious that "paint teeth" are also a means of expressing love, which may also contain some primitive worship meaning. Dyeing the teeth of the Jinuo people is also a sign of mutual love and respect. When young men and women get together, the girl often brings a piece of iron to the young man she admires and asks him to dye his teeth. This custom is an ancient tradition of the Jinuo people, and it is said that they are not used to it. Such a layman will not be welcomed by the ghosts of his ancestors after death. The inherent meaning of the Blang people's custom of lacquering teeth is similar to this. Yan Sijiu described it this way in the article "Love and Marriage of the Brown Tribe": "At dusk after the autumn harvest, (Brown) girls wear uniform skirts and tight-fitting blouses, specially dressed up, and gather in groups of three or five in the fire pit. While spinning or weaving straw, waiting for the arrival of the young men, night finally came, and a group of guys came playing the whining piccolo or the tinkling three-stringed string. The girls quickly gave up their seats to greet them, while they talked and laughed. While using red branches to burn black smoke on iron pots to help young men dye their teeth, young men also burn black smoke to help girls dye their teeth. Or during annual religious festivals, young men and women gather to help each other. After dyeing teeth, a person has entered adulthood and has the right to fall in love and get married."
There are two similarities between the Dai, Jinuo and Blang people. Firstly, it is made of resin black smoke, and secondly, it is dyed into shiny black. In contrast, some Hani people are dyed red, and the dye is a plant called "purple stalk". When Hani young men and women reach the age of 15, friends of the same age in the same village invite each other to choose a time and place, use purple stems to help each other dye their teeth red, and change their headdress to show that they have entered youth. Both men and women can find partners to fall in love with and get married. In addition, in some local branches of the Gaoshan ethnic group in Taiwan, young people also use a kind of wild grass to rub their teeth every day, making their teeth darker and darker.
Another way to dye your teeth is to chew betel nut. Chewing betel nut is a hobby of ethnic minorities living in hot and humid areas. The purpose is not to dye the teeth. Teeth dyeing is done unknowingly during the process of chewing betel nut. Among the ethnic minorities in my country, the Dai, Bulang, Wa, Achang, and Li ethnic groups all have the custom of chewing betel nut, and some Zhuang ethnic groups also have the custom of chewing betel nut. However, not all "betel nut chewers" chew real betel nuts. In fact, many ethnic minorities chew betel nut substitutes, but they still call it "betel nut chewers".
Betel nut is an evergreen tree in the palm family. The fruit is oval and orange-red. The flowers and fruits of betel nut are fragrant and can be used for food and medicine. They have the functions of eliminating accumulation, killing insects, and lowering qi and promoting water. Modern medical research shows that betel nut contains alkaloids, arecoline and tannic acid bases, which can stimulate the central nervous system, promote metabolism, dissolve fat, and help digestion. Most of the Dai people in my country live in the "miasma area" on the border of Yunnan, which is hot and humid and rainy. In order to prevent the occurrence of diseases, they chew betel nuts. This style has continued to this day. Betel nut has not only become a good treat for guests, but also a symbol of joy, auspiciousness, unity and harmony.
Dai people in Yuanjiang and Xinping, Yunnan, during traditional festivals, are accustomed to picking a few bunches of betel nuts, washing them with water, processing them, wrapping them with gold foil and red ribbons, and decorating them, and display them conspicuously at home. The place, as a furnishing, is very elegant. The way they chew betel nut is very interesting. Every time they chew betel nut, the first one must be dedicated to a respected old man or elder, which means respecting the elderly. The second betel nut belongs to the youngest child in the family, which means passing on the care, hope and wisdom of the older generation to the next generation. Finally, the betel nuts are distributed to other members of the family in turn. Due to long-term chewing of betel nut, the teeth turned from red to black. It is said that teeth stained black by chewing betel nut will not cause "dental decay" and "less tooth disease".
The "betel nut" chewed by the Wa and Achang ethnic groups is not the betel nut that comes from the tree, but an artificial substitute. The Wa people's "Benno" is cooked with sesame leaves and lime. After bringing the sesame leaves home, put them in a pot to boil out the juice, then mix it with slaked lime and stir it into a semi-liquid (paste) state. Put it on the bamboo shoot shell and wait until it is solidified and cold to become a round cake-shaped "betel nut". In addition to personal use, this homemade "betel nut" can also be sold as a commodity and given as a gift to relatives and friends. When chewing such betel nut, it is necessary to add tobacco, lime and other substances to increase the irritation and have the same effect as chewing real betel nut. Achang women have the habit of "chewing betel nut" after getting married.
What they chew is actually grass tobacco and reed seeds. They chew the same tobacco for a long time, which makes their lips red and their teeth black. They think black teeth are beautiful.
Chewing betel nut dyes the teeth permanently, which is associated with beauty, love and marriage. Dai women believe that the white teeth of Han men are "as ugly as horse teeth", but in their poems there are lines like "A beautiful girl with shiny black teeth". Dai young men and women in Yuanjiang and Xinping rely on "ummalai" to express love and get engaged, which is to give betel nuts as gifts. The betel nuts that Xiao Bu Mao gave to Xiao Bu Mao were packed in purses, and the betel nuts that Xiao Bu Mao gave to Xiao Bu Mao were packed in delicate bags. in a small box. And during wedding celebrations, guests should not be entertained without betel nuts.
Betel nut is just like smoking and drinking tea. If you chew it too much, you will become addicted and become a special hobby. Huang Tingjian, a representative of the Jiangxi Poetry School in the Song Dynasty, was relegated to Yizhou (now Yishan, Guangxi) in his later years. Influenced by the Zhuang people, he also ate betel nuts. After becoming addicted to eating them, he even wrote a poem asking people to send betel nuts: "The misty rain wraps up thousands of red trees, After chasing water and phlegm behind the elbow, Mo Xiao endured hunger and asked the poor magistrate to send a betel nut to you. "The scene of betel nut being strong and the benefits of chewing betel nut are all written, which shows the feelings of this "poor county magistrate" towards betel nut. Deep: Perhaps, the teeth of this famous poet in the Song Dynasty were also stained black.
The last way to change the color of your teeth is to wrap them in gold or silver. Before liberation, Zhuang women in the Youjiang area of ??Guangxi had to wrap a layer of gold or silver paper on their canine teeth for decoration when going out or meeting guests, and removed it when eating or sleeping. The De'ang people in Yunnan also had the custom of "wrapping their teeth with gold sets". Therefore, they were called "gold-toothed barbarians" from the Song and Yuan Dynasties. The area where they lived was even called the "gold-toothed country". The scope of the "Golden Tooth Kingdom" is wider than the current De'ang area, and should include some areas of the Dai or other ethnic groups. After Marco Polo arrived in western Yunnan, he wrote in his travel notes: "The people here all use gold to decorate their teeth. In other words, each person's teeth are made of gold to look like a tooth shape, and they are put on the teeth, top and bottom. It's all true." To this day, there are still some gold-wrapped and silver-wrapped teeth among ethnic minorities in Yunnan, but they are no different from those in Han areas.
Selected from "Yunnan Special Topic"
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