Characteristics and customs of the Zhuang ethnic group: culture and art, residence, clothing, funerals, and festivals.
1. Culture and Art
Ballads are the main content of Zhuang folk cultural life. Festivals, weddings, weddings, banquets, love stories, entertainment activities, etc. are mostly expressed in ballads. Emotion and entertainment.
There are many kinds of songs with rich content, including ancient songs, drinking songs, love songs, bitter songs, hymns, pan songs, filial songs, folk songs, etc. The metrical forms of ballads include short songs, leg-breaking songs, haiku and long narrative poems, etc. Its rhymes all rhyme with the waist and feet, which is different from the rhyme of Han poetry, which is a characteristic of Zhuang poetry.
The so-called waist rhyme, whether it is four sentences of five characters or four sentences of seven characters, rhymes with the last word of the first sentence and the middle word of the second sentence (it can also be moved forward), and the last word of the second sentence rhymes. The last word of the third sentence rhymes with the last word of the third sentence and the middle word of the fourth sentence (which can also be moved forward) rhymes with the last word. That is, "One line of foot rhymes with two lines of waist, two lines of two and three have feet rhymed with feet. Three lines of feet rhyme with four lines of waist, and the rhymes of feet and waist are self-consistent."
Folk legends and stories are often expressed in songs to increase their vividness. This literary form that combines speaking, singing and singing is common throughout the Zhuang area. Folk literature mainly includes myths, legends, ballads, proverbs, etc.
2. Living
Most Zhuangzhai villages are located near mountains and rivers, with many buildings and stilt-style buildings. There are two types of house structure. In the southeastern region of Guizhou, the Zhuang house is similar to the Dong pattern, with a wooden structure, mostly four rows and three rooms. In the areas of Libo and Dushan in southern Guizhou, the Zhuang family's housing pattern is the same as that of the neighboring Buyi people and the Zhuang family in northern Guizhou.
3. Clothing
The costumes of the Zhuang people living in Qiannan are basically the same as those of the local Buyi people. In general, young men and women wear ordinary clothes, and some women often wear a bustier and waistband with embroidery on one end, braids on their heads, or various colored headbands to show their ethnic characteristics. In the border areas of southeastern Guizhou, the Zhuang people have lived together with the Dong and Miao people for a long time, and they follow the local customs. The clothing color of men and women is still green and black, which is similar to the local ethnic groups.
4. Funeral
When the old man passes away and has just lost his breath, he puts the body on a straw mat and stops it beside the fire hall or behind the door, and immediately reports the funeral to his uncle's family. Please ask the devil to choose a time and then move it to the corridor and park it. When the time comes, he carries him downstairs and stops at the foot of the stairs. Then the body is symbolically washed, the hair is styled and the shroud is put on, and then it is buried in the coffin. The whole family eats vegetarian food and avoids salt, and relatives and children wear white gauze handkerchiefs as filial piety. The funeral and burial time is determined based on the birth date of the deceased.
5. Festivals
Festival activities in Zhuang Township are mostly combined with cultural entertainment or religious and superstitious activities. Traditional festivals include the festival of the prime of life, the Ox God Festival, June 14th or July 14th. In the prime of life, most strong families in Congjiang regard the twelfth month of the lunar calendar as the beginning of the year and the end of November as New Year's Eve. In the afternoon of New Year's Eve, each village collectively kills a "community pig" that is raised by each household in turn every year, sacrifices it to the queen of the community, and cuts the pork into several portions according to the number of households in the village.
Use bamboo sticks to skewer the meat and distribute it to each household. After each family cooks the skewers to honor their ancestors, the whole family has a meal, which is called "Yijiu", which means "Twenty-nine". ", just like "New Year's Eve" is celebrated on the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month in Han areas.