Customs of Gutian County, Ningde City
Lifestyle Customs
1. Clothing
Jewelry From the late Qing Dynasty to before liberation, women’s head decorations included silver flat bars, silver hairpins, silver flowers, and silk flowers. There is a silver necklace hanging on the neck, a silver corsage and a silk corsage on the chest, and a silver ring and silver bracelet on the hand. Silver anklets on the ankles. Women from wealthy families wear gold ornaments. From the early days of liberation to the 1970s, frugality and simplicity were advocated, and most women did not wear ear piercings or jewelry. After the 1980s, it is not uncommon for young urban women to dress up beautifully and wear gold, silver, beads, and jade jewelry from head to toe.
2. Food
Gutian people eat rice as their main meal, including porridge for breakfast and dry rice for lunch and dinner. Before liberation, in rural areas, especially in the Dadong area, they ate more sweet potatoes and rice, accompanied by salted fish and pickled vegetables. In the evening during busy farming season, porridge, noodles, cakes and other snacks are added. Around 1960, there was a shortage of food, so people relied on wild vegetables and fruits to make ends meet. After the 1980s, staple foods tended to be diversified, often including dumplings, noodles, dried noodles, spring rolls, etc. Citizens pay attention to nutrition in their diet. Meat, fish, and eggs are increasingly available for sale, and new vegetables and wild vegetables are popular.
3. Residence
Due to different regional conditions, the residences in Gutian are different (see "Urban and Rural Construction Chronicles" for details). Clan surnames live in one place, and the location and orientation of the houses should be paid attention to. There is a saying that "if you sit in the north and face south, your home will be at ease". To enter the house, an auspicious day and time must be chosen. The person in charge, along with family members, relatives and friends, will get firewood and light the fire. Each participant will carry furniture, farm tools and livestock attached with red paper strips, and fire cannons into the house along the way. After the new stove is put into the fire, the main room is immediately decorated, tea and fruits are prepared, and the audience is received. In the evening, there will be wine under the fan, or wine under the fan, and two plates of cakes and buns will be served on the table. Relatives and friends who come to congratulate must be given cakes and salt. "cake" is a homophone for "gao", salt has a salty taste, and "salt" is a homophone for "gao" in the dialect. At the same time, congratulatory couplets, stoves, bottles, lamps and other supplies are also given. The brothers separated their families and asked their uncle to be the "middleman". The houses were allocated to the left and right rooms according to the ranking of brothers and uncles.
4. Travel
In the old days, "Gutian was filled with thousands of peaks and skyscrapers, rocks and water, and there was no way for boats and vehicles." In order to seek safety, one should look through the almanac and choose an auspicious day when going out; before leaving, one should say "go slowly", "have a good day", "on the way" and other words to say goodbye, in order to remind people to walk carefully. There are bridges across the rivers in the territory, and pavilions across the ridges. Most of the bridge pavilions have tile roofs and sitting boards, which are convenient for pedestrians to "rest their breath". When officials and gentry go out, they ride in sedan chairs. Ordinary people usually wear straw sandals or casual shoes to walk. The person carrying the burden keeps his staff in his hand for support and assistance. When walking a long distance, prepare straw rice or eat red morning rice porridge at a roadside stall to increase your walking strength. In the 25th year of the Republic of China (1936), the Gugu Highway was opened to traffic, and only a few people began to travel by car. After liberation, transportation developed and the number of passengers increased. In the 1960s and 1970s, fashionable bicycles. After the 1980s, motorcycles became popular in urban and rural areas.
5. Etiquette
Inquiries When acquaintances meet, they always greet each other and bow to each other to show respect. At the same time, they ask with a smile: "Have you eaten yet?" or "Are you going?" Where?" After liberation, the gesture of bowing with fists was changed to a handshake, and everything else remained the same. When a guest comes to your home, he first asks you to sit down, and then offers tea and cigarettes. After talking, he goes to the front door and bows, saying "take your time" and "come back next time" and other words.
Giving red envelopes When parents take their children to play at someone else’s house for the first time, the elder of that family should wrap red envelopes, tie them with green and white strings, give them to the children, and say some blessings.
Being a guest: When visiting a relative or friend’s home for the first time, the relative or friend must cook a bowl of dried eggs (now only two poached eggs are cooked, omitting the dried noodles) for the guests to eat. "Dan" is called "Taiping" by Gutian people. Gai "Dan" is homophonic with "Lan" in Gutian dialect. Therefore, the name "Dan" is called "Taiping" in opposition to the meaning of "Chaos", in order to wish for peace and peace in all seasons.
"莛(ting)tea" When women visit relatives and friends' houses, in addition to eating powdered dried eggs, the housewives in the neighbors' houses should prepare fried soybeans, fried peanuts, bipu (corn or rice grains). Stir-fried in a pot), seven or eight dishes of dried bayberry, persimmon balls and other dried snacks are placed on the tea tray and served to visiting female guests. It is commonly known as "莛茶".
6. Titles
General titles: Young people call older men brother, uncle, uncle, uncle, old uncle, and father-in-law; women are called elder sister, sister-in-law, aunt, and aunt. , Dam, Laomu, and old lady are called.
Some titles are prefixed to show intimacy, such as grandpa, dada, grandma, brother, brother, sister, sister, etc.
After young men and women get married, when they call each other’s relatives, they themselves are one generation lower than their peers. For example, a man calls the woman’s uncle uncle, uncle is uncle, and a woman calls the man uncle. , mother, aunt, aunt, etc.
Special appellation: The lower generation has a special name for the upper generation of their direct relatives. For example, the dialect of calling the father is "Lang Ba". The origin may be the change of "Nongba", because the Gutian dialect "Langba" means "Langba". "Bai" and "Nongba" are homophonic, and the mother is called "Nu Nai", the grandfather is called "Gong", the grandmother is called "Ren" (pronounced "yin" in Gutian dialect), and the uncle is called "Jia".
7. Architectural customs
After liberation, architectural customs changed with personnel and affairs, and got rid of the belief and custom of Yin Yang and Five Elements. However, banquets were also held to entertain relatives and friends who came to congratulate.
The construction of the bridge begins on an auspicious day. After the bridge is completed, a memorial ceremony will be held at the head of the bridge. The elders and bridge-building directors will go first, and then everyone will walk across the bridge one by one, and a banquet will be held to celebrate and reward the bridge-building craftsmen and craftsmen. Migrant workers.
To build a tomb, ask a Feng Shui master to select the location of the tomb in advance, and then choose an auspicious day to build the tomb blank and the left and right shady houses. Rich families built a tomb floor with strips of stone, covering an area of more than 10 square meters. The tomb surface was built with bricks and stones. After the completion, a banquet was set up to entertain the craftsmen, relatives and friends.
Building a stove, commonly known as a Tu stove, would be started on an auspicious day. The master would be entertained with powdered dried eggs as snacks, and a porcelain jar would be placed inside the stove with copper coins, grains, bamboo nails and other items inside to hope for a good harvest. , both wealth and wealth are prosperous. After the completion, popcorn is fired to show auspiciousness. A banquet is held for the chef, relatives and friends, and relatives and friends send red candles, firecrackers, cakes, salt, peanuts, bowls and chopsticks and other kitchen utensils to express blessings and celebrations.