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Bouyei Nationality
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Achang |
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Bouyei nationality mainly dwells
on Bouyei and Miao Autonomous County, Xingyi, Anshun areas in Guizhou Province.
The Bouyei area is inside Yungui tableland, where hills are waving and rivers
run freely, which gestates the laborious Bouyei people.
They keep open doors to relations and friends sincerely. They cook kinds of glutinous rice eatable and winds to entertain guests. They cook meal with duck, chicken, preserved ham, beast meets, agaric, mushroom, bamboo shoot and so on. A smart girl standing behind you will serve rice, when you don't pay attention, she will fill rice in your bowl. If a guest stays night, the master will bring you water to clear feet. A new quilt only for guests with red, white and black designs and wax printing bed sheet will be prepared well, which is called 'guest-quilt'. Helping others and comity are good tradition. When young a boy or a girl talks to an elder or a guest, he or she will speak gently, and calls itself with humble appellations, such as 'Yi, Wei' to show their respect. The old and the children get well carefulness. When they meet visitors, they solute dismount amenity. Monogamy is traditional, and marrying too early prevails. Parents decide children's marriage. Choice, engagement, asking birth date and getting married are the fourth steps. In some area, if a bride has a brother, he will carry her out of door; a bridegroom may invite several groomsmen to pick his bride, and the boys will carry the bride in turns; in some other areas, a bride may walk to his husband's house.A woman can remarry after her husband is dead, and no one can interfere her. But she could not bring anything of her dead husband. Coffin bury is solemn with the foot toward door; a wizard is invited to make a rite of 'explore roads' for the dead.
On Cattle King Festival, every family makes glorious rice of cattle king. They will make ancestor worship and do evocation for cattle. Cattle can be rest on that day and have some good food
When a marriage is getting, the singing scene is grand and lively. Boys and girls are divided into two groups sitting face to face to sing antiphonal singing. Near Biandan Mountain in Zhenning area, the singers compete each other and will not stop for several days. The melody is two kind of major key and minor one. The major can be heard only on the occasion of marriage, funeral and other grand events, but the minor is only sang when it is fairs, entertainment and so on the tone of which is normally gentle, graceful and pleasant. Kinds of instrument are colorful with designs. Especially timbal is coming from ancient time and made by bronze with beautiful designs. Wax-dying art is long last in history with ornate color and beautiful design, which is a kind of treasure in our China. |