Manchu Festivals and Etiquette

 

Manchu Festivals and Etiquette

 

The buds poke their heads out from the ground and will open their eyes wide in surprise at the prairie. When you have a better understanding of the prairie, you will definitely show admiration for the prairie people.

The customs and culture of the Manchu people are like a mysterious and beautiful song. Burmese musician Duoji told Yadan, Dawa and Xiangqima the artistic characteristics of shamanic dance, and also talked about the traditional festivals and etiquette culture of the Manchu people.

Dorje said:

In the long social and historical development, the Manchu ancestors have formed a seasonal culture rich in their own national characteristics. For example, as far back as the Bohai Kingdom, there were already festival customs such as the Spring Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival. These customs are related to the influence of Han culture, but they also have their own national characteristics. For example, during the Dragon Boat Festival, the Jurchens have customs such as picking mugwort, eating mugwort cakes, tying longevity locks, shooting willows, and offering sacrifices to the sky. After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the Manchu culture and the Han culture combined, absorbed each other, and gradually became consistent, while still showing some characteristics of the Manchu culture. For example, the Manchu people eat dumplings and Saqima during the Spring Festival. The Manchu people's Dragon Boat Festival is not about worshiping Qu Yuan but about keeping fit and curing diseases, etc.

The Spring Festival is an important traditional festival for the Manchu people. Before the festival, make Saqima, a traditional Manchu cake, and put up couplets, window grilles, hanging notes (red, yellow, blue, and white according to the flags), and hang the word "福". After the "sacred paper" is distributed at midnight, the younger men go to each family in the clan to "say goodbye to the New Year." At midnight on New Year's Eve, every family eats dumplings, which means "new year dumplings". You also need to put a copper coin (some rich families use money as small guarantees and gems, etc.) secretly in the dumpling. Whoever eats it will have good luck all year round. On New Year's Eve, lantern poles are erected in every courtyard, up to two feet high, with pine branches tied on them and red lanterns hung high. The red lanterns remain on until the sixth day of the lunar month and stay on all night. In the palace, "sky lanterns" were hung on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month and lasted until the third day of the second lunar month of the following year.

The Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month is also known as the "Lantern Festival". In addition to hanging colored lanterns, the Manchus also make "ice lanterns". The main content of the Lantern Festival is not to eat Lantern Festival, but to watch the colorful lanterns. In towns where the Manchu people live together, thousands of ingeniously colored lanterns are hung on the streets. In rural areas, there is also the custom of "steaming noodles and lanterns" on the night of the Lantern Festival. In the "Yangcheng Lantern Market" in Guangzhou in the late Qing Dynasty, the lanterns made by the bannermen were the most dazzling and became a specialty of Guangzhou.

The customs of the Manchu people during the year are mostly similar to those of the Han people, but they maintain many Manchu characteristics. On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, Manchu women in various parts of the north are popular in lying on ice and "rolling ice", which symbolizes the removal of bad luck; on the twenty-fifth day of the first lunar month, they "add warehouses" to pray for a good harvest; on the second day of the second lunar month, they "dragon raises their heads" to pray for good weather; Horse tripping"; "grave sacrifices" during the Qingming Festival and planting willows on the graves; during the Dragon Boat Festival, people go out for outings, hit balls, play swings, etc. In recent years, Manchus in various places have a folk custom of celebrating the "Gold Awarding Festival": During the Later Jin Dynasty, Huang Taiji named the clan "Manzhou" (or Manshu, Manshu) on October 13 of the lunar calendar in 1635. This day is regarded as the birth day of the Manchu people, and the Manchu "name day", that is, the "Gold Awarding Festival" celebration is held.

Dorje said:

Some of the traditional festivals of the Manchu people are inherent to the Manchu culture, such as the Tiancang Festival, the Sun Festival, and the Gold Awarding Festival.

Tiancang Festival is held on the twentieth day of the first lunar month every year. On this day, Manchus in Northeast China cook sticky sorghum rice and put it in the warehouse. They use straw sticks to weave a small horse and insert it into the rice bowl, which means that the horse carries food home, so that they can have enough food and clothing. On the first day, add new rice, three times in a row. Some people also use sorghum straw to make two hoes and stick them on the rice. This custom is still preserved in the rural areas of Northeast China.

The Sun Festival falls on the first day of the second month of the lunar calendar. This day is a festival to welcome the sun. Manchu people will use flour to make cakes and put flower chicks made of sticky rice noodles on them, which means that the golden rooster crows the dawn and welcomes the sunrise.

The Gold Awarding Festival is the birth day of the Manchu people, which falls on the 13th day of the 10th lunar month every year[16]. Emperor Taizong Huang Taiji of the Qing Dynasty issued an edict on this day in 1635, officially naming the clan "Manzhou".

Dorje added:

Manchu people attach great importance to etiquette. In the past, the younger generation would give a small gift to the older generation every three days and one gift every five days. The younger generation has to pay qianqian to greet their elders every three days, and kowtow when they see their elders every five days. The form of qianqian is different for men and women. Men bend down, stretch their right hands down and use their left hands to support their knees, as if lifting something, while women squat with their hands on their knees. The Manchus respect their elders very much, and they greet their elders day and night on weekdays. If their elders do not allow them to sit down, they will not dare to sit down, and if they are not ordered to do so, they will not dare to retreat.

When you meet an unknown elder on the road, you should bow and lower your hands and ask "saiyin" (Manchu, meaning good). If you are riding a horse, you should dismount and step to the side of the road to give way, wait for the elders to pass by, and then get on your horse and continue on your way.

When relatives and friends from afar meet each other, both men and women hug each other and greet each other as a gift. When guests come, the younger members of the family have to personally receive the guests and do chores.

When equals meet, in addition to greeting each other, they also use a hand-holding or shoulder-hugging ceremony. These etiquette are still common in places where the Manchus live.

There are also many styles of Manchu etiquette.

When men say goodbye, those wearing arrow uniforms should first embroider their horseshoe sleeves and robes, droop their sleeves, move their left foot forward slightly, bend their right leg at the knee, lower their heads slightly, and then gradually stand up.

Except for the elders in the family, the recipient's relatives and friends must return the gift with a half-bow, and the peers must return the gift in the same way.

In addition to greetings, there is also a kowtow ceremony. The Manchu people attach great importance to following the rituals. They kneel down three times and kowtow nine times to their gods and ancestors, and kneel down three times to their parents and elders.

Every Chinese New Year, the younger generation usually kowtows four times while the elders sit back and accept it. When it reaches the third time, the elders will say some blessings, otherwise they will not dare to get up.

Women perform the Ten Thousand Blessings Ceremony by pressing their legs with both hands and kowtow three times; or they press their legs with both hands and kowtow three times, then kneel and nod with their hands and forehead, and perform the temple caressing ceremony.

In addition, the Manchus also respect dogs, crows, and magpies. They do not kill dogs, eat dog meat, or use any dog skin products. There is a Sauron pole at the door of their house, and minced meat is placed in a tin bucket on top of the pole to feed crows and magpies. , that is to commemorate the ancestors being protected by crows.

Dorje sang "Festival Song" excitedly:

 

Come on, come on,

Let's all come together,

We hold hands,

Sing a song of happiness,

Dance the dance of happiness,

Today is our common holiday.

 

In the world family of nations,

Every nation has its own festivals,

Our festivals are the brightest.

 

Come on, come on,

Let's all come together,

Our hearts are connected,

Sing a song of unity,

Dance folk dance,

Today is our happy reunion day.

 

Let us give up all resentment,

No discrimination, just smiles and hugs,

Our true love is the most dazzling.

 

Come on, come on,

Let's all sing together,

Our festivals are the brightest.

Our true love is the most dazzling.