A Brief History of the Tujia—Living Customs (Part Three)
III. Customary Law and Taboos. The Tujia also developed certain customary laws in history; some can still be distinguished around the time of the gaitu reforms, and some traces remained before the founding of New China. Collective hunting was a traditional Tujia custom known as "ganzhang." The annual winter and spring ganzhang activities preserved traces of the primitive communal era's collective hunting and equal division of game.
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III. Customary Law and Taboos
In history, the Tujia people also developed certain customary laws. Some can still be distinguished around the time of gaitu, and some still left traces before the founding of New China. Collective hunting was a traditional Tujia custom, called "ganzhang." The ganzhang activities each winter and spring preserved remnants of the primitive communal period's collective hunting and equal division of game. When the ganzhang was not yet over, the internal organs of wild boar and other game were cooked for a communal meal; except for the neck meat, which went to the one who made the kill, the remaining meat was divided equally among those present. During farming, they beat the haocao gong and drum and sang while digging, never calculating compensation, taking pleasure in mutual help, which became a common practice. The Tujia people were simple and honest: "Whenever there was an oath, they cut several notches in bamboo as a contract," or carved wood as a deed. In Luxi County, whenever there was trade or a loan, they would take a piece of wood the size of a finger, carve on it the item, date, and amount, then split it apart, each keeping half as a token of trust. When disputes arose among the people, they once resorted to divine judgment and blood oaths. Before the founding of New China, in Laifeng and other places, when Tujia people sued over grievances, they would often agree to go to the Tianwang Temple for a divine oath. First they pricked a cat and dripped its blood into wine, and the two disputing parties drank it, called "eating blood," and then swore: "If you have wronged me, may I greatly prosper; if I have wronged you, may I die nine deaths and be cut off nine times." After the oath, the matter was settled. Some also invited the tu laoshi to repent of sins and fulfill the "Tianwang vow." Of course, in history the Tujia people were severely bound by the legal systems of rulers of successive dynasties (including native officials and tusi), so that they "feared officials and seldom litigated"; but Tujia customary law still mostly existed in residual forms, and yet it brought them no small influence.
Before the founding of New China, some taboos among the Tujia were the same as those of the Han, while others were unique. Their taboos were often closely linked to production, daily life, religious belief, and social environment, and many of them once hindered their own progress. For example, there were many taboo days: on wu days one could not break ground; from the first to the fifteenth of the first lunar month and on the Beginning of Spring, people born in the years of the ox, snake, or dragon could not carry water; during the three wu days in a month, one could not empty manure, dig manure, or carry water, lest there be drought; people born in the year of the dog could not sweep the floor on wu days, lest fleas appear; on Qingming and the Beginning of Summer, the plowing ox was forbidden to be used, for if used the ox would fall ill; snake days in the first, fourth, seventh, and tenth months, chicken days in the winter month, and ox days in the third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth months were all regarded as red sha days, and full days were earth plague days, all forbidden for sowing, with the proverb "If you sow when you meet red sha, the seed grain will not return home"; in months with "the two yin days of jia and geng, renchen and wuchen, gengshen and jimao, on these six days avoid breaking poultry"; on these days they did not buy or sell, slaughter, or release domestic fowl. There were also many taboos related to Tujia rituals and customs, such as not speaking inauspicious words on auspicious days and festivals; from the first to the fifteenth of the first lunar month and the first to the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month, children were forbidden to have their heads shaved; children, young women, and pregnant women were forbidden to sit on the threshold of the main hall; cats were not allowed to go to places where a coffin was laid; the coffin of one who died away from home could not be brought into the main hall and had to be placed outside; men did not step into the three-morning rites, women did not step into the mourning hall; it was forbidden to borrow things or light a fire from a household with a newborn baby; pregnant women or widows were forbidden to watch weddings; unmarried young women and pregnant women were forbidden to enter the bridal chamber; the bathwater of a newborn infant had to be poured under the fire pit, and pouring it anywhere else was forbidden; one could not wear straw sandals into the room of a woman with a newborn baby... Taboos related to daily life were also very numerous, such as not carrying a hoe, wearing a straw rain cape, or bringing empty water buckets into the house; not stepping on the fire pit or the trivet; not wearing a straw rain cape or straw sandals into the fire-pit room; not warming one's feet at the stove entrance; not drying clothes in the sun, for fear a wildcat would carry off chickens; guests could not sit together with young married women, but could sit on the same long bench with young unmarried women; no whistling inside the house. Among Tujia in Fenghuang and other places, only during ancestor sacrifices or the "tiao lin" mourning rites for the deceased did they beat drums in the main hall for sacrifice; ordinarily drums were not allowed to be brought into the house. Even in different places and among different surnames there were some special taboos. The Tan surname Tujia of Baping in Badong believed that the "Eagle Grandfather" had saved them, so they forbade shooting eagles, and some also forbade killing dogs and eating dog meat. These taboos were all closely related to the economic base and superstructure of the Tujia at various historical stages, and some were also connected with mutual influence among different ethnic groups. After the founding of New China, some religious beliefs and customs among the Tujia have changed, and some have gradually disappeared.