Tujia Folk Beliefs and Culture — Tujia Taboos
Chapter 12: Tujia Taboos. Taboos are products of folk belief. As various deity beliefs permeated people's social life, taboos took shape. Taboos aim to avoid disaster and misfortune; they are measures of psychological comfort and spiritual protection. Some taboos embody everyday knowledge and experience and have a positive effect — for example, certain taboos served to protect the environment...
This article has been compiled from historical materials on 'Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network' (33519.com · Specialty Foods / Cuisine / Customs section). Prices, business hours, administrative divisions, and statistical data mentioned in the text may already be outdated. Before traveling, please refer to the latest announcements from merchants, scenic areas, and local competent authorities; the parts involving folk legends and folk customs are local historical and cultural anecdotes, provided for cultural reference.
Chapter Twelve: Tujia Taboos
Taboos are products of folk belief. When various beliefs in deities and spirits permeate people's social life, taboos are formed. Taboos aim to avoid disasters and misfortunes and are a measure of psychological comfort and spiritual protection. Some taboos contain certain common sense and experience of life and have a positive effect—for example, certain taboos serve to protect the environment. Of course, taboos more often contain superstitious and ignorant notions, and with the development of social civilization, they will gradually die out or be eliminated. Tujia taboos can be divided into three major types according to their scope of application:
I. Taboos in Religious Activity Customs
This type of taboo mainly concerns the worship of deities and sacrificial activities: It is taboo to raise five-clawed pigs and to eat five-clawed meat, and especially taboo to use five-clawed meat to worship the gods; otherwise, it is an insult to the deities, and the deities will send down disasters. It is strictly forbidden to cut down ancient trees, which are considered tree deities and must be protected. Ancient trees that have been split are considered demon trees, and there is a saying that "a tree grows for three hundred years and becomes a demon." Trees struck by lightning are considered trees punished by the Thunder God and are unlucky trees; they cannot be taken home as firewood, or a fire will break out, and even more so cannot be taken home to build houses or make furniture, or one will likewise be struck by lightning. In mountain villages, it is taboo to place a stonemason's red ink marker box on the shrine in the main hall, for legend says the red ink in the box is transformed from the menstrual blood of the stonemason's ancestral goddess. The sun, moon, stars, and constellations are all heavenly deities in nature worship and must not be pointed at casually. The crescent moon is considered a knife and must not be pointed at randomly, or the crescent moon will cut your face or ears while you are sound asleep. Those who have scars on their faces from sores, or scars on their ears, are said to have been cut by the moon. One must not point at a rainbow, because the rainbow is a divine dragon; if one points at a rainbow, one will get a disease of missing ears. Pumpkin flowers are divided into male flowers and female flowers, both being pumpkin flower deities. The female flower bears the pumpkin, and one must not point at the female flower; pointing at it is a desecration of the female flower deity, and the female flower will die of anger and bear no pumpkin. When animals such as frogs and snakes are found near dwellings, they can only be driven away and must not be harmed, because these animals are regarded as incarnations of ancestral souls who have come to visit their descendants; while driving them away one should say, "Old ancestor, go back, we are all well." When worshipping deities and ancestors, children are strictly forbidden to speak, and strictly forbidden to eat the food used in worship, for it is said that eating it will make one's memory poor. It is strictly forbidden to wash filthy things at wells, springs, and other water sources, or to urinate or defecate nearby, for it is said this would insult the water deity and cause the water source to dry up. On New Year's Eve, one must stop carrying water from the well, for it is said that on this day the Dragon King holds his reunion, and he must not be disturbed; otherwise, in the coming year the Dragon King will make trouble and cause floods or droughts.
II. Taboos in Production Activities and Daily Life Customs
Various production activities and customs all have their taboos. On Qingming, the Beginning of Summer, and the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, it is strictly forbidden to use oxen for plowing; the oxen must be allowed to rest, or they will fall ill. When choosing a site for building a house, it is taboo to have a trough in front of the house and a ridge behind it, because a proverb widely circulated in Tujia areas says: "A trough before the house, and you'll either face a lawsuit or go to jail; a ridge behind the house, and your descendants will tilt the stove door." After the main house is built, side rooms are built connected on one side; it is taboo to build side rooms on both sides, or it is considered to have become a funeral house. When repairing a pigsty, it is taboo to make loud noises, or the pigs will not grow big. Boatmen and porters taboo saying "umbrella," because "umbrella" sounds like "scatter"; it should be called a "supporting cover."
In the daily life of the Tujia and in customs of festivals, weddings, funerals, childbirth, child-rearing, and social interaction, there are also various taboos. On the first day of the first lunar month, one must not say inauspicious words; especially before eating, one must not say anything with sounds like "death," "illness," "pain," "poverty," "kill," and "none," "don't want," "slept," and the like. Therefore people often get up early and eat early; once the food is in their stomachs, they can speak much more freely. During the New Year's Eve meal, it is forbidden to soak rice in soup, or there will be a great flood in the coming year, and the flood will wash away the field ridges. It is strictly forbidden to sweep the floor on the first day of the first lunar month, or one will sweep the wealth out the door.
When a wife is pregnant, neither husband nor wife may pick fruit from trees, for it is said that picking it will harm the tree. Children who have not passed the Boy's Pass (age twelve) are forbidden to eat pig's blood, for it is said that eating it makes one forgetful and unable to study well at school. It is forbidden to break ground, hammer, tear down doors, or move furniture in a pregnant woman's home, lest the fetus be disturbed and cause a miscarriage. Preschool children are forbidden to eat chicken feet, or they will not write well, and their writing will look like chicken scratches. They are forbidden to eat pig's snout, lest they snore when grown; forbidden to eat pig's tail, lest they lag behind everywhere and fall behind in everything. Unmarried men and women (including children and youths) are tabooed from eating the forked part of pig's trotters; it is said that those who eat it will not find a partner, and even if they do, the partner will be forked away by the pig's trotter. Children are strictly forbidden to play with matches, lest a fire break out. Children are strictly forbidden to play with scissors and sharp things, lest they injure themselves. Children are not allowed to lick the rice ladle, or they will blush before people and amount to nothing. Children are forbidden to have their hair cut from the first to the fifteenth of the first lunar month or from the first to the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month; it is said that if their hair is cut at these times, sores will appear on their heads. Outsiders are not allowed to joke with young unmarried daughters or sit on the same bench with them. The eyes of pregnant women are taboo; pregnant women are called "four-eyed people," and the gaze of a four-eyed person is most poisonous: if she looks at someone making tofu, the tofu will not coagulate and will turn to water; if she looks at someone making fermented black beans, the beans will not cook soft and will not "rise" with fragrance. A woman who has given birth and has not completed the month of confinement may not visit others' homes, for it is said that entering with an "empty belly" is bad for the household. When going out to do business, it is taboo to meet a woman early in the morning, for it is said to be unlucky, and merchants will lose money. Widows and pregnant women are forbidden to attend weddings, or they will cause discord between the newlyweds.
People in middle age dread the age of thirty-six. A proverb circulated on both banks of the Qing River says: "Everyone has a thirty-six; some rejoice and some weep." This means that thirty-six is a barrier in life; some can pass through smoothly, while others cannot. Therefore people often take certain measures, such as not traveling far from home or wearing protective amulets. Some people are always cautious and very worried during the year they turn thirty-six. In old age, people dread the ages of seventy-three and eighty-four. A folk saying goes: "At seventy-three and eighty-four, the King of Hell need not invite you—you go yourself."
Weddings taboo odd-numbered days and favor even-numbered days. Funerals, on the other hand, favor odd-numbered days and do not favor even-numbered days. People who die in the wild may not be carried into the house; even if it is an ancestor, the coffin can only be kept outside the house awaiting burial. Because wild ghosts cannot see the household deities. In places where a corpse is laid out, cats are forbidden, for fear that a cat will touch the corpse and be held tightly by it, or because it is believed that if a cat touches the corpse, a case of "walking corpse" will occur. When an elderly person dies, firecrackers are taboo to be set off inside the house; mountain folk follow this rule: "For red events, set them off inside; for white events, set them off outside."
It is not allowed to bring home birds that died on the mountain or in the wild. When one sees a dead bird, one should not tell one's family, especially during the first lunar month. It is forbidden to tell others about snakes mating, because this is an inauspicious matter; the one who sees it will at the very least lose a layer of skin even if he does not die, and whoever is told first will suffer misfortune. To avoid disaster, one should tell it to the trees; once told to the trees, the trees will wither—this is letting the trees bear the disaster on one's behalf. It is forbidden to whistle indoors in the middle of the night, for this will lead ghosts into the house. Snake days in the first, fourth, seventh, and tenth lunar months, rooster days in the winter month, and ox days in the third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth lunar months are regarded as Red Baleful Days, and it is taboo to travel far on them. There is a saying: "Meet the red baleful on going out, and you will never return home." There is also the saying "Do not go out on the seventh, do not return home on the eighth," meaning one does not leave home on days ending in seven and does not return home on days ending in eight. It is taboo to go to another's house in the middle of the night to borrow money or goods; the Tujia believe that "wealth is not dispersed at night." It is taboo to stand behind someone eating with a rice bowl, or that person will have bad luck. It is taboo to sit directly on another's main threshold, as this is considered an affront to the host. It is not allowed to step on the stove with one's feet or sit on the stove, or to place clothes, trousers, shoes, socks, straw sandals, and other dirty things on the stove, and it is not allowed to cook dog meat on the stove. It is forbidden to move the trivet in the fire pit at will; after being moved once on New Year's Eve each year, it is fixed in place, because the trivet is the symbol of the whole family's settled life and livelihood, and moving it is unlucky. It is forbidden to carry a hoe on one's shoulder or to carry empty water buckets or manure buckets into the house; they may only be carried in by hand. One should not place a winnowing basket upside down in the main hall, because this is a sign of burying someone. Women are forbidden to step over a man's carrying pole, and young girls are forbidden to eat fish roe.
Tujia taboos are often not very strictly required. During the Spring Festival, mountain villages often paste on the beams and pillars of their homes the words "Heaven and earth, yin and yang, a hundred taboos none," showing a disdain for all taboos. Among the Tujia, many people also take the attitude toward taboos that "if you believe, they exist; if you don't believe, they don't." All of this demonstrates the development of Tujia civilization and the open-minded, cheerful character of the people.