Tujia Folk Beliefs and Culture — Auspicious Object Worship (Part 5)
6. Chopsticks. Chopsticks symbolize wealth among the Tujia, probably because they are the tool people use to enjoy food. The Tujia have a wedding custom of scattering chopsticks to welcome the bride. At the fifth watch, the bride-sending ceremony begins: the bride's male cousins use the carrying strap sent by the groom's family to tie the bride on their backs and set her down in the hall. A grain-measuring bucket is placed in the hall, with a sieve on top containing two pairs of chopsticks.
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 Prices, business hours, administrative divisions, and statistical data mentioned in the text may already be outdated.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.
6. Chopsticks. Chopsticks symbolize wealth among the Tujia people, probably because chopsticks are the tool people use to enjoy food. The Tujia people have the wedding custom of scattering chopsticks to welcome the bride. At the fifth watch, the bride-sending ceremony begins. The bride's male cousins use the carrying cloth sent by the groom's family to tie the bride on their backs and set her down in the main hall. In the hall is placed a grain-measuring dou, on which is placed a sieve, and in the sieve are placed two bundles of chopsticks. The bride kneels on the dou and sieve, holding two bundles of chopsticks, and cries out in worship to the ancestors. After the crying worship is finished, the male cousins again carry the bride on their backs to the threshold of the main hall door. Then the bride, crying, scatters the chopsticks while crying and singing:
Scatter gold in front, scatter silver behind,
Scatter a grain-drying ground in the center,
The gold in front goes with the sister,
The silver behind is left by the brother...
After the bride finishes scattering the chopsticks, her male cousins carry her on their backs into the sedan chair. When the sedan chair starts to move, the bride's mother must follow behind the sedan chair scattering five grains, blessing as she scatters:
Scatter three days ahead, and you shall prosper three thousand;
Scatter one day ahead, and you shall prosper one thousand.
Scatter quickly, prosper quickly,
Glory and wealth for ten thousand generations...
Among the Tujia people, the incorporation of the five-grain scattering ritual into the chopstick-scattering wedding ceremony further highlights the meaning of blessing for wealth in the chopstick-scattering ritual. The blessings include both the bride's marital family and the bride's natal family. For example, chopsticks scattered inside the main hall are blessings for the natal family, and chopsticks scattered outside the main hall are blessings for the marital family. Such blessings appear more complete and comprehensive.
The Tujia chopstick-scattering wedding custom in the western Hubei region is quite different. When the bride sets out for the groom's home, gongs and drums sound and suona horns blare in unison. The host of the bride's family wedding ceremony lights two torches made of fir bark or sunflower stalks and throws them before and behind the bride, meaning the bride's married life will be prosperous and fiery. Then, two bundles of chopsticks are scattered to the bride's left and right, meaning a blessing that the bride will have ample food and clothing and a happy, fulfilling marriage.
V. Food Lucky Symbols
Some distinctive Tujia dishes, snacks, and beverages are often closely linked with folk custom activities, and thus often carry the Tujia people's beautiful wishes and aspirations for life. These foods have consequently become lucky symbols.
1. Eight-Treasure Mixed Dish. Eight-Treasure Mixed Dish, abbreviated as "mixed dish," commonly known as "reunion dish," is a dish cooked by Tujia people for the New Year. Eight-Treasure Mixed Dish is made by boiling radish, tofu, potato, Chinese cabbage, garlic, pork, and other ingredients together and then freezing it. Cooking multiple ingredients together makes the dish flavorful and delicious, and it also carries auspicious meanings such as "abundant harvest of the five grains" and "family reunion." There is also a legend about Eight-Treasure Mixed Dish. It is said that the Tujia king was constantly fighting campaigns north and south and never had ample time to sit down and savor the various dishes prepared by his chefs, but he also wanted to taste the flavors of all kinds of dishes, so he ordered that all kinds of ingredients be cut into small pieces and cooked together in one pot. The chefs had no choice but to comply. Unexpectedly, the dish made this way was extremely delicious. Later it evolved into a unique dish eaten by Tujia people during the New Year, named "Eight-Treasure Mixed Dish," and was endowed with various auspicious meanings.
2. Baba (Glutinous Rice Cakes). Baba, among the Tujia people, is both a seasonal food and a food for social rituals and customs, containing multiple auspicious meanings. In different ritual customs, the baba used differs in preparation, symbolic meaning, and name. The baba used for the New Year is called nianbaba (New Year cake), the baba used to sacrifice to the Earth God is called shebaba, the baba used to sacrifice to the Five Grains on the Lantern Festival is called fifteen baba, and so on. These are described separately below.
Nianbaba. Nianbaba is an auspicious food made by the Tujia people for the New Year. Generally, the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month is the day for "pounding nianbaba," known as the "nianbaba pounding day." There is a Tujia proverb: "Pound on the seventh, not on the eighth," meaning to pound nianbaba on the twenty-seventh. Nianbaba has many methods of pounding, many styles, and many symbolic meanings. First, the plough-hook twisted baba, which is a nianbaba shaped like a ploughshare tilling the field. Steamed glutinous rice is poured into a stone trough and pounded with a wooden pestle until mashed, then taken out and placed on a table, where a large round baba the size of a vegetable plate is kneaded
, then a small baba the size of a bowl rim is kneaded and stacked on top of it, then a lump of glutinous rice is kneaded into the shape of a ploughshare and placed on top of the small baba, and a "plough-hook twisted baba" is made. The large baba symbolizes a paddy field, the small baba symbolizes a cow's back, and with the "ploughshare" added, it means the cow ploughs the field, not forgetting the cow's contribution in a bumper year, and praying for another good harvest in the coming year. This kind of nianbaba is used to feed the cow on New Year's Eve night, to thank the cow for a year's labor. Second, magpie baba. A lump of glutinous rice is placed at one end of the plough-hook twisted baba, symbolizing the magpie's beak. This kind of nianbaba is called "magpie baba," meaning that magpies love to perch on the cow's back to peck away the lice on the cow's body. Third, fire-rope baba and whetstone baba. Glutinous rice is rolled into the shape of the "fire rope" made from ignited mugwort, becoming "fire-rope baba." Whetstone baba is baba shaped like a long whetstone. These are two kinds of baba symbolizing the slash-and-burn production labor of the Tujia ancestors. The fire rope was used to ignite fire in slash-and-burn cultivation, and the whetstone was used to sharpen knives during slash-and-burn cultivation. These two kinds of baba carry the meaning of commemorating the ancestors' arduous pioneering work, and must be eaten only after the ancestor sacrifice. There are also particular ways of eating them: fire-rope baba must be roasted by the fire pit before eating, meaning the fire rope was used to set fire to the mountain; whetstone baba must be fried in oil until golden brown and crispy before eating, meaning the whetstone was used to sharpen the knives for slash-and-burn cultivation. Putting it into the oil pot symbolizes sharpening the knife with water, and the oil symbolizes the whetstone water.
Fifteen Baba. Fifteen baba is a kind of baba made during the Lantern Festival, made from corn paste with filling. The Tujia people use fifteen baba to sacrifice to the Five Grains God, to predict the amount of rain in each month of the year, and to pray for a good harvest. After the ancestor sacrifice is completed, each household gives fifteen baba to one another, expressing unity and friendship and foretelling a bumper harvest of the five grains that year. The method of making fifteen baba is: soak corn, then grind it into granules, remove the bran husk, soak again, grind with a stone mill into paste, put the paste in a wooden basin, cover with gauze, spread a layer of plant ash on the gauze to absorb moisture. After leaving it for five or six hours, uncover the gauze, and use the half-dry corn paste to shape round baba one by one, each baba filled in the center with a filling made of shredded meat, dried tofu, and pickled vegetables. Then put them into a steamer to steam. In the first tier, place 12 baba, symbolizing the 12 months of the year, each baba symbolizing one month, and mark them and arrange them in order, pressing a hollow into each baba with the thumb. After steaming, uncover the lid and see how much water has accumulated in each hollow. Whichever baba's hollow has more accumulated water indicates that the month it represents will have more rain; whichever baba's hollow has less accumulated water indicates that the month it represents will have less rain, and that month may have drought. This process of steaming baba is an activity with the nature of magical divination. Before giving away or eating the fifteen baba, these baba must be placed outside the door to sacrifice to Heaven and Earth and to the Five Grains God.
Ear Baba. Ear Baba is a auspicious food used by the Tujia people during weddings. About half a month before the young man and woman marry, the man's family makes glutinous rice cakes as big as a large bowl, carries them in baskets to the woman's home. The number of cakes depends on the number of direct relatives in the woman's family; regardless of adults or children, each person must have at least two cakes, and they must be in even numbers, never odd. After the Ear Baba is delivered to the woman's home, it is then distributed by the woman's family to various relatives. Ear Baba is a token of engagement; after eating Ear Baba, the marriage of the young couple is considered publicly announced. Ear Baba serves to announce the marital relationship and is a auspicious symbol of the couple becoming husband and wife. The Tujia people also have a legend about eating Ear Baba. It is unknown in which dynasty or era, a young man had been engaged to a woman for several years and wanted to marry sooner, so he asked a matchmaker to send gifts to the woman's family on the Dragon Boat Festival and discuss the wedding date. However, the woman's mother insisted on keeping her daughter for another two years before marrying. The matchmaker returned with the message, but the young man happened to be somewhat deaf and misheard it as the daughter would marry after the New Year. In the twelfth lunar month, he specially cut a piece of cured pig ham with the tail attached, wrapped the foot in red paper, and sent it to the woman's family. According to Tujia custom, sending a ham with a pig tail in the twelfth lunar month means the daughter can only spend one more New Year at her parents' home. When the daughter's mother saw this gift, she scolded the son-in-law: "Where are your ears? Did you make them into baba and eat them?" The son-in-law was clever and did not reply. He returned home, milled several loads of glutinous rice, made baba as big as a large bowl, carried a load to the woman's village, and starting from the woman's home, gave out the baba, two to each person, to all close relatives. The baba symbolized ears, and two baba symbolized two ears. After the relatives ate the proposal baba sent by the son-in-law, they persuaded the woman's mother to marry her daughter to him that year. Over time, the Tujia people developed the custom of sending baba for proposals, and based on the mother's words "made ears into baba and ate them," they called the proposal baba "Ear Baba."
Bowing to Father-in-Law Baba. During the Tujia New Year, when a son-in-law and daughter-in-law visit the father-in-law, they send a type of rice baba called Bowing to Father-in-Law Baba. The rice baba is stamped with various auspicious patterns. When visiting the father-in-law on the third and fourth days of the New Year, bringing this baba signifies the daughter and son-in-law's happy married life. If there are multiple sons-in-law, the eldest son-in-law should bring baba stamped with the "Two Dragons Playing in the Sea" pattern, the second son-in-law should bring baba stamped with the "Golden Phoenix Holding the Sun" pattern, and the third son-in-law should bring baba stamped with the "Mandarin Ducks Playing in Water" pattern. These patterns all imply harmony and happiness between husband and wife. Giving this baba to the father-in-law undoubtedly has the meaning of reassuring him.
3. Gold Wrapped in Silver. Gold Wrapped in Silver is rice steamed with cornmeal and rice. Corn is golden yellow, rice is white, and the two combined are called Gold Wrapped in Silver. In the past, the Tujia people had to eat Gold Wrapped in Silver rice during the New Year to attract gold and silver, and for wealth and prosperity.
4. Blood Tofu. Blood tofu is a sacred item for Tujia ancestor worship and also a delicious dish. Blood tofu is made from pig blood and tofu. Using blood tofu for ancestor worship is a custom formed under the influence of ancient blood sacrifice traditions, containing remnants of blood sacrifice. When slaughtering pigs for the New Year, catch the pig blood in a basin, then soak tender tofu in the blood, mix and knead evenly. After freezing, knead the blood-mixed tofu into balls, place them on a wooden rack over the fire pit, and let them be smoked and roasted daily until they become hard, turning into blood tofu. When cooking, cut the blood tofu into slices, fry them in oil in a pan, and add chili, ginger, pepper, and other seasonings. The cooked blood tofu is complete in color, aroma, and taste, very delicious. In addition, the Tujia people have another food custom related to blood sacrifice, eating blood hongzi, which I will mention here. When the Tujia slaughter the New Year pig, they must invite guests to eat "blood hongzi." Blood hongzi is pig blood. When slaughtering the pig, sprinkle chili powder, Sichuan pepper, salt, and other seasonings into a wooden basin, let the pig blood flow into the basin, then mix with the seasonings. After the blood coagulates, cut it into large pieces with a knife and boil them in a pot. When eating, cut into small pieces, put them in a pot with scallions, garlic, and other seasonings, and stir-fry. The pig blood prepared this way is fresh, tender, and tasty.
4. She Rice. On the She Day in the second lunar month, the Tujia people perform the "Sheba Ri," a hand-waving dance for ancestor worship, and also cook "She Rice" to sacrifice to the She deity. She Rice is a unique Tujia dish combining vegetables and rice. Wild mugwort and wild chive collected from the mountains are washed and chopped finely; the wild mugwort and chive are used to stir-fry fatty cured meat, giving a unique flavor. Then cook non-glutinous rice until half-cooked, add glutinous rice, and when the glutinous rice is half-cooked, drain the rice soup, add the cured meat stir-fried with wild mugwort and chive, mix well, cover the pot, and simmer over low heat until a golden-brown crust forms. She Rice is made from multiple ingredients and is delicious. She Rice is first used to sacrifice to the She deity, then eaten by the whole family. In some places, people eat beside the Earth God temple, meaning to accompany the She deity in the She meal.