The saying "never go out seven times and never come home eight times" comes from the Tujia people:
Taboo culture has a long history in our country. This kind of culture differs depending on the region and ethnicity. The taboos in the production and life of the Tujia people in the deep interior are an epitome of this.
In their long-term production activities, the Tujia people have given a mysterious connotation to some incomprehensible natural and cultural phenomena. This mysterious connotation has become a taboo in the production and life of the Tujia people.
Agriculture has been dominant in the Tujia area for a long time, which has resulted in some taboos related to agricultural production. For example, it is strictly forbidden to use cattle during Qingming Festival, Beginning of Summer, and April 8th. The cattle should be allowed to rest, otherwise the cattle will get sick and affect agricultural production. At the same time, there are many taboos when planting on cultivated land. For example, "Yang Rooster" does not cultivate. Do not work in the fields during "Wu", because "Wu" has the same pronunciation as "Wu", which means that working during "Wu" may hinder the growth of crops. The Tujia people also have many taboos when feeding livestock. When raising livestock such as pigs and cattle, the Tujia people need to look at their physical appearance. Pigs with inverted spins and five claws should not be raised. Female buffaloes with five milks are also taboo. Because of the proverb "Wuruisha, if you don't die, you will lose your family", people have to stay away from it.
In the Tujia area, people attach great importance to Feng Shui and pay a lot of attention to it when building a house and choosing a house site. When choosing a house location, Tujia people avoid having a trough in front of the house and no "mountain behind" the house. Because there is a proverb in the Tujia area: If there is a trough in front of the house, if you don't file a lawsuit, you will go to jail.
In daily life, Tujia people also have various taboos. According to the month, there are: no eagles hunting birds in the first month, no dogs crotching in February, no snakes having sex in March, no couples in April, no river fish picked up in May, and no undershirts picked up in June. At the same time, there is also the saying of seven bees, eight monsters and nine plagues, that is, you are afraid of bees coming to your home in August and September. In the Tujia area, people call July the day of the dead. Therefore, there are taboos about not sitting on the big threshold in July and children not having their heads shaved. Sitting on a large threshold is said to block the souls of the "dead" from returning home, and shaving children's heads is said to cause sores. For women, pregnant women (called four-eyed people in Tujia) cannot see new things, because the eyes of the "four-eyed people" are the most powerful, and they will suffer from this or that trouble after seeing it. A mother and her child cannot go to other people's homes before they are one month old. It is said that people who come to a home with an "empty stomach" will have bad luck. Women are not allowed to step over men's poles. If they do, it will be bad luck for men. For those who go out as a layman, there are seven cases where they don’t go out, eight times they don’t come back, and nine or nine times when they go out, there are a lot of them. That is to say, don’t go out on the seventh day, don’t go home on the eighth day, and go out on the ninth day. Snake days in January, April, July and October, rooster days in winter months, and ox days in March, June, September and twelfth lunar month are regarded as "red evil days" in the Tujia area. It is forbidden to travel far during these days. Because there is a saying that "if you encounter a red evil spirit when you go out, you will definitely not return home." Other aspects include: Children do not need to point at the moon. If they do, the moon will come down and cut your ears when you are asleep.