1. Residence
The Tujia people "must choose high mountains to live". Dozens or hundreds of households with the same surname often gather together to form a village. Tujia people mostly live in the mountains, while Hakka people mostly live outside the mountains. During the Tusi period, only the chieftains, sheba, clan chiefs and other local officials built wooden houses with carved beams and painted columns. However, the ordinary local people mostly plaited bamboo walls and built houses with thatch. If they built a house with tiles, it would be a crime of trespassing.
There is an ancestor's shrine on the front of the main room, and there are side rooms on both sides for people to live in.
There is a fire pit in the front of the side room and a tripod to hold the pot for cooking.
The side room near the roof is made of bamboo, and a wooden frame is hung at the bottom.
The bamboo buildings and wooden frames use the heat from the fire pit to bake grain, meat, firewood, etc.
Tujia houses are mostly built with wooden tiles and wooden tiles in the style of "diaojiaolou", with people living upstairs and raising livestock or stacking fertilizers and firewood downstairs.
The Miao family likes to live together, with one surname and one village, or several surnames in one village. There are two types of living rooms, one is the extremely simple so-called three pillars reaching the sky, the "eight" character wood, and the roof. The other type of thatched house is a stilted house which is better.
Livestock are raised downstairs and people live upstairs.
On one side of the main room is a fire house with a fire pit and a built-in tripod for cooking or cooking. Behind the fire pit is a house god enshrined. The suite in the fire pit room is where the family’s seniors live.
2. Clothing
Tujia people "men and women have hanging sideburns, wear short clothes with bare legs, and wear cloth to cover their foreheads, and they like to wear stained clothes."
In the past, "men's and women's clothing was divided into rich and poor. The poor only had enough to cover their bodies, and the rich wore summer fur and winter fur."
" The clothing materials worn by Tujia people were generally self-woven and self-made. The dyed homespun cloth is called "Xi cloth" and "Dong cloth" in history books, and is mostly green and blue.
Clothing style: Young men mostly wear double-breasted shorts. There are also those who wear "pipa lapel".
Women's clothing is all coats with large sleeves, and the trouser legs are also particularly large; the cuffs and trouser leg openings are decorated with lace about five inches wide, in the same color as the cuffs and trouser leg openings. Women generally do not have their feet bound. Men and women like to wrap their heads and wear long black or white handkerchiefs, which are inseparable in all seasons.
The headband is more than ten feet long and is twisted into a "herringbone" pattern. A double-breasted short coat and a black cloth coat hanging separately are called "crow and magpie coats".
Wrap legs with cloth and seldom wear shoes.
The Miao people wear a variety of clothing. Women's clothing generally has collarless tops, large and short sleeves, and knee-length clothing, which is known as "covering shame in the front and covering the ditch in the back" with colored cloth as outer cover. The shoulders are supported, the cuffs and placket are all lace, and the bottoms are trousers and skirts. The trousers are large and short, inlaid with lace. The skirts are mostly pleated skirts with very dense straps. The skirts are ankle-length and trousers are worn inside.
In men’s clothing, the elderly wear collarless clothes, right sided lapels, and like to wear belts. Young people usually wear double lapels, with 7 or 9 buttons, long sleeves and small mouths. Men and women usually have their heads wrapped. Old people like cyan, and young people like it. White. The headscarf is longer and often wrapped into a large plate. Both men and women wear leggings. Women wear more gold and silver jewelry, necklaces, etc.
3. Food
Due to its special geographical environment, Enshi’s local food has both Shu spicy characteristics and Xiaoxiang salty and spicy style. In particular, the local snacks with Tujia and Miao characteristics have attracted many tourists, such as slag, bacon, dried potatoes, etc.
Tujia people mainly eat miscellaneous grains, such as corn, millet, buckwheat, red sweet potato, etc., and eat less rice. He likes fishy smell and likes drinking. It is considered sincerity to treat guests with large pieces of meat. If you chop it too finely, you will be ridiculed as stingy and stingy.
Drinking with earthenware bowls. Regarding the five flavors, I especially like spicy food. I eat chili pepper every meal, and I also have the habit of drinking oil tea.
That is to say, "Tujia people use fried soybeans, corns, rice crackers, soy milk, sesame seeds, mung beans and other things, get water and oil, and pay tribute tea leaves to make soup, and pay tribute to the guests.
"In the old days, there was still the custom of sipping wine.
The Miao diet is mostly based on corns and potatoes, with less rice.
They like to eat hot and sour food and like to drink alcohol. They often entertain guests with wine during weddings and weddings or guests of relatives and friends.
Extended information:
Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (referred to as Enshi Prefecture) is an autonomous prefecture and prefecture-level administrative region in Hubei Province. It is located in the southwest of Hubei Province, between Hubei, Hunan, and The intersection of three provinces (cities) in Chongqing is located at 108°23′12″-110°38′08″ east longitude and 29°07′10″-31°24′13″ north latitude. Enshi Prefecture was established on August 19, 1983. It is the only ethnic minority autonomous prefecture in Hubei Province, with 29 ethnic groups including Tujia, Miao, Dong, Han, Hui, Mongolian, Yi, Naxi and Zhuang.
Reference materials:
Baidu Baiken Shi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture