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Young pick spouse as Yao custom
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Climbing on the balcony and courting for love is not Romeo’s exclusive strategy. Many young people of the Yao ethnic group also traditionally express their affection by climbing a ladder.
The Yao ethnic group, with a population of 2.6 million, is one of the most ancient minorities in China, and can be classified into many branches with different customs, lifestyles and manners.
Most Yao live in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and others are spread across the southern provinces of China, like Hunan, Yunnan and Guangdong. Some Yao also live in northern Thailand and northern Laos and Vietnam.
The Yao ancestry originated from the Wuling tribe in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC) and had the same origin as another ethnic group, the Miao. The Yao and Miao were not divided into two different ethnic groups until the Sui Dynasty (AD581-618). Due to reasons such as wars and climate, the Yao minority gradually migrated from the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River to southern China. Before the common use of the name “Yao” in 1949, they had many names, like Mian, Jinmen, Bunu, Lajia and Bingduoyou, which are homophonic with Yao in various dialects.
Because of wide distribution of the population, historical close relations with other ethnic groups and national fusion, Yao people in different areas today speak different languages, including the Yao, Miao, Zhuang and Dong languages, while Mandarin is still the most widely used language. The Yao people didn’t have a written language until 1982, when linguists of Minzu University of China created one based on the Latin alphabet.
Quite a number of Yao people are polytheists who worship nature, ancestors and totem. Legends say that the ancestor of the Yao people was a magic dog that killed the enemy for a king. He won the king’s daughter as promised, and went to live in seclusion. The dog turned into a human in the mountains and led a happy life, with his offspring becoming the Yao people. Therefore, dogs enjoy a high position in the Yao worship system. On important festivals, dogs traditionally lick foods before humans eat.
Taoism also holds a conspicuous position in Yao traditional ceremonies, like funeral and sacrificial rites, through which they hope to ward off demons and get good luck.
The Yao people have a lot of freedom to choose their lifelong partners in various traditional ways.
Pa lou (climbing the stairs) is a marriage custom among a particular branch of the Yao people named Cha Shan Yao. It is an ancient tradition that makes free-will marriage possible for the young.
According to custom, a father with a daughter will set a ladder against the characteristic local architecture, diaolou (a rectangular wood or bamboo house supported by pillars) when his daughter reaches marriage age. Those with a crush on the young lady will climb up to her boudoir at night instead of going through the front door, like Romeo did at Juliet’s balcony.
If the lady also has an affection for him, she will sing a love song as a response, which is regarded as a signal of consent to the young man’s courtship. The young man will respond with a song to show his love. Then they will exchange keepsakes, which symbolizes their permanent love. With this kind of singing, responding in turn, the youngsters can choose life partners freely without parents’ intervention.
Young people of the Yao ethnic group in Funing County often find their lifelong partner in a social activity called pao hua bao (throwing a flower bag filled with corn). The girls and boys throw and catch colorful, handmade bags to communicate with the opposite sex.
They can throw the bags to anyone to communicate. But when a pair has affection for each other, the girl will throw the bag directly to a boy as part of courting. And the boy will go to the girl’s parents and propose a marriage with the flower bag as evidence, accompanied by a matchmaker.
Most Yao people make a living through agriculture, with major crops being vegetables and corn, rice and taro. They also prefer home-brewed alcohol and pickled food that is often served at banquets.
Some Yao people begin every day with a cup of oil tea, made from tea leaves fried in oil.
Yao people prefer using mu zhen (a wooden container) to steam rice as a way to make the rice more palatable when heated.
Oil tea, home-brewed rice wine, ci ba (glutinous rice cakes) and zhu tong fan (rice cooked in bamboo tubes) are among the most common delicacies with which the Yao treat guests.
Niao zuo (preserved bird) is a special cuisine of the Yao. The feathers are removed from the birds and then they are dried and preserved with flour and salt before being sealed in an earthen jar for days. And various types of chrysalis, which is a hard-shelled pupa, are also popular foods among the people.
Yao women’s talent in embroidery, weaving and dyeing is often best expressed in their traditional costumes.
Men of the Yao ethnic groups usually wear collarless short shirts with long trousers, while women wear colorful blouses with pleated skirts decorated with handmade embroidery that is matched with attractive silver head adornments.
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