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Shaoyang Spirit In Huayao Marriage Customs

Source:Shaoyang International CultureWriter:OfficeTime:2013-12-30Clicks:

Source: Artistic Collection
Author: Hui Chugui
 
Huayao is an old branch of Yao nationality, inhabiting Yao Nationality Town in the Tiger-shaped Mountains, Xiaoshajiang Town, Matangshan Town and Dashuitian Town of Longhui County. Despite a small population of less than ten thousand, Huayao has a broad and profound culture of its own nationality. In particularly, the spiritual essence contained in its folk customs just shows clearly the vital features of Shaoyang spirit: stressing on trustworthiness and righteousness, daring to be pioneering, being civilized and open, being practical and striving for the better. Due to the limited space, this essay only covers bits of Huayao marriage customs, from which the whole picture will be seen.
First, Huayao’s monogamy shows the spirit of stressing on trustworthiness and righteousness.
Huayao marriage is based on monogamy since ancient times. The people uphold each other’s loyalty and devotion. Once a couple get married, they will never separate, whether rich or poor, healthy or ill. They will attend to each other until their death. In Huayao’s community, divorce is as difficult as climbing up to heaven, let alone marrying a woman as a concubine. It is also a shameful thing, because divorce is regarded as turning against love, marriage and conscience. It is even thought of as an evil against righteousness. Each other’s parents will never agree. Even though the wife is unable to produce a baby, divorce will not happen. It can be proved by the words in a Huayao folksong “ we are connected when alive and dead; our connection lasts for a hundred years.”
Besides, in believable historical writing, evidences are also found that Huayao people insist on monogamy. In The Pedigree Of Feng Clan compiled in the first year of Emperor Xianfeng (1851), there is no record that a husband has two wives, or a man has two children borne by two women, one as wife and the other as concubine.
Second, that Huayao people are the first to carry out monogamy embodies the spirit of daring to be pioneering.
Monogamy is “single-partner marriage”, that is, one husband with one wife. Its opposite is polygamy. In China, it was not until the period of the Republic of China that monogamy was established by law. However, monogamy as a stable marriage system was established by Huayao long, long ago. It is not a law, but a rule or a custom developed by practice among Huayao people.  In his book The Cultural History Of Yao Nationality ( published by Yunnan Publishing House), a famous scholar Xu Zuxiang states, “the forefathers of Yao began to put monogamy into practice when they lived on the midstream of the Changjiang River.” He says very certainly, “Monogamy was established among Yao people. During the Song Dynasty, their marriage was mainly monogamy.” Its evidences can be found in some other old books like General Textual Research Of Documents and A Survey Of Folkways In Guangxi.
Third, that Huayao people determine to be in love by antiphonic singing reflects the spirit of being civilized and open.
Huayao people, whether man or woman, hold civilized, liberal and open ideas when seeking marriage. Young people seek love freely, boldly and passionately. They will not just obey their parents. They will not put stress on equal family conditions. They just focus on heart-to-heart love. No matchmaker is required to bridge each other’s love. Nor is a ceremony needed to set their love relationship. Only when a couple are sure that they are in love with each other and decide to get married, is a go-between asked to plead to the girl’s parents for marriage. During breaks of farming work or leisure time, young people will sing songs to communicate and exchange feelings.Young men will compete to sing to the girl they love. They express their heart boldly by singing so as to look for genuine love and happiness.
In fact, in the whole course from falling in love to getting married, parents never interfere about what kind of son-in-law or daughter-in-law they must get. What the young couple say means everything. What parents should do is just to prepare the wedding feast wholeheartedly. Their civilization, openness, democracy and freedom are admirable.
Fourth, Huayao’s marriage system displays the spirit of being practical and striving to be the better.
Huayao people implement a strict marriage system. As far as nationality is concerned, marriage has to take place within their nationality, and it never happens beyond. As far as family name is concerned, marriage has to be carried out beyond a clan, and a couple of the same surname can never get married.
What is the reason?
It was not that they did not understand the reason that coss-race marriage would ensure the health and intelligence of their offspring and the union of different nationalities. It was that they were forced to do so by bitter sufferings throughout history. In the feudal society in which exploitation, racial discrimination and even racial extinction were going on, they met with the danger to national survival. They did not trust other nations. Marriage to those from different nations ment that their nationality would be assimilated and weakened, so that the whole nationality would become extinct essentially. In time of emergency, it ment that spies would sneak in and cause a thorough military defeat and even a racial extinction. So their nationality-within marriage system was an effective decision for self-preservation and self-improvement.
At the same time, clan-beyond marriage system was practiced to overcome the weakness of nationality-within marriage and to ensure the quality of population and the vitality of development. Men and women of the same clan can not get married. Even a couple’s love within a clan is prohibited. Otherwise, they will be seriously punished. Huayao’s marriage is a perfect practice for their nationality becoming strong.   ( translated by Yi Daoqun )