When I interviewed in Zhongdian, Yunnan, I found an interesting story about the landlord Xia Na's family. Three generations of women in the family are called Zhuoma: Zhuoma, Zhuoma and Zhuoma, all of which are short for Zhuoma. "Zhuo Ma" means "Tara" in Tibetan and is a beautiful goddess, so women like to use this auspicious name.
Many Tibetans have the same name. In order to distinguish them, people often add surnames before their names. However, people with the same name and surname in a family often take their own nicknames. For example, the three generations of Zhuo Ma in Xia family can also be called "Zhe Zhuo" and "La Zhuo" respectively.
The grandmother with the highest status in the family-Dingzhu Zhuo Ma.
Among Tibetan families in Zhongdian, the status of the elderly is the highest. Lord Zhuo Ma is 75 years old and has lived under one roof for four generations. Because all her children and grandchildren are perfect, the situation at home is getting better every year. The old man no longer cares about anything at home, and burning incense for the shrine is her only task. Every morning, after the old man finished his work solemnly and seriously, he sat by the fireplace playing with butter tea and kneading it. Sometimes if she has a problem with the younger generation, she will teach a few words loudly.
The old man is behind his fireplace. Early collectors' fireplaces stayed on all night, and even in winter, old people's houses were baked warmly all day. Now the concept has changed. In order to save firewood, filial children and grandchildren spread carpets in the old man's room and added electric blankets to the bed.
In the evening, the old people like to tell stories to their great-grandchildren and sometimes argue with them naively. She often sits quietly, twirling beads and chanting. Most Tibetan elderly people are as pious as Zhuo Ma, and spend their old age peacefully, which is not only healthy but also longevity.
The old man has a strong personality. 1997 During the Spring Festival, I went to attend the wedding of the old man's grandson, Nong Buqilin. At that time, the old man was ill, but she thought it was a big event at home. As a grandmother, how can I lie down From beginning to end, the old man just sat by the fireplace with his sick body for two whole days.
Xia family has a characteristic, and the family has always been a husband. Zhuo Ma's adult, her grandmother and mother are both husbands, and her daughter, August 3rd, is Zhuo Ma's husband and son-in-law. There were four boys in Nong Bu Qilin's generation, so the boss was allowed to stay at home and marry. Zhongdian Tibetans have no idea that men are superior to women in marriage. Regardless of gender, the boss stays at home to inherit the family business, and the younger brother and sister get married or become a monk. Daughters are particularly favored in the family, and some family bosses send their sons to become monks to marry their daughters. Therefore, marriage through adoption is quite common, and those who marry through adoption do not feel discriminated against. In Zhongdian Tibetan, "Sen" means marriage, and "Guan" means marriage, which means there is a difference between "going out" and "going in". Both men and women use "Guan" when they get married, and they all say "Sen" when they get married. When describing marriage behavior, there is no deliberate distinction between marrying a woman and adopting a son-in-law because of gender differences, just like Chinese. How to coordinate the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law has always been a headache for traditional China families. The popular adoption marriage here avoids the big problems that are often faced, and the family relationship is very harmonious.
Zhuo Ma's husband, Najie, is 78 years old and lives in the home of his son Jerome Dunzhu next door. The two old people have three daughters and two sons. Except that Zhuoma stayed at home and married her husband, and Jung Dunzhu got married and started a family, the rest were "married" outside. Almost all Tibetan families in this area are men who farm, chop wood, graze in alpine pastures or go out for business. Women are responsible for housework, raising livestock and managing fields.
Zhuo Ma, the decision-maker in the family, is here.
Here, Zhuo Ma is a housewife, and this role is generally called "Boda" in Zhongdian Tibetan. "Boda" is responsible for controlling the family economy, arranging a year's life, and is also the cook of the whole family. Besides burning fire in the morning, mother cooks four steps a day. However, Zhuo is not at home these days. She and her husband Basang went to the summer hot pool for the annual bathing festival. I found it with Nong Buqilin.
There are many hot springs near Zhongdian, among which Xiagei Hot Spring has the largest area. After the Spring Festival, the family is more relaxed, and Tibetans come here to spend the bathing festival. Everyone took a cooker, set up a tent and lived in a hot pool for a week, taking a bath, chatting, eating and drinking happily every day. Of course, not every family has time to spend a relaxing bathing festival. Many Tibetans just spend a day or two taking a bubble bath.
On the way to Xiagei, Nongbu said to me, "My mother has never bathed in an overheated pond before. In the past two years, my sister-in-law has had a good effect and some leisure. She is still there for more than ten days this year! " As soon as I got to the hot pool, I saw caves and hot springs everywhere on the hillside. There is a mass of white fog on it, wrapping the human body, and the clouds are transpiration and looming. Everyone has a red silk scarf tied to his head, floating around in the white fog, like a fairyland.
Nong Buqilin and I found his parents in the tent group near the hot pool. As soon as I went in, many people sat inside chatting. "Ah, the Kagyu Sect, Bubu came back for two weeks, but I couldn't see ABBA and AMBA. So you came here. I don't want a son when I take a shower! " Nong Bu Qilin teased his parents.
Indeed, as Nong Buqilin said, this once "Po" is really carefree today. 1963, Zhuoma 18 years old married Basang. In Xia 'na, everyone said that Zhuo Ma was the most capable and famous "Puda" that year. She recalled that there was always endless pain in those days: "Grandma was sick all over, and Mamai (Zhongdian Tibetan: Grandma) was in poor health and was old. At home, the old and the young have too many cakes and not enough food. Working in the production team from morning till night and taking care of a large family at night, it is still very hard to turn like a linear hammer all day! The truth is bitter, you can't say it during the day, but you can only wipe your tears at night. Several children didn't study hard and grew up in the sheepfold unconsciously. "
Zhuo Ma smiled when he talked about it. Yes, she really should be happy now. My sons are so capable, and I have a good daughter-in-law, Zhuo Ma, who is diligent and capable and does all the housework well. Everyone in the village said that Aunt Zhuo Ma was blessed. She used to suffer, but now she suffers!
The housekeeper of the family-Laron Zhuo Ma
Zhuo Ma's eldest sister-in-law, is really the busiest person in Xia's family, and she does most of the things at home. Although "Boda" is still her mother-in-law, in fact, she is mainly planning. Her husband Chuchu is away doing business all the year round. Tibetan men here are only representatives of a family outside, and women are the actual parents and hold the economic power. Now that Laura is in power, everything at home depends on her arrangement.
In the morning, before we woke up, my sister-in-law Rajo got up. She made a fire in the fireplace first, then went to fetch water and took time to burn incense in the mulberry trees on the top wall of the gate. Mulberry is a small stone platform with a roof to protect against rain and snow. Laho lit a fire on the mulberry with a Song Ming, then added some pine needles, emitted a clear smoke, and sprinkled some zanba and water to ward off evil spirits and pray.
After burning incense, she went back to the house to make breakfast. Clean up after breakfast, and then start cooking pig food and simmering cow water. These jobs are enough for her. Usually, her mother-in-law Zhuo Ma is here to help her. My mother-in-law is not at home these two days, and all the housework is to help Zhuo Yi people.
After feeding the livestock, she took her children Tudan Zeng and Shi Zhi Nuojie to work in the fields. I followed with Nong Bu Qilin. Rajo panicked, blushed and repeatedly said, "No, no, the two uncles are having a tea break. How can we ask you to work in the fields? " Nong Buqilin explained that he had been out all the time and was unfamiliar with farm work at home, so he had to find a way. We came to the fields with Zhuo Ma, and nothing was planted in the fields in winter. I just plowed and raked some time ago, and I didn't start farming until March. The work to be done today is to fatten abel tamata.
Rajo told us that there are some kinds of crops besides buckwheat at home now. Although it is not very profitable to grow food now, it is a fundamental thing, and this crop still needs to be planted. After working in the field, Rajo began to cook lunch again. After dinner, she knitted Cooking again. Making a blanket means a blanket. Weaving is a traditional craft of Tibetans in Zhongdian. Wool is woven into thick blankets and mats on special looms. In the past, the Tibetan people in Zhongdian used wool to weave. Today, I saw that Rajo used some colorful thick wool. She explained to me, "If there are no sheep at home, there will be no wool. These are acrylic threads, which were bought in the city. The knitted wool is beautiful and strong! " Rajo spent a little time knitting, and later, she had to take care of animals again.
It's winter now. Yaks have no forage and produce less milk. Usually, the milk squeezed for a few days is mixed together to make ghee. Laho milks the yak gently, and he has to sing to it in order to calm it down. After milking, she mixed it with the milk saved a few days ago and heated it in a pot. The heat should be controlled, it is not hot at all, and it is not cold at all. After heating, pour the milk into the "Wang Nuo" (milk bucket). The milk bucket is made of sawdust, about one meter high, and the diameter of the bucket is thirty or forty centimeters. Then stir vigorously with a milk stick. These tasks are very heavy. When Lahore stirred, he sang "The Milk Beating Song":
"A few plus epicenter a few yo.
Janie yangdang Niyo
Song Yang, Song Jia
On that day, the epicenter was yo ... "
It means: stir happiness once, stir happiness twice, stir happiness three times, stir happiness four times ... put a basin next to the milk bucket and fill it with clear water. Rajo played for about half an hour, and after singing "Beating Milk Song" for more than ten times, the fat in the milk began to float. The diameter of the milk bucket is not large, and the fat immediately accumulates a small layer. I saw her pick up the oil and knead it into a ball and throw it into the basin. Seeing enough oil floating in the basin, Rajo fished it out in cold water and pinched it. At the same time, he beat hard and turned with his hands to knead the ghee into a flat cake. Today, oil is still abundant, and Zhuo Ma even pinched two pieces of ghee. She told me:
"If you want to continue milking before, then squeeze out some oil and make as much ghee as possible, so that even the milk residue is dry. Now that life is good, leave some oil in the milk residue! " Beat the butter, put the remaining milk in the pot, heat it slightly, and then start to precipitate. Then turn off the fire and add a ladle of yogurt water for fermentation. He took some branches and put them on the pot, and covered them with a special blanket.
In his spare time, Rajo began to clean his room. After about two hours, she put a big bamboo bucket on the bucket, scooped out the milk from the pot and filtered it with a bamboo bucket. She formed a tofu-shaped inverted cone-shaped milk residue at the bottom of the bamboo bucket, took out the fresh milk residue that was still shaking and put it on the milk residue rack above the fire pit. At this point, you are finished. In a few days, the smoke will spread a black hard shell on the milk residue, and the milk residue will harden.
After milking and milk residue, the cows released during the day should be put in the cowshed to feed the animals ... After that, it's time for dinner, and Rajo is busy again. Her footsteps almost always trot between the house and the yard. After dinner, we were all resting and chatting, and Rajo began to knit silently next to us again. ...