Hui People Customs and Culture
Hui People Customs and Culture
Hui People Customs and Culture
Hui ethnic group is China's most widely distributed ethnic minority, with a sizeable population of 9.8 million. Most of them inhabit in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwestern China, and there are many concentrated Hui communities in Gansu, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Hebei, Henan, Yunnan and Shandong Provinces.
Chinese is the shared language of Hui people. However, they also retain some words of Arabic and Farsi in daily interaction and religious activities. Hui people living in bordering areas of China often use the language of local ethnic minorities.
The habitation of Hui people is characterized by small scale concentration and wide distribution. The Hui people observe Islamic religion, which has a deep influence in their daily life. Usually a mosque is built and becomes the symbol of architecture in large Hui communities.
Costumes
Hui costumes are under deep influence of Islamism. Men usually wear the Hui style hat, which are small black-colored and white-colored hats without brims; most of the Hui men like to wear white ones. Some of them do not wear hats and instead they wrap their heads with white towels or cloth. There are also some others who wear pentagonal, hexangular or Octagonal hats, as a result of the different branches of Islam they believe in and different places they live in. They like to wear double-breasted white shirts, and some even like to wear white trousers and socks to make them look very tidy, bright and solemn.
Women usually wear white round-edged hats and veils on their heads. Normally the young girls wear green veils with golden edges as well as simple and elegant embroidered patterns of flowers and grasses; the married women wear black veils which cover them from the heads until the shoulders; elderly women wear white ones which cover them from their heads to their backs. The Hui women usually wear side opening clothes; young girls and married women like to inlay threads, embed colors, make rolloffs and embroider flowers on their clothes.
History
Hui is the abbreviation of Huihui Nationality. Its ancestors were Huihui people who migrated to East China after the three expeditions by Mongol people in 13th century, and Muslim immigrates residing in the costal areas of Southeast China during the Tang (618 907 AD)and the Song Dynasty (960 1276 AD). Through long-time communication (such as intermarriage) with many other nationalities in history, Hui people gradually acquired the customs and living habits of Han, Mongol, and Uygur, and developed Huihui Nationality.
Eating Habits
The Hui people are widely distributed throughout China so their diets have developed differently. However, we can generally conclude their eating habits as having the following 3 features.
Firstly, the Hui people prefer wheaten food to rice food. Noodles are their staple food, and they make various dishes out of wheat flour. Secondly, sweet takes an important role, and this is probably related to Arabian Muslims' favor for sweet taste. Thirdly, under the influence of Islamism, there's large consumption of beef and mutton in their diet, and the meat of pig, dog, horse, donkey, mule and beasts of prey is forbidden.
The Hui people are relatively particular about beverages. They only drink water from a flowing or clean source. It is not acceptable for people to take a bath, wash clothes or pour dirty water around the sources of drinking water. The Hui people also like to drink tea and use it to treat their guests.
Taboos
The Hui people do not eat pork, dogs, horses, donkeys and mules. If animals are killed by people from other nationalities or die naturally, the Hui people should not eat them. Only those that are killed by the special cook or the imam from the mosque can be eaten. No jokes about food are acceptable, and any food that is unacceptable by the Hui people can not be used to make metaphors; for example, one should not say that the color of chili is as red as blood.
The Hui people always pay close attention to hygiene in their daily life. If it is possible, people should wash their hands both before and after meals using flowing water. Most of the Hui people do not smoke or drink. People cannot smoke or drink in other people's homes. One should not bare his or her bosom and arms in front of others. While dining together, the seniors should be invited to sit at the honorable seats, and juniors should not sit together with the seniors on the beds or Kang--hot rock bed, instead they should sit at the edge or just on benches on the floor.
Festivals
The Hui people have three main festivals: Hari Raya Puasa, Eid Al-Adha, and Mawlid an-Nabi. All the festivals and memorial days follow the Islamic calendar.
Hari Raya Puasa (Fast Ending Festival) is widely celebrated among the Islamic communities in China. The feast month of the Hui nationality, which is also called Ramadan, comes in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. The festival lasts for three days. On the first day as soon as the foredawn comes, people begin to prepare in a bustle. All families get up very early and then begin to clean the courtyard and laneways, in order to create an atmosphere of cleanness, comfort and pleasure to others. All people, including men and women, young and old wear their favorite new clothes. The mosques are all cleaned up during this festival. Big banners with slogans of Celebrating the Hari Raya Puasa Festival and colorful lanterns are hung there in the mosques.
Different minority will have differnt habits or festivals, take a Minority discovery tours to find more ethnic groups living style and customs.
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