Tujia wedding night banquet is a cultural custom of the Tujia people living in Cengong County on wedding days. Cengong County is located in the northeast of Qiandongnan Prefecture, Guizhou Province, and in the eastern part of Guizhou Plateau. It is located in the middle of low mountains and hills in eastern Guizhou. The terrain slopes from northwest to southeast, and the terrain is higher in the northwest from Xiahuangtu to Xiaodingshan. Most of the county is low mountains and hills, with an area of 1,486.5 square kilometers. The county has 11 towns, 129 villages, and about 220,000 people. Among them, the Tujia people account for % of the total population. Cengong County is the main transportation route from East China and South China to the Southwest. The Hunan-Guizhou Railway, National Highway 320, the GZ65 Expressway under construction, and the Wuyang River pass through the county. Cengong County has low and medium hilly landforms, Cambrian karst geology, and a mid-subtropical to south-subtropical climate. There are two perennial rivers in the county, and it is a county where many ethnic groups such as Miao, Dong, Tujia, and Gelao live together. Cengong has a long history and is one of the earliest developed areas in Guizhou. From the Tang and Song Dynasties to the end of the Qing Dynasty, it was called Sizhou. It was once the Sizhou pacification office, the Xuanwei office and the seat of Sizhou Prefecture. In the rural areas of Yangqiao, Kelou, Zhuxi and other towns in the ancient Sizhou seat (now Cengong), there is a custom of eating night banquets on wedding days. In particular, the Tujia people in Yangqiao Tujia Township and Zhuxi Township are best at singing and drinking to celebrate the night until dawn. The local elderly people in their 80s and 90s still remember it vividly and can speak in words. It is said that the ancestors of the Tujia people, Tian, were known for their courage and strategy. They were ordered to subdue the rebels Wang Guiqian and Fu Shilu from the Nanman border. The 21st ancestor Tian Jinxian was awarded the Sizhou pacification envoy (1278 AD) and was ordered to attend the imperial court and be awarded the title of Ronglu. It was the wedding of the eldest son Weiyong, so a banquet was held to celebrate with singing and dancing until dawn. Since then, the Tian clan members living on both sides of the Longjiang River and the literati of the Dai clan in Zhongling (now Yangqiao Tujia Township) have used the festive day of marriage to show their talents, and through singing (drinking songs), couplets (couplets), and orders (drinking orders) to enhance the emotional exchange and understanding between relatives and friends, and they have written them into scripts and circulated them widely in the family. On every wedding day, after sunset, candles are lit, a banquet is held, and relatives are invited to celebrate the wedding. The content of the night banquet lyrics scripts scattered among the people is different and rich. Some scripts have become the crystallization of the collective wisdom of the Tujia people through continuous inheritance and modification. After tea and dinner, people on the mountains and down the mountains occasionally leisurely sing a few drinking songs. Luo Fengzhen, an 83-year-old man from Pingzhuang Township, can still remember it clearly and compose it into words. After years of development, the Tujia wedding night banquet has become a traditional folk cultural activity with local characteristics for the local people to celebrate and interact for a long time. On the day of the wedding, after dinner, at about 8 or 9 o'clock in the evening, the "night banquet" will be set up. The literati in the family will enhance the emotional exchanges between relatives and friends through singing (drinking songs), couplets (couplets), and orders (drinking orders). There are several guests from the dowry party (also known as Xizun or Huangke) and several banquets will be set up in the hall. The guests who come to send off the bride are half male and half female. One guest is placed at the top seat on each banquet table, accompanied by Hongye Gong (i.e. matchmaker). There are eight people at a table, and they are all selected from relatives and friends who understand etiquette, have knowledge, and are good at singing and drinking. Please ask a pot master to sit in the lower right corner of the table as the chief steward, and the other guests have certain rules for seating and take their seats according to etiquette. The delicacies on the banquet are the most abundant, and the table cannot be separated from a main dish "Bang". The number of dishes is an even number, ranging from 16 to 4 dishes. The form and content of the "Eat Night Banquet" are well-mannered, festive, and colorful. After the guests are seated, the matchmaker Hongye invites them to congratulate the bride and groom for three cups. After drinking the first cup, he says: There is a pair of beautiful mandarin ducks in front of the hall, a phoenix and a phoenix, the phoenix is like Zhou Gong Si, and the phoenix is like Zhou Wenwang. Congratulations to you two sisters for a long time. The second cup says: The hall is full of joy, the son and the wife are suitable for the family, a thousand-year good marriage is made by the wind, and a hundred-year good couple is made by nature. Congratulations to you two sisters for the mandarin ducks dancing and the phoenix singing. The third cup says: The magpie is chirping in front of the door, the candlelight in the bridal chamber last night is blooming, Guan Sui is happy today, the unicorn will surely boast in the future, congratulations to you two sisters for playing the zither and the harp, and being a good match for the family (or the dragon and phoenix candlelight in front of the hall, the branches and the tops report the three yuan, Wen Ding Jue Xiang will chant from now on, and the leaves will be auspicious for seven years to come, congratulations to you two sisters for being equal and rich). After the bride and groom thanked each other, everyone looked at (persuaded) each other to eat and drink. First, the host accompanied the guests to say the order, the first cup order: eight people sit in a square, eight plates are placed in the middle, one table drinks eight cups of wine, eight people celebrate forever; the second cup order: a table with four corners, gold cups and jade cups are placed in several layers, this table is well arranged, arranged for the dragon liver and the phoenix heart. Another order: a square table, four benches are arranged in the shape of mandarin ducks, jade plates are placed in the middle, and two happy cups of wine are poured. After three cups, it is time to eat and drink. The chief official said: "The birds are chirping in the back garden, the red phoenix has come to the host's house, all the relatives are sitting on the high platform, and the ivory chopsticks are blooming". The host's family accompanied the guests and said: "The flowers bloom on the shoulder and the shoulder is in the shadow. There is a reason why the flowers bloom in the garden. The kitchen officials have worked hard, and the flower cutters have worked hard. The ivory chopsticks are picked apart, and all the relatives are going together." And "The back of the black fish, the scales of the carp, the flowers on the scales are layered, the ivory chopsticks are picked apart, and the eight cave gods are serving dishes." When the wine is drunk to the second degree (that is, almost drunk), the men's table will give orders, the women's table will sing wine songs, and the fortune-telling activities will begin. According to the custom of the Tujia wedding, the first person to give orders is the Xizun. According to etiquette, Xizun was the first to speak out the command: "A willow by the river, leave it for the table to take away; if you leave the willow, you won't drink the wine, if you drink the wine, you won't leave the willow." Then the person who came out went to the shrine and took a bamboo incense stick and held it in his hand, and explained: This cup of wine represents the river, this incense stick represents a willow, and this willow is passed in turn through the right hand. Whoever gets the willow recites the command once, and passes it to the next person. After reciting it, put the willow on the table after passing it to everyone. After everyone at the table has recited the command, the person who started the command asks everyone to stretch out their palms and show their cards. Whoever has the willow in his hand will not drink the wine, and whoever doesn't has to drink a glass of wine as a penalty. The smart people at the table will quietly break off a small section in their palms when reciting the command, and pass the incense stick to the next person; those who don't understand will pass all the willows down, and if they don't have a willow in their hands, they will be fined a glass of wine. Then another person gave a command: "A pair of swallows by the pond, the swallows also fly to the pond, turning around and around, and still returning to the pond. If the table is aligned, no wine will be drunk, and three cups of wine will be drunk." The person who gave the command further explained: "This cup of wine represents the pond, and this pair of chopsticks represents a pair of swallows. After drinking the wine, it becomes the pond, and using chopsticks to pick up food is like the swallows flying. After everyone eats the food and puts the chopsticks on the table, it seems that the swallows have returned to the pond." After the explanation, everyone recited the command from left to right. You can't read it wrong, otherwise you will be fined a cup of wine. Finally, after reading the command, the person who gave the command will check whether the heads of the chopsticks placed on the table are aligned with the edge of the table. Those who are aligned with the table will not drink wine, and those who put the chopsticks into the table or beyond the table, that is, those who go in and out, will be fined to drink three cups of wine. This command is the same as the previous one. When the smart ones read the command, they quietly move the chopsticks to align with the edge of the table; those who don't understand, of course, can only drink a few more cups. Then they can give another command, and it is Hongyegong's turn to appear. He said: I will guess a word, and each word has its own meaning. This year, my husband will be promoted to a higher position. I did not bring any wealth, so I can only congratulate him with words. To guess the word "husband", you need to say four sentences. This word must have three characters with the same beginning and three characters with the same side, and the meanings must be connected, and the origin of the word cannot be broken." After the explanation, Hongye Gong was the first to speak: "Three characters with the same beginning mean a real man, and three characters with the same side mean sisters and aunts. With a real man, you will be worthy of sisters and aunts." Another person continued: "Three characters with the same beginning mean the people of the world, and three characters with the same side mean light wine and clear water. With light wine and clear water, you will get the people of the world." Another person said: "Three characters with the same beginning mean thunder, rain and snow, and three characters with the same side mean autumn rice straw. With thunder, rain and snow, there will be a good harvest of autumn rice straw." Everyone tried to match this kind of word-guessing order. If the person who follows the explanation does not drink, otherwise he will drink a glass of wine. At the female guests' table, it was also very lively, with singing and orders. The congratulatory orders they issued It goes: "The bamboo leaves are pointed, the bamboos are continuous, the bamboo shoots are edible, the bamboos are valuable, congratulations to the two sisters, they are both rich and noble". Then another person sang: "The wheat leaves are pointed, the wheat roots are continuous, the wheat is edible, the wheat flour is valuable, congratulations to the two sisters, they are reunited". Then another person sang: "The cotton fruits are pointed, the flowers are continuous, cotton is useful, and weaving is valuable, congratulations to the two sisters, they are happily married". Another person sang: "The lotus flowers are pointed, the lotus roots are continuous, the lotus flowers are beautiful, and the lotus roots are valuable, congratulations to the two sisters, they are in love". Those who can sing along do not drink, and those who cannot sing along happily drink up. There is also a fortune-telling order: "The two met in Lantian, a woman plowed half of the field, my king added two dots on his head, a thousand miles of fate tied them together. Wealth and honor, reunion of both parties". The answer is "husband, wife, righteousness, weight". After the riddle is solved, everyone at the table is offered a glass of wine. Another question and answer song is "What falls to the ground silently, what kind of friendship does it have, what kind of lover it becomes, true lover". The song goes: "White paper falls to the ground silently, it has a friendship with the pen, it writes a clever article, and the lover is a true lover". Another person joins in: "Hair falls to the ground silently, it has a friendship with the comb, it combs out a dragon plan, and the lover is a true lover". There is also a song: "The lamp wick falls to the ground silently, it has a friendship with the oil, it lights the lamp Shining on the Dragon and Phoenix Palace, love is true love". Another song goes: "Needle and thread fall to the ground silently, friendship with cloth, embroidered into a mandarin duck dragon quilt, love is true love" and so on. Eating "night banquet" has been passed down from generation to generation among the people. It originated from life, drew on the wisdom of the ancients, and continuously absorbed the essence and innovated it to be passed down to this day. There is no fixed form of inheritance. The script is mainly handwritten and mostly passed down orally. The most standardized inheritance of Tujia wedding night banquet in Cengong County is the Dai family Tujia people in Yangqiao Tujia Township and Zhuxi Township The Tian family, descendants of the Tusi in Yayuan Village. The Tian clan members living on both sides of the Longjiang River and the literati of the Dai family in Zhongling (now Yangqiao Tujia Township) used the festive day of the wedding to show their talents, and through singing (singing wine songs), couplets (playing couplets), and orders (playing wine orders) to enhance the emotional exchanges between relatives and friends, and wrote them into text scripts and circulated them widely in the family. It has lasted for 23 generations. The Tujia wedding night banquet is a form of folk entertainment inherited from the ancient Sizhou, rich in the specific artistic characteristics of the Tujia people. It is also the crystallization of the collective wisdom of folk artists. It has a strong sense of life and is highly operational. The texts are scattered among the people, with personal inheritance and easy to lose. Many lyrics are only passed on through oral memory, which is very likely to be lost and is completely endangered. In addition, affected by the economic tide, most young and middle-aged people in rural areas go out to work, and the number of wedding night banquets has decreased year by year. The elderly singers are in an extremely endangered state because there are no inheritors.