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The
438,200 Gelos live in dispersed clusters of communities in about
20 counties in western Guizhou Province, four counties of the
Wenshan Zhuang-Miao Autonomous Prefecture in southeastern Yunnan
Province and the Longlin Multi-ethnic Autonomous County in Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Only about a
quarter of the Gelos still speak the Gelo language belonging
to the Chinese-Tibetan language family. Yet, because of close
contact with other ethnic groups, their language has not remained
pure -- even within counties. There are Gelo-speaking people
unable to converse with each other. For this reason, the language
of the Hans, or Chinese, has become their common language, though
many Gelos have learned three or four languages from other people
in their communities, including the Miaos, Yis and Bouyeis.
Living among other ethnic groups, the Gelos have become largely
assimilated to the majority Han customs.
How the Gelos Live
The Gelos' living quarters, like those of
their Han neighbors, usually consist of a central kitchen and
two bedrooms built on a hillside or at the foot of a mountain.
Before liberation, poor Gelos lived in mud, bamboo or stone
houses, some with thatched roofs. Landlords and wealthier peasants
lived in houses with wooden columns and thick stone slabs, with
tile or stone roofs. Now, nearly everyone lives in houses of
wood.
Gelos continued
to wear their ethnic costumes until 30 or 40 years ago. Women
wore very short jackets with sleeves embroidered with patterns
of fish scale. They wore tight skirts divided into three sections,
the middle one of red wool and the upper and lower ones of black-and-white
striped linen. Gelo women also wore short, black sleeveless
gowns which hung longer in the back. Their shoes had pointed,
upturned toes. Men wore front-buttoned jackets, and both sexes
wore long scarves.
In the mountain
areas, the Gelos eat mostly maize, while in the flatlands, they
eat wheat, rice, millet and sorghum. All the Gelos -- like many
other Chinese -- love to eat hot and sour dishes as well as
glutinous rice cakes.
As Gelos were so few and so scattered, marriages were usually
made among cousins. To celebrate the marriage, the bride would
walk with her relatives, carrying an umbrella, to the groom's home, where
they would live apart from their parents.
While funeral
customs in most Gelo communities are the same as in Han areas,
singing and dancing still marks funerals in a few places, such
as Zunyi and Renhuai counties in Guizhou. There, mourners dance
in groups of three, one playing a lusheng (reed pipe), one beating
a bamboo pole, the third brandishing a sword, and all singing
as they dance. In other areas, mourners sing in front of the
coffin; family members of the deceased serve wine in gratitude
to them. In some places, a shaman who chooses the time and place
of burial recites scriptures at the grave. Animal sacrifice
usually accompanies the burial. Trees, rather than stones, mark
the grave.
Gelo folk literature
consists of poetry, stories and proverbs. Poems are of three,
five or seven-character lines. Most Gelo folk tales eulogize
the intelligence, honesty, diligence and bravery of the Gelo
people, and satirize the upper classes. Typical are "The
Brave Girl" and "Deaf Elder Brother and Blind Younger
Brother Stealing Sheep." Gelo dances are simple and graceful,
accompanied by the erhu, horizontal xiao, suona, gong, drum
and other string and wind instruments.
"Flower
Dragon" and "Bamboo-Strip Egg" are two favorite
Gelo games. "Flower Dragon," in fact, is a ball of
woven bamboo, a little larger than a ping-pong ball. Inside
are bits of broken porcelain, coins and sandstones. The game,
especially popular in Zunyi and Renhuai, is played by groups
of pairs on hillsides. "Bamboo-Strip Egg" is also
a ball, larger and stuffed with rice straw. Two teams of three
or five throw and kick the ball, avoiding contact except with
the hands or feet.
Most Gelo festivals
echo Han traditions, but some practices differ. At Spring Festival--
the Lunar New Year -- Gelos offer a huge rice cake to their
ancestors and after it is made, it remains untouched for three
days. In Guizhou's Anshun, Puding and Zhenning, Gelo communities
also celebrate the sixth day of the sixth lunar month by sacrificing
chickens and preparing wine to bless the rice crop already in
the fields.
The sixth day
of the seventh lunar month marks the second most important event
of the year, a festival of ancestor worship in Wozi and Gaoyang
villages of Puding County. Oxen, pigs and sheep are slaughtered
for ritual sacrifices to ancestors.
On the first
day of the tenth lunar month, Gelos give their oxen a day of
rest. This is the day of the Ox King Buddha, and in some communities
on this day oxen are honored and fed special rice cakes.
History
Over the last
2,000 years or more, Gelos have lived in many places in China.
Bridges, graves, wells, and even villages in Guizhou Province
still bear Gelo names, even where no Gelo still lives. The group's
name dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Before then,
they were called the
"Liaos." Descended from the Yelang, the strongest
tribe in the Han Dynasty's Zangke Prefecture, the Liaos moved
out of Zangke to Sichuan, where they became subject to the feudal
regime, between the third and fifth centuries.
By the fifth
century, the Liaos had developed metal spears, shields and fishing
tools and copper cooking vessels. They could weave fine linen.
At this time, the Liao people elected their kings, who later
became hereditary rulers. As with other south-central minorities,
the Gelos were ruled in the Yuan and Ming periods (1271-1644)
by appointed chiefs, who lost their authority to the central
court when the Qing Dynasty came to power.
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