Gelao Sanyaotai Customs
01 · Historical Records
The Gelao San Yaotai custom is an indispensable traditional etiquette of the Gelao people at important folk occasions such as ancestor worship, festivals, and honoring guests; Daozhen Gelao and Miao Autonomous County in Zunyi, Guizhou Province, is the birthplace and core area of this custom. It was not until the late Qing and early Republican period, when the Gelao youcha (oil tea) became popular and the staple of the tea seating, that 'San Yaotai' finally took shape and received its name.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
A grand banquet is considered complete only after three stages—tea, wine, and rice (a full meal)—which is why it is called 'San Yaotai' (three finishes). The complete Gelao San Yaotai custom also includes two sacrificial procedures: ancestor worship before the banquet begins and the giving of food after it ends, in remembrance of 'the ancestors who opened the wasteland and the ancients who came before'. This heritage item is the product of the Gelao people's combination of labor and cuisine, and of food customs and etiquette, developed over a long historical process. 'San Yaotai' consists of a tea seating, a wine seating, and a rice (main) seating, with a rich and varied menu of more than sixty dishes and exquisite preparation techniques. The San Yaotai custom, a solemn Gelao food tradition, preserves and transmits more than eighty Gelao etiquettes and is prepared and served only on important ceremonial occasions. Its main applications are: ancestor worship, expressing reverence and remembrance of the ancestors; festivals, adding a joyful atmosphere and sharing happy moments; receiving honored guests, demonstrating warmth and respect for visitors; and important folk events such as birthday celebrations, weddings and funerals, and house-raising, to which it lends a sense of ritual. During the banquet, people often sing traditional Gelao tea songs, wine songs, and rice (meal) songs. Its main functions are to transmit traditional Gelao ritual protocol, display traditional song and dance customs, and perpetuate culinary craftsmanship. At the banquet, conversation turns now to moral principles, ethnic history, and rules of etiquette, and now to the loud singing of tea songs, wine songs, and meal songs, and as a result hundreds of Gelao folk legends and ballads have been preserved and transmitted.
The ancestral offering before the feast
A full banquet begins with an offering to the ancestors, remembering those who first broke the land, and the order of respect before eating is set by this step.
The tea course
Tea comes first among the three courses; a bowl of oiled tea offered at the door already settles the degree of familiarity between host and guest.
The wine course
The wine course follows the tea, and songs keep going through it; the wine songs deal with feeling and conduct, covering both courtesy and conviviality at once.
The rice course and its sixty dishes
The rice course is the main feast, with more than sixty dishes; a complete san-yao-tai must include all three courses, and yao-tai in local speech means finished.
The feeding after the guests leave
After the guests leave a further distribution of food takes place, matching the ancestral offering that opened the feast and closing the whole sequence.
Singing at the three courses
Between the courses the guests sing tea, wine and rice songs and talk of history and propriety; hundreds of tales and songs survive in this setting.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
In the Daozhen dialect, 'yaotai' means 'finished' or 'ended'. The custom is also known by various names in different regions and cultures, such as the 'Ten-Person Seating' and the 'Three-Seating Meal'.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Gelao San Yaotai custom is collectively transmitted by the Gelao people; with a wide audience and a broad scope of transmission, everyone can be both teacher and student, and it is naturally absorbed and passed on through subtle influence in social life. The San Yaotai custom is one of the representative etiquettes of the Gelao people, closely tied to their daily production and life and a vivid vehicle of their ethnic culture. It possesses important value for folklore studies, ethnology, and sociology, and its positive practical significance—strengthening ethnic cohesion, promoting social harmony, and transmitting and spreading Gelao culture—should not be underestimated.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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