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The Gelao language is an impure one because
of its contact with other languages. Only a
quarter of the people speak it. Since some of
the Gelaos cannot understand one another, the
Han language has become their common language.
Gelao houses are built on hillsides or at
the foot of mountains. The rooms are all in
a row, beginning with a kitchen on one end,
a central room for worshipping ancestors and
storing sundries, and one or two bedrooms
on the opposite end.
All Gelaos love hot and sour dishes, as well
as glutinous rice cakes. Those in the mountains
eat mostly maize, but those in the flatlands add wheat,
rice, millet, and sorghum to their diet. Those
in the mountains grow their own food, and they also
make wine. Because many are farmers, they have
special feelings towards the ox. They hold the
Festival of the Ox King in honor of an ox that
saved people in a Gelao fortress from an attack
by leading them to safety in a cave.
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