Interesting wedding customs of the Dongxiang people

Having a bridal chamber is a special custom that has been handed down since ancient times as an act to celebrate the wedding of newlyweds. In different places, the customs of having a wedding ceremony are also different. Every place has its own customs. So, do you want to know what interesting customs the Dongxiang people have?

The harder and more painful the pillow smashing, the better

Among the Dongxiang people, there is a wedding custom of "smashing pillows". This kind of event is mostly held on the wedding night. At that time, the folks and friends who come to congratulate the bride will look through the woman's dowry. Especially the color and pattern of the embroidery on the pillow are used as the standard to evaluate the girl's dexterity. When the bride enters the bridal chamber, the young men will pick up the dowry pillows and throw them at the bride sitting on the kang. The harder it hits, the more painful it is, the better. The girls and boys guarding the bride next to the kang will also play with each other with pillows until late at night. This wedding custom of playing with pillows is a way for Dongxiang people, men and women, old and young, to express a warm welcome to the bride.

The groom faces many difficulties when stealing the kitchen.

Dongxiang people also have the custom of the groom "stealing the kitchen" when they get married. On the wedding day, after the groom and the wedding team arrive at the bride's house, the bride will host a banquet in honor of them. At the end of the wedding banquet, the groom should send the wooden comb prepared at home to the bride's boudoir, and thank the women who helped the bride dress up.

Then the groom and the best man sneaked into the kitchen of the bride's house. On the one hand, they politely thanked the chef and the girls who made the fire, and on the other hand, they found the opportunity to "steal" a kitchen utensil from the kitchen. But the girls all knew the groom's true purpose, and it was not easy to "steal" the tools from under their noses.

Ordinary girls will not let go of this opportunity to tease the groom. They will catch the groom and smear his face black. In this chaos, the groom quickly "steals" away. He hid something on his body, then broke out of the siege, and fled in embarrassment amidst the laughter of the girls.

It’s such a hassle to play with the uncle in public

In some places, the Dongxiang people also perform the activity of playing the uncle at their weddings. After the bride enters the bridal chamber, the guests in the wedding party begin to play with the uncle. Gongbo refers to the groom's father and uncles and other elders. Their faces were smeared with pot soot, they wore tall paper hats on their heads, a bunch of red peppers hanging from their ears, and they wore sheepskin jackets on their backs, and their hands and feet were made of iron. The chain was pretended to be tied up, and he was sat on an overturned table and carried to the public for fun.

In some places, the uncle, dressed like a clown, rides upside down on the back of a donkey or an ox. The uncles will not be angry after such tossing, and some even deliberately make strange and difficult moves, because in the eyes of Dongxiang people, doing so is the most sincere welcome from the groom's family to the bride's arrival.