Now people are well-off, the gap between urban and rural areas has narrowed, rural people are gradually on an equal footing with urban people, and wedding scenes are becoming more and more "urbanized".
I met my nephew's wedding in the summer vacation. Participated in the whole process and experienced the wedding in the new countryside.
The same rural custom as before is that the weddings and funerals of rural people are all done with the help of villagers. Three days before the wedding, the host family went door to door to ask for help and hold a banquet, commonly known as "please help". Mainly the women of the host family, or several close families, are busy in the kitchen, choosing vegetables, cutting vegetables and cooking, each with its own division of labor and cooperation. As the saying goes: "Three women's lives", on this day, several women gathered in the kitchen, and the joking voice can spread for miles.
Now, there are also some villagers who learn from the city people and hold weddings in hotels. However, in the eyes of rural people, such a wedding, the family seems too cold and cheerless, feeling not lively. Therefore, the vast majority of rural people still invite chefs to their homes to put cauldrons, greenhouses and banquets at home.
On the day before the wedding, people from the village gathered in the host's house to help the host build a shed and a stove to prepare for the wedding the next day. At this time, everyone no longer listens to the master's instructions, and one person has the final say, called the "big manager." The "general manager" is usually a respected person, either a village party secretary or a village head, and must have certain organizational and management skills. Of course, according to the established rules, the helper needs to obey the instructions of the "big manager", say what to do, and obey the arrangement.
In the evening, the host family will entertain friends who come in advance, usually special "iron" friends, and will come the day before the wedding, which can increase popularity on the one hand and show the host's hospitality on the other.
On the wedding day, early in the morning, prepare the wedding "float" and the wedding motorcade. The husband's family wrapped up lotus seeds, yellow flowers, rice bowls and the like, and the matchmaker led a group of people to the bride's house to receive the wedding banquet. Accompanied by the groom, the best man, the female doll holding the "sedan chair" and the male doll holding the lotus leaf.
As a relative of the man's family, I didn't go to the bride's house. The following description of the bride's family is completely dictated by others, which is actually similar to the original custom. When the wedding procession arrives at the bride's house, the bride's little sisters will be blocked at the door, and only the in-laws can knock on the bride's door with red envelopes.
There is also a custom that the bride's family can exchange these two things only after giving red envelopes to the female doll with "sedan chair mattress" and the male doll with lotus seeds.
There is also "Li Mo" brought to the bride's house, that is, money, peppers, prickly ash, mugwort leaves and wheat bran are wrapped in steamed bread, which is homophonic, meaning that the bride is rich, pockmarked (unreasonable), spicy, loving and blessed. The bride chooses three of these buns to break, and what kind of people are they breaking. The whole process is very lively and has strong local characteristics.
After the ceremony at the bride's home is completed, with the consent of her parents, the bride can "get on the sedan chair". The mighty farewell team went to the groom's house.
When the float approached the groom's house, the firecrackers that had been put on the roadside earlier were lit by a special person. Amid the deafening firecrackers, the float arrived at the groom's door.
At the moment when the bride got off the sedan chair, the groom walked back to the new house with a red umbrella in his hand. The new door has been closed, and the bride's family needs to knock on the new door with a red envelope. After some negotiations, the new door opened and the bride entered the new house.
There was a custom of "washing your face" at that time. A sister of the groom's family brought the bride face wash water. The first time is unclean water, usually salt water, muddy water or tea, which is mainly used to set off the atmosphere. Of course, the red envelope is given to the younger sister who carries water, and the younger sister will get a clean basin of water. The bride will symbolically wash her hands, and this custom is completed.
Next, the bride's brother is responsible for ordering curtains. This custom also follows the local tradition, and it is inevitable to give red envelopes to the younger brother who ordered the curtains.
After these customs are over, the wedding officially begins. Nowadays, rural people have also invited a master of ceremonies to preside over the wedding, which is no different from that of city people. After the wedding, the banquet began, and the bride and groom toasted the guests.
After the banquet, a lively wedding came to an end. In the new era and new wind, I saw the new wedding of more and more affluent rural people and the new life of more and more affluent farmers.
I wish couples a happy life and work together.