previous customs:
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1. Wedding equipment
The wedding of the villagers in Donghu Ping, Shixing County is very particular and grand. There are many appliances used and they are arranged in strict order. Most of the utensils are made of fine carved wood, painted and gilded. The specific utensils and the order of the wedding procession are roughly as follows:
(1) Bring wine. A lucky man with many sons carried a wooden "crane pot dragon" and put a clay pot filled with sweet glutinous rice wine. The other end is a wooden chicken coop, which contains in-laws chicken, meatballs, firecrackers, bacon and 1 eggs (only one can be taken, and the remaining nine can be taken back).
(2) carry the color. Two l4 and l5-year-old boys each carried a red cloth flag, which was about 1.9 meters long and .3 meters wide.
(3) dragon and phoenix candles. A young man took a pair of dragon, phoenix, red and happy candles. Candles are red, with dragons and phoenixes and happy characters.
(4) hit the gong. A lucky man was carrying a gong with a big head and a small head, knocking while walking, and the sound was "hold, touch, hold, touch".
(5) Eight-tone class. Eight drummers, each with a musical instrument: drums, gongs, cymbals, gaohu, banhu, suona, yueqin, flute, etc., are playing all the way.
(6) matchmaker. A wooden sedan chair carried by two people is covered with a tarpaulin to shade the sun. It is called "Peng Li Jiao". The matchmaker in the sedan chair took the little boy who wanted to get an extra red envelope with her.
(7) Bridegroom's sedan chair. A wooden sedan chair carried by four people. Similar to today's bamboo chairs.
(8) sedan chair. A sedan chair with four or eight people carrying the bride.
(9) gunner. A lucky man holds a "cannon" and fires three cannons when he leaves his family's house and his mother's house.
(1) yuancheng wine. Two lucky men choose two loads of original good wine. One of them is reserved for the bride's family to take back to the man's house to drink when the bride gives birth to a child.
(11) Lift the prisoner's reed. Two lucky men carried a wooden 1:3 container like the bottom of a box, in which a whole pig with its internal organs removed was put, and the whole pig was painted red.
(12) carrying food. A man with a good life bears a burden, and there are several loads of rice cakes and other gifts with good conditions.
(13) the reed. A lucky man bears one or more loads of gifts such as fruits, peanuts and rice cakes.
(14) chicken cages. The number of chickens, geese and ducks carried by a lucky man varies from 12 to 16. Numbers of 3, 4, 7 and 8 are not allowed.
(15) dowry. A number of people are sent by the woman's family to pick and deliver footbath, urinal, mosquito net, quilt, dragon (wooden box) and so on. There are many gifts and many people to bear, but the number of people must be even.
The sedan chair is the most important appliance for marriage. It is a cuboid. Generally, it is 1.88 meters high and .55 to .66 meters wide. A cushioned car roof. Exquisite carving arts such as through carving, round carving, intaglio carving and relief are used to carve various patterns and auspicious words, and gold foil is affixed. It looks solemn and resplendent. The top of the sedan chair is painted with red cirrus like a "black hat", which means soaring to the top. The car door on the front of the car body is carved with couplets, the contents of which are unknown, all of which are auspicious words. The designs include Yuanyang playing in the water, Guanyin sending a son, the champion and his younger brother, Mei Lanju bamboo (four seasons are safe), bats, running deer, bees, monkeys, elephants (meaning blessing, wealth, and sealing the Hou Xiang), cypress trees (longevity) and birds (hundred Jue). I hope that the official will give me a title, but not the Hou Xiang. There are also pomegranates (many children), and even the lotus flowers (twins), bergamot (five children enrolled in the family) and so on.
The groom usually wears a hat, a robe, a mandarin jacket and black cloth shoes. The bride wears a phoenix crown and various silver hairpin, flower ornaments, hairpin, multi-treasure string, red sedan chair shirt, red pleated embroidered skirt, red embroidered roper, red embroidered shoes, red embroidered cloud shoulders, etc.
Second, marriage customs
Most of the Hakkas in Shixing County migrated from Fujian, Jiangxi, Meizhou and other places in Guangdong during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Because they did not migrate from the same place at the same time, the marriage customs are different, with the marriage habits of the original place. As the saying goes, a hundred miles is different from the wind and a hundred miles is different from the customs. However, when they moved to the same place to thrive, and "shared a river and lived together in the same land" with the local ancestors, their marriage habits influenced and infiltrated each other.
From the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, the marriage of Donghu Ping in Shixing County was arranged by parents. The age of marriage is generally 16 to 18 years for men and 13 to 16 years for women. Some people marry a little daughter-in-law, that is, they take someone else's little daughter to raise and stay as a daughter-in-law when they grow up, commonly known as a child bride. Some buy back their handmaids and stay as little wives or get married when they grow up, depending on the needs of the main family. If there are triplets, that is, first ask the matchmaker to introduce a baby girl to the house to raise her first, and then wait until she has a son and grows up before getting married.
The marriage customs from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China mainly went through the following stages:
Setting the age. The age of the year is decided by the parents of both men and women according to the matchmaker's agreement. First of all, please ask the matchmaker to act as matchmaker, or the matchmaker will take the initiative to act as matchmaker. The parents of both men and women, after being reconciled by the matchmaker, initially think that the mutual conditions are OK, or "suitable for each other". The man asked the matchmaker to go to the woman's house to get the girl's "age", that is, the time of the woman's birth. Then, the man sent the ages of both men and women to the fortune teller for "ranking eight characters" calculation, also known as "He Kun" and "Ding Nian Geng". Let's see if the hostess is good or not, whether it is "mutual birth" or "mutual restraint". Fortune-tellers write according to "The Complete Book of Wedding and Funeral System", "White horses are afraid of green cows, once sheep and rats are retired. Snakes and tigers are like knives, and dragons and rabbits communicate in tears. "A golden rooster is afraid of five dogs, but a pig and a monkey can't get to the end." Such as the so-called "criminal phase" standard to identify whether the phase is true or not. Any woman who finds a tiger or a sheep will be married and become a widow. For example, Yuan Xiang Ke is considered to be a "natural couple" and can be married. If there is a "mutual gram", send more red envelopes to the fortune teller to point out the maze, and you will be able to turn adversity into luck and make a good fortune in Qin and Jin Dynasties. If the fortune teller has a plan and fails to achieve his goal, no matter how good the animal sign is, it will not last for a hundred years. The so-called "men's eight characters are not false, and women's eight characters are not true". A woman's horoscope can be pushed forward and backward by a fortune teller until it is combined with a man. In the late Republic of China, "meeting" began. After the fortune teller determined that they were in agreement, both men and women, under the arrangement of the matchmaker, met at a suitable place with their parents, mostly on the gathering day. After the meeting, it doesn't matter whether the two sides are willing or not, mainly because their parents have the final say. Just say yes, but no,no. Young men and women have no right to decide. Parents or matchmakers of both sides are in charge of a good life, that is, they pay a "deposit" to the woman, commonly known as an engagement.
engagement is a gift from a man's family to a woman's family. Both parties can bargain on the gift money. There are big and small gifts. Dading's deposit is richer, and there are more "gifts". One gift is silver 16 yuan. Give one gift to the less, and give several gifts to the more. Usually 8 to 1 gifts. But some have a number of "3". The numbers 3, 4 and 5 can be used, meaning "three cardinal guides and five permanents" and "three obedience and four virtues". Such as 3 Jin of pork, 4 Jin of rice, and 5 yuan. More pork is carried by prisoners' baskets, and less pork is picked by food grids. In addition to pork, there are also wine, rice, chicken, duck, goose and various rice cakes. After the woman's family received the deposit, she invited her in-laws to have a meal and told everyone that her daughter was engaged. If the woman reneges on this marriage, she must redeem the "Niangeng" from the man's family and return all the gifts before the marriage can be dissolved.
after the engagement, the male family chooses a specific wedding date, uses a full sticker, and prepares wine and meat gifts to send to the female family.
After the engagement, the woman has to be busy making wedding gifts, such as embroidered handkerchief, embroidered shirt, embroidered skirt, embroidered shoes and so on. The younger ones are helped by their mothers, aunts, sisters-in-law and other relatives. The woman's family is busy preparing all kinds of dowry, while the man's family prepares all kinds of property and appliances in the room. Both families are busy with their marriage. In general, the woman should know how much the man's gift money is, and the man should also buy the corresponding dowry to accompany her. If one party can't honor it and both sides can't understand it, there will be contradictions when welcoming relatives, and even "in-laws become enemies." This is a very individual phenomenon. Of course, there are also some who have more men and less women as compensation for women. It depends on the economic situation of the male family. There is a local saying that "the superior family pays money to marry a woman, the middle family pays money to marry a woman, and the inferior family makes money to marry a woman" is a good illustration. After a period of time, the two sides thought that the property of the marriage was available, so they asked Mr. Feng Shui to choose "auspicious day of the zodiac" and after obtaining the consent of the woman's family, they sent out an invitation to treat them. Weddings are mostly held in the winter slack season, called wedding reception.
Wedding ceremony means that the man goes to the woman's house to pick up the bride. On the morning or afternoon before the wedding, the matchmaker takes a "Peng Li sedan chair" to lead the way from the man's house, and sends the food such as pork, chicken, goose, fish, wine and other gifts and gifts agreed by the man and the woman's house to the woman's house, which is called "sending wine and meat" or "removing fruit boxes". The matchmaker stayed at the woman's house for one night and went to the man's house with the bride and others the next day. Before dinner, guests from both sides must go to the men's and women's houses to have dinner together, which is called "Qi Ke". After dinner, the man put the fire bucket lit with charcoal and awn stalks into the sedan chair, and took it out after a period of time, which was called "warm sedan chair". At the crow of chickens in the early hours of that night, or at the time designated by the fortune teller, a ceremony of "combing the hair" will be held for women to get married. Burn a pair of big red candles on the ancestral hall, equipped with five colors of red, blue, yellow, cyan and black, rouge and gouache wrapped in a handkerchief, and two fertilized cooked eggs. After setting off firecrackers, a lucky woman or the bride's mother rolls her eggs up and down on the bride's face, commonly known as "opening the face". Then comb the bride's hair, and the bride sits on a bench with her face facing the east, and says auspicious words while combing, such as "one comb is long, two combs are long, three combs penetrate the pillars", "one comb is long, and the whole life is good", "one comb is left, the other comb is right, and the five sons are admitted to the subject, and they are the top scholar", "The hair is long and long, and early birth of your son is the top scholar" and so on. After combing, insert headdresses such as silver indenter flower, double-character silver flat hairpin and silver needle paper flower. Wearing a collar, there are locks, bowls, shoes for men and women, bells, knives, scissors, triangular rulers, square tables and other small and exquisite decorations, commonly known as "multi-treasure strings", wearing earrings and so on. Before dawn, after dressing, the bride returns to the boudoir to wait for her marriage (some return to the boudoir to comb their hair after setting off firecrackers in the ancestral hall). At this time, peel off two open eggs for the bride to eat. Little girls keep their hair braided when they are 13 or 14 years old, and they don't comb their hair until they get married. They comb their hair more often, and less often. If a child bride marries, it is called "superior". Women can't shave before they get married, and they can twist their facial hair with thread after they get married.
On the morning of the wedding reception, the woman's family must send the dowry to the man's family first. The higher-grade dowry is called "Begonia Red", which consists of 24 "dragons" (big wooden boxes), flower beds, dressing tables and two square tables. On the tables, the bride and groom's clothes, shoes and hats and other complete sets of clothes, cabinets, high and low chairs, washstand, ancient philosophers' buckets (urine buckets) and thousand grandchildren's basins (footbath) are placed. The "Dragon" is full of clothes and bedding. Some of them are "three blue and three hot" fabrics, and three blue are three kinds of blue fabrics sold in the market, also known as guest fabrics, which are shipped from other places and sold locally. "Sanre" refers to three pieces of linen woven by local farmers, also known as "home machine cloth" and "hot cloth". Lower-grade dowry generally has 2, 4 or 6 "dragons", and there are few other things. At the same time, the bride's younger brother and sister were sent to the man's house to "invite" the groom to visit her parents-in-law and other relatives, and then take back the bride, commonly known as the turnstile. At this time, the groom took the Bayin class and other wedding teams, boasting and beating, making a lot of noise and heading for the woman's house with great joy. When you go, the total number of people in the team must be single, and when you come back, you must be even, which means "yes man".
After the "wedding procession" has lunch and dinner in advance at the woman's house, the groom, accompanied by the best man, first leaves the woman's house to wait for the arrival of the bride. Then, the bride came out wearing a dazzling headdress, a string of jewels on her neck, embroidered clouds on her shoulders, a bright red sedan-chair shirt, an embroidered red skirt, embroidered red cloth shoes and an embroidered red handkerchief on her head cover. Come out mostly at dusk. Before going out, the bride mournfully "cried goodbye" to her parents, grandparents and other elders and brothers and sisters in the private room. While crying, she said that she couldn't forget the kindness of her parents, the brotherly affection of her brothers and sisters, how she missed them with concern after parting, and hoped that they would take care of themselves in the future, and so on. At this time, parents and others will comfort and warn their daughters that when a man is older, a woman is older, and when she goes to a man's house, she should honor her in-laws and brothers and uncles and be harmonious. At the same time, as soon as the bride kneels goodbye to her relatives, their relatives will hand her a red envelope when she helps her up. After saying goodbye, parents put the embroidered Ropa on the bride's head. The bride is carried by her brother or younger brother (or cousin or brother of a well-to-do family in the village) and leaves home to the hall (ancestral hall) to say goodbye to her ancestors, then carries it to the gate and sends it to the sedan chair. Never let the bride go to the fields on the way, otherwise it will be considered unlucky. This is the "wedding custom of elder brother carrying younger sister on sedan chair" which is still popular among local people (see later).
After the bride gets on the sedan chair, the sedan chair bearer locks the sedan chair door and hangs "Eight Diagrams" on the sedan chair to show evil spirits and bless peace and good luck. Then, accompanied by the bridesmaid and the music of the Eight Music Class, I lifted the sedan chair and went to the men's house happily. Some people say that the car door key is carried by the sedan chair bearer, while others say that it can only be unlocked when the matchmaker woman stops at the gate of the man's house. No matter how far the journey is, or what happens, you can't unlock it. Otherwise, the man will be held accountable, make trouble, and even break off. There is a saying that "sedan chair, the sedan chair bearer, is in sedan chair, regardless of whether the bride shits or urinates", which can explain the importance of the sedan chair door not being opened. If you meet the bride's sedan chair of another wedding procession on the way, the two brides will exchange handkerchiefs from the sedan window to show their good luck and happiness. If the woman's home is too far away from the man's home, the man's home will send someone to greet the bride halfway with a torch and show the way to the wedding procession. When the bride is carried to the car park at the gate of the man's house, she has to let her "suit" for a while (standing tired means that she will be obedient to the man's orders in the future). All the men, women and children in the village gathered around to watch. There are ancient auspicious couplets posted at the gate, such as "Look at a lady who makes a good wife, and a strange man has a husband since then", "Jade Hall with two walls, a treasure tree with ten thousand branches", "A hundred years of songs are good together, and the fifth generation of Buqichang", and so on. They are all four words with male and female surnames, such as "Zeng Li's marriage" and "Zeng Zhang's marriage". If you are married to a woman, couplets are often written as "Celebrities are happy to be married, and talented women are happy to meet talented people", and they are horizontally criticized as "Embroidered Pavilion in Spring" and so on. As soon as the bride entered the door, the gunner fired three big guns. The sedan chair bearer opened the door. Two lucky women (who must be the original wife and have many children and grandchildren) lead the bride out of the sedan chair, which is called "leading relatives". At the same time, another lucky woman holds a "rice screen" (bamboo products, originally used to screen rice) on the bride's head, and there are wooden rulers, soybeans, Yijing, onions, Tongshu or symbols drawn by fortune tellers on it, indicating that knowing books is a gift, avoiding evil spirits and having a baby early, which means being smart and promising. Entrust the good wishes of men, commonly known as "entrusted screen".
The bride is led to the gate, so she can't enter the gate at once. You must wait for the fortune teller standing in the gate to finish the "chop" ceremony before you can enter. The fortune teller holds a sword or a kitchen knife in his right hand, and catches a rooster in his left hand. He mumbles, "...... The gods will go to heaven, and the demons will hide underground. If there are evil spirits and devils, the rooster will take the responsibility." After reading, cut a little off the rooster's crown with a knife.