An aspect of marriage customs in Dali
People in Dali call marriage a red event. Due to different regions, customs are also different in the management, so different folk customs are derived. This distinctive folk activity also contains the people's views on fertility, morality and aesthetics. A wedding full of joy is a beautiful scenery.
Engagement - five "rounds" to determine the lifelong relationship
After the engagement is formed, the "five rituals" are required. (month, day)), if the zodiac signs are not correct and the zodiac sign is in conjunction with Mao at birth, the man will have to send a matchmaker to the woman's house to send a "dragon and phoenix present auspiciousness" message. If the woman agrees to the marriage, she will respond with a "number one scholar" message; if If you don't agree, that is, you don't reply, or you tell the matchmaker that it "doesn't match Mao", then the page is closed.
If the woman agrees to the marriage, the matchmaker will have to run in both directions to determine the amount of the bride price in the "bargaining" process. Usually, if the woman's family is wealthy, the bride price will be less, and if the woman's family is poor, or has many brothers, or if the elders are old and sick, the bride price will be much more. But that's not all the case. It's about getting married and sworn friends, so most of them achieve sexual consciousness under the words of a matchmaker.
In addition to money, betrothal gifts also include cloth, jewelry, cotton, etc. Later, "advancing with the times", "three turns and one ring" (bicycle, sewing machine, watch and radio), a gift of RMB 240, today also pays attention to the "three golds" (gold rings, gold earrings, gold necklaces).
The next steps are "eating noodles", "returning to the house", "taking photos" and "reporting to the table". The man and woman and their parents have a formal meeting, and the woman informs the man of the number of women to be given, which is regarded as the "final decision" of the marriage. In the early days of liberation, photography only involved men and women taking a three- to five-inch photo, exchanging gifts, and having a banquet. With the development of the times today, wedding photos can easily cost hundreds, thousands of dollars, or even more.
Getting on the sedan chair - Three things a mother teaches her daughter about
Marriage. The man is said to be marrying a wife, and the woman is said to be marrying a daughter.
Let’s talk about the married daughter first. In the old days, the woman was young and might even have a child bride. Only after the implementation of the Marriage Law did this backward custom completely change.
Before marriage, a woman must bathe, cleanse her face, and comb her hair. Before leaving, she must bid farewell to her parents. Then, with the support of the "Fu Nu Sister-in-law" (bridesmaid), she will walk from the Kang along the "Grown" "Bu" (a big red cloth about more than ten feet long, which is passed on in turns) to the sedan, and before leaving the gate, they have to "fire" (a fire lit with dry grain grass).
In the past, it was a horse-drawn hard-wheeled sedan. In the front, the brothers rode horses to press the sedan, and behind, the old father rode a donkey to the rear. During the "Cultural Revolution", the "four olds" were replaced by bicycles. Nowadays, things are completely different. In rural areas, three-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles are used to carry dowries. In recent years, like in the city, brand-new motorcycles with large red silk arms are used to press sedans, and fancy-dressed cars and big cars are used. There are cars in a row, and the daily household appliances such as televisions, washing machines, refrigerators, etc. are decorated with red double happiness characters and installed in the cars. They are blown by the wind and firecrackers as they parade through the market.
Before her daughter gets on the sedan chair, the mother has three things to do. The first is to tie a bright white green onion on the daughter's skirt or trouser belt, then give her a pair of small Guangguang wontons (a kind of gift bun in Guanzhong), and instruct her not to forget to eat the wontons. onion. The second is to teach her daughter the "spoken words behind the box". This custom is rarely known today. In fact, it is a metaphorical sexual enlightenment education suppressed by the feudal ethics of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, and do no action". Another thing is to stuff walnuts into the dowry to symbolize eternal love; stuff it into sugar to symbolize the sweetness of the days after marriage.
Getting married - "Arranging flowers behind the mirror" is so lively
Let's talk about getting married. Killing pigs and sheep, preparing banquets, and entertaining guests. The wealth and frugality depend on the man's financial situation. The groom wears a hat, arranges flowers, and hangs a breastplate knot with a bright red silk on his chest. This is what people often call a flower-arranged back mirror.
After the bride's sedan arrived at the groom's door, the sedan door was facing the groom's door. At this time, amid firecrackers and wedding drums, "Grandpa" (the groom's father) had his face blackened by relatives and friends. ) holds a torch tied with hay and turns three times to the left and three times to the right around the sedan, which means firstly to rush away the evil spirits on the road, and secondly to symbolize the prosperity of the righteous people and the continuation of the fireworks. At this time, the groom, accompanied by the best man, his sister-in-law, and the "lead sheep boy" (a boy aged five to seven years old) came to the sedan chair and bowed or saluted to the sedan door. The bride twisted and twisted again and again, and finally she was no longer able to compete with the strong man. When she entered the house, she threw the peas in her hand on the face of her daughter-in-law. While she was doing this, she was swarmed to the "main front" (the place where the groom's ancestors' tablets were set up), and under the singing and guidance of the emcee After worshiping the heaven and the earth, worshiping the high hall, and entering the bridal chamber, accompanied by the guests, they must serve the meat dumplings, towels, cigarettes and wine on the plate to thank the matchmaker. At the same time, those who carried the dowry asked for red envelopes and wedding candies, and those who carried the dowry were fighting and robbing each other, making the scene joyful.
Wedding window grilles, paper-cutting, embroidery, ballads, steamed buns, couplets and other folk culture and art form a strong wedding folk culture.
Today’s wedding scenes are more grand and fashionable. There are specialized wedding companies, fireworks, photography and videography, professional emcees - even TV and radio program hosts, high-end fleets , orchestra, and added procedures that are not found in traditional weddings - the bride and groom introduce their love story, read out the marriage certificate, the witness speaks, the couple exchanges tokens, and the parents of both parties give "change money" respectively, and the groom's parents give different amounts. "Year's money" calculated by age, etc.
Having a wedding - no matter the big or small for three days
After entering the bridal chamber, the bride and groom were swarmed onto the kang covered with red dates, peanuts and walnuts. The sisters-in-law and many villagers watching the excitement pushed and pushed the groom and the bride from one corner of the kang to the other, and then from one corner to the other, consciously causing the two to collide with each other, which is called "trouble." "Four Corners", everyone is often sweating, laughter and cheers are endless, pushing the wedding ceremony to another peak.