Chaoshan wedding customs
Chaoshan people are very particular about wedding customs. In the old days, they paid more attention to "clear matchmaking and official recruitment". Although the etiquette and customs vary from place to place, the more consistent formulations and etiquette are: marriage proposal, marriage, betrothal, betrothal, asking for a date, and welcoming the bride, commonly known as the "six rites". Some also summarize it as "four rites": wedding, appointment, appointment, and marriage.
Entrust a matchmaker to propose a marriage, get married and betrothal
"Proposing a marriage", "combining a marriage" and "betrothal" are the "written agreements" of the "Four Rites". First, the matchmaker goes to the man's and woman's homes to propose marriage. With the consent of the girl's family, the matchmaker will then go to the girl's family to ask for her name, date of birth, place of birth, and three generations of ancestors, and write a Geng note and send it to the man. If nothing unlucky happens in the man's family within three days (commonly known as "three days of success") , the man can give his Geng Tie to the woman, and both parties can predict the marriage (also called the marriage date). "Betrothal" is also called "engagement", "Xing Ding", and "Food Ding". The man prepares gifts and goes to the woman's home to make a marriage arrangement. The gift is usually a pair of gold earrings or a gold ring, as well as cakes, candies, sugar, noodles, etc. The woman must give a gift in return. When getting engaged, the man has to go to the woman's house to "eat a meal", usually eating sweet eggs or sweet noodles (if there are four sweet eggs, he can only eat two; if there are two, he can only eat one, and the other one has to be divided with chopsticks. two). Both men and women must send cakes, sweet noodle soup (now mostly noodles and sugar) to relatives, friends and neighbors to report that the marriage has been decided.
Choosing auspicious wedding invitations and organizing dowry
"Betrothal" is also called "sending betrothal gifts", which is a relatively solemn etiquette. There are strict regulations on the style of wedding letters and betrothal gifts. Before the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, in addition to gold, silver, and colorful satin, rich families would also give pigs, sheep, wine and fruits; poor families would not only give chickens and wine, but also betel nut; in most places, they would also give pork, commonly known as "washed meat". , to repay the woman’s parents for their kindness in raising her. In the 1960s and 1970s, in addition to gold and silver, they also gave away radios (television sets), bicycles, sewing machines and watches; now most of them receive bride price. After receiving the betrothal gift from the man, the woman will apply for reinstatement and reply with certain gifts. The main ones are: Yuanyangjiao (double bananas, symbolizing the closeness of husband and wife), pig liver and pig heart (indicating that the liver and gallbladder are of the same mind), and male and female chickens. One (symbolizing the comparison of wings between mandarin ducks) and so on. When the woman is re-employing, she should also consider the elderly people in the groom's family. If the mother (grandmother) is in the family, she must give "mom cake" as an additional gift; if the grandfather is in the family, she should give "husband cake" as an additional gift. Before the girl's family gives the pig's heart to the boy's family, she must cut out a piece, cook it with sugar and green onions, and then eat it with her. After the boy's family receives the pig heart and liver from the girl's family, they must also cook it with sugar and green onions. After it is cooked, it is eaten with family, relatives and friends, which means "men and women are of the same mind".
"Requesting a date" is also called "selecting a date", "sending a date", and "proposing a date". After the betrothal ceremony, the man will choose an auspicious date for the wedding, including cutting the wedding dress, "turning face" and bathing, determining the time and hour of the wedding, and informing the woman. Twist brown sugar in a handkerchief. When the bride comes out of the palace, she should twist the handkerchief wrapped with brown sugar in her hands. After arriving at her husband's house, before covering the well, she should pour brown sugar into the well, which means that the bride "closes the house inside and outside the house" and "passes the door." In the old days, in addition to the dowry and the above-mentioned special items, wealthy families also gave away fields and even birthday boards (coffins); now they give away electrical appliances and motorcycles. Cars or automobiles, etc.
The ceremony of marrying the bride is solemn
The last ceremony is "welcoming the bride", that is, the man goes to the bride's house to marry the bride. There are two ways to do so: first. The groom comes to greet the bride; first, he sends a "lucky person" to pick up the bride, and the groom waits at the door of his home. The bride is accompanied by a bridesmaid. There are many procedures for welcoming the bride, and the ceremony is grand. They should "eat five bowls of head" respectively, and give "penny rice" to brothers and sisters before going out, and eat "sisters' table". Before the bride gets on the sedan, family members should carry a basin of water and sprinkle it lightly on the sedan, and some will lift one. A small bucket of water is dipped in red flowers (i.e. pomegranate flowers) to spray the sedan chair and a section of the way it passes. Although bicycles, motorcycles, and cars are often used to get married, some people still retain this custom of "coloring the sedan chair". "Cai Qing" mainly refers to branches of colorful banyan trees (called "mature trees" by Chaozhou people) and green bamboo branches, which are used to express blessings for "the husband will be successful and the wife will be virtuous". A wedding couplet should be affixed, and a red note with the words "Qilin is here" should be affixed in the middle of the door. When the bride arrives at the door of the groom's house, the groom should "kick the sedan door" and "tie Ruyi", and the bride should "step through the fire and smoke". When the bride and groom enter the bridal chamber, they must eat "Hefangyuan". When eating "Hefangyuan", "Qing Niangmu" must "make four sentences". The bride and groom each eat two sweetened balls, then exchange the round cups, and then eat two more. Circle, commonly known as exchanging cups and cups. At this time, "Qing Niang Mu" has to "make four sentences" throughout the whole process of the wedding, from the time when the bride leaves the sedan chair to entering the bridal chamber, "Qing Niang Mu". "You have to "make four sentences". During the "bridal chamber", the "Qing Niangmu" should sing to the guests on behalf of the bride. If she encounters some naughty people making crooked poems and making jokes, the "Qing Niangmu" should immediately "make four sentences" Fight back and help the bride resolve the embarrassing situation. On the wedding day, a wedding banquet will be held to entertain relatives and friends who come to celebrate.
In addition to the above ceremonies, the bride will also hold a "well opening" on the third day of the wedding. ", "rice pounding", "stirring" and other rituals; after twelve days or four months, the "Guining" ceremony - "returning to the house" must be performed. The first and second "returning to the house" are when the bride smokes from her parents' home. After returning, you can spend the night at your parents' house only after "returning to your home three times".
What I know about Chaoshan - Customs
Anyone who has a little knowledge of Chaoshan will know that Chaoshan people, especially in rural areas, often worship gods, the frequency of which is average. I think it should be no less than 4 times a month. I would have to ask my grandma to know more about this. Anyway, it is indispensable on the first and fifteenth day of every month. Therefore, such customs are easily regarded as superstitious by outsiders. But worshiping gods here is more like a cultural activity. People call the days when worshiping gods are festivals, that is, festivals. One of the compulsory courses for a novice daughter-in-law is to know how to carry tributes to a certain temple to worship during festivals. I have been accustomed to being ordered to kneel before the memorial tablets of my ancestors or gods since I was a child. The adults would teach me some explanations incessantly. The most common thing they said was to bless me to study and grow up, and not dare to embarrass my ancestors and gods, so the requests were generally reasonable. , when I was very young, I occasionally greedily wanted to get a hundred points in the exam. Later I learned that making a wish in front of a shooting star is similar to this. Meteors flash past, and it is difficult to encounter the same one next time. Compared to worshiping gods, it is more fixed, so such wishes are more like promises between each other.
In addition to worshiping gods, other Chaoshan customs are also related to these traditional festivals. For example, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, admiring the moon and eating moon cakes is not the highlight here. Worshiping the moon goddess (moon) and burning tile kilns are indispensable. I like Moon Worshiping Girl better, because she is a female deity. The items worshiped are relatively green, such as fruits, cakes, sweet tea, and homework books. Haha, when I was a child, I always kept some brand new notebooks for Moon Worshiping Girl. , I believe every Chaoshan person has such childhood memories. A tile-burning kiln is to build a tower with bricks and tiles in an open space. Children build small towers and adults build tall towers. They fill the tower with flammable materials such as wood and light it. It is like a fire tower. People around will pour some salt on the fire tower, not just for the sodium to burn a beautiful blue flame, but also to get rid of ants in the house or to have a good harvest next year. Haha, it seems like this , strange idea. It is said that the custom of burning tile kilns dates back to the end of the Yuan Dynasty. In order to unite against the invasion of foreigners, local residents sent their daughters-in-law back to their parents' homes during the Mid-Autumn Festival to bring book cakes (a kind of pastry) to convey the message of the uprising, and then lit tile kilns on fire at night to symbolize the uprising. signal, destroying the invaders in one fell swoop. In fact, I haven’t seen a tile-burning kiln for a long time. It’s all my childhood memories—_—!
Childhood memories of course include the coming-of-age ceremony, which is called “out of the garden” locally. Our motherland is a garden, and the flowers in the garden are the brightest..." When the flowers of our motherland grow up, they will go out of the garden, which is probably like this. Haha, I misunderstood. In fact, as soon as a child in Chaoshan is born, he is protected and watched by the two gods Hua Gong and Hua Mo. When he turns 15, he has to choose a day to thank these two elderly people for their care over the years. When they grow up, they can save more time and spend more time taking care of other children^_^ On the day of "Out of the Garden", the protagonist will wear new clothes and stay at home, worship flowers, entertain relatives and friends, bite chicken heads, etc. , Haha, actually I almost forgot about it.
In fact, rural areas in various places have some customs with their own local characteristics, and they are slowly being lost. . .