Nanchang Wedding Customs A beautiful marriage is everyone’s desire. Only by being in harmony can a happy family be formed. However, before the Republic of China, Nanchang followed the thousand-year-old feudal autocratic custom of "parents' orders, matchmaker's words" in marriages, which caused many family tragedies. It was not until the Republic of China that free marriages began, but most were still arranged marriages. The old-style marriage customs consist of seven aspects: matchmaking, marriage exchange, auspicious selection, engagement, betrothal, wedding, and wedding ceremony.
Entrusting a matchmaker: In a family, when the boy reaches around twenty years old and the girl reaches around fifteen years old, the parents begin to arrange marriages for their children and ask a matchmaker to hold the red thread. The men and women cannot meet each other until the red thread is tied, let alone talk about it. Without understanding each other, even in the private period we could only glance at each other secretly. When hiring a matchmaker, you must first pay the matchmaker part of the remuneration in advance, which is called shoe money (meaning you need to run away to find someone). Later, he will give gifts to the matchmaker and treat him to a meal. The matchmaker accepted the money to buy shoes, began to fulfill the contract to find a suitable match, and participated in the entire marriage process. The task was not completed until the bride was sent to the bridal chamber. There is a folk proverb that goes like this: "The matchmaker throws the bride over the wall when the newlyweds enter the bridal chamber." ". There are also people who keep in touch with matchmakers, which is good for couples. There are also couples who are not good at each other. They scold and fight and find a matchmaker to settle the score. After getting married, make a matchmaking wine and give gifts to express your gratitude. At the end of the Republic of China and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, some of the matchmakers were given two loads of millet or a set of clothing materials to thank them, and some were given two pieces of gold and some gifts. At that time, matchmaking was a profession, and women were usually called matchmakers, so they were called "matchmakers." The matchmaker is a good talker. For the sake of money, she doesn't care whether others live or die. She can say good things to both sides, so that "the water can light up the lamp." As the saying goes: "It doesn't matter whether you can do it or not after you have tricked the bride into getting through."
< p>Change post: After the matchmaker agrees and the parents of both parties agree, they give the daughter's birthday horoscope to the matchmaker, and the matchmaker gives it to the man's parents. The man asks a fortune teller to calculate whether the two people's horoscopes match. The so-called horoscopes are based on the birth year, month, day and time shown in the celestial stems and earthly branches in the old calendar, and use the five elements to calculate whether the horoscopes of both parties are in harmony or in conflict. If they are in conflict, the marriage will not be discussed. If they match, the parents of both parties will exchange their children's horoscopes, which is called exchange of posts. They are written on red paper and placed under the incense burner in front of the ancestral tablet. After three days, if the whole family is safe and sound, then the exchange of posts is considered successful. If something happens to each family within three days, send it back to Geng Tie and the matter will be dropped. After the exchange was successful, the woman sent a group of relatives to go to the man for a blind date. During the blind date, they saw things but no one, and looked at the house, livestock, and fields. The woman felt that the man's family background was good enough, so she asked the matchmaker to come forward to discuss the betrothal gift. After many rounds of negotiations, they reached an agreement on the betrothal gift. Choosing an auspicious day to "press the shoe sample", the man will ask the matchmaker to send the shoe sample and the "sample sample money" to the girl. On the determined day, the girl will make a pair of shoes and return it to the man. After the man sees the shoes, he knows how good the girl's sewing skills are and expresses his satisfaction. This is when the marriage is confirmed.Selecting auspicious dates: For every aspect of the marriage, from the successful exchange of posts to the engagement, engagement, wedding, and wedding ceremony, Mr. Xing Divination must be asked to select auspicious dates, commonly known as choosing a date. In addition to the auspicious day, the people of Nanchang also celebrate the annual Laba wedding. It is said that this is when Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River. When he came to Nanchang, it happened on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. An auspicious story was told. From then on, the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month became an auspicious day and has continued. Until now.
Engagement: After the marriage is confirmed, the man chooses an auspicious occasion and invites him to the "Lingdong Wine", also called the engagement wine. At the banquet, the man will give the agreed-upon bride price, gold and silver jewelry, and three-generation stamps to the woman. . The woman then handed over her entire family to the man. After the banquet, the man will ask the matchmaker to send the "dragon and phoenix stickers" to the woman, and the marriage will be finalized only at this point.
Betrothal: Before getting married, the man sends a betrothal gift to the woman, commonly known as a gift, also called a gift. Betrothal gifts include cash, cloth, clothes, fish, meat, noodles, cakes, etc. If the family is well off, they will have hundreds of fish, meat, noodles and cakes, which is commonly known as "one hundred meats and one hundred noodles". The woman gives the man a dowry, which includes a wardrobe, a table, a dressing table, a set of five footbaths (symbolizing the success of five sons), a horse bucket, two red mop sticks (a metaphor for good things coming in pairs), quilts, clothes and other daily necessities. Rich parents even send their daughter's coffin to the man as a dowry. In a sense, a parent who loves his daughter spends more in dowry than in marriage. People in society who favor sons over daughters describe their daughters as losers. Therefore, some poor people gave birth to daughters who they could not afford to raise and marry, so they gave them to others as child brides at a very young age.
Wedding: The day before the wedding, a wedding will be held. Men wear crowns and women wear hats, so it is also called the crown ceremony. The groom first kowtows to heaven, earth and ancestors, thanking them for their blessings, then kowtows to his parents, thanking them for their upbringing, and then kowtows to the elders of the same clan, thanking them for their care and teachings. Then, the groom's parents open the door to welcome the guests, and his son sits upright. Special banquet, where parents teach their children in public. At about four o'clock in the afternoon, the sedan chair is parked in the center of the hall, the flowers are put on, the band plays music, and the groom kowtows to heaven and earth, ancestors, and parents again, and then a banquet is held. During the banquet, everyone sings Helang songs, whoever can't sing it's turn. , you have to drink alcohol as a penalty, and the contents of He Langge are all related to marriage. They all say good things and are for good luck, and some of them are for fun and excitement. For example: A pair of flowers and candles were having fun, and eight bald heads sat on the table. They ate hwarang wine today and peeled off their bald heads tomorrow. Another example: A pair of flowers and candles are arranged on both sides, thanking relatives and friends for their gifts.
The first gift is to hang the wedding tent upward, the second gift is to light the flower candles, the third gift is to fill the house with official candles, the fourth gift is to send hoof flowers weighing five kilograms, the fifth gift is to give the groom a golden rooster to eat, the sixth gift is to give a set of hats, the seventh gift is to send a gold ribbon, and the eighth gift is to A pair of satin shoes, nine will give you a camellia cake with red letters, and ten will give you a carp jumping over the dragon's gate. A pair of fresh flowers are inserted next to the dried beans. The dried beans are originally made of beans, and one bean emits a thousand smokes... On this day, the bride has to kowtow to her parents and clan chiefs, and then tie up her hair and open her face. The tied hair is also called a hairpin, which is to tie the hair to the center of the head, make a bun and insert flowers. To open the face, use thread to remove the hair on the face. From this day on, the bride starts not to eat, but only eats some noodles, meatballs, longan, lotus seed soup, etc. The bride will cry before getting married to express her inseparable love for her relatives. Mothers also cry and sing wedding songs, such as: "Teach your daughter a few things for your mother. Keep the first thing in mind. Sweep the floor first in your mother-in-law's room. Don't let dust touch your mother-in-law's body. ..." Wedding songs are very rich in content. , teach daughters to be filial to their parents-in-law, respect their elders, manage the family diligently and thriftily, and live in harmony with their husbands and wives, etc. The sadder the mother cried, the better. The longer she cried, the better. The more she cried, the more she cried. The longest she cried was 48 days. The time to cry is before going to bed and before dawn.
Wedding ceremony: On this day, the man goes to the woman in a sedan chair to welcome her. There are three levels of sedan chairs: high-end sedan chairs are ornately decorated, surrounded by red silk, embroidered with auspicious dragons, mandarin ducks playing in the water, magpies making plum blossoms, peonies and other patterns. They are fully decorated with ceremonial guards, and the deacons and bearers are all dressed in red dresses. The decorations of middle and lower-level sedan chairs are simple, and deacons and bearers are not allowed to wear formal clothes. Before the man leaves the sedan, he asks two old ladies to look after the sedan. These two old ladies should be married, have children and grandchildren, and be blessed with a long life. The purpose of taking care of the sedan is to check whether the sedan is stable. If the sedan tilts to the left, it is considered that the bride If the sedan chair is tilted to the right, it means that the bride will be interested in her husband's family in the future, and she requires the sedan chair to be straight and not slanted. After the sedan is photographed, a couplet must be pasted on both sides of the sedan door. The man will first paste the right couplet, and after arriving at the woman, the woman will paste the left couplet. The couplet is rich in content, such as:
The man's right couplet: marry Where can a woman come to add more people and more children
Female Left Couplet: Marrying a Panman will have fields, rice and water
When the sedan chair is set off, the welcoming procession leads with a lantern dragon, and then They are the honor guard and the drummers, and the sedan chair is walking in the middle. The matchmaker rides in an official sedan or a rickshaw and travels with the wedding sedan. The groom is waiting at home for the sedan to come back. On this day of wedding, the bride has to freshen up early in the morning and sit in the room with her elders. The woman saw the wedding sedan arriving and quickly closed the door. The man's representative asked for the door to be opened. The woman's representative took the opportunity to negotiate the price. Representatives from both parties bargained. The quarrel reached noon. The woman's representative tried to push the envelope but was still not satisfied in the end. The matchmaker comes to mediate, and the man pays various gifts before the woman can let the sedan into the yard. The noise gets louder and louder. The noise is just a formality and will never really get angry. After the sedan enters the hospital, the bride’s side sends two old ladies with both good fortune and longevity to take care of the sedan. When taking care of the sedan, the mother of the bride holds a piece of paper dipped in clear oil and sings to the sedan a “song for taking care of the sedan”: If the sedan comes early, the children’s shoes will be old. , the sedan arrived late, and the couple had their eyebrows aligned. There were four lights on the corners of the sedan, and you went to your husband's house to make a thousand smokes.
Mothers sing sedan songs to bless their daughters. The bride is very well-dressed, wearing a crown and embroidered robe. She changes out of children's shoes and puts on red satin embroidered shoes. Her uncle or brother carries her into the sedan chair. After the bride changes from her children's shoes and puts on new ones, her feet cannot touch the ground. Doing so will take away the family's wealth. The bride's parents sit in their daughter's room and step on a bundle tied with red silk tightly with their feet. Good firewood, because "firewood" and "wealth" have the same pronunciation, the wealthy daughter of her parents' family cannot take away good firewood. Before the bride gets on the sedan, her mother and sisters cry to the climax, singing wedding songs while crying, one after another, crying more and more. The trumpeters played music, and a big red rooster was placed on the big red sedan chair. When leaving, the rich people shoot three cannons into the sky, while the poor people set off firecrackers to see them off. Family members throw tea leaves and rice onto the sedan chair. As the saying goes: Once the tea leaves and rice are thrown, you will be a guest next time you come back.
After blowing and beating all the way, the sedan finally arrived at her husband’s house and was welcomed by everyone. At this time, the groom steps forward to lift the sedan curtain, inserts his own silver hairpin into the bride's head, takes off the bride's hairpin and inserts it into his own head. This is called "changing the hairpin". If you do not want to change the hairpin, you will put the Ruyi on the bride's hand or the jewelry on her head in your arms. This is called "blind date". Some people throw tea leaves at the sedan chair, which is called "breaking the evil spirit". Then, the sedan chair is carried to the wedding hall, the bride is taken down by the bride, and the groom takes off his red hijab. First, the two of them bow to the sedan chair and bow to the four sides of the sedan chair. In the cheers of the master of ceremonies, they worship heaven and earth, first worship heaven and earth, second worship ancestors, third worship parents, and then the husband and wife bow to each other. The groom invites the bride to bow to the guests, and the guests will be rewarded with money after being worshiped. After the greetings, the newlyweds drink a glass of wine, fill a bowl with rice and meat, and raise it to the sky to express their gratitude to their parents, which is called "filial piety rice." At this time, a banquet was held in the hall, and the bride stood on a stool in the living room. The children watching the excitement threw grains to the bride to show that the bride would have more children in the future. At the end of the banquet, the guests deliberately dropped their chopsticks on the ground. The bride got down from the stool and picked up the chopsticks, saying: "Xia Ke".
Enthronement: The newlyweds enter the bridal chamber, with five men and two women sitting on the bed. The singer sings "Enthronement Colorful Words" and throws red dates, peanuts, longans, melon seeds and other foods on the bed while singing. The children They grab food to show that they will have a baby early. After singing the colorful lyrics, they distribute a gift or give money to each child who is enthroned.
Making noise in the wedding room: On the night of the bridal chamber, there should be a nuisance in the bridal chamber. The nuisance should be excessive, rude, and get more noisy until the bride starts laughing.
Three Dynasties: The third day of the wedding is called Three Dynasties. The bride and groom both return to their father-in-law’s house and bring gifts. The parents-in-law send their relatives to greet the son-in-law on the road and call the son-in-law a "new guest". , returning to the door three times is also called "passing the door". The parents-in-law want to give a reward to the new son-in-law, hold a banquet, and say goodbye to the mother and daughter. The newlyweds have to return to their in-laws' house that day and cannot stay overnight. Until the first month of the next year, the parents-in-law choose auspicious times to welcome the new uncle. When they return to the father-in-law's house, the couple must first visit their parents, then visit the ancestral temple, relatives, friends, and elders. Relatives and friends give each other gifts. This time, the young couple can stay for a few more days, but Husband and wife cannot sleep together. Special marriage
Child brides: In the past, sons were favored over daughters. If a girl was born and given to others as a child bride, parents who adopted a child bride would be fine if they had a boy and wanted to mate with them. If there was no boy, they would have to wait for a boy to be born in the future. This is another problem. Called Wanglang’s daughter-in-law, many child brides have been discriminated against and abused by their adoptive parents since childhood. They only marry the sons of their adoptive parents when they reach adulthood. However, there is a big age difference. Some girls are five to fifteen years older than the boys. The wedding customs are relatively simple, just hold a wedding ceremony at home and have a few tables of wine. Most such marriages are unhappy.
Recruiting a bride: When a woman loses her husband, or the couple never gives birth to a boy, and the family is wealthy, she recruits her son-in-law to marry into the family, which is called "supporting the family".
Remarriage: In the past, people had serious feudal ideas, and "men were superior to women." "Female women never married two husbands." Men who lost their wives could remarry, while women who lost their husbands had to remain widowed for life, which is commonly known as "keeping the knot." The widow suffered mental pain, lived a hard life, was abused by her parents-in-law, and had to avoid taboos. She regarded "Ke Fu" as an unlucky person. If you are forced to remarry, you should first burn paper and kowtow to your late husband, return the money and gifts from your parents-in-law, and repay the kindness of raising you. On the wedding day, you can only go out through the back door. What's even worse is that if a girl is engaged, or is married to her husband's family, and after receiving the betrothal gift, her fiancé dies, what should the girl do? There are four ways in the past:
One is to hold the wedding while the fiancé is seriously ill. , commonly known as "bringing happiness", it only cures the illness. If she dies, the girl will remain a widow for the rest of her life. This is what happened in Lin Yutang's novel "Beijing Smoke and Clouds". The eldest son of the Zeng family, named Zeng Pingya, contracted typhoid fever and became blind. The Zeng family celebrated their son's birthday and asked him to marry his cousin Manny from Jiangxi. It was too late. After drinking a glass of wine, she fell seriously ill and became a widow for life.
The second is that after the death of her fiancé, the girl goes to the church holding a memorial tablet and remains a widow for the rest of her life. In Liujia Village, Songshan County, Nanchang County in the late Qing Dynasty, there was a head family named Liu Guanqing. He was an official in Dingnan, Jiangxi Province. He betrothed his youngest daughter Liu Tingzi to his cousin Gu Yisheng as his wife. Later Yisheng's family gradually declined due to his father's opium consumption. Tingzi His mother proposed to abolish the marriage and refused to give birth to Gu Yi on the grounds of high betrothal gift. The cousin was helpless and hanged himself in anger. The girl Tingzi was extremely sad. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, heavy snow fell in the sky. Tingzi, dressed in mourning clothes and sitting in a white sedan, went to the Gu family to worship her cousin's soul tablet and got married. She came to stay as a widow, and later generations made up a Nanchang literary and Taoist love name. "The Gu Family" is widely circulated in society.
Third, parents in the south are more liberal. After the death of their son, they ask the woman to return the bride price and cancel the engagement.
There are also some exceptions in the four aspects. The man and woman have a certain emotional foundation. If the fiancé dies suddenly, after negotiation between the two parties, the bride price does not need to be refunded, but the woman must send two things to the deceased; the first thing is given to the deceased. A pair of trousers worn by a girl is worn by the deceased; the second is to send a pair of elegiac couplets to pay New Year greetings. It is a traditional custom among Chinese people. It is a way for people to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year, and to express their best wishes to each other. In ancient times, the original meaning of the word "bainian" was to congratulate the elders on the New Year, including kowtowing to the elders, giving blessings, wishing them a happy new year, and greeting them with well-being. When you meet relatives and friends of the same generation, you should also give congratulations. Nanchang poet Lai Hu's poem "Early Spring": "Half of the paper has just been opened during the New Year, and the ashes of the poles are still gathering in the small pavilion." It writes about the scene of burning bamboo poles during the Spring Festival in Nanchang. With the changes of the times, Nanchang people no longer burn firecrackers during the New Year. On the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, Nanchang people begin to "celebrate the New Year". On New Year's Eve, the dinner on this day is called "Family Reunion". Every relative who is away from home must rush home for the New Year's Eve dinner. If something happens and he cannot make it back, his family members must set the tableware for them to show that they are reunited. New Year's Eve meals include rice cakes, braised fish, fried rice noodles, eight-treasure rice, and boiled soup. Their meanings are, in order, good fortune every year, fish every year, a good harvest, rice in bunches, eight treasures for wealth, and prosperity every year; New Year's Eve Every household must have red candles shining brightly all night long, so Nanchang has "Fire at Thirty Nights and Lights at Lantern Festival Night". For breakfast on the first day of the Lunar New Year, people eat vegetarian food according to the custom of Nanchang. They only eat pasta or vegetable rice and no meat, which indicates a "vegetarian" year. On the first and second day of the Lunar New Year, every household begins to visit relatives to pay New Year's greetings. On the seventh day of the first lunar month, Nanchang people call it "Shangqi". There is a saying that "Shangqi is like a new year". In the evening, the Kitchen God is welcomed back to his throne, and the family also holds a banquet to celebrate. On the night of the Lantern Festival, lanterns are hung in front of every house, and the whole family gathers together to eat "Yuanxiao" (glutinous rice balls). Then they watch dragon lanterns, set off fireworks, and light up all the firecrackers in the house. The New Year is over in more than twenty days. People in Nanchang celebrate the Lantern Festival and make a fuss about the Lantern Festival. After the fifteenth day of the festival, they will still have a sixteenth day. During the Lantern Festival, both urban residents and rural residents must eat Yuanxiao, which symbolizes family reunion and happiness. After eating the Lantern Festival, we started to light up the lights. There are various kinds of dragon lanterns during the Lantern Festival in rural counties adjacent to Nanchang, including dragon lanterns, bench lanterns, Guan Gong lanterns, lotus picking lanterns, etc. The longest bench lamp consists of more than 1,000 benches, with more than 1,000 people.
The bench lights dance neatly and uniformly, which is very spectacular. The Guan Gong Lantern in Taiping Township, Wanli District, is very beautiful. Nowadays, various folk songs and dances are added to the folk Lantern Festival. On the night of the Lantern Festival, every house hangs lanterns. The colorful lanterns in every village were on all night long, and the sound of firecrackers and games continued. The commotion continued all night and until the 16th day of the first lunar month. In the joyful atmosphere, everyone began to remove the altar tables set up on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, put away the lanterns, and held a ceremony to send off the gods. The activities and sending off to the gods are over, and the New Year activities have come to an end.
Wanshou Chaoxian Hui Chaoxian Hui, also known as Xiangxiang Hui, is a temple fair dedicated to Xu Xun. The most worshiped person in Nanchang is Xu Xun, and the people call him the Blessed Lord Bodhisattva. It is said that about 1500 years ago, 136-year-old Xu Zhenjun and his family of 42 people (including their house, chickens and dogs) ascended to heaven together. People in Nanchang commemorate Xu Zhenjun and designate the day when he ascended to heaven as his birthday. For this reason, every year, villagers in Gao'an, Shanggao, Jing'an, Fengxin, Fengcheng, Jinxian and other counties voluntarily fast and bathe, and organize organized groups of townships, villages and ethnic groups to form a pilgrimage meeting and go to Xishan Wanshou Worship and offer incense. There are many taboos in the Wanshou pilgrimage: 1. You need to fast for a week before worshiping; 2. You need to take a shower and change clothes; 3. Hang a yellow incense bag on your shoulder and go in groups while beating gongs and drums. In order to get the first incense stick in the early morning of the first day of August, pilgrims need to rush to the Longevity Palace day and night. Anyone who gets the incense stick on his head is considered the luckiest person and is happier than winning the top prize. Longgang Climbing The Chinese nation has always had the custom of climbing nine times, and it is also popular in Nanchang. Longsha on the outskirts of Nanchang City has been a scenic spot for climbing high and looking far since the Jin and Southern Dynasties. According to the quotation from Song Dynasty music history "Taiping Huanyu Ji": "There is Longsha in the north, a winding pile of piles, white and tall, like a dragon, stretching for five or six miles. It is the old custom of climbing on September 9th." September 9th The custom of climbing is extremely popular in Nanchang area. People climb Meiling Mountain or Tengwang Pavilion to meet friends with literature and hold banquets at high altitudes. The custom of Chongjiu climbing has been inherited for a long time. Nanchang Tea Picking Opera Nanchang Tea Picking Opera originated during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty. It is a combination of Nanchang folk "tea lanterns" and "December Tea Picking Tune". Later, it absorbed the folk dance of Nanchang area and combined it with it. After roughly going through the development stages of "Light Opera", "Three-legged Troupe" and "Half Troupe", it was officially named "Nanchang Tea Picking Opera" after liberation. The performance of Nanchang tea-picking opera is humorous, the singing is beautiful and affectionate, and it has a strong local flavor of Nanchang. It often uses coincidence, exaggeration, misunderstanding and other techniques to exaggerate the dramatic atmosphere. In particular, the clever use of idioms, blunders, antonyms, euphemisms and rural slang in the lines made the performance more interesting. Nanchang tea-picking opera is good at comedy, singing and dancing. The lively clowns and Xiaodan are particularly popular with the masses. The singing method of tea-picking opera requires both men and women to use their real voices. There are four traditional repertoires: "The Story of an Injustice", "The Story of an Gu", "The Story of a Sedan Chair" and "The Pumpkin". "Four Records of Nanchang", collectively known as "Four Major Records of Nanchang". They are all based on Nanchang folk tales.