"Five Rites" once said that since the later Qi Dynasty, regardless of the emperor and the common people, weddings are "one for receiving gifts, the other for honoring names, the third for receiving gifts, the fourth for receiving gifts, the fifth for inviting guests and the sixth for welcoming guests." This is the six stages of ancient wedding, commonly known as the "Six Rites".
First, the ancient six rites
1, Nacai: This is the first stage of proposing marriage. After the man asked the media to propose, the woman agreed to propose. The man prepared a gift to propose to the woman's family. The gift is a goose, and all geese must be alive. Why use geese? Wild goose is a migratory bird, symbolizing the meaning of yin and yang. Later, it came up with a new idea, saying that the geese lost their spouses and would never pair up for life to gain their loyalty.
2. Ask the name: After proposing marriage, ask the matchmaker about the date and name of the woman's birth and prepare for the wedding ceremony. ?
3. Najib: It is a ritual to inform the woman of the good news of marriage after asking the name, also called "engagement". This is the main ceremony at the engagement stage. In ancient customs, geese are used as a token of marriage as usual. Later, it was developed to use rings, jewelry, colored silk, gift cakes, gift candles, and even sheep and pigs, so it was also called sending or hiring.
4. Conscription: After the engagement, the man will send the bride price to the woman's house, which is a ceremony at the wedding stage. This kind of wedding is also commonly known as the end of employment or big employment, big gifts and so on. Later, this ceremony also adopted the practice of returning gifts, returning part or all of the food in the dowry; Or after being hired, the wife will give the man a coat, hat, shoes and socks as a gift. The number of betrothal gifts and the names of items are auspicious and wishful, and the number is double taboo table.
5. Invitation date: After the bride price is delivered, choose the wedding date, prepare the gift to the woman's home and get the consent. Goose is used as usual in ancient customs, and gifts are generally simple. Bridal gifts are often combined with bride price, and the wedding date and gift money are decided at the same time.
6, pro-welcome: it is a ceremony for the newly married husband to go to the woman's house to meet. This ceremony is often regarded as the main procedure of the wedding, while the first five items are regarded as transitional etiquette such as marriage negotiation and engagement.
Second, the ancient wedding process
1, kiss and greet
When the auspicious day comes, the groom will personally officiate at the wedding ceremony. When a man visits a woman's house, he should offer a goose as a gift, which is called "drinking goose" in the "ceremony". Goose only gets married once in its life, and then it can't be separated. If one of them dies, the other will never get married again. In this way, it embodies the good wishes of husband and wife to grow old together. Most weddings in Beijing in the Qing Dynasty imitated royal etiquette. A person dressed in the front is responsible for opening the way, followed by evasive signs, trumpeters, gongs, decorative lights, flags and so on. At the same time, melons, cymbals, cymbals and other weapons are also arranged in the ranks of ceremonial ceremonies. The groom rides a horse or sits in a green sedan chair, followed by the bride's embroidered red sedan chair. It's really imposing. The groom here and now is like a champion. No wonder marriage is a quiz.
When the sedan chair arrives at the door of the woman's house, the woman's house must be closed. This is called blocking the door. The man knocked at the door outside and urged the bride to get on the sedan chair. At this time, there will be a courtesy answer, and someone in the woman's family will ask for a "red envelope" through the door. When the door is blocked for a certain period of time, men can enter the door.
In addition to special greetings after entering the door, the man should give gifts. These gifts vary from time to time and from place to place, but they all have festive significance. On the way home, you must take another road, which means "there is no turning back". If you meet temples, wells, shrines, graves, big stones and trees on the way, you should cover the sedan chair with a blanket to ward off evil spirits.
Step 2 visit the church
When the wedding sedan chair and ceremony returned to the man's door, the man's door was closed as usual, saying that it could be used to harm the bride's temper. When the gate was opened, the sedan chair was carried into the yard. First, you have to go through the brazier to see off your relatives and the bride's brother. Just the sedan chair entered the hospital to rest, and the men treated each other with wine.
In the past, after the bride entered the house, she had to sprinkle some grains, beans, grass and so on. In order to ward off evil spirits, the three evil spirits (the god of green sheep, black-bone chicken and green cow) are busy pecking, so they won't hurt the bride. Now the bride gets off the sedan chair and scatters confetti, which may be the reason.
When it's time to get off the sedan chair, carry it to the door of the hall. At this time, the groom bowed to the door three, and the wife who saw the bride off opened the door, and the bridesmaid helped the bride get off. Then give the bride a small porcelain bottle containing two or four yellow and white rings. The bride held Aquarius in her arms and left with the help of the bridesmaid and the wife who saw her off. In addition, two people put red carpets on the front and back so that the bride's feet won't touch the ground. At this time, the groom has stood in front of the case of heaven and earth, holding a bow and arrow and shooting three arrows at the bride to drive away evil spirits. The archery posture is to shoot an arrow, take a step back, and then the bride gets into the saddle and walks the brazier. After these courtesies are over, a wedding ceremony will be held before the confession, which is called "worshipping heaven and earth".
Step 3 enter the bridal chamber
After worshipping heaven and earth, he led the bride into the bridal chamber. After the bride and groom enter the bridal chamber, the ceremony is also a series.
The first is to sit on the account, also known as "sitting on the blessing." The bride and groom are all sitting on the edge of the kang or bed in the bridal chamber. The groom presses his left skirt on the bride's right skirt, indicating that men want to overwhelm women. Also known as "scattered accounts", the happy fruit is sprinkled on the account. Generally, the scattered items are dates, chestnuts and peanuts. Homonym means "early fruit" and "flowering".
The next program is to eat children's cakes, which the bride's farewell wife brought from her family. After eating children's cakes, they also eat longevity noodles. Longevity noodles are prepared by men, which means "generations to come". Then there is "hangover", also known as toasting. Use a red rope and tie a wine glass at each end. The bride and groom each drink half a glass, then exchange cups and finish the wine in the cup. The toast ceremony was held in the bridal chamber, but there was also a banquet in the hall called "Reunion Dinner". During the dinner, the bride and groom took their seats, and other guests sat with them, indicating that they became a family from then on.
The custom of "disturbing the bridal chamber" has existed since ancient times and has been popular since the Han Dynasty. Besides amusing, there are other meanings, such as making the bridal chamber lively, dispelling the cold feeling and increasing the joyful atmosphere of the wedding, so some places are also called "greenhouses"; In the past, men and women were introduced by many people and didn't know each other well. Making a wedding room can help them get rid of formality.
In modern weddings in China, the custom of making a toast in the bridal chamber is basically preserved, but it has all been moved to the wedding. For example, wedding games are the inheritance and evolution of the custom of making bridal chamber.
Third, what should be prepared for an ancient wedding.
1, Sedan chair: Sedan chair has been the core part of traditional weddings since the Southern Song Dynasty. There are two kinds of lifts: four-person lift and eight-person lift. There are also dragon sedan chairs and phoenix sedan chairs. The sedan chair is covered with a red curtain, with dragons and phoenixes inserted on it and silk ears hanging at the four corners. Rich people get married in five sedan chairs, three sedan chairs, one for their wife on the way to marriage, and the other two for the young man who pressed the sedan chair. When the bride comes back, the bride, the wedding and the farewell each take a ride; The other two sit in blue (or green) sedan chairs, covered with blue woolen cloth and with copper tops, and the groom and the best man sit one each.
2. Flag umbrella fan: in the wedding procession, in front of the sedan chair. Let the whole wedding ceremony become vivid and spectacular.
3. Firecrackers: During the parade, the wedding car should set off firecrackers all the way to celebrate.
4, brazier: put a pot of fire at the gate, let the bride cross over, meaning that the married days are booming.
5, hijab: In ancient times, the bride wore a long gown with a crown and covered her head with red cloth to avoid evil, red and auspicious. The groom will lift the veil when he enters the bridal chamber.
6. Ground scale: After entering the bridal chamber, the groom takes off the bride's red hijab with a scale, which means "content".
7. Saddle: "Saddle" and "An" happen to coincide, and it has been taken for a long time. More on the threshold of the bridal chamber, let the bride cross, indicating that the bride crosses the saddle and is safe all her life. The bride's front foot steps into the threshold, and before her back foot falls, she needs a "blessed man" with parents and children to unload the saddle, which is just in line with the meaning that "a brave man doesn't marry two husbands, and a good horse doesn't deserve two saddles".
Heaven and earth table: often placed in the courtyard, the magnifying bucket, ruler, scissors, mirror, abacus and scale on the table are called "six certificates" It means "six certificates", knowing how much food, cloth, clothes, looks, hukou, things and so on are available at home. Folks say that only "three media and six certificates" can explain that the wedding is reasonable and legal. On auspicious occasions, a wedding will be held, commonly known as "worshipping heaven and earth", presided over by the master of ceremonies. One worships heaven and earth, the other worships ancestors, the third worships Gaotang, and finally the husband and wife pay homage.
8. Candles: Use big red candles in pairs at weddings and light them in halls and bridal chambers. Because there are many gold, silver, dragons and phoenixes on it, it is called "fireworks".
With the changes of the times, different customs and habits have also formed great differences. After seeing the ancient wedding customs, Bian Xiao felt very traditional and particular. This is the charm of traditional culture.