Analysis:
Why was the bride carried into the sedan chair?
In western film and television works, it is often seen that the groom carries the bride from the carriage or car to the new house. In the traditional marriage customs of the Han nationality in China, the situation is just the opposite: when the bride gets married, her brother has to carry the sedan chair. A similar phenomenon also exists in the marriage customs of some ethnic minorities. For example, in the Harqin Banner and Horqin Department in the eastern part of Mongolian grassland, "In the morning, when it is time to see the bride off, the bride is carried on the float by her uncle or brother with a felt" (Wang Xun et al., Mongolian Customs (I), Central University for Nationalities Press, 1990 edition).
What's so particular about this custom?
Some people think that this is the product of the transition from matriarchal system to paternal system: in matriarchal clan society, the relationship between married women and their spouses is only a kind of * * *. Although the spouse has the will, he still lives in a matriarchal family and has no independent economic foundation. After the emergence of patriarchy characterized by inheriting private property, married women continued to maintain matriarchal system due to historical traditions, and even retained the habit of group marriage, forcing their husbands to take various measures to "break the tradition within the traditional scope" (Marx's Abstract of Morgan (Ancient Society)) and establish matriarchal system, thus ensuring the purity of children's bloodline and the stability of property relations. Among these means, there is the behavior of "robbing marriage" in a non-original sense, that is, forcing a woman who has actually established a spouse relationship to marry home in some recognized form. In this struggle that women cling to the matriarchal system and men want to establish the paternal system, women's brothers usually take the attitude of cooperating with men for their own interests. Historical customs still exist until the marriage form of women who adapt to patriarchy is stable. One of the manifestations of this residual custom is that the bride "cries for marriage" and her brother carries the sedan chair hard.
Others believe that the elder brother carrying the bride on the sedan chair symbolizes the establishment of uncle Lang's authority, and its source can also be traced back to the matriarchal society. With the widespread implementation of matriarchal marriage, maternal relatives such as Uncle Lang have special responsibilities in handling and protecting the life affairs and rights of sisters and nephews, so they have special authority. After entering the patriarchal society, although the continuation of blood relationship and inheritance of property have been carried out according to the paternal line, Uncle Lang, as a representative of matriarchal relatives, still enjoys certain authority in safeguarding the rights and interests of in-laws and sisters and nephews, which is called "uncle right" in customary law. Therefore, in the traditional wedding custom, the bride should be carried by her brother in a sedan chair, just as the bride should be seen off by her brother and be honored as the guest of honor in the man's house. All these symbolic actions are aimed at establishing her uncle's authority and gaining the recognition of both parties to the marriage and society. Some brides have no brothers, so their uncles carry the sedan chair.
Some people think that the bride's sedan chair is carried by her brother or uncle, which is actually a reflection of the concept of land worship. There is even a folk story to prove this: a long time ago, there was an old man Liu who gave birth to five men and two women. He took advantage of the favorable weather to marry his eldest son in the first year and send his second daughter to marry in the second year. Who would have thought that the family would decline from now on. Later, someone told me: "the earth can breed everything, and the land can grow gold." When your girl got married, she took away the wealth in the field, so she prospered and harmed her husband's family. As the saying goes,' the wife is full of red, and the wife is empty', and its mystery is here. " Liu Laohan suddenly realized that when he remarried three girls next year, he specially took care of his son to carry his sister on his back in a sedan chair, so that she could carry it away without touching her feet, in order to leave "wealth" on his own land. After that, neighbors followed suit and gradually formed a nationwide wedding ceremony. In some places, this is not enough, and a pair of new shoes are specially prepared. After the bride is carried into the sedan chair, she will replace the shoes on her feet with these shoes that have never been out of the country to make sure that nothing is wrong. Later, in many areas, "changing shoes in a sedan chair" was used instead of "Uncle Lang carrying a sedan chair", because it was much more convenient, and "wealth" could be left in the mother's land.
Although all the above viewpoints are reasonable, there is no reliable written record to prove them. It can be said that why the bride should carry the sedan chair when she gets married is still a mystery.