Ancient women
About the origin of bridesmaids? I believe everyone knows what a "bridesmaid" is, that is, a woman who accompanies the bride to the wedding. According to the online statement: "The bridesmaid protects the bride. In order to confuse the audience, she dressed up as a bride in case the wicked took the bride away. " As for when the "bridesmaid" originated, there is no such word in the encyclopedia of traditional culture in China, and the internet is blank. However, the encyclopedia explains that "bridesmaids" were called "bridesmaids" in ancient times.
What is a "bridesmaid"? According to "Zhou Li? Qiu Guan? The master of ceremonies said, "The guest of the nine ceremonies, abandon the ceremony of appearance and the ceremony of resignation, so as to speak out. " ? It is said that in ancient times, the best man was usually a good friend of the bride and groom and an unmarried woman. To be honest, I don't think it's reliable that "bridesmaids" originated from "bridesmaids". What is my basis?
First of all, the "bridesmaid" should know the etiquette, be responsible for the guest ceremony on September 1st, and read a toast to the bride. Unmarried women in ancient times were not allowed to show their faces to the bride and groom without professional training. Secondly, in ancient times, a matchmaker or professional emcee was needed to toast the married bride to entertain guests. Therefore, the "best man" should be a matchmaker or master of ceremonies, not a bridesmaid. Finally: Ling Mengchu, a writer in Ming Dynasty, was surprised at the first moment? There is a passage in the ninth volume: "The best man read a poem and told the couple to get off the sedan chair. The bridesmaid opened the curtain and waited again and again, but her body was not seen. " Here, the "best man" and the "maid of honor" are separated, and the "best man" is not what we call the "maid of honor". Therefore, it is not reliable to say that "bridesmaids" are ancient "bridesmaids". "Best man" and "maid of honor" are two different things and cannot be confused. Let me talk about the legend about the origin of "bridesmaids": "It is said that in ancient times, when couples got married, lights were not allowed in the bridal chamber. After a couple visited the church, the bride was sent to a dark new house. The bride advised her husband to spend more time with relatives and friends, and he went. At this time, one of the guests happened to be a dissolute boy. He sneaked into the bridal chamber while the bride was away, made love to her in the dark, and then ran away. Later, the bride found that it was not her husband but someone else who courted her, and she was hanged in her room because of shame. When she died, she left a suicide note saying that she was insulted on her wedding day. After the magistrate tried the case, the prisoner was finally brought to justice. To this end, the county official also revised the regulations. In the future, people must hold a wedding, light a lamp in the bridal chamber, and choose a woman to accompany the bride in the bridal chamber. Since then, this custom has been passed down to this day. "
The legend about "bridesmaids" is groundless. However, ancient legends never came out at once. The appearance of "bridesmaid" must have its origin, because China's wedding originated very early and for too long. In order to understand, we can only look for clues from ancient books.
bride
"Bride price" and the ancient system of "robbing marriage" The custom of "robbing marriage" was very popular in ancient times, and its origin was very early, which can be traced back to ancient times. In ancient times, the ancients got married in the form of "grabbing marriage", which can be seen in the text of the Book of Changes:
Swallowing Confucianism is like riding a horse, bandits and marriage. -"hey? Sixty-two "Ben is like a donkey, a white horse is like a donkey, and bandits marry." -"Ben? June 4th was lonely, and it was a shame to see a ghost. First the tense arc, then the detached arc. Bandits, marriage. -"eyes? The simple translation of "Shangjiu" is: "The team that wants to advance and retreat on horseback will be mistaken for a group of robbers. When the wedding procession gallops, it will also be mistaken for a group of robbers. When the wedding car is caught in heavy rain, the people on the car will be splashed with mud and mistaken for a bunch of robbers with ghosts, so that they will be shot in the back. "This misunderstanding happened on the auspicious day of marriage, which shows that it has a lot to do with stealing marriage. Perhaps many people don't understand, what is the relationship between marriage robbery and "bridesmaids"?
Marriage snatching was popular in ancient times. When the bride is on a wedding trip, she is afraid of being robbed, so her family will take men and women of the same race as the "bride" and "groom" and accompany her to her husband's house. In addition, people who rob the marriage don't know who the bride is, and they dare not rush to rob the marriage when they see the huge team. This should be the earliest source of "bridesmaids".
Bridesmaids and weddings in the Spring and Autumn Period. What is a "wedding"? "Two ya? Interpretation "cloud:" Hey, it will be sent. " In fact, "Ai" means escort. In the biography of the ram? "Nineteen Years of Zhuanggong" says: "Who is it? When a vassal marries a country, the two countries will go there to follow their nephew. " Zheng Xuan explained: "In ancient times, when a man married a woman, his nephew would obey him. This is called mourning. Nephew, brother's son; Hey, the female brother is also. " It means that a vassal marries the daughter of a vassal state, and the country that marries the daughter is accompanied by his brother. However, "nephew" is understood as "sister and niece" on the Internet. It can be seen that there is a big gap in understanding between the two.
Judging from the word "niece", both of them are beside the word "female", so the explanation of "sister niece" should be more reliable. Of course, another explanation is that the bride's brother and sister get married together, which is in line with the current custom that bridesmaids and groomsmen get married together.
bride
In addition, before the Western Zhou Dynasty, "Ai" only meant getting married, not not not getting married. In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, "concubine" only refers to a woman who goes out with her when she gets married. Therefore, "marriage" also originated from the ancient "grabbing marriage".
Before the Western Zhou Dynasty, "nephews and concubines" meant that men and women accompanied the bride to the groom's house to protect the bride from being robbed of her marriage. By the spring and autumn period, the "marriage" that began to appear had deteriorated. For political marriage, princes simply married their daughters' sisters or women of the same clan. Therefore, the bride is no longer lonely with her sisters.
Therefore, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, "bridesmaids" became "wives". When a vassal marries a wife, he marries her with the bride as a dowry. With the unification of the six countries by Qin Shihuang and the disintegration of the nobles in the six countries, "marriage" gradually disappeared.
When did the "bridesmaid" appear? After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, "marriage" disappeared, and large families often used handmaiden as their daughter's dowry, which was always welcomed by the aristocratic class. However, ordinary people have no handmaiden, so what can they do as their daughter's dowry? As you may have thought, it's a dowry for bridesmaids. This is the real origin of modern bridesmaids.
bride
It is difficult to determine in which dynasty the word "bridesmaid" first appeared. However, through the search of ancient books, we found that the word "maid-in-waiting" was not found in the poems before the Yuan Dynasty. In Yuan Qu and Ming and Qing novels, a casual search is a lot of "bridesmaid" words. We speculate that "bridesmaids" appeared in the Yuan Dynasty and were popular in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. The following are excerpts from classic literature for your reference:
"Bend in? There is a passage in "Kill the Dog": "I am young and smart, and the bridesmaids play games. "Quan Yuan Qu" contains Yuan zaju and Sanqu, which shows that the word "maid-in-waiting" originated in Yuan Dynasty. Feng Menglong, a writer at the end of the Ming Dynasty, was in Wake Up? In the seventh volume, Qian Xiucai's "Mistaking Phoenix" said: "That night, full of wine, the old couple saw the groom enter the room to praise, and the bridesmaid took the head for the bride. After urging the groom to settle down several times, Qian Qing just refused. I don't know what this means. I had to wait on the bride to sleep first and walk out of the room myself. " The Marriage Story of Awakening the World is a novel of the Ming Dynasty, which shows that there were also "bridesmaids" in the Ming Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty and the Early Republic of China edited by Tsui Hark? "Marriage" said: "After all, the marriage customs in Hengzhou are peculiar. Every time before marriage, the media should send a message to the woman's family, hire one or two bridesmaids and fill them with beautiful songs. " Hengzhou is now Hengyang City, Hunan Province. Before marrying a woman, bridesmaids should be hired as beautiful and talented women. It can be seen that the Qing Dynasty also had the habit of inviting bridesmaids. There is a description in Lin Yutang's novel "Clouds in Beijing": "When Sun Manni got married, her parents invited a professional bridesmaid to accompany the bride at any time in complicated ceremonies and give her guidance at any time." In his novels, Lin Yutang wrote about the custom of ordinary people asking professional bridesmaids.
Therefore, the origin of "bridesmaid" is from ancient marriage robbery to "marriage" in the Spring and Autumn Period. After the Six Kingdoms perished, the "marriage" collapsed, and the nobles took handmaiden as their dowry. And ordinary folk families have no handmaiden, so they will pay professional "bridesmaids" as their dowry. In fact, the original "bridesmaids" were mainly played by the bride's clan sisters. Its function is to protect the bride from being deprived of marriage. This custom has continued until now, so you must invite bridesmaids when you get married. In fact, it is to protect the bride from being taken away by others.