Preparation for the day before the wedding
The day before the wedding, the bride began to dress up after a short breakfast.
The first step is getting dressed. First, wear national wedding dresses, skirts, red stockings and embroidered shoes.
Step 2, put on a good head and put on various hairpins and ring ornaments;
Step 3: traditionally, cover the bride's eyes with a red cloth (meaning that you don't need to find your way home if you get married successfully), then wrap a proper amount of peanuts and jujubes in the bride's silk handkerchief to plug the bride's mouth, fill the remaining space in the bride's mouth with a white cloth, and then seal the bride's mouth from the outside with a clean cloth. This will not only prevent the bride from spitting out gags, but also play a sealing role and provide double insurance for the man. But now, because the bride is more cooperative, in order to make the bride comfortable but meet the requirements of the elders, sometimes the groom will take peanuts, jujubes, scarves and white cloth from the bride's mouth on the way home and seal her mouth with cloth strips (as shown on the right). But later, the elders came up with another solution, that is, instead of sealing the bride's mouth with cloth strips, they used transparent tape (as shown in the picture on the right below), so that the bride could not spit out the gag, and the elders could also see whether the gag in the bride's mouth had been taken out. This is auspicious, and the second is to prevent the bride from shouting when robbing the wedding, to provide convenience for the man and to make the wedding too simple. The fourth step is to bind the bride firmly (according to the old theory, when the bride is robbed, she must first struggle to resist, and then the man and his assistant will subdue her, tie her up and take her home, but this noise will generally make the bride's clothes messy and unsightly. If the bride is tied at home first, this trouble will be saved). Generally, a clean white cotton rope (meaning purity) is used for binding. The bride's hands are twisted behind her back, and her back is closed by rubbing shoulders. Some threads are tied on her wrist with special strength to prevent the bride from breaking free or untie the rope. Then put the bride's legs together and tie her knees and ankles. Then tie the ankle and thigh heel together with a rope, and finally tie the bride's neck and knee together, thus completing the binding.
Binding work is usually done by father and married brother at home. According to legend, the tighter the bondage, the sweeter and happier the married life will be. Therefore, the father and brother will spare no effort to restrain the bride. Although the bride is uncomfortable, her mouth is blocked by a piece of cloth, plus the joy of her wedding and the expectation of her future life. Generally, she won't resist, at most, she will hum or twist. In addition, special tie-dyed cotton strips are used to bind them, or only the hands and feet are tied with ropes and then wrapped with a whole piece of cloth, so I won't elaborate here. (Fasting) In addition, since the breakfast the day before the wedding, the bride has stopped eating rice and water, so as not to need convenience on the way to the man's house, leading to accidents (it is said that the bride was kidnapped by savages in the forest, kidnapped by others, or swallowed by tigers on the way to the man's house, so she could not stop for convenience).
Two or three days before the wedding, the man's family selected several able-bodied men from relatives and friends, led by the groom's brother, drove a pig, carried a bucket of wine and brought more ropes to the woman's house to celebrate the wedding. This team has to undergo various tests in the woman's home, and the bride's sisters and close relatives and friends have already made preparations for storing water. Including splashing water, using a pot of cigarettes mixed with Chili noodles, smearing them on the faces of wedding guests when they are unprepared, giving sticks to wedding guests, or waving fists to chase wedding guests and so on. Those who greet the bride can't fight back. They can only take advantage of the chaos to subdue her and tie her with a rope, tie her to a post, or tie her hands and feet behind her back, and then tie her hands and feet together and tie them to the ground, so that she can't resist, so as to reduce the resistance to robbing the bride. At the same time, she rushed into every room to find the bride. The man can capture young and beautiful unmarried women among wedding guests and make blind dates for unmarried men at home by binding and gagging. This process will be introduced in the following story.
Looking for a bride
The most important thing is to subdue the four young women who take care of the bride one by one in order to find the key to open the box. Usually, several strong men grab a woman's hands and feet together, drag her into the house, press her on the chair, first tie her hands behind the back of the chair, then tie her feet tightly on the legs of the chair with a rope, so that she can't escape, and then catch the next one. When all four people were tied to chairs, the groom's brother began to ask about the whereabouts of the keys. Although these women are bound by their hands and feet, they will not easily tell where the keys are, but ask questions to wedding guests, usually some puzzles. If they answer correctly, they can find the key quickly. If they can't answer, they will beg or give out red envelopes. After getting the key to open the box, the class teacher should open the box to verify his identity. At this time, the bride didn't untie, but took out the gag cloth that the bride had covered before, and then put the bride into her own woven bag and sewed it with double happiness. When putting it on, the bride has to pretend that she doesn't want to cry several times, suggesting that the groom will plug the bride's mouth with a pair of red underwear and a boiled egg. According to custom, underwear must be worn by virgins of the groom's relatives for three days. Represents the purity of the bride. The girls in these underwear are naturally the groom and sister.
In some areas, it is sometimes possible to take out the bride's gag cloth and make her cry (that is, to cry for the sake of getting married. Although the bride has been tied up on the way to the man's house and can't resist, she still needs to cry to show that she has been robbed, and at the same time explain to her neighbors that this is a wedding robbery to avoid misunderstanding). On the wedding day, they tied the chair firmly with a rope. And lift the box containing the bride (the bride's body can't touch the ground), let the bride cry and quickly retreat to the man's house. When the bride's family finds out that the bride has been robbed, they will run after her, shout, chase and splash water. Until they catch up with the man's home. The man's family has arranged a banquet, drinking and singing with relatives and friends.
After the bride gets started, she doesn't untie the rope immediately, but first takes off her embroidered shoes and scratches her feet. If the bride wears white cotton socks, she has to take off her socks and scratch her feet. When she smiles through tears (indicating her consent to this marriage), she can untie the tied rope and carry out the wedding ceremony. Then the bride can finally eat and rest. The banquet usually lasts until late at night, and then the bride's relatives and friends will pretend to invite her. At this time, if the groom has an adult but unmarried sister, he will tie it with flowers. The bride will take out the eggs stuffed in her mouth and block the bride and groom's sister's mouth, and then tie her mouth with a red cloth strip (the bride will be sealed with a red cloth strip) and put it in a box, so that the bride's relatives and friends can carry it back to do a job (this move is intended to make her feel happy with the bride, be familiar with this process and prepare for future marriage).
The next day, the bride and groom return to their parents' home with a bride price. The parents will prepare a dowry and have a younger sister, and the wedding will be completed.
Snatching marriage development
Marriage robbery is an ancient form of marriage, which was compulsory at first and became a symbolic expression in later generations. There are two kinds of robbery: violent robbery and imitation robbery. The former often resort to force instead of the media. After grabbing the bride, through the matchmaker, if both men and women get understanding, they can formally get married; If we can't get along, we may also have resentment, and some may even fight with men and women for a long time. More often, it is a parody of "robbing marriage" with farce. In addition, as a wedding ceremony, robbing marriage is relatively simple and requires little bride price. Therefore, it is often adopted by people from poor families. In modern society, the number of free marriages has increased, and robbing marriage has actually changed its original meaning. However, as a wedding ceremony, robbing marriage still exists, which is common in ethnic minority areas in southwest Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Tibet and other provinces. It is also reported that some ethnic groups in India and tribes in East Africa have also retained this traditional custom.