Wedding is the most important ceremony in everyone's life. With the improvement of living conditions, many men and women of school age will ask a professional wedding company to tailor an unforgettable wedding for themselves before holding a wedding.
In recent years, Chinese weddings are deeply loved by young people. The so-called Chinese wedding is to hold a set of "antique" ceremonies in accordance with the tradition of "three media and six hires", "passing the brazier" and "drinking a glass of wine".
In Chinese weddings, it is also an essential step to lift the red hijab. On the wedding day, the bride usually wears a square red scarf three feet long on one side. This red scarf is called "hijab", commonly known as "hijab".
Only when the master of ceremonies says that the red veil on the bride's head can be lifted can the groom lift it with the balance beam or according to his own wishes, thus achieving a good sign of satisfaction.
Where did the custom of covering the bride with a red hijab come from? What should I pay attention to when the bride wears a red hijab? When both men and women set a good day, they are ready to hold a wedding. Generally, the bride's mother or a respected female elder in the family combs her hair first, and she will also say some auspicious words when combing her hair.
After the bride's hair is arranged, she will cover it with a red veil and sit on the bed with an apple in her hand, waiting for the groom to meet her. There is a folk saying that "when the hijab is lifted, disaster will happen." Only when all the wedding ceremonies are completed can the groom unveil the red veil on the bride's head. Before the ceremony is over, the bride needs the help of relatives and friends to complete the whole wedding ceremony.
The reason why the bride will cover the red veil is that the young couple can have a harmonious and beautiful life after marriage. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a miraculous novel called Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, which recorded that at the beginning of the universe, there were only two brothers and sisters, Fuxi and Nuwa. In order to breed human beings, brother and sister decided to get married through consultation.
But Fuxi and Nu Wa felt very shy, so Nu Wa covered her face with a fan, which is the origin of the hijab. The Legend of the Warriors is just a supernatural novel, and the content recorded on it is not true. History can test that the custom of brides wearing hijab can be traced back to the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Wei and Jin Dynasties.
According to the archaeological experts' analysis of the funerary objects unearthed from the relevant ancient tombs, during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the society was turbulent and the people suffered from war, so it was too late for the bride and groom to hold a complicated wedding ceremony. It's hard to wait until the auspicious day of the ecliptic and get married in a hurry, but it doesn't conform to the traditional ancestral etiquette. Therefore, in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it was an expedient measure for the bride to cover her head and face with gauze before marriage. At that time, this wedding ceremony was also called "marriage worship".
Unexpectedly, the hijab was originally used to hide shame and avoid suspicion, but it has become a traditional wedding custom in China since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and it has been followed to this day (in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, hijab was often used to cover the face, and white fans were also used to cover the face, mainly to block the bride's face).
Wu, a famous scholar in the Song Dynasty, wrote a book called Dream of Marriage, which described this point: "Before couples get together, they invite both men and women to cover their heads with scales or looms to show their beauty." It can be seen that at least in the Song Dynasty, the bride was married with a hijab. Some details are not much different from the current Chinese wedding.
In addition to these historical materials, there is also a folk saying that Zhuge Liang and Huang Yueying wore red hijab when they got married. Another way of saying it is that "predatory marriage" was popular among some clans in ancient times. As the name implies, this is a compulsory form of marriage (stealing marriage and stealing women). After the bride was hooded, she could never find her way back.
These two stories, like those of Nu Wa and Fuxi recorded in Duyizhi, are just gossip, so people don't have to take these folk stories seriously. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the hijab evolved into a curtain hat that can be put on the shoulders from the head. Not only can it shelter women from the wind and rain, but it can also hide shame and avoid suspicion.
Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, improved this kind of curtain cap, which spread among the people. He asked the ladies-in-waiting to cover their heads with "Touluo". "Touluo" means that Li Longji covers the veil hat worn by folk women with a piece of gauze to cover their faces. Wearing gauze can add a gentle and charming charm to a beautiful woman.
The demise of the Tang Dynasty was followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. After years of war, the land of China has fallen into a hot war. At this time, the hijab improved by Li Longji became an essential item in the "wedding". In the Song Dynasty, the social situation was slightly stable. At that time, the bride had to cover her head with a red veil to show her joy and get a good sign before getting married. After the demise of the Song Dynasty, the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties also inherited this custom.
In the old society, with the appearance of feudal dross such as "finger-to-belly marriage", "child bride" and "early marriage", red hijab became more and more important. Think about it, people admit to death when they are old. Any woman who has never been in the door will not go out for a day or leave the second door. You can't show your face in public, and you can't expose your true colors in public.
Even a fiance can't see his true self before marriage. Therefore, unmarried girls stay in the boudoir all day, and when the wedding ceremony is held, the elders in the family will cover the bride's head and face with red gauze to achieve the purpose of "not knowing the true face of Lushan Mountain" and conforming to traditional etiquette. This laid the foundation for the bride to use the hijab, which became an indispensable custom in China.
Up to now, society is free, people's livelihood is stable and open-minded, and many young men and women will choose Chinese weddings and Western weddings. If you choose a western-style wedding, the bride only needs to wear a beautiful wedding dress, not a red veil.
Whether it is a western-style wedding or a Chinese-style wedding, the wedding procession, including wedding candy, wine and cigarettes, is still dominated by red. Red symbolizes happiness and bright color, and it also represents China people's hope for a better life. In addition to lifting the hijab, the ancients also paid attention to the "three books and six rituals" before marriage and other more complicated wedding procedures.
To sum up, the reason why ancient women wore red cloth (hijab) on their heads before marriage was mainly to hide their shame and avoid suspicion. In order to protect themselves in wartime, women try not to show their true colors, which can eliminate many unnecessary troubles.
During the Tang and Song Dynasties, due to different aesthetic concepts and cultural changes, hijab became an indispensable custom in marriage ceremonies, and it has been passed down to this day.
The custom of covering with red hijab also reflects the low social status of ancient women. Influenced by the environment at that time, the red hijab became a prop to bind women or restrict their freedom of marriage.