In the past, robbing relatives in Yuyao area, the so-called robbery, was not all barbaric predatory marriages. This is because people in mountainous areas and Haitou live in poverty. When men and women reach marriageable age, they often can't get married in time because their family conditions can't afford the dowry and the woman can't afford the dowry. At the same time, due to the complicated wedding etiquette and high cost, both men and women are interested in saving money, so they take the way of robbing relatives. Generally, it is secretly agreed before the wedding day approaches that the man will not pay the dowry and the woman will not pay the dowry. First, the matchmaker leads the fiance to know his fiancee secretly, and the man and groom arrange several relatives and friends to agree on the time and way to rob the bride. The groom will invite a group of relatives and friends to hide near the woman's house. The bride's parents specially send her daughter out, such as hanging clothes outside the door, carrying water, washing rice, washing vegetables and washing clothes by the river and so on. The groom and his general friends crowded in and pretended to be unprepared. The groom carried the bride on his back and everyone hugged each other and ran behind quickly. Mother pretended to shout loudly: "Someone, someone is robbing someone!" " ! ! ! Let the whole village hear that the woman's family is slow to respond. I hope people can walk out of the house with dignity after they leave the village. They will meet several neighbors and chase them to the entrance of the village, pretending that they can't catch up with regrets.
Also have a plenty of, the groom rushed into the woman's home first. On the surface, it is to hug the woman's blocked home and pretend all kinds of rebellious situations. In fact, she has always been very cooperative and supportive, such as instructing her fiancee to hide and even pulling her out of the room and giving her to the man. When she was robbed, the voice of her fiancee crying and calling her mother was mixed with the laughter of the robbers. When the woman's family chased her, she made a hullabaloo about and bravado, and didn't really save her. People think that this move is a respect for the woman, which means that she can't get married and send it away, but is taken away, and her face is full of light. This kidnapping can save dowry. If the bride is really taken back to her family, people will be superstitious about her bad luck. In the past, people were afraid of public opinion, and the wedding of the mass media could not be simple. Otherwise, it will be regarded as a great shame and a joke by the world. However, kidnapping relatives has been understood and recognized by public opinion. In the old days, it became a habit to rob relatives, but it is not illegal to rob the wrong person. Only the groom can shoot. In case of an uninformed person, as long as the man rings the gong, people will know that they are stealing relatives, admit their legitimacy and will not interfere. Even people in the government saw it and let it go. Of course, there is no dowry in this kind of wedding robbery, and the man keeps everything simple. It is understandable that there are different opinions in the society, and there is no time to prepare. Although the woman insisted on not letting her, as soon as she entered the bridal chamber, she did everything she had to do, and there was nothing to say. The girl grabbed the man's house, immediately held a wedding, worshipped the ancestors of heaven and earth and entered the bridal chamber. The next day, the bride and groom went to their father-in-law's house for a "double visit" as usual, and the groom made a "gift" for his father-in-law. After that, the two families made up and had no ill feelings.
It used to be common to rob widows in the remote mountainous area of Siming Mountain. Most of them are young and middle-aged men who are born in poverty and cannot get married. After learning that a widow was lonely somewhere, they invited a group of poor brothers to take her back to get married. This kind of bride snatching is a kind of barbaric behavior without "tacit understanding" in advance. If uncles guard widows, it will often lead to bloody tragedies.
The bad habit of robbing relatives is a predatory marriage custom left over from ancient times, and working women living at the bottom of society are naturally the biggest victims and victims. Times have changed, and hundreds of millions of women in China have been liberated at the end of the old system. Nowadays, the evil custom of robbing relatives has become a historical relic. Shenbao is the oldest newspaper in China, and its report of "stealing relatives" reflects the social form and folk customs of the old society in China. The earliest report about "robbing relatives" was Street Robbery published in the third edition on June 25th, 1873. Here is a story about robbing relatives because they are not married. Because the woman suspected that the man was poor, the man was forced to stage a farce of robbing relatives. The full text is as follows:
Chen, the daughter of a baker, was born in Danyang and lives in Hongkou. In order to avoid chaos, she covered her parents and came to Shanghai. When she was young, she promised to be Ying Shi's son. Since Ying Shi's son was kidnapped and escaped from Tongli, her parents are gone, and her family business is completely empty. Recalling the matter of renting a house, I asked her to stay in Shanghai, so Bin booked a boat to find it. The former iceman is also in Shanghai. Lead singer Xing and best man drummer, etc. Waiting on the main road in the British Concession, waiting for him to buy food in the street, then singing and having fun, rushing to the streets, patrolling and seeing them, I don't know why, they were taken to court together. Chen Sima needs to be arraigned, that is, Jin, a relative of the original media, persuaded him to understand that he would be allowed to open and close the banquet and drink sex wine at night, instead of relying on the language of marriage. I'm sure I'll be beautiful, but I'm afraid I'll be a rough and ugly hemp seed in class. Disappeared in a hubbub, love was so bad that I wanted to continue my marriage, so I decided to take my daughter as my wife. Do you think your daughter can go to do miss? You can't forget the old testament, but you're afraid no one will accept it. So some people think it's strange to live in the mountains, but I say the groom will disappear and smile.
China's "bride-snatching culture" can be seen in the article "bride-snatching" published in Shenbao (1September 2, 906), because the man had no money to get married and wanted to rob her, but the woman ran away. The full text is as follows:
Zhu Ada, a woman, is a talented young woman, but Yin can't finish her marriage. The day before yesterday, she robbed her relatives. The woman suddenly rushed into the charity office and was sent to the public office by a female director, Dong. Please inquire about Zhu's daughter. The confession is not too bad for Yin, but the enemy should not rob her, so she took refuge in the government. Sima sentenced her to the official media for dissemination, and two surnames of Athena Chu went to the court for further information.
The third edition of Shenbao189365438+February 12 contains the Wonders of Kidnapping, which reported a strange kidnapping story, and the bloggers laughed:
Huanian, the sister of a family in Yangshupu, our city, worked in the ginning bureau for 29 years and was rude. Don't let her be a child. In other words, a family in the East was attracted by Xu Zi. After a long time, Norwind was still waiting to get married, because Gai wanted too much money, so there was no wedding day. The day before yesterday, B and Iceman agreed to rob relatives near her home. If she hadn't heard of it, she would sweep her eyebrows and powder for her sister's appearance ... So she made a skirt slightly, grabbed the colorful scenery, played the flute melodiously and flew away. When the bride comes out with her hand to pay homage to the groom, A always says nothing and does whatever she wants. Two rows of silver candles were sent to the depths of the bridal chamber. Suddenly, the female soldiers rushed in and roared, and the couple threw away their hair clips, rolled up their clothes and strode out. Everyone will be beaten, and B will know that it is for nothing.
During the feudal period, people generally tended to the legality of "child marriage", that is, they agreed that kidnapping relatives was a "barbaric act" but not an "illegal act". Although "B" stole relatives from "A's sister", after the incident, "B" offered a humble apology "and" married her as before ",ignoring the law, which shows that stealing relatives is deeply rooted in people's minds.
"Kidnapping" is only a part of the engagement custom, and the legitimacy of "engagement" is beyond doubt at the national and civil levels; "Naive engagement" has lost its legitimacy in the code, because it expands the extension of engagement at will, but retains the basic connotation of engagement, so it is still recognized by civil society.
The second edition of Shenbao (1879 1 1.7) contains "the poor rob their parents", and the woman is greedy for money, which leads to robbing her parents:
Xu Anjun County used to be very popular. Whenever marriage was involved, male families demanded dowry, while female families demanded bride price. They all try to rob each other's relatives because they have no demands. This is a natural loss and understandable. Yesterday, I heard that Xu, who is engaged to jane doe outside the South Gate, has given 100 yuan. Now he is going to choose an auspicious day to marry her, and the woman has asked for another 60 yuan. The matchmaker has to go back and forth four times, but it is much less. Xu knew there was nothing he could do. The day before yesterday, he took advantage of the woman's family and invited many people to rob her. The next day, the woman's house was noisy, but everything was done and the commons was saved. I was still persuaded by the matchmaker to break up.
The second edition of Shenbao (1June 20, 885) contains the story of robbing relatives:
A surname is Xiang Xuenong, who lives in the city, her husband died young, and she has an only daughter. She married some wife in Heiqiaobang. Although I was entrusted by Luo, I didn't get the seal of peaches and plums, but my wife was not at ease and her heart was teased. She was having an affair with her neighbor's son. She went to see Jia several times. I went to a house, squeezed in and went into the bedroom. At that time, the woman and a son didn't wake up in the spring. When Jia saw this, he was furious. He gave a son an old fist, put the woman in a sedan chair and drove off as a wedding ceremony. At the right time, he went out and came home, only to know that his palm had been lost.
The gardener Shao Jinfa. Zhu Jingxi is a native of Li San Luo Jia Yan. More than ten acres of ancestral land. Gambling costs a lot of money. The degree of embarrassment. I am a servant of the Nye family. When he is not at home. She once hired Jiang Nv as her second son from Ryukyu Town, nine miles away. Jiang is looking for a chess piece. This is very evil. I feel sorry for Shao. The excuse is that women are sick and young. Don't go out after the delay The blonde is eager to hug her grandson. Take care of each other without relatives. So on the twelfth day of this month. Invite friends and family. Hire Cai Yu for a ride. Call two thugs. After dinner in the evening. The ginger family's interest. I'm afraid of ginger. Ask his daughter out. Make an appointment to take the bride out of the village. Enjoy the fun of burning lamps. This is a very serious case of late-stage female suffering from lung disease. In a coma There is a lot of confusion. Suddenly I heard a knock at the door. Thought the neighbors came to comfort the spectators. It makes people go to the key. The door just opened. Bees swarmed into the inner room. Seeing the woman lying with her eyes closed, she looked like a deep sleep. Busy asking questions. That is to help you climb the mountain. Cheering and leaving. I was scared. Call for help. When the villagers heard about it, they mistakenly thought it was robbery. Dozens of people scrambled to beat gongs and gathered strong men. Come after me with knives, sticks and spears. Not martial arts. I saw the lights of the motorcade ahead shining in the distance. Flutes and drums sing together. Walk and set off firecrackers. Know it's not stealing. Ask questions before. The truth came out. It's embarrassing for both of us. Time is also catching up. Seeing is robbing relatives. Anger is abnormal. Describe a woman's symptoms quickly. People are afraid of getting into trouble. Send and return immediately. To see his daughter. I have been elected for some time. I am eager to go to Zhujing. Fly to invite famous doctors to come to the countryside to treat diseases. Take an injection and take medicine More than five days is the cure. Blonde father and son are thieves. His daughters died suddenly. Plan to control the county seat. Sleep with your family to discourage things. However, after this scare. Attitude is not as stubborn as before. The cash sender approved it. It should be a gift around autumn.
The Qing dynasty clearly stipulated that it was illegal to rob relatives. "Laws of the Qing Dynasty" records: "Where a woman reneges on her promise and a man does not sue the official for robbery, she will be reduced by two grades according to the law of forced marriage." In fact, from the original intention of robbing people, they are also trying to downplay such a refined and vulgar image. Therefore, when Shao Jinfa went to the Chiang family to rob relatives, he did not forget to "hire a ride and call two thugs." The bride's family can only admit a fait accompli, and gather people to pay homage in full view, "uncooked rice is cooked into mature rice." In this way, it is in line with folk logic to steal relatives and gain legitimacy by folk rituals.
The fourth edition of Shenbao (1June 946 15) contains "kidnapping":
Zhang Rusheng, a resident of Xiuzhi Road, Yangjiadu Town, Pudong, is from Nantong. There are ten Renfa, aged 23. 1946 In February, Zhu Zhu, the 22-year-old daughter of Wang Renju at No.8 Hu Jia Lane, Ningbo, was engaged by a certain media. At that time, there were often young relatives at home, and Renfa felt very uneasy. She was afraid that things would change for too long, so Rusheng chose the wedding date. Last night/kloc-around 0/0, I invited a matchmaker and many others to deal with it flatly. I was chosen to rob the bride, and my mother and daughter were beaten. Then I took the beads to the door of the Pudong patrol of Fan Li's blood department. When the team heard the cry for help and saw many people holding a woman, I was afraid of an accident, so I led the team to ask, and I knew the inside story. However, robbing the bride is really an obstacle to freedom, so I wrote and sent it to Yang Jing.
Shen Bao was sealed in 1949, and the last story about kidnapping relatives in Shen Bao was 1948, which was published in the fifth edition on February 27, 1948.
The disabled bandits lurking in the 9 th district of the county launched a new trick to rob relatives on the first day of the lunar new year. Three local cadres were robbed of Li's daughter in the town. Mr. and Mrs. Li cried and begged, but they were whipped and said, "Your daughters are all married to the bourgeoisie, and we proletarians have to marry one to be equal!" Grab it immediately.
The theory of kidnapping relatives has long been accepted by the public, and criminals have seized this joint and committed crimes accordingly, as can be seen from this report.
As far as kidnapping relatives is concerned, whether it is "child marriage" or predatory marriage, it not only violates the national code, but more importantly violates the spirit of modern human liberation. On the one hand, this paper tries to understand the changes of the times since modern times through the most influential reports in modern times, on the other hand, it thinks about "why" from the time source of modern reports. We can get a glimpse of the relevant characteristics of modern folk customs in China from China Leopard, so as to explore the folk customs research in southern China.