First, the wedding sedan chair

Sedan chair, also called wedding sedan chair, is a special sedan chair used in traditional weddings in China. Generally, the decoration is gorgeous, and red is used to express happiness and auspiciousness, so it is commonly called red sedan chair.

The sedan chair was originally named "Yu", and the earliest record is Sima Qian's Historical Records, which shows that there were sedan chairs as early as the Spring and Autumn Period. Shoulders, or sedan chairs carried by people, were popular in the Jin and Six Dynasties. It was named "sedan chair" in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties. In the Northern Song Dynasty, sedan chairs were only used by the royal family. When Zhao Gou, Song Gaozong, crossed Lin 'an (now Hangzhou) in the south, the ban on sedan chairs was lifted. Since then, sedan chairs have developed into people's means of transportation and become increasingly popular. Emperor Xiaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty made a kind of "Dragon Shoulder Yu" for the queen, decorated with four walking dragons, and made chairs, steps, doors and windows with vermicelli rattan. There is a red Luoyin mattress and a soft gauze curtain inside, and there are fences, door curtains and curtains outside. This is the earliest "colorful jade" (sedan chair).

Sedan chair was first used in marriage in Song Dynasty, and later it gradually became a folk custom. At that time, the woman to be married dressed up at home. In the early morning, the man would send a bright sedan chair to meet her. This is called "catching up early". It is said that if several families get married at the same time that day, whoever catches up early will be happy in the future. Wu recorded this in the Marriage of Meng Lianglu in the Southern Song Dynasty. This custom is still very popular in villages along the Wenhe River in Ningyang County, Tai 'an City.

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Wedding sedan chair

Second, the production scale of sedan chair

Sedan chair, also known as happy sedan chair, also known as colorful sedan chair. There are "hard clothes" and "soft clothes". Hard clothing style: all-wood structure, with a four-corner pagoda top, generally six inches square, five feet or six feet high, and the number of inches and points is consistent with the auspicious "six" character. A phoenix with wings spread stands in every corner of the eaves. Mouth with colored beads, and then three feet six inches HongLing colored balls, Guangdong Leizhou and other places to hang bronze bells. The eaves on all sides are densely covered with red silk spikes, which are carefully carved and painted with patterns such as Kirin sending a son, dragon and phoenix appearing auspicious, and the Eight Immortals crossing the sea. Soft clothes; The car frame is surrounded by red silk, embroidered with patterns such as goldfish making lotus flowers and Feng Dan facing the sun, which are colorful and prosperous. The folklore about sedan chair is rich and colorful, so we choose to sum it up now.

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Car picture

Third, the purpose of the sedan chair.

The main purpose of the sedan chair is to take the bride to her husband's house for the wedding. If the groom goes to the wedding, he is usually accompanied by a horse, and sometimes he can follow him in a small blue, green or even red sedan chair. But because the wedding has not yet been held, traditionally, the bride and groom will not share a sedan chair at this time. Sedan chairs are mostly carried by four people, sometimes two people are added instead, or umbrellas are used before and after to set off firecrackers. When the bride gets off the sedan chair and the groom gets off the sedan chair, there will be some related folk ceremonies. But the specific situation varies from region to region. On the way to my mother's house, the sedan chair can't be empty. I want a boy named sedan chair.

Traditionally, only newly married women can sit in sedan chairs, and widows are most likely to tie some colored cloth or paper to ordinary children, which is called colored sedan chairs. As for concubinage, some places can take a sedan chair, and some places can't take a sedan chair or other sedan chairs. But generally speaking, in the old society, women only sat in a sedan chair once at most, so it was a very special experience.

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Wedding sedan chair map

Fourth, the sedan chair line

There are sedan chairs or sedan chairs everywhere, which are rented together with ceremonial ceremonies and bands. There are three kinds of sedan chairs used for business rental in general cities. One is the sacred sedan chair and the official sedan chair (or big sedan chair). The former is responsible for carrying gods and ancestral tablets, while the latter carries rich and powerful people, ranging from four to eight; Secondly, the small sedan chair in Tsing Yi with bamboo structure is for ordinary people to walk, instead of walking and being carried by two people; The third kind is sedan chair, which is used for folk weddings. Four people were used to carry it. Because the sedan chair is heavy, it needs to be carried by someone else.

Car owners or car owners in market towns and villages are mainly car shops (or hi-car shops) that meet the needs of red weddings and happy events. There must be at least four bearers in the sedan chair rented by the sedan chair shop. If someone uses six people, except the four people in charge of the sedan chair, the other two people will open umbrellas and set off firecrackers in front of the sedan chair. Pay attention to renting 16~20 people. Eight people are responsible for the sedan chair, and the rest are used for the hall lights in front of the sedan chair. The hexagonal palace lights in front of and behind the sedan chair must be matched, and the rest are used to escort the needs of deacons such as gongs, melons and axes. The sedan chair also provides the bride with a rockhopper and a red veil on her head, a chardonnay quilt on her shoulders, three classics and three mirrors in her arms, a flowered skirt to cover worldly clothes, clothes for passers-by, and the red carpet that the bride and groom step on when carrying dowry, picking boxes and getting off the sedan chair.