Kaiping, the hometown of diaolou. Adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao, located in the southwest of the Pearl River Delta, it is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese in China. Kaiping Diaolou Tanjiang River and Cangjiang River meet and flow, with deep and wide river, beautiful environment and pleasant scenery, so it is also called Peacock Kaiping.
Like most people, Kaiping people attach great importance to New Year's reunion. Family and friends who were originally scattered in four places will return to their big families like a flood when the Spring Festival comes, and they will be busy together for this festival with a strong atmosphere. We should start preparing for the New Year here on the 25th.
Preparing for the Spring Festival is a very annoying thing, but if this annoying thing can be shared with loved ones, it will become a peaceful picture. Everyone's smile in the picture tells you that they are just playing a happy and exciting game. From 25th to 27th, we must prepare for the Spring Festival. There is no habit of visiting the flower market here, so I will buy a pot of oranges and several pots of flowers before 29, indicating that it will be very prosperous, and I will not buy them after 28.
There is a saying in Guangdong that "at the age of 28, you should be sloppy", that is to say, you should clean up your home at the age of 28 to welcome the New Year. Such a clean-up usually requires the mobilization of the whole family. Women are responsible for washing, and men should give full play to their masculinity-the heavy ones and the high ones.
On the 29th, we will prepare for the final effort. Sticking Spring Festival couplets and couplets is a process that every household has to do. Like all Cantonese people, they pay more attention to "meaning". Couplets and Spring Festival couplets filled with auspicious words have to be posted on doors and walls, so that family stickers turn red and increase the festive atmosphere. Wealthy families also buy lanterns, flashing lights and other decorations, and decorate their homes like Spring Festival parties. It's really grand! We will also prepare some oranges, fresh garlic sprouts and small red envelopes, and tie these three things together with red lines and hang them on lintels, bedside, cars and other places to symbolize good luck and ward off evil spirits.
Chinese New Year's Eve is the busiest time for women, so it is not easy to prepare a big reunion dinner. Nowadays, city people like to book a table in a restaurant, and they are happy when they are free. But following tradition is the choice of most people, especially in rural areas. Do it yourself and have plenty of food and clothing! ! Chicken and goose are indispensable dishes on New Year's Eve, and there are other festive and interesting dishes, such as lettuce in oyster sauce (prosperous business), dried seaweed oysters (rich market), braised pork hands (windfall), boiled pork tongue (smooth) and so on. It's interesting to say these auspicious words while eating. Although women say that they are burned by cooking, I believe that they will not feel anything but unspeakable happiness when they see their families getting together and laughing. After all, roundness and happiness are the most important things in a family.
After the New Year's Eve, the younger generation likes to walk outside or set off fireworks (only in rural areas). At night, as long as you are willing to look up, you can see the fireworks blooming on the shady scene. Firecrackers, gongs and drums, festive music and, of course, constant laughter and laughter are a major feature of Chinese New Year in rural areas at night. And uncles and aunts like to play mahjong at night, or play a game of chess. Old people like to get together and talk about their families and eat melon seeds like this. Walking all the way through the village, every photo will make people smile happily. I can't help saying, "What a wonderful New Year! ! "
In the early morning of New Year's Day, just after 12. If you haven't slept, you will hear firecrackers from far and near, one after another, clamoring for the arrival of the New Year. If you are still in the street, you will see groups of children carrying a big stack of red notes the size of cards to deliver things to the God of Wealth from door to door. They will stop at the door of a family and shout "The God of Wealth is coming, pick up the God of Wealth", and then the owner will come out and take out a red envelope and exchange it for a red note with the word God of Wealth written on it. Some children with perseverance will send it from 12 to 7 or 8 o'clock in the evening. Of course, that income is still considerable for a child!
The first day of the new year is the busiest day. Kaiping people will not visit relatives on the first day, until the next day. In the early morning, I went to pay a New Year call to my parents and asked for a red envelope. I will go out to play and walk around. Seeing the old man married, it is true to say a few auspicious words in New Year's greetings. They all receive red envelopes, big and small, and their pockets are usually full when they come back. In the morning, there will be a lion awakening to pay New Year greetings, that is, young people in our village or other villages will jump on the lion's head, beat gongs and drums to pay New Year greetings to every household. Such activities will last until the third grade. In the morning, women are busy worshipping the east and the west, praying for peace and good weather at home in the new year. As soon as breakfast is over, everyone will have their own fun.
From the second day of junior high school, I will visit my relatives to celebrate the New Year. Holding a basket with gifts and fruits, I went to a relative's house. The stay time is very short. Now parents will give their loved ones to their children. The child just needs to collect the red envelope and leave. Sometimes you can go to more than a dozen relatives' homes a day if you are quick, and each family takes about 15 minutes on average. A very formal way to pay New Year greetings.
It is the custom in Kaiping to wash your hair and sweep the floor at home during the Spring Festival. Therefore, if people don't start the Spring Festival until the sixth day of the fifth grade, their children's hairstyles will be very avant-garde. Young people will go to hair salons to wash their expensive hair.
The Spring Festival will not end until 15, but many people will turn to normal life after dinner.
Kaiping marriage custom
(1) Old-fashioned marriage
Old-fashioned men and women got married at the behest of their parents. According to the matchmaker, it is generally a process of blind date, agreement and marriage. It takes about 16 years for men and women to get married.
L, blind date, Wen ding
* * * Before the Republic of China, ethical codes were strict, and young men and women rarely had the opportunity to choose their own spouses. Most of them are blind dates through the media. In this case, there is a matchmaker who specializes in matchmaking between men and women. They usually run around and know the birth time, family environment and economic situation of many unmarried men and women like the back of their hands. Once their children have a blind date, they can provide them with information and thread the needle. After the blind date, if both men and women are satisfied, it is convenient for the man to send the gift money and cake to the woman's house another day, and the woman accepts it as a formal commitment to the man's engagement. After the founding of the Republic of China, "blind date" still exists, but its content and form have changed.
Step 2 get married
Marriage, according to different customs, must go through the following ceremonies.
The girls in the secret pavilion will go to the pavilion about a week before marriage, and the sisters will take turns to accompany them so that no one can see them. This is the secret pavilion. The so-called pavilion is to build a platform for several people to sit and lie with a bed board in a corner of the house, surrounded by cloth curtains. During hiding in the pavilion, I mainly practiced the "Female Crying Song" sung at the time of marriage repeatedly (the content is mainly to thank my parents for raising me, my brother and sister-in-law taught me, and told my siblings to listen to the words of their elders, etc.). Every time I practice crying, the hall is crowded with relatives who listen to singing.
On the morning of the wedding day, the groom who reached the summit will hold a "summit ceremony", which is the most representative in Longtang, Shuikou, the city: on the wedding day, at the end of the day, the elders set up a big round dustpan at home, with a small wooden bucket on it, and some grains, a cypress tree and some copper coins in the bucket; The groom sits on the barrel with his hips sealed, which means he can save money and materials. Then, many children or famous elders combed his hair, sang a blessing song for the groom while combing his hair, and then put on a hat with red flower arrangement.
On the wedding day, the bride bathes and dresses up, the sedan chair arrives, and the chosen person carries it on her back. The sedan chair was carried to the gate, and the younger siblings came forward to "ask the sedan chair"; Along with the sedan chair, there are sisters who see me off, and people who choose dowry. The bride sang the crying songs of women from the moment she left home until she was carried out of the village.
When the sedan chair carried by the bride is carried to the entrance of the man's village, the sedan chair will stop, a woman who follows will open a paper umbrella, and another elderly woman who comes with a cereal bucket will sprinkle "popcorn" on the sedan chair to get the meaning that flowers will land and rice will be everywhere. At this time, the bride will say goodbye to her sisters who saw her off. When the sedan chair bearer lifted the sedan chair, the sisters suddenly stepped forward and pressed the sedan chair bar. This is called "falling sedan chair".
In ancient times, men didn't have to meet them. When the sedan chair reached the corner of the men's house, the groom wore red hairpin flowers and knocked on the sedan door with a paper fan accompanied by the best man. This is called "kicking a sedan chair". Then, a woman opens the car door to carry the bride out, and two women open a paper umbrella to protect the bride; When the bride is carried to the door of the man's house, choosing a boy from the rich relatives of the man's house and giving the key to the bride means that the bride will take care of the door of the man's house from now on.
In some places that cross bamboo, the bride's family has the custom of "crossing bamboo" The practice is that the man's etiquette personnel put the pole (bamboo pole) horizontally on the threshold in advance and pile some yellow thatch in front of the door. When the bride comes to the door, she will light the thatch and let the bride pass through. At this time, the bridesmaid loudly reminded the bride to lift her feet and not to step on the bamboo, otherwise it would bring misfortune to her aunt.
The bride and groom * * * pay homage to the church, and the ceremony is more serious and grand: master of ceremonies, the bride and groom salute in the order of singing, * * * bow down to heaven and earth, ancestors and parents together, and finally bow down to each other.
Banquet and wedding banquet, the average family attaches great importance to it, and wealthy families will also have a big banquet in the restaurant.
When the bride enters the new house, let a group of children climb on the bed first, and a woman sprinkles candy, oranges and fried rice candy on the bed, so that the children can compete for it to get the meaning of "full house". Then, a large group of groomsmen and bystanders walked into the new house, watched the bride and groom pay homage to the emcee before the dragon and phoenix candle case, and then began to make trouble in the new house. The best man is the main force in the new house trouble. Everyone comes up with "strange tricks" to ask the bride to solve various problems or do various embarrassing actions. If she is stumped, she will be punished. Even if she sometimes goes too far, the bride and groom try to be patient in order to make everyone happy.
This old way of marriage was gradually abolished after the founding of the Republic of China. Although the activities such as visiting the church and feasting are still retained, the content of its feudal superstition has been basically abandoned.
(2) New marriage
The main feature of the new marriage is that men and women are combined through free love. Even if some of them are introduced, "blind date" activities are inseparable from the final free love and combination.
The new-style marriage in cities began in the Republic of China, and a few upper-class intellectuals advocated the freedom of marriage between men and women, and held new-style weddings on this basis; The government also took this opportunity to hold a new group wedding to change the old marriage customs. However, under the condition that the old concepts and systems have not changed much, it is always difficult for weddings to form new styles. * * * After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the government enacted the Marriage Law, which stipulated the freedom of marriage for men and women in legal form, simplified the marriage procedures, and on this basis, vigorously advocated new-style marriage, and held group weddings from time to time, forming a new fashion of new-style marriage. In recent ten years, some new phenomena have appeared in the new marriage. On the premise of marital autonomy, some families revived "gift money" and "gift cake", and ordinary rural families revived old-fashioned ceremonies such as "visiting the church", "giving gifts" and banquets.
(3) Special marriage customs
1 child bride
Poor families are unable to raise girls, so they are sent to families with men to raise them, and when they grow up, men are asked to worship their ancestors and consummate their marriage. This custom was banned by the government after the founding of the Republic of China.
2. hold a wedding on behalf of the groom with a rooster
Many men who earn a living abroad, when they reach marriageable age, want to marry a wife to serve their parents at home, or their parents want to set up a family for their son overseas and fulfill their long-cherished wish. However, it is difficult for overseas Chinese to travel far because of their low income and inconvenient transportation, or it is difficult for overseas Chinese to get married in their hometown because of their business, so people have come up with a way to hold a wedding with a live rooster instead of the groom. Its practice is: replace the groom's "head" with a live rooster, just like the real groom, the elders comb it on the rooster's head and recite good wishes while combing; Greet the bride with a rooster on the roof, perform a ceremony of "kicking a sedan chair", introduce the bride into the house, let the bride worship the ancestors of heaven and earth with the rooster, and then tie the rooster in the bride's room to show "good night" (the rooster will not be taken away until dawn the next day).
This special marriage custom has developed into two ways: one is that after marriage, the wife stays in the country to take care of her parents and even adopts a son to increase family fun; One is that the client takes the bride abroad for reunion after marriage. The former situation is more, and it appears earlier and longer. This special wedding ceremony has disappeared with the changes of the times.
(4) Other marriage customs
A woman goes to her husband's house to marry a god's master card or rooster, and sleeps with the wooden master at night to perform filial piety. This is called "cutting", and women are called "cutting mothers". If you don't want to keep it, wait for your dead husband to have a ghost wedding before remarriage. This custom gradually disappeared during the Republic of China.
Ghost marriage is the wedding of young men and women who die young, which is called ghost marriage. On such a wedding day, the woman sends her daughter's coffin, age and dowry made of colored paper to the man's house and burns it in front of or in front of the man's coffin. In the man's home, a thin banquet is usually held to invite relatives and friends. After "marriage", the families of both sides exchange in-laws with each other, commonly known as relatives.
A man who adopts his wife's family to settle down and get married is called adoption. In addition to ancestor worship ceremony, there is generally no ceremony in rural areas.
Widows and husbands are called "into lang", also known as "reincarnation"
The second wife is called mistress when she loses her wife. The second wife treats her ex-wife parents with her parents, and her ex-wife parents also treat her with women, commonly known as "reincarnated women."