Marriage custom of Jiangyou people's family

In feudal society, men and women married at the behest of their parents and the words of a matchmaker. Young people have no right to marry freely, and everything is arranged by their parents according to feudal customs. Talk about marriage, sign an alliance, win the lottery, board the dragon and get married. The matchmaker will introduce the family of both men and women and the situation of both men and women to each other in detail. If both parents agree, the matchmaker will write down the woman's "age" on red paper and give it to the man. The man's parents will put "Niangeng" under the altar of the ancestral hall for seven days. If there is no unlucky accident, they will ask the fortune teller to compare with the man's "age". The characters of the two sides will not "mutually gram". If parents think it is appropriate, it is a preliminary conclusion. Through the negotiation of the matchmaker, the two sides reached an agreement on the engagement fee, wine gift and dowry, and then formed an alliance. The first engagement is clear, that is, the man gives gifts (chicken, duck, pork, seafood, bride price, wine, clothes, etc.). ) Give it to the woman. After receiving the gift, the woman will give him an "employment permit" and give him a small gift called "changing posts"; The other is called secret appointment, which is relatively simple and does not change posts. The man only prepared a part of the dowry and a small amount of gifts for the woman, and the woman returned a small amount of meager things. Some men hold one or two tables of banquets and invite lineal blood relatives to the banquet to show that the marriage is settled. After engagement, both men and women can come and go. After the engagement, the man will send the bride price agreed by both parties to the woman with the official gift card of the matchmaker. The man will choose the wedding date and send it to the woman with a red post together with the bride price and wine price. After the woman agrees, she will give the man a "commitment period" red post. Both men and women are actively preparing for marriage.

On the eve of the wedding in the city, the matchmaker accompanied his son-in-law to Zhang Yue's home. Some of them were sitting in sedan chairs with a photo, and Zhang Yue's family gave them a banquet. The son-in-law bowed to his ancestors first, and then to his elders such as Zhang Yue and uncle. Worshipers should give their son-in-law red envelopes, which is called "worship ceremony". On the selected wedding day, the male family decorated with lanterns, pasted red couplets, held a wedding banquet, and relatives and friends came to visit. The day before the wedding, the man sent the "bride's bag" to the woman's house, escorted by the matchmaker, and she came to pick it up. At noon, the woman's house held a "family banquet". In the afternoon, the man prepared a "phoenix crown and phoenix crown", carried a sedan chair, held a high photo, held a lantern and two Song Ming lamps, and the music class played suona to pick up the bride at the woman's house. The bride leaves home, during the day in the city and in the middle of the night in the countryside. The music class made a scene, urging the bride to dress up in red, red trousers, headdress and tiara, a red silk scarf on her head, a string of longan hanging on her chest, a heart-protecting bronze mirror and a red carpet mat. My uncle or matchmaker carried the bride out of the boudoir, stood on the red carpet to worship her ancestors and parents, and said goodbye to her and boarded the sedan chair. Before the bride gets on the sedan chair, the matchmaker should try to get on it and call it the "town sedan chair", and then carry the bride on the sedan chair. When the sedan chair arrives at the man's house, the bride usually waits until near noon. The bride will hold an introduction ceremony, the music class will blow the horn and set off firecrackers, and the sedan chair will enter the hall. The bride will stand on the left and the groom will stand on the right to pay tribute. After the ceremony, the groom entered the bridal chamber first, and the bride was greeted by the bride-to-be, led by the bride, gathered boys and girls, and carried the "seven stars" into the bridal chamber with the bride. After the bride enters the house, men, women and children can enter the house to tease the bride, ask her to sing, tell stories and offer tea and cigarettes, which is called "disturbing the new house". In the old society, dowry was generally a flower box, a quilt, a mosquito net, a suitcase, a dressing box, a toilet, a fire cage and so on. In addition to a generous dowry, wealthy families also own fields, maids and coffins. After the wedding, there are six dishes and ten bowls, usually four dishes and eight bowls. The main courses are cuttlefish, dried octopus, whitebait, fish skin, sea cucumber, chicken and duck, fish, eggs and pork. The "drum dish" filled with eggs in the small intestine of Chengguan and Zhukou and the "pot snow" steamed with glutinous rice, red dates and lotus seeds mixed with white sugar are more distinctive, and the banquet is very rich. In the evening, the husband and wife drank a toast. During the Republic of China, the old marriage customs were still used. There are also a few people who hold the attitude of "civilized marriage". Weddings are simple, and they are held in public places or in the auditorium of government schools. The marriage certificates of both parties shall be legally signed and sealed by the host, witness and introducer, and the bride and groom. A banquet was held after the wedding to celebrate. Before the Republic of China, men and women with the same surname did not get married, but cousins got married. During the Republic of China, the law prohibited consanguineous marriage, so men and women with the same surname married far away or in different places, but they were still restricted by their parents.

After liberation, the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China was promulgated, which legally implemented the right of marriage autonomy, prohibited the arrangement of buying and selling, and did not stipulate engagement. Since then, the old customs have been gradually reformed and developed in a civilized and simple direction. Most men and women get married through mutual understanding, contact and visiting relatives. After obtaining the consent of both parents, register with the legal department and get a marriage certificate. The two sides agreed on the wedding date, and the wedding was held from the woman to the man's house (and also from the man to the woman's house). Sedan chairs are no longer used for wedding ceremonies. Cars and motorcycles are used in cities, tractors and bicycles are used in rural areas, and people walk. The ceremony of meeting the bride has been abandoned, but before the wedding, the man should give the woman some cash and gifts, and the woman should buy the necessary furniture and clothes as a dowry. After the wedding, hold a banquet and invite friends and relatives, ranging from a dozen tables to five or six tables. There are also enlightened young people who don't stick to the old ways and only hold simple, grand and memorable weddings. Since the 1980s, the number of people holding group weddings, wedding tea parties and traveling weddings has also increased.