Marriage Customs in Xuanhua Town, Dawu County

In the past, the marriage between men and women in the county was "the life of parents, the words of matchmakers". Although most of them are now in free love, their wedding procedures and ceremonies basically follow the old system. Whether it is an old-style marriage or a new-style marriage, there are four major procedures: proposing relatives, getting engaged, seeking relatives and getting married.

1. Proposal: In the old-fashioned marriage, according to the concept of "door-to-door" or at the invitation of one party, the matchmaker went to the door to discuss the proposal, commonly known as "drinking", and there was a saying that "failure requires three bottles of wine". If both parents agree, ask the fortune teller to tell their children's fortune and measure their horoscopes to see if they match. This is called "testing horoscopes" or "combining horoscopes". The new marriage is that after both men and women freely agree to love each other, the man first invites people with good relationships to the woman's house to propose marriage. Although it is a form, it is also necessary, because there is a traditional habit of "no clouds in the sky, no rain on the ground, no marriage on the ground", otherwise it will be criticized by the world.

2. Engagement: The matchmaker agrees, and after both parents agree, the man's family chooses an auspicious day to entertain the matchmaker. When entertaining the matchmaker, you must invite your family to accompany you as a witness to your son's engagement. This kind of banquet is called "housekeeping", "drinking" or "drinking a proper cup"

3. Seeking relatives: The man fetes the matchmaker and asks him to go to the woman's house to tell him his requirements for marriage, which is called "initiating the matchmaker". After the matchmaker obtained the consent of the woman's parents, the man once again hosted a banquet for the woman's parents and matchmaker, commonly known as "having a meal to invite relatives."

4. Marriage: After the "Marriage Banquet", both men and women prepare their own marriages. During this period, the man must give the bride price to the woman. In the past, the bride price was mostly ordinary clothes, shoes and socks and a small amount of cash. With the improvement of living standards, the bride price is mostly high-grade clothes, leather shoes, gold necklaces, color TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, motorcycles and cash. The man gives the woman a bride price, which is called "engagement". Then, the man chooses an auspicious day and asks someone to welcome the bride home in a sedan chair or car for the wedding, which is called "meeting the bride". In the Bath River area, there is a custom that the groom goes to the bride's house to get married.

There are many marriage etiquette, the main etiquette are:

Send Zhakouba: This is a big gift for the man to ask the woman's parents for permission to get married. The gifts are mainly Ciba and steamed bread, and there must also be sugar, wine, meat, clothes and so on. Among them, there are a lot of Ciba and flour buns, including "eight hundred Ciba buns" in Liuji area and "one thousand eight hundred Ciba buns" in Xuanhua and Lv Wang areas.

Sending Duanyang (or Mid-Autumn Festival): It is the most important gift from the man to the woman's family in the wedding. If the wedding is in the first half of the year, send Duanyang Festival; The wedding is in the second half of the year, mostly for the Mid-Autumn Festival. In this ceremony, there are as many relatives as there are in the woman's family, and how many gifts the man must give. Its gifts include meat, sugar, bazin, snacks and clothes, and it is called "Sending Duanyang" or "Sending Mid-Autumn Festival".

Take Geng Zi Sticker: Also known as "Take the Eight Characters of Geng Year", it is a gift that the man must give to the woman's parents when he wants to take her birthday at her home. Gifts are generally meat, sugar, cigarettes, wine and so on.

Delivery date: After the wedding date is selected, the man wraps the red note with the wedding date in cloth, and then prepares a gift and sends it to the woman's home, which is called "delivery date".

Craftsman's gift: When a craftsman is invited to the woman's house to prepare a dowry, the man should prepare vegetarian dishes such as tobacco, wine, tea, fish and noodles and send them to the woman's house to entertain the craftsman, which is called "craftsman's gift" or "swallowing".

Head gift: A few days before the wedding, the man gives the woman something as a dowry, which is called "betrothal gift" or "head gift".

Gift: The day before the wedding, when the man asked someone to carry the dowry to the woman's house, he gave her a heavy gift. The gift is: two pieces of pork each weighing about 10 Jin, named "My parents' meat"; Two large fresh fish weighing more than 5 kg are called "pair fish"; The big pig leg weighing about 20 Jin is called "pig elbow"; A big leg of lamb weighing more than 10 kg is called a "sheep elbow". Besides, there are noodles and so on. This ceremony, also known as "elbow stroke", is the last ceremony before marriage.

Return ceremony: It is a necessary gift for the bride and groom to return to their parents' home for the first time after marriage. The ceremony is the same as "Duanyang Festival Ceremony" or "Mid-Autumn Festival Ceremony". This time, the bride and groom came to visit and called it "Huimen", and the gift they brought was called "Huimen". The woman's family should entertain her in-laws and relatives and call them "drinking Huimen wine". All the people attending the party must accept a "return gift"; And invite the "new guest" (that is, the new son-in-law) to host a banquet at home and give gifts (material or money) to the "new guest", which is called "door-to-door gift giving". At this point, all the marriage etiquette is over.