Taiyuan Shuozhou fortune telling

In the past, if a man's family was well-off and attached importance to others, he had to "beg for posts" from the woman, which was also called "begging for eight characters". After the woman's parents accepted the proposal, they wrote down the date and year of the woman's birth on a piece of red paper (that is, the eight characters of the year of Geng Xu) and gave it to the matchmaker, and then to the man's home to predict her fate. The man asked the fortune teller to calculate whether the age and life span of both men and women are consistent, so as to decide whether the marriage is auspicious or not. Life is related to gold, wood, water, fire and earth. Simply put, if the woman's life belongs to gold and the man's life belongs to wood, Jin Kemu, then this marriage is unlucky, then this marriage is ruined; If the fate of the woman belongs to the soil and the fate of the man belongs to the wood, the marriage is auspicious. In short, if both men and women are eight years old and their fates do not conflict, we can discuss the conditions of engagement, such as bride price and dowry. This is mainly made by the matchmaker. Of course, there are also marriages that break up because of bride price and dowry problems. Most people don't talk about fate, thinking that as long as "big marriage and big match" is enough.

To be engaged/engaged (to [somebody])

Contact is an important agenda. Today is a good day for engagement. On this day, the man pays half the bride price through the matchmaker. This sunrise is called "engagement day". When engaged, the man sends cakes, steamed bread and other food to the woman's house, and there is a bag wrapped in a large piece of red cloth (called "engagement red"), which contains the clothes worn by the woman before marriage and some dowry. When engaged, the man, the matchmaker and his friends usually go, and the woman will hold a banquet. Now the engagement is that the relatives of the man's family entertain the relatives of the woman's family in the hotel, so that the two sides can get to know each other.

Invitation date

"Invitation day" is also called "the next day", that is, the day when you choose to get married after your engagement. The man usually asks Mr. Feng Shui to count it as an auspicious day. Mr. Feng Shui will calculate auspicious days according to birthdays and parents' zodiac signs. When the wedding date is set, the matchmaker and the man's representative go to the woman's house to "get married", inform her of the time of marriage, and urge her to make preparations before marriage. Pay all the bride price and dowry at the same time. There is also a simple way to choose the time of marriage, which is determined by the woman's "Ji Yue", and the Ji Yue depends on the woman's zodiac. The specific content is:

Welcome chickens and rabbits in July, and share tigers and monkeys in February and August.

Snakes and pigs in March and September, dragons and dogs in April and October.

The fifth day, the eleventh day and the cattle and sheep, the sixth day, the twelfth lunar month mouse and the horse walk.

"Welcome chickens and rabbits in July", that is, girls who belong to chickens and rabbits, is their "lucky month". Getting married in July and July is a good day every day. And so on. Therefore, when the man goes to the woman's house to "get married", the woman's parents will also postpone the wedding date because the wedding date does not match the woman's "auspicious month".

Pick up the bride

Wedding is the peak of wedding etiquette, and it is a very busy and complicated process for both men and women, which mainly includes the following procedures.

1. "Clean Body" and "Eat Flip Cake"

The day before the wedding, the bride must do two things: wash and eat.

Washing, also known as "cleansing", is very particular about the girl who is going to get married. In rural customs, a girl's virginity before marriage is related to the happiness of her life and the rise and fall of her husband's family. It seems that if you are not clean, you will bring bad luck to your husband's family, and you will be "unlucky" in this life.

Eating is eating "flip cakes". The bride's mother branded many white cakes with her own hands and called them "turning cakes". After the bride eats it, it will bring good luck to her husband's family. This is a concrete manifestation of the poor people's desire to "turn over" and live a better life in the past. Good wishes are good in good things, even if they cannot be realized, so this custom has evolved to this day. Sometimes the bride doesn't want to eat it, and her mother advises, "It's a local custom to eat the turn-over cake baked by her mother." In the middle of dinner, relatives and friends will ask loudly with great fanfare, "Did you turn it over?" The bride must answer, "it's overturned!" Turned over! " The whole family is a burst of happy laughter.

Similarly, the day before the wedding, the groom should "lead an honest and clean life" and "eat turn-over cakes". In addition, there is another big event "making the bed", that is, decorating the new house.

marry

On the wedding day, the man's family posted couplets, said words, lit a fire and decorated with lanterns. In the early years of marriage, the man had to hire a sedan chair. When Pulongwan comes out, everything is a mountain. Although it is a north-south avenue, it is a long way to get married, so the sedan chairs are carried by mules and horses.

Married people are usually the brother-in-law of the matchmaker and groom, carrying "meat from mother", a bottle of mung beans and an onion, and heading straight to the woman's house in a sedan chair. A daughter is a piece of meat that falls from her mother, and the "meat from her mother" brought by a man compensates her body. Mung beans are easy to take root and sprout, and the man expects his married daughter-in-law to have children as soon as possible. The son born is white and fat like an onion, and the daughter born is green and tender like an onion leaf. There must be a "sedan chair" boy in the sedan chair. When you come back, you must sit in the sedan chair with the bride. The selected boys must have good facial features, complete parents, and the children are not infected by "evil spirits" and represent "holiness" in marriage.

When the wedding procession arrives at the woman's house, the woman often "rocks the boat", does not comb her hair or get on the sedan chair. At this time, the matchmaker and the groom's brother-in-law negotiate with the woman. For fear of missing the auspicious day of "worshipping heaven and earth", most men agree with the conditions put forward by the woman, such as increasing dowry or giving money to buy a sedan chair. When the conditions are settled, the bride begins to dress up, put on embroidered clothes and skirts, put on rockhopper and veil, and her brother picks her up (or carries her) and gets on the "sedan chair". No matter how far away her house is from the sedan chair, her brother will bite the bullet and do it at one go. There are two sayings that the bride's feet will land. One theory is that the bride's feet will bring bad habits raised by her parents. When it comes to newcomers, it is necessary to enter the husband's family aboveboard and spotless. The so-called "new people have a new atmosphere, a new atmosphere."

Step 3 send relatives away

Sending the bride to get married is called "seeing her off" Seeing relatives off is usually the bride's brother-in-law. This farewell is called "new relative", which represents the woman's full power and is the guest of honor. It should not be ignored or offended.

With the dowry given by the bride's parents, relatives and friends, the "bride" held her head high and took every step steadily and cautiously under the warm and respectful welcome of the man. Together with the "new bride", there is also a huge team-"Fan Yuanren", all women, mostly the bride's sister-in-law, sisters and friends, ranging from five or six to dozens, all with dowry for the bride. This class of "women soldiers" is not afraid of anything. They should eat what they should eat and drink what they should drink There is also a strange custom in Pulongwan. "Fan Yuan men" must "steal" some things at the wedding reception, such as tea cups and wine glasses, and even a pair of chopsticks. The man's family was strictly guarded against death. In the end, it is always impossible to prevent.

4. Wedding ceremony

There is no clear candidate for the wedding ceremony, and people always flock to the village head and alleys spontaneously. These are mostly children. When the sedan chair is approaching the entrance of the village, the wedding team will amplify the hemp cannon (large two-ring firecrackers) to inform the man's parents and onlookers that the daughter-in-law is back! When the children saw the sedan chair coming from a distance, they ran back excitedly and reported the good news all the way: coming, coming. With the shouts of the children, the man's house soon became hot and ready to welcome the bride. As soon as the sedan chair stopped, gongs and drums roared, and then the groom and the "guests" appeared. The groom was dressed in a formal dress and greeted the farewell party with a big smile. Guests attending the wedding dress up properly, go to the sedan chair, open the curtain of the sedan chair, and put a piece of rock sugar in the bride's mouth, which means the wedding is sweet. Then ask the bride to get off the sedan chair. In the past, the bride refused to get off the sedan chair, but she was always coaxed and pulled by the "bride-to-be" and agreed only on the condition that she would pay for the sedan chair. Because the bride's feet can't touch the ground, there are some wool felt in front of the sedan chair for the bride to walk on. When the bride covered her head with red veil (commonly known as "eye veil") and walked through the first felt with the help of the "bride-to-be", someone immediately picked it up and put it in front, and so on, so that the bride kept stepping on the felt and walked into the new house. The "people attending the wedding" are usually the bride's sister-in-law. The reasons are as follows: first, she is the same generation as the bride, and she is called good when she recognizes her relatives; Second, you can communicate the feelings between sisters-in-law as soon as possible; Moreover, "wedding guests" should attend the wedding all the time, let the sisters-in-law go hand in hand, and let the villagers evaluate the looks and abilities of the new and old wives. Of course, the "wedding person" can also find a married woman with both parents and children in the village.

After the bride enters the new house, she eats something and prepares to "worship heaven and earth". At the same time, the guests took their seats and the wedding reception began.

(of the bride and groom) salute to heaven and earth.

"Worship heaven and earth" is also called "worship church". Generally, an altar is set up in front of the new house, on which there is a statue of god and earth, and lights are lit to burn incense. There is also a bucket on the table, which contains food, bows and arrows, etc. Used to ward off evil spirits. Behind the altar hung the curtain of ancestors, and there was a felt on the ground in front of the altar. During the "Cultural Revolution", because of "breaking capitalism", Marrying the Bride did not provide a portrait of heaven and earth, but used a portrait of President Mao Zedong.

The emcee who presides over the ceremony of "worshipping heaven and earth" is usually a respected married male guest. The groom wears a hat and a dress, and the bride wears a rockhopper and an embroidered dress. The two of them came to the altar and stood on the carpet. Next to the bride, there is a "wedding person" to accompany the bride. Everything was ready, and the master of ceremonies announced the beginning of "worshipping heaven and earth". Then they shouted "worship heaven, worship the earth and worship God", and both the bride and groom bowed to the portrait of heaven and earth three times (generally, they can't bow down and kowtow). The wedding custom in Pulongwan puts the worship of parents and couples at the end of the ceremony of "worshipping heaven and earth". The reason is that the "worship of heaven and earth" here has two functions: one is to collect the "congratulations" of the guests in the process; Second, take the opportunity to "laugh at the new wife."

After the worship of heaven, earth and god, the master of ceremonies took the "ritual list" and read out the list in the order written in advance. The first one is "new relatives". The host said loudly, "kowtow to the bride" and explained the dowry brought by the bride one by one. Followed by grandpa, grandma, uncle, uncle, aunt, uncle, aunt and other close relatives. Then arrange them by seniority. The elders only say your respectful name, not your first name. The same generation or younger generation should not only say the title, but also pronounce the name. If you kowtow to grandpa, grandpa will pay the gift immediately. The master of ceremonies wrote down the amount of money on the gift list and immediately announced that "Grandpa paid XXX yuan as a gift and kowtowed". As elders, everyone modestly said "Don't knock". But the bride and groom always bow. Grandpa and uncle's lucky money is a baton. If they give more gifts, others will follow, and if they give less, others will be less. Because the gift money of the younger generation can't exceed that of the elders, and the gift money of relatives and friends can't exceed that of the closest relatives, otherwise it will be regarded as not knowing etiquette.

In the process of worshipping heaven and earth, "making fun of the new wife" is an essential content. The protagonist is the groom's brother-in-law and several jokes. Make fun of the new wife's decoration, but the main idea is to find ways to make the new wife "make a fool of herself" and cause everyone to laugh. For example, a gift from my brother-in-law 10 yuan. First, he pretended to pay for half a day, and then he said something that made everyone laugh: "My money is tied to the rib!" " Then he took out a dime, held it high and shouted, "kowtow, kowtow, I'll pay again!" " "After the bride and groom bowed, they took out fifty cents, and then asked the bride and groom to bow ... until the last time they took out a large sum of money to make up the gift money. Some young people tie an apple with a string and hang it high so that both the bride and groom can chew the apple. When the bride and groom were about to chew it, he moved the apple again, so that the faces of the bride and groom met together, causing laughter from the onlookers.

After the ceremony of worshipping heaven and earth, the master of ceremonies put the gift money on a plate and told the bride to grab the money. This is called "grabbing the happy money", but the bride is generally embarrassed to grab more.