What does the ancient "Three Books and Six Rites" mean?

Three Books and Six Rites are the traditional marriage etiquette in China. "Three Books" refers to the documents used in the process of "Six Rites", including appointment books, ceremony books and welcoming books.

"Six Rites" refers to the whole marriage process from marriage proposal to marriage. "Six Rites" means accepting gifts, asking names, concubinage, accepting gifts, inviting parties and welcoming relatives.

Three books:

1. Letter of appointment: a letter of appointment. When Naji (a man and a woman are engaged), the man's family gives the book to the woman's family.

2. Gift Book: a document used in the gift ceremony, which lists the items and quantities of the gift ceremony.

3. Welcome book: that is, the document to marry the bride. It is the certificate that the man gave to the woman when he came in to greet the bride.

Six rites:

1, that's it: when the child gets married, the parents of the man's family find a matchmaker to propose marriage to the woman's family.

2. Ask the name: that is, after the woman's parents accept the proposal, the woman's family will bring her daughter's age eight characters back to the man's family, so that men and women are right and good luck will be good.

3. Naji (also known as Guo): After receiving the Geng Tie, he will put it in front of the gods or ancestors and ask for good or bad luck to confirm that the characters of the two sides do not conflict. After learning that there are no signs of contradiction between the two sides, they have initially agreed to get married.

4. Requisition: (also called gift): that is, the man's family sends the letter of appointment and gift to the woman's family.

5. Invitation day (also called begging day): it is a good day for the man to choose to get married and get the consent of the woman.

6. Kissing (or Wedding) Three Six Gifts: On a wedding auspicious day, the groom in full dress will personally take the matchmaker, relatives and friends to the bride's house.

Extended data:

Historical origin:

The traditional marriage custom of "Three Books and Six Rites" has a long history and can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty. The "Six Rites" of the Western Zhou Dynasty had an important influence on the marriage form of later generations.

Chinese ancient books "The Book of Rites" and "The Book of Rites" all discuss this. "The Book of Rites" said: "Those who are unconscious of rites must be the ancestors of the temple and the descendants are the successors, so men value it.

It's all about accepting gifts, asking names, Najib, collecting levies and inviting parties. They are just a few outside the door. After bowing, they are promoted and obey the temple, while welcoming guests outside the door, bowing and being promoted and obeying the temple. Therefore, they should be cautious.

Respect for prudence and integrity, then father and son kiss, father and son kiss, and then the monarch and minister are upright, so those who are faint in ceremony are also the basis of ceremony. According to the Book of Rites, "there are six gifts when confused, such as receiving gifts, asking names, receiving gifts, inviting parties and welcoming guests".

It can be seen that this traditional marriage custom originated in the Western Zhou Dynasty. It is generally believed that this marriage custom was established in the Qin Dynasty and then used in the Han Dynasty.

Five rites:

There are "five rites" in China traditional culture, including auspicious ceremony, fierce ceremony, martial ceremony, guest ceremony and Jia ceremony.

1, Ji Li, the crown of five rites, is mainly a ritual ceremony for gods, secular gods and ghosts.

2. Fierce rites are a series of rituals related to fierce mourning, including not only the contents of mourning, but also other rituals related to disasters.

Military salute refers to the etiquette in the old army. One of the Five Rites of the Western Zhou Dynasty, used for conquering, is a ceremonial ceremony in military activities.

4. Courtesy is to receive guests, that is, diplomatic exchanges between countries and ceremonial activities to receive guests.

5. Li Jia is a ceremonial ceremony for wedding banquets and festivals. Its main contents are six: first, diet, second, wedding crown, third, guest shooting, fourth, banquet, fifth, prosperity and sixth, celebration.

Gifts are intended to be friendly to all people. Among them, eating and drinking gifts are used to greet relatives and brothers, wedding crown gifts are used to congratulate adult men and women, guest shooting gifts are used to get close to old friends, banquet gifts are used to get close to guests from all over the world, wedding gifts are used to kiss brother countries, and celebration gifts are used to bless countries.

Marriage "Six Rites":

1, asking the media to propose.

Commonly known as "there is no cloud in the sky, no rain in the ground, no marriage on the ground", the most exquisite "parents' life, matchmaker's words." "* * * after the founding of the people's Republic of China, the custom of matchmaking still exists.

However, marital autonomy and free love dominate; After the 1980s, there were marriage agencies in towns, newspapers and magazines, and online advertisements for marriage advertisements.

2, eight characters

That is to say, if the date, month, date and time of birth of both men and women are set as * * * in heavenly stems and earthly branches, the fortune teller will figure out whether there is a phenomenon of "zodiac rushing".

Step 3: blind date

Meet people, meet families and other projects. , divided into men and women, women and men, they check and communicate to enhance understanding.

4, Zhu Geng

Also known as biography, biography, determination, etc. , that is, exchange wedding Geng posts. The names of the posts are red and green note, mandarin duck letter, consent form, little book, etc. , are the names of men and women respectively.

Birthday and parents' anonymous wedding invitations. The man wrote the word "Gongqiu" in the post, and the woman replied the word "Jingyun". This custom has gone out of fashion since the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC).

5. Dowry

Also known as bride price and engagement, that is, the man gives the bride price to the woman. According to the family situation, gifts are rich and thin. Generally speaking, it is important to have an even number of chicken, fish, cakes and sugar. The giver is covered with red cloth, lined with mascots such as cypress, red dates, longan and peanuts, and affixed with the bright red word "hi".

Step 6 choose a wedding date

Also known as newspapers, lucky books, too big books, etc. Appoint the wedding date in advance, and ask the fortune teller to choose an auspicious day and write it on red paper. The man will prepare gifts and let the matchmaker accompany him to the woman's house.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Three Books and Six Gifts