Revealing Tujia Marriage Custom Culture

Marriage is one of the most important things in life. Among ethnic minorities, their wedding is very special. Different nationalities have different marriage customs and different cultural connotations. Tujia nationality, which has a long cultural history, still maintains the primitive marriage customs. Next, I will reveal the marriage customs in Tujia culture for you.

Revealing Tujia marriage customs can be divided into two stages, the first is the prelude to marriage, and the second is the wedding.

First, the prelude to marriage

Prelude to marriage: media:

The man invited people (mostly women, commonly known as matchmakers) who are eloquent and familiar with the family situation of both sides to propose marriage to the woman's house, and then the woman also invited people to secretly inquire about the man's family situation.

Prelude to marriage: eight characters

If the woman is interested, the matchmaker will exchange birthdays between men and women and ask the fortune teller to "match the eight characters". If men and women have the same personality, they are married verbally.

Prelude to marriage: engagement

If the eight characters match, you can take them, so engagement is also called "taking eight characters" The man buys a red wedding letter, writes down his birthday, and then puts it in an exquisite invitation box. The matchmaker goes to the woman's house to fill out the same wedding letter, which is considered as a formal engagement.

Prelude to marriage: recognizing relatives

The man chose auspicious day to prepare Qi tea (some pork elbows, noodles, etc. ) to the woman's house, the woman invited relatives to get together in the main room. Under the bright lights and candles, under the guidance of the matchmaker, the man was very humble, calling his father his mother and his aunt his uncle.

Prelude to marriage: reporting period

That is, the date when the man went to the woman's house to propose marriage. Since then, the man's preparations have entered the final stage. On the eve of the wedding ceremony, the man prepared a bride price. The so-called "bride price" is nothing more than wine, cakes, sugar, and "spear and spear" (the long hoof of a pig is called spear, and the short hoof is called spear). Face-saving people often give away the whole pig, which is called a "gift pig". The man has to prepare the wedding dress, and the woman is busy preparing the "dowry". In the meantime, furniture, bedding, pots and pans, mirrors and makeup are all increasing, and the bride is embroidering and cutting, scrambling to make quilt covers and in-laws shoes and socks.

Prelude to marriage: crying marriage

Most of the crying marriages are within ten days and a half before marriage, and the bride-to-be invites her close friends next door to help with needlework. Silver needles are flashing, colored lines are flying, and the girls are crying while doing, crying instead of sadness, crying like sadness, entertaining in crying, crying like joy, singing and crying mixed, and crying is beautiful and full of joy, revealing the innocence of unearthed girls. Its contents include crying for parents, crying for brothers and sisters, crying for ancestors and so on.

Second, the wedding.

Wedding: a gift

On the wedding day, the man sends people to send clothes, jewelry and cloth to the bride, and wine, meat and even salt, tea, rice and beans to his parents-in-law. This is called "gift giving". The ceremony should be held in front of the shrine of the woman's house. It is necessary to present a ghost seal to the three generations of the woman's ancestors, light incense sticks, carefully place your gifts on the table in front of the shrine, and submit the gift list to the woman's elders.

Wedding: the woman spends a round of wine

The day before the wedding is the woman's "Flower Round Wine", which means "Flower Round". I wish her a happy marriage. On this day, the woman's family took out all the dowry, wiped it clean and tied it up. Relatives and friends have come to congratulate and give gifts, and at the same time dress up the bride, "open her face" and "wear flowers". "Face-opening" requires an aunt, aunt or sister-in-law to perform an operation. She wraps her hair around her forehead with grey thread, twists her eyebrows into a crescent shape, weaves her hair into a "Baba bun", wraps a red rope around it, inserts a silver pin, wears silver jewelry, wraps a green handkerchief on her head, and puts on a silver bracelet and a silver ring.

Wedding: step on a bucket

In the morning, before the bride goes on the road, her sister-in-law or brother will slowly carry her out of the boudoir. If there is no sister-in-law, she should be replaced by her uncle or aunt. Parents can't recite it. When crossing the hall, let the bride stand on the square bucket placed in the hall in advance and step on a pair of footprints, which is called "stepping on the bucket". Then carry out the door, put on a pair of embroidered shoes brought by her husband's family, and let the bride's feet land. The bride's "stepping on a bucket" means leaving wealth to her family and wishing them a bumper harvest every year.

Then the housekeeper of the bride's house lit a torch made of sunflower stalks or cedar bark and threw it back and forth at the bride, scattering sparks all over the house, indicating the bride's bright future. The bride will scatter two chopsticks prepared in advance before and after, wishing her brothers and sisters and themselves a well-fed life.

Wedding: dew umbrella

When the bride goes on the road, rain or shine, the groom will prepare an oiled paper flower umbrella called "Dew Umbrella" and give it to the bride to play with. At this time, the bride wears a "revealing skirt" with big sleeves on her right chest, which is called a "revealing skirt". Cover your head with a green handkerchief, decorate it with Zhu Huayin, and post it with Jingling. People hold it and cry in the main room, say goodbye to their ancestors and parents, and then sit in a sedan chair or walk. At this moment, suona, gongs and drums, firecrackers are ringing and colorful flags are flying. The farewell party, surrounded by the bride or sedan chair, was full of festive atmosphere.

Wedding: sitting on the bed

Before the bride steps into her husband's house, she should step on the threshold to show that she has come to her husband's house. A worship ceremony was held in front of the ancestral temple of the groom's family. After the couple finished worshipping the heavens and the earth, ancestors, parents and husband and wife worshipped each other, the bride and groom immediately rushed into the bridal chamber and scrambled to sit on the bed. This is the so-called "sitting on the bed". It is said that whoever sits on the bed first means who has the final say in the future. The rule of "sitting on the bed" is that men are left and women are right, with the center as the boundary. A girl with calculation often sits on the border, but the groom is not to be outdone and tries his best to push the bride out of the border. Neither side will give in and neither side will be squeezed. If the groom suddenly lifts the bride's headscarf, the bride can't help laughing and sitting on the bed, which is very funny.

Wedding: going out to worship

On the second day of the visit, a "temple fair" was held, also called "going out to worship". The brides met their elders one by one, and the elders said some words of good luck and sent some money. Three days after marriage, the bride and her husband go back to their parents' home to visit relatives, which is called "returning home". "Returning to the door" is the etiquette for the bride to return to her parents' home and the groom to visit her parents-in-law. Therefore, the groom should give rich gifts to his parents-in-law's family, such as sugar, wine and pasta, among which a pig leg of more than 20 kilograms is essential. When returning to the door, the bride is in front and the groom is behind; On the contrary, when going home, the groom walks in front and the bride walks behind, and there is no turning back.