Marriage Customs in Zhangmulin Township

With the changes of the times, the marriage custom of Zhangmulin has been gradually simplified, but in rural areas, it is still quite particular, which is summarized as follows:

Introduction: In the past, the combination of men and women only listened to parents' orders and matchmakers' words. Today, there are still many people who match the bridge through references, so that men and women can get to know each other and get to know each other initially, which is an indispensable part of marriage.

Engagement: Men and women get the opportunity to meet and talk through introductions. If both men and women are interested in getting married, with the consent of both parents, the man can bring a symbolic gift to the woman's house. After the woman's house returns the gift, it is an engagement, which is called "chicken feet".

Daily report: Ask the fortune teller to choose an auspicious day according to the date of birth of men and women as a wedding celebration to report to the woman's home, which is called a daily report. On the eve of the wedding day, the man's family must send the gift money to the woman's family according to the original agreement (commonly known as money or gold and silver) to prepare dowry, furniture and other wedding supplies for the woman's family.

Wedding ceremony: that is, wedding ceremony. Before liberation, on the wedding day, the men's family was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and the guests were crowded with banquets. At the same time, it is necessary to form a guard of honor to welcome the wedding, including the gongs and drums suona band and Xie Lang (that is, people who carry gifts such as sedan chairs, dowry, food grids and pigs, sheep, wine and meat). After the wedding reception was all ready, the person in charge of the sedan chair carried a red sedan chair for the bride and two blue bamboo sedan chairs for the wedding guests and the bride's brother. First, the double flags (two flags connected) opened the way, and the scene was very spectacular. Arriving at the bride's house, the bride walked out of the boudoir and said goodbye to her parents in tears. When leaving the gate, one person prepared a rice sieve in advance, and a bowl of water and bamboo leaves were put in. When the bride passes by with an umbrella, she pours out the bowl of water, which is called "eaves water". After arriving at the man's house, the groom kicked open the car door and took the bride into the house. After liberation, this custom has become history, and most of it has been replaced by vehicles. However, on this day, as a man's family, work is still busy. When you come back from the wedding, you should make good arrangements, such as making the bed for the newlyweds, offering sacrifices to their ancestors, and organizing wedding guests and relatives and friends who come to congratulate the bride.

Visiting the hall: that is, the newlyweds worship their ancestors in the hall. When the bride arrives at her in-laws' house, she will hold a ceremony to pay homage to the bride, that is, a young woman with many children will help her cross the brazier in the middle of the threshold (that is, the tide is getting hotter and hotter), and then she will walk into the hall with the groom, and they will visit the ancestral temple together. When offering sacrifices to ancestors, the groom also wears a hairpin hat, a black robe and a big red ribbon. After the ceremony, an elder shouted, "Husband and wife enter the bridal chamber, and the house is full of joy, and harmony lasts for a hundred years." That is to say, the groom raised his hand at the mouth of the cave and let the bride pass under his arm, and then the bride stepped into the new house.

In the bridal chamber, that is, the wedding night, relatives and friends of the male family and neighbors, men, women and children, come together to congratulate the newlyweds. As a token of gratitude, men should prepare wedding candy, fruit and sweet tea to pay for the celebration, and the bride should also prepare some food, wrap dyed red peanuts, melon rice and candy in the bed, and then untie them so that the children can play happily, which is a symbol of the birth of the golden couple in the future.

Back to the door: on the third day of their wedding, the couple went to the woman's house and called it three times according to their parents. This custom can also be cancelled because of distance or other reasons, but this indispensable gift will be added later.

In the wedding ceremony, as the married woman's house, although there is no grand ceremony of the man's house in etiquette, it is also an old saying of worship, which is roughly as follows:

(1) After receiving the good news from the man's family, the woman's family should make arrangements for her daughter's marriage as far as possible according to their own economic conditions, purchase and process jewelry hats and dowry in advance, and finalize the marriage candidates.

(2) Married women should prepare gifts, such as shoes, socks, clothes and towels. For your future parents-in-law and other elders to show filial piety to their male elders before marriage. In fact, many women engaged in this job when they got engaged.

(3) A few days before the bride's wedding, there is a custom of crying for marriage. The content includes crying about the process of growing up to thank parents for their kindness, crying about their reluctance to leave home and the feelings of leaving their sisters of the same age.

(4) On the wedding day, the woman's family will cry and scold the "Xie Lang" who came to meet. The form is a song, which means that the bride is unwilling to leave her family, and the cruel "Xie Lang" insists on pulling her to the man's house. When the bride boarded the sedan chair, the person accompanying her was in front, followed by the bride sitting in the red sedan chair, followed by Daxinniang and the bride's brother sitting in the blue bamboo sedan chair, followed by the bride's sister. The more people and dowry, the more grand the scene, the more it can show the wealth and social status of the woman's family.

(5) Except in special circumstances, those who send the wedding usually return on the same day and do not stay at the man's house.