The customs and habits of Zhoushan

Legend has it that this is a rule set by Song Gaozong. Kang Wang commemorates his red aunt who saved him. According to the law, when Zhoushan women get married, they can wear crowns, Xia stickers, lay red carpets, sit on flowers, hold big palace lanterns, raise flags and blow for three days. After liberation, the custom of sitting up straight disappeared, but the festival was lively for three days and has been inherited by islanders.

In the old days, betrothal was based on parents' orders and matchmakers' words, so there was a saying that "wall door to wall door (referring to large households) and fence to fence (referring to poor households surrounding the yard with fences)". First, the man sent a message through the media, asking fortune teller Buji. If the eight characters are in tune, he sends a matchmaker to invite the woman for her birthday, which means "please send a Geng post", and the woman agrees to send a Geng post to the man, which means "send a post". The man put the "eight characters" of both birthdays in the kitchen shrine, and returned the unlucky ones to the woman within three days. If he was lucky, the marriage was settled. Then let the matchmaker send the marriage certificate and gifts to the woman's home, which is called "Naji" or "sending". The woman puts shoes, pens, ink, inkstones and embroidered bags prepared in advance for her son-in-law and his parents and other elders as gifts into the man's gift carrier, which is called "passing books". Then, the man sends the bride price (coins), sample red (jewelry, mostly rings, earrings and materials) and wine cakes (snacks) to the woman's house, which is called "receiving work" or "making a decision". After liberation, freedom of love was advocated, and there was no more red tape, but a few people still paid attention to the harmony of eight characters and the amount of dowry.

The wedding is decided by the man. The day before the wedding, the man will send someone (usually both parents are young) to carry things for the woman, which is called "moving dowry". Dowry ranges from ten boxes to ten cabinets, and there are at least three night buckets (offspring buckets), fire chimneys (heating stoves), and home baskets (scissors, rulers, needlework, odd cloth and other appliances. Both men and women have banquets at home. The woman holds a "instant noodle wine", the bride invites her fallen sister-in-law to make instant noodles, which is called "instant noodles", and the man holds a "pork liver flower oil radish soup". In the evening, unmarried young men bring one or three parents and the groom (two or four in all). Share a new house. The next morning, the man offered a sacrifice to God and said, "Enjoy it first."

When welcoming the bride, take the victim as a messenger, prepare a sedan chair, and invite the band to the girl's house. The woman stopped the car. The messenger can go in by "paying the door" and telling the bride to "open the door" or "open the door with paper". Before getting on the sedan chair, she should eat the "sedan chair rice" and spit it back to her parents' bedside at the first bite, indicating that she has not forgotten the kindness of raising. The bride is either "carried in a sedan chair" by her brother or "carried in a sedan chair" by a virgin. After getting on the sedan chair, the woman's brother or mother spilled a bowl of water on the sedan chair or the parking place, meaning "marry a woman and splash water" and never look back. On the way, the escort will dump some ash from the chimney on the car. From the sedan chair to the man, the virgin asked the bride to get off the sedan chair. The bride should first cross the saddle (Xiao Mu saddle), which means "crossing the saddle into the Huatang", and then step on the sack to the front of the hall, which means "passing the bag (generation)". After liberation, the custom of splashing water, leading virgins to sedan chairs and riding saddles has been abolished. The bride will be sent to her husband's house on foot or by bike (by car in 1980s), but she will enjoy waiting for vulgarity to be abandoned before she can sprout again.

Visiting the church, one worships heaven and earth, and the other worships ancestors. Worship parents and elders. When paying homage to the elders, the bride will offer a cup of sweet tea and bow down with the groom. All elders have red envelopes wrapped in coins to give to each other, which is called "meeting ceremony" or "meeting the Tang Dynasty". This custom is still popular in rural areas, but the bride and groom no longer bow down and take its place.

The bride who kowtows should also prepare some red paper bags with a small amount of coins, which will be distributed when the children of her husband's main relatives kowtow. This is called "kowtowing". According to legend, when the groom uses metal coins, he ties the copper coins with colored lines, ties them with tassels and hangs them on the chest of the children who come to kowtow, so they are called "Bride's brass cymbals". This custom is still ok today, but children no longer kowtow, and the bride only needs to give the red envelope to her mother-in-law for distribution.

After paying homage with the word "sheng", the bride entered the bridal chamber, and an elderly man came to the front of the hall with a happy fruit bowl, throwing more than ten kinds of dried fruits in the tray in the flower hall for the children to grab food. Every fruit has an auspicious meaning. Jujube means "give birth to your son early" and longan means "the toad will win the crown" Also specially mixed with raw peanuts, melon seeds, soybeans and so on. Children can eat and be called "raw" and "raw". The groom's family is dying, which means that the bride will give birth to your son soon.

He Lang has two contents: first, the groom's aunt, aunt and other close relatives should send the old hen and fat hooves to the groom before the wedding day is approaching to make up for his health. 2. After the wedding, the host will put candy and dishes in the new house, invite eight relatives and friends into the house to sit together and sing the songs of Trade Harmony, while the rest of the guests stand around and congratulate each other with a smile, which is one of the traditional customs of Zhoushan wedding. After liberation, this custom still exists, but it has changed. Generally, after dinner, a number of bridesmaids and bridesmaids sit around the two sides of the "Helang Table" (composed of three square tables) in the flower hall. The bride and groom sat in their seats, Erlangtou (the host of the celebration) sat down, and the guests stood around, congratulating each other with rap and frolicking. It is best for men and women to congratulate each other and increase the lively atmosphere. Lang Tou Nuo mainly sings the tune of trade lang, and the seven words of Harmony Lang Diao are mostly improvised by singers. Most of them are auspicious words to congratulate the new couple on their early birth and adulthood, and some also want the bride and groom to perform programs. Since 1980s, this custom has gradually declined, and movies and videos have been used to thank guests. Urban youth take the form of tea parties.

On the night within three days of the wedding, relatives and friends can sneak into the bridal chamber to take things out, ask the bride and groom for money to buy cigarettes and sugar the next day, and then return the things, which is also called noisy room. Noisy people, regardless of age, are called "big or small within three days"

On the third day after the wedding, the woman's brother looked at the bride's old clothes, red tools and vegetarian dishes at home, and went to visit her newly married sister, asking her to be at ease with her husband's family from now on.

The bride and groom return to their parents' home after lunch on the wedding day or the third day, which is called "returning to the door". Some islands have inconvenient transportation. Some people don't come back until January, a year or even years later. Those who go home on the wedding day should go home that night, and those who go home on the third day after marriage should stay at their parents' house for a few nights.

During the Republic of China, civilized marriage became popular. Weddings are mostly held in public places, with the bride and groom wearing formal dresses standing in the lower position, the witness standing in the upper position, the introducer (matchmaker) standing by and the guests sitting around. After the witness delivers a congratulatory message, the two parties exchange ornaments and stamp the marriage book, and then the host and introducer stamp it. The bride and groom greet each other and pay tribute to the guests accompanied by music and songs to show their gratitude. Meeting is still essential for a civilized marriage.

In addition, before liberation, it was popular to adopt children as wives, rent wives, pawn wives, fake wives and rob wives. After liberation, bad habits such as robbing people to get married and giving preference to boys were banned, but fishermen and rural residents still had the idea of giving preference to boys.

Before a woman gives birth to a child, her mother's family should prepare baby clothes and send them to her husband's family. It's called "delivering clothes". When the husband-in-law took over the maternity suit, it unfolded, meaning "natural delivery".

A woman who delivers soup to her biological mother is in labor, which is called "biological mother". The bride's family should send noodles, brown sugar, eggs, meat, fish and chicken to her biological mother to supplement her health. Breast augmentation is called "mother soup" and "whipped sugar noodles". In addition to the mother's family, aunts and aunts should also give their close relatives "mother soup". In recent years, money has replaced it.

As soon as a baby is born, it is necessary to ask another breast-feeding woman for a spoonful of milk. After giving birth to a man, you have to beg for milk. If you give birth to a woman, you have a woman. Before breast-feeding, take a bite of Huanglian decoction, which is a good omen for detoxification and "bitter before sweet". After liberation, some babies born in hospitals no longer eat "open milk".

Hold a full moon wine to celebrate the baby's full moon, especially for the first or only child. In the past, it was so important to pay attention to girls that when a boy was born, besides the full moon wine, wine labels such as "Three Dynasties" and "One Year Old" were held to celebrate, but when a daughter was born, it was not celebrated or downgraded. Full moon day. Grandma's family will send clothes, food and red envelopes, which contain coins tied with colored lines ("longevity lines") and hang them on the baby's chest, called "bronze cymbals". Relatives and friends also send coins to congratulate them. There are sacrifices to gods and ancestors at home, and there are banquets for guests. Babies should shave the full moon beard, wear a dog's head hat, wear bell and tiger's head shoes, be supported by their elders, and walk through the streets with umbrellas. Neighbors looked at each other and jokingly called boys "looking for wives" and girls "looking for husbands" and so on. On that day, babies often use the head of a male goose to carry meat, which means that children will look up like the head of a goose when they fall, without hurting their heads.

Pregnant women are forbidden to be called "red people" and can't walk around each other during the month. The delivery room is called red room. Non-attendants are not allowed to enter, and passers-by of the Red Chamber are not allowed to worship in the temple for one month. Older people generally don't enter the red chamber, which means that babies will "fold their blessings and shorten their lives" when they meet their elders too early. After the full moon, the baby goes to grandma's house for the first time, and puts coal on the tip of the nose to ward off evil spirits, which is also commonly known as "seeing grandma's nose is black". When the baby is far away from his relatives, if it is dark when he comes home, let the baby put on a piece of cloth and pin it on his coat and hat with a pin or sewing needle to "ward off evil spirits".

Babies crying at night are restless and noisy. Parents often use red paper to write "The sky is red, the ground is yellow, the child cries in the mother's room at night, and passers-by read it and sleep until dawn", and stick it on the roadside wall when no one is looking, thinking that after someone reads it, the baby can sleep peacefully at night and stop crying.

Birthday means birthday. 30 years old is the first birthday, commonly known as "30 years old is not a birthday, 40 years old is not rich." 60 is a birthday, especially 70 and 80. The size of the birthday party depends on the wealth of the family. In the old society, it was very simple for poor people to live. There was a saying that "poor people have a good marriage" and rich people live. There is a rule of "forty don't do life, nine don't do ten", because "four" is homophonic with "death". Birthday is not 10 or 60th birthday, but 59th birthday. When giving birth to a child, the married daughter should choose a birthday present, and other relatives should also send birthday gifts to congratulate her. The thickness of birthday gifts depends on the family, including "four colors" and "eight colors". These four colors are "cake (pastry), peach (steamed bread), Zhu (red candle) and longevity (longevity noodles)". Eight colors plus "jade (pork), Tang (brown sugar), Fu (roasted bran) and Gui (longan litchi)". Large families also send birthday couplets and birthday cakes, ordinary families send chickens, meat, noodles and eggs, and poor families also want birthday noodles and steamed bread. If you are alive, you must worship your ancestors first, and then give a banquet to reward your guests. After liberation, this trend disappeared once, but in recent years, it has become popular again, and it is very ostentatious. On birthdays, some people spend thousands of dollars, while others use money instead.

When the father (mother) who eats 66 pieces of meat reaches the age of 66, the daughter needs to buy meat, cut it into 66 pieces and cook it for the father (mother). I wish her health and longevity. In ancient times, there was a saying that "66, Yan Luowang invited him to eat meat", thinking that his father (mother) had already eaten 66 pieces of meat sent by his daughter, so he would not be invited by Yan Luowang.

Yinshou means giving birth to your dead parents. Gifts such as birthday celebrations for strangers are also divided into invitations, which are celebrated on the same day and are called "chasing children". The invited people will also give cakes, peaches, candles and noodles as gifts. If you celebrate your birthday in a temple, you must pay homage, or for one day, three days or seven days. Generally speaking, people's Yin Shou ratio is relatively simple, just a table of rice. This custom is not much now. Cook a table of rice as a souvenir on the birthday of my dead father (mother).

When someone is sick, relatives, friends and neighbors will visit them more. However, if the patient's life is dying, or the patient is an adult who has been ill in bed for a long time, choose morning or noon when visiting, avoid afternoon and dusk, and even avoid night visits. In my opinion, morning and noon are full of vitality, which can prevent patients from "being attracted by evil spirits". When visiting a patient for the first time, you should bring gifts such as fruits and cakes, and the rich should choose ginseng tonic.

When the patient is dying at the end of the funeral, the children must stand beside him. When a patient's throat is blocked by thick phlegm (called "submarine phlegm"), knowing that he will die, his relatives must hold a bowl of gruel to feed him, which is called "sharing food". Children are lucky to catch up with their elders. After death, you should take a bath, get a haircut, change clothes, and move the body to the mourning hall to pay homage to Chen Caifan, which is called "moving the body soup rice".

After the corpse is moved into the mourning hall, an oil lamp, also called an ever-burning lamp, is lit behind the deceased's feet and cannot be blown out. And the bedding and other things that the deceased slept in are burned at the fork in the road in a certain direction, which is called "burning recommendation package". I mean for someone else, I'll take it with me.

The family members of the deceased who reported the obituary should send someone to immediately inform their relatives of their death and the date of funeral. This is called "reporting the obituary". When the obituary reporter arrived at his relative's house, the umbrella was still upside down. After the report, he wants to have a cup of tea and a meal far away. After hearing the news, relatives should respond by crying. If no one cries, they should change a broken tile. After the reporter leaves, they will break the cups and bowls he used, throw away chopsticks, and then prepare red quilts, incense sticks, fruits and other sacrifices to show their respect.

At night, relatives stay beside the body, which is called "wake", also called "burial". Moving the body into the coffin is called "burying the wood" or "lowering the alkali". When the alkali falls, please ask the Yin and Yang teachers to choose. Generally, when the tide rises, it means that the soul of the deceased can take a boat on time and reach the underworld smoothly. When nailing the coffin, relatives caressed the coffin and cried around. Is a person "well"? One person answered "not bad" until he asked about the illness of the deceased before his death.

The family and relatives of the deceased in Dai Xiao should wear white linen. Tie a thin hemp rope around your wrist and neck, wear white shoes on your feet (until May 7th), and sew red cloth two fingers wide on the back of your shoes. On the day of the funeral, the whole body was white, and the dutiful son wore "mourning clothes" (linen mourning clothes, the lower edge of which was not sewn), linen ornaments (straight warp), a white hat, a three-beam crown (made of straw rope) and a filial staff. Relatives of the same generation wear "Cui Zi" (wrapped under linen), and grandchildren wear white hats and double beam crowns; The daughter wears white clothes and is "filial"; Relatives in the same family wear white cloth clothes, and they only wear white hats. After liberation, rural residents used it, while urban residents changed to wear black gauze.

On the day of the funeral, the coffin was carried out of the nave and parked on the side of the road. Only one person said a toast while pouring old wine into the coffin, which was called "coffin", and everyone stopped crying. The section includes eulogy or praise for the deceased, praise for the life of the deceased, and wishes for the descendants of the deceased. This ordinary burial person is still ok.

Since the birthday of the deceased, there will be a banquet every seven days, with "May 7th" as the most grand, hosted by the married daughter. Today, my husband's family is going to choose a gift. Prepare incense sticks, paper ingots and vegetarian dishes. Until "July 7th", it is called "full seven".

Centennial: One hundred days after the death of the deceased, it is necessary to do "one hundred days". A year later, I will cook "anniversary" soup rice for three years in a row. Centennial and anniversary, the closest people will also get together to mourn the dead. In the future, whenever the deceased dies, they will do "avoiding the sun."

June 12 In fishing villages and rural areas where burial is prevalent, people choose June 12 of the lunar calendar to make coffins. It is said that this day is Peng Zu's birthday and he can live a long life. The coffin made before death is called Shoucai.