Mystery of emperors' wedding in Ming and Qing dynasties

& gt People may be interested: How did the ancient emperors hold their weddings? The ancients thought that "wedding is the foundation". Therefore, the emperor's wedding should follow a complex set of etiquette. The wedding ceremonies of emperors in Ming and Qing dynasties were the most complete and standardized, and they were representative in the courts of past dynasties. & gt& gt During the development of civilization for thousands of years, China has gradually formed a complicated and complicated etiquette system, even the emperor's wedding is not spared, and certain etiquette principles must be followed. Because the queen is the wife of the emperor, compared with the emperor, she is regarded as the representative of heaven and the "father of the world", the queen is the representative of the earth and the "mother of the world", and is regarded as the middle palace in the court, that is, the head of the harem. Therefore, the emperor's wedding has a set of etiquette from the selection, recruitment, employment to the wedding, registration and other aspects, collectively known as the wedding ceremony. Empress Dowager Cixi often plays a decisive role in elections. It is stipulated that the first lady, the second lady and the third lady should be selected as candidates for the queen, and then sent to the queen mother for final decision. Empress Dowager Cixi will put a green gauze handkerchief on her head, then take it off with jade and tie it on her arm. The Qing dynasty first elected five candidates for wives, and then elected a queen and two concubines. According to the instructions of the Empress Dowager, the Emperor awarded Yu Ruyi to one of them, and she was the future queen. Many emperors in history were dissatisfied with their first queen and didn't like it. However, because the emperor was still young at the time of the wedding (generally between 13 and 18), he could not make decisions about his marriage. Only when the emperor is in charge of state affairs and really has power can he abolish the queen and choose to marry a concubine he likes again and set up another post. For example, in the Qing Dynasty, his first marriage was arranged by his uncle, and he didn't like Queen Bolzigit. /kloc-when he was 0/6 years old, he reduced the queen to a concubine and took a new lover. & gt& gt In addition, the Emperor's Order of the Ming Dynasty also stipulated that the empress must be elected from the people, mainly to curb the arrogance of clan forces and ensure the peace of the harem. Empresses in the Qing Dynasty mostly came from powerful aristocratic families, especially the Empress Dowager, who could use their power to choose their relatives as queens. & gt& gt The next step is to choose an auspicious day, pay a bride price and give a big gift. Giving money refers to the bride's dowry, usually horses, silk, etc. Gift is a formal dowry given to the woman's family before the wedding, including gold, silver, silk, gold and silver tableware and silver pots and other daily necessities. The angel of the emperor came to the woman's house to "make a gift", read the book made by the emperor to the hostess according to the prescribed procedures, and then presented a bride price. Then "ask the name", that is, ask the name and date of birth of the woman's family. After asking the name, send a heavy gift as usual. When the emissary returns, the official in charge of divination will divine his name and date of birth. If the result is auspicious, then a Naji ceremony will be held in a few days, that is, the bride's family will be informed of the auspicious marriage, and then a big gift will be given. After the marriage is over, the wedding date is selected, and the messenger will hold a ceremony at the woman's house to inform the date. Every time the messenger went to the woman's house, he read the emperor's book, held a solemn and complicated ceremony, and presented a generous gift to the woman's house. After the announcement, there was a grand ceremony at the back of the book. The day before the book is published, the emperor will send someone to guard the woman's door, outside the pavilion of the future queen. On the day of the ceremony after the book, messengers, chamberlains and etiquette officials gathered in front of the woman's house, and the hostess stood on the court steps in royal clothes. The messenger sent a message: "A gift is for the Queen to prepare a book." Then a group of people entered the woman's house. The case owner presented the book treasure to the messenger, and the messenger gave it to the prisoner. The prisoner knelt outside the queen's cabinet and put the book treasure on the case. Shanggong and other female officials entered the cabinet, helped the queen to arrange a poem and guided the queen to leave the cabinet. Fashion treasure officer led the queen to the north, Shang Gong knelt down to take out the book treasure, Shang Gong knelt down to take out the treasure belt, Shang Gong read the book: jane doe was made the queen in a certain month of Wei. After the Empress paid homage, Shanggong and Fu Shang presented the book treasure to the Empress, and the Empress took it, indicating that she accepted the emperor's book. Since then, she has officially become the empress of the mother instrument world. Then, under the guidance of Shang Yi's praise, the queen ascended the throne, facing south, and accepted the worship of officials as a queen for the first time. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the title of the empress was defined as the golden book (the golden book is the certificate of the title of the empress, and the treasure is the seal of the empress), and the rest of the nobles have no records of treasures. However, Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty liked Sun Shi very much. After he ascended the throne, he was appointed as the imperial concubine, and he was regarded as the queen. Later, after he was promoted to emperor, it was the first time that the imperial concubine of the Ming Dynasty had books and treasures. The most important thing in>& gt wedding ceremony is to hold the wedding ceremony, usually according to the book. On the wedding day, the emperor came to the main hall wearing a crown, surrounded by guards, and the civil and military officials with more than five grades were divided into the east and west halls. Then the emissary and the female official were ordered to go to the hostess's house to meet the queen. At the queen's home, the messenger first read out the imperial edict that the emperor married the queen. The queen's parents warned their daughter: "Don't disobey orders at night" and "Don't disobey orders at night". Later, the queen boarded the royal palace, and the wedding procession went to the palace. & gt& gt The Ming Dynasty made a complete wedding ceremony in Yingzong, including the words of welcoming the Queen, the contents of the hostess's answer sheet, the words of the Queen's parents admonishing her daughter, the etiquette of female officials playing the Queen's crown, the etiquette of deacons praising the Queen's worship when she ascended to heaven, and the position and position of the officiating officer ... All the details are detailed and rigid. Under the guidance of welcoming etiquette, Queen Cai Yu entered the palace outside the main entrance of Miyagi from the main entrance of Daming Gate. As soon as the bell and drum rang, the leading maid-in-waiting surrounded the Queen's Cai Yu and entered the Imperial Palace from Fengtianmen. The book treasure officer awarded the book treasure to the female officer. In the harem, the queen walked out of Cai Yu and entered from the west stage. The emperor stood on the east steps to meet the queen, and then went into the bridal chamber of the inner hall with the queen. & gt& gt The conferring ceremony, welcoming ceremony and wedding ceremony of the Qing emperor continued, forming the * * * form of the wedding. The day before the wedding, the emperor personally offered sacrifices to his ancestors, and officials from the Ministry of Rites offered sacrifices to heaven, earth, ancestral halls and villages. On the wedding day, the palace was covered with a red carpet, lanterns and couplets were hung at the entrance of the palace in the meridian gate, and double happiness colored silks were hung at the entrance of several major palaces such as Hall of Supreme Harmony, Gan Qing Palace and Kunning Palace. The knighthood ceremony of the woman's family is not much different from that of the Ming Dynasty, except that in the Qing Dynasty, there was a festival (namely Jeff) besides books and treasures. There is an incense table in the main hall, and there are festival tables, calligraphy tables and treasure tables behind the incense table. The festival table is in the middle, and the calligraphy tables and treasure tables are separated left and right. The queen knelt in front of the incense table and listened to the book treasure table. Then, the queen took four married women as leaders and seven married women as empresses. With the help of eunuchs, she took Fengyu all the way from Qingmen (Zhonghua Gate) to the imperial city, passing through the meridian gate, Taihe Gate, the middle left gate and the back left gate, until Gan Qing Gate. The queen descended from the earth, walked through a brazier (meaning flourishing), came to the Kunning Palace from the Jiaotai Hall, surrounded by maids, and then crossed two saddles and two apples (meaning peace) before entering the bridal chamber. The bridal chamber is the queen's bedroom. There is an imperial pavilion in the east corner of the bedroom, surrounded by screens, where the emperor and the queen will spend their candlelight night. The emperor took off the queen's veil, and both of them sat on the bed of the dragon and phoenix. Female officials offer sacrifices, and the emperor and queen offer sacrifices first, and then eat "three meals" and children's cakes. Finally, in the blessing of female officials and guards, they drank a glass of wine, sat at a low table on the ground according to Manchu custom, and ate a wedding banquet, and the wedding ceremony ended.