What are the Six Rites?

These six ceremonies are accepting gifts, asking names, Najib, accepting gifts, inviting dates and welcoming people.

(1) Accept talents, that is, the man's family asks the matchmaker to propose marriage to the woman's family, and the woman's family promises to propose marriage, and the man's family prepares gifts to propose marriage.

(2) Ask the name, that is, the man's family asks the matchmaker to ask the woman's name and date of birth.

(3) Naji, that is, after the man retrieved the woman's name and eight characters, he performed divination in the ancestral hall.

(4) Zheng Na, also called Nabi, means that the man's family gives it to the woman's family as a dowry.

(5) The date of invitation, the man chooses the wedding date, and prepares gifts to inform the woman's family for approval.

(6) Wedding reception: One or two days before the wedding, the woman sends a dowry and makes the bed, and the groom goes to the woman's house to get married the next day.

Related introduction

Six rites were established in the Zhou Dynasty, which first appeared in the Book of Rites. Most of the later generations followed Zhou Li, but the name and content changed. In the third year of Yuan Dynasty (AD 3), Emperor Han Ping ordered Liu Xin to make marriage documents. From the Han Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was no wedding ceremony for the Crown Prince. However, from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, due to social unrest, the Six Rites were ignored, and only worship (in-laws) was performed, and there was no wedding ceremony.

It was not until the Sui and Tang Dynasties that the Crown Prince resumed the ceremony of welcoming relatives, and the emperor's marriage also followed the six rites. In the Song Dynasty, the dignitaries still followed the Six Rites, while the people in China thought that the Six Rites were too complicated, so they only followed the Four Rites, omitting asking names and inviting dates, which were attributed to Nacai and Zheng Na respectively. "Zhu" was even omitted by Najib and only three gifts were taken, which became the customization of the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, only two gifts were given, namely, receiving gifts and welcoming the bride, and one gift was given to the woman's home for shopping in the middle.

According to Tongli in Qing Dynasty, marriage negotiation, accepting gifts, accepting coins, inviting dates and welcoming relatives are only implemented when Han officials have more than seven items. After the late Qing Dynasty, the Six Rites evolved in a complicated way and gradually declined.