What are the wedding customs and processes in Hubei?

Abstract: There is a saying in Jingchu that "men should marry when they are older, and women should marry when they are older". Generally speaking, the wedding custom etiquette in Jingchu follows the six ancient habits of accepting gifts, asking names, accepting gifts, inviting parties and welcoming guests in the pre-Qin period, and has been continuously enriched and developed on this basis, forming its own distinctive characteristics. For example, the coronation ceremony (adult ceremony) will be combined with the wedding. When a new daughter-in-law comes in, her mother-in-law will give her dates and peanuts on her plate in order to have a baby early. So what are the special wedding customs and procedures in Hubei today? Let's have a general understanding of the wedding customs and processes in Hubei! First, the characteristics of wedding etiquette in Hubei

The combination of coronation ceremony (adult ceremony) and wedding ceremony is a major feature of Jingchu wedding etiquette. For example, in Songzi County, the man's family set up two tables of banquets the day before the wedding. One of them chose nine relatives and friends, ten children, and said "accompany ten brothers". This is a prelude to the "coronation ceremony" symbolizing the son's adulthood, and it is a life word of a Japanese male family. It takes collecting money as a "box plaque" and drum music as a guide. This is a ceremony presided over and attended by my uncle. There is also the custom of avoiding evil spirits and seeking happiness in Jingchu marriage customs. If you like the straw on the bed to be smooth, it symbolizes that the young couple will live a smooth and safe life in the future. Don't put it horizontally, because "horizontal" is unreasonable and will lead to disharmony between the young couple. When a new daughter-in-law comes in, her mother-in-law will give her dates and peanuts on her plate, so that she can have a baby early, hoping to have a baby (called a "flower baby"), that is, to have children, preferably five men and two women. Folk call it "the seven thrones of five men, two women".

Since the pre-Qin era, it has become a set of "rites" for men and women, which has been advocated by rulers from generation to generation. Today, there are more than twenty or thirty programs among the people in Jingsha. The whole process of wedding etiquette in rural areas of Jiangling is: issuing eight characters, setting a high rank, begging for accuracy, going through the door, choosing a date, telling the time, divorcing the marriage, accompanying the tenth brother, accompanying the tenth sister, leaving the parents, crying, seeing off the bride, stopping the car and horse, being promoted, making friends, paying homage to the bride, making trouble, drinking "brain-nourishing tea" and returning to the door. In some rural areas in Songzi, the wedding customs and etiquette are more complicated. The whole process is: alliance, gift giving, blessing, date reporting, marriage, accompanying the tenth sister, opening a face, crying, leaving the church, blowing kisses, signing (hanging a plaque), stopping a car and horse, treating evil spirits, welcoming a dowry, paying homage, handing tea, toasting and so on. These wedding ceremonies, after thousands of years of spread, are still popular in some places in Jingsha.

Second, the traditional Chinese wedding ceremony in Hubei

1. Have an auspicious day

Choosing a date to get married is the most auspicious day to start the horoscope of both men and women. It usually refers to the auspicious day of "registration" and "picking up the bride" and other ceremonies. If these ceremonies are not held on the same day, the day when the bride is taken in shall prevail.

Give a big gift.

The most solemn engagement ceremony is 15 to 20 days before the wedding. The man chooses a good day and brings gifts and various gifts to the woman's house. Today, due to the complexity and time-consuming nature of this traditional wedding etiquette, the full set of "three books and six gifts" is rarely used, and the most widely concerned is the gift. The man wants a big gift and the woman wants a gift in return. Gifts and giveaways are as follows:

(1) Gift money

Gifts usually determine an auspicious number, which is kept in the envelope of profit and thrift. Tea and fruit must be returned.

(2) Gift cake (wedding cake)

For a big gift, you need to prepare a lot of gift cakes. Because there are more cakes now, you don't need a load (that is, 400). It is enough to bring eight symbolically as a gift, which represents one's mind. Prepare two pairs of dragon and phoenix cakes, one male and one female. Everything else is changed into Tang cakes and cakes, or profits. The return gift is half or a few points given by the man (it can be replaced by profit).

(3) Seafood

Gifts are divided into four types, six types or eight types. Usually each kind is divided into two packages, regardless of weight, but there must be Nostoc flagelliforme. Others include: scallops, abalone, mushrooms, squid, shark's fin, oyster sauce, sea cucumber, dried shrimp and fish belly, which can be replaced by profits. Also a pair of lotus roots, taro and pomegranate.

(4) Three Sacrifices

A big gift requires two pairs of chickens or geese, two males and two females (if the parents are not complete, one pair is enough). Pork can fly three to five kilograms (that is, one piece is connected with two pieces), and it can also be replaced by profit. In return, you need a double happiness scarf.

(5) Fish

For a big gift, you need a pair of fish, big fish or shad, which smells fishy. In return, you need to give your son-in-law a suit, trousers (long life and wealth) or cloth and a belt.

(6) Coconut

A big gift, you need two pairs of coconuts, one for your father, one for your son and one for your father. In return, you need cypress, profit, taro and ginger.

7. Wine

As a gift, you need two pairs of wine and four pieces of foreign wine or rice wine. In return, you need a wallet (which is beneficial), a pair of shoes (which is eternal), two pairs of socks and two profit letters (which read: five generations under one roof, generations to come).

(8) Four Classics

Gifts include dried litchi, dried longan, dried peach and peanuts. In return, the gifts are engagement money, tea, fried dumplings and Dafa muffins.

(9) Results

A big gift needs to bear fruit, which means it is fierce. Lettuce is a must in return.

(10) Tea and Sesame

Because tea trees can't be transplanted, they should be planted with seeds, so tea leaves are used as gifts to wish the son who can't be planted and the secluded woman loyalty, which is called "Youma Tea Ceremony". Return the big cane.

(1 1) PO Box

The gift box, commonly known as the gift box, contains two pairs of lotus seeds, lilies, green wisps, arborvitae, betel nuts, sesame seeds, red beans, mung beans, red dates, dried peaches and longan, as well as a pair of red bean ropes, gifts, gold ornaments, dragon and phoenix candles and couplets. You need a betel nut in return.

make the bed

Bed is not only a tool for health and harmonious marriage, but also a tool for safe reproduction, so it is also regarded as very important. Except for a new bed, all the items on the bed were given to the man's family by the woman's family as a dowry. Choose a good day. A few days before the wedding, the lucky guy will put the new bed in the right place. Before the wedding, Zai Hao ordered the old lady to make the bed, spread the mattress, bed sheets, dragon and phoenix quilts, mandarin duck pillows and hundreds of curtains on the bed, and take out all kinds of auspicious things, such as acacia beans (red beans and mung beans), Dajishuang, red dates, dried and fresh lilies, lotus seeds, longan, dried litchi and litchi. On the wedding night, after the couple enters the new house, they can let their children eat happy fruit in bed. This is called "pressing the bed", which means a hundred children and a thousand grandchildren. If you want to add a lively atmosphere, the groom's brother of the same age can make a scene in the new house. In ancient times, it was believed that "newlyweds are more noisy when they don't make trouble", which can ward off evil spirits for newlyweds and make them lucky after marriage.

Step 4 exceed

On the eve of the wedding, both men and women choose an auspicious time (the man should be half an hour earlier than the woman, that is, one hour) to hold the ceremony. It symbolizes that a couple has entered the "adult" stage, and this ceremony must be held by a "lucky guy" and a "lucky woman" in their respective homes. Before the auspicious moment comes, a couple should put on brand-new pajamas and underwear, and the woman should choose a table with moonlight by the window, light a dragon and phoenix candle and wick incense, add three bowls of lotus seeds, red dates and glutinous rice balls (six or nine in each bowl), fruit, barbecue and chicken, and sincerely sacrifice to heaven. Both men and women should prepare rulers, mirrors and scissors, that is, the so-called "dragon's head mirror and jiaozi's scissors", and let "lucky guy" and "lucky woman" comb the couple's hair, and at the same time say: comb it to the end, Qi Mei with white hair, three children and grandchildren, four silver bamboo shoots. Then tie cypress and red rope to the heads of a couple, and finally shout "Gao Sheng" to stand up.

5. Wedding ceremony

Nowadays, picking up the bride is the climax of the whole wedding. Accompanied by the two brothers, the groom greeted the bride with flowers. When you get to your mother's house, the first level is "getting started". If you want to find beauty smoothly, you must go through a series of intellectual and physical tests, but the most important thing is to open the door generously. After receiving the gift, the sister group should withdraw 10% to 50% of the gift to the male brother group and write "Sister Tea Gold". After the groom is successfully introduced, the sister group will also entertain the brothers with refreshments. After opening the door, the bride will be brought out by Sister Dajin or the maid of honor and given to her father, who will then give it to the groom for a formal ceremony. Newcomers should worship the heavens and the earth first, then their ancestors, and then bow down to their parents with tea (red dates should be put in the tea in advance to get the meaning, and the bride should immediately bring the gold jewelry presented by her elders to express her gratitude). The bride prepares two gifts, namely "prestige, splendor, gold" and "full house", and gives them to her aunt after going through the door.

go out

In the open air, Sister Dajin or bridesmaid holds up a red umbrella to protect the bride, which means spreading the branches and leaves. Sister Dajin and other sisters walked behind the couple and sprinkled rice and red mung beans on the sky, umbrella roof and flower roof, meaning that the chicken would not peck the bride after pecking the rice. Before boarding the float, the bride should bow to her relatives and friends to show her gratitude.

Through the door

Passing through the door means that the bride officially enters the man's house after going out from the woman's house to meet his elders such as Weng Gu. The important steps are as follows.

(1) Newcomers into Men's Houses

(2) Weng Gu came out of the room to meet the couple in the hall (Weng Gu should not directly see the couple enter the door in the hall to avoid collision).

(3) Couples worship heaven and earth first, then their ancestors.

(4) The couple offered tea and bowed to Weng Gu. Aunt Weng will say some greetings, give welfare to the new couple and send jewelry and gifts to the bride. The bride should wear the ornaments as soon as she receives them to show her gratitude.

(5) Newcomers offer tea to other elders and relatives.

(6) Newlyweds don't need to offer tea to the groom's brothers and sisters or relatives and friends one by one, just shake hands with each other.

(7) Newcomers should stay at home and have lunch with Weng Gu and other elders. Wenggu must prepare nine dishes to symbolize longevity.

(8) If the man's house is shallow and narrow, the best man can go out for lunch with the members of the brothers and sisters group (the bridesmaid stays at the man's house to accompany the bride).

8. Federal-Mogul (third generation Federal-Mogul)

On the third day after marriage, the groom accompanied the bride to her home with gifts. The gifts include "original roast pig" (representing the bride's chastity), two boxes of cakes, a pair of wine, two chickens, two baskets of raw fruit, lettuce (geomantic omen), two boxes of longevity noodles, pork belly and pork.

More Hubei-related cultures: A Complete Collection of Traditional Customs and Cultural Knowledge in Hubei >>