Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Traditional culture - When was the best time to hold a wedding in ancient times?

When was the best time to hold a wedding in ancient times?

The ancient wedding ceremony was: in the morning, the man went to the woman's house to marry the bride, and the wedding was held at dusk. The word "marriage" is divided into "female" and "faint", in which "faint" means dusk.

The ancients thought dusk was auspicious, so they married at dusk, hence the name. In ancient times, people went through about six procedures when holding a wedding. They were: accepting gifts, asking names, accepting gifts, inviting guests, welcoming relatives and so on. First of all, Na Cai is equivalent to a modern proposal. The man asked the matchmaker to propose to the woman. If the woman agrees to propose marriage, the man asks the matchmaker to bring gifts to the woman's house for formal employment. Of course, in this process, not only the man should host a banquet to entertain the matchmaker, but also the woman should host a wine to warmly entertain the matchmaker, so as to promote the "match made in heaven" between the two sides.

In ancient times, the gifts given to women by matchmakers' words varied according to their status and status. Before the Western Zhou Dynasty, officials used "lamb", doctors used "goose" and literati used "pheasant", and after the Western Zhou Dynasty, they all used "goose". After the Han dynasty, the second thing was to ask the name with "wine", which was the beginning of the engagement procedure. The matchmaker went to the woman's house to ask her name, ranking, and date of birth, and then compared it with the man's date of birth with the theory of five elements. If they promote each other, they will forget about it. If they promote each other, they will start to enter the "Najib" plan.

The third is Najib, that is, both men and women formally confirm the marriage relationship. At this time, "wedding invitations" are formally exchanged, and a banquet is held to entertain the woman's officiating person. 4. Bridging refers to the bride price that the man sends to the woman's home after the marriage contract is concluded, which is called "collecting money", "big engagement" and giving a big gift. Only after completing this procedure can the man marry the woman. According to historical records, the ceremony of receiving gifts became more and more complicated and intensified, so that in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there was a phenomenon of "modern marriage". Selling women to collect money and buying women to lose silk were more careful than their parents and grandparents, with less responsibilities, and the market was no different.

Either you are under the door, or you are arrogant, greedy for fame and gain, and you can be ashamed. This is the evil result of buying and selling marriage in feudal times. Fifth, the invitation period refers to the date of marriage (wedding date) determined by both men and women after the dowry is sent out. After the date is set, to prepare gifts, please ask the matchmaker to inform the woman, which is called "mentioning the date", "sending the date" and "probing the words" by the people. In the invitation procedure, relatives are welcomed by choosing an appropriate auspicious day, the best time to hold a wedding and an appropriate election through superstitious "divination".

Finally, the wedding ceremony, also known as "marriage", is the most lively, grand and complicated part of the whole marriage custom. In ancient times, it usually took three days; On the morning of the first day of the lunar new year, the male family will worship their ancestors and marry the bride at dusk, so it is called "faint", which means "Yang comes and Yin goes" and "it is suitable for people to meet Yin at night". After the wedding procession returned to the man's home, it entered the climax of marriage-worship heaven and earth, that is, "worship heaven and earth, worship the hall, worship the husband and wife."