Chinese traditional wedding what customs and etiquette

The five rites of passage "has said, since the later Qi, regardless of the son of the common people, the wedding," said Nacai, two said to the name, three said Naji, four said Naozheng, five said to please the period, six said to welcome."

This is the six stages of the ancient wedding, commonly known as the "six gifts". As follows:

One, Nacai: this is the first stage of the marriage, the man asked the matchmaker to propose marriage, the woman agreed to discuss marriage, the man prepared to go to the woman's home to propose marriage, the gift is the geese, geese are to be alive. Why geese? Geese for migratory birds, take the symbol of yin and yang, and later developed a new meaning, said geese lost their spouses, no longer in pairs for life, take its loyalty. <P> two, ask the name: is the proposal, the matchmaker to ask the female birth year, month and day and name, prepare for the marriage ceremony.

Three, Naji: is to ask the name of the good news of the marriage after divination and then notify the female ritual. It is also called "betrothal". This is the main ritual of the engagement stage. Ancient custom, as a rule, to use geese, as a token of marriage has been decided. After the development of the ring, jewelry, colored silk, gift cakes, gift incense and candles, and even sheep and pigs, it is also known as sent to the fixed or fixed recruitment.

Four, Na levy: is engaged in an alliance, the male family will be bride price to the female family, is the stage of marriage rituals. This wedding ceremony is also commonly known as the completion of the recruitment or the big recruitment, over the big gift and so on. Later, this ceremony also took the practice of return gifts, the bride price of food in one or all of the return; or hired, the female family will give the male side of the clothing, hats, shoes and socks as a return gift. The number of bride price and the name of the items to take more auspicious meaning, the number of double taboo single.

Fifth, please period: after sending the bride price, choose the date of marriage, prepare gifts to the female family, consent to the ceremony. Ancient custom with geese as usual, gifts are generally simple, often combined with the invitation ceremony and the bride price, along with the big gift at the same time to decide the wedding date.

Sixth, welcome: is the new son-in-law personally to the female home to meet the ceremony. This ritual is often seen as the main program of the wedding, while the first five are treated as a marriage, engagement and other transitional rituals. Some of these forms are necessary for social relations, such as the female family's "additional makeup", to the male family's "open bow", "cave", etc., are the rituals to establish social relations. Purely pro-welcome part of the ceremony, the general use of sedan chair, divided into double or single top, help pro-women on the sedan chair "send pro-sister-in-law", accompanied by the bridegroom to the woman's home to pick up the "welcoming guest", have their own requirements, sedan chair, back to the carriage, welcome the sedan chair, sedan chair, worship of heaven and earth, perform the ceremony of happiness, into the cave! ...... each process and there are several to a dozen forms, most of which indicate that wishing good luck to drive away evil spirits. Pro welcome the season, generally selected in the spring, the state to agriculture, coinciding with the agricultural leisure, harvest is, just marriage. <P> marriage "six rites" after the transition period, the bride back to her mother's home "homecoming", until the bride into the childbearing period, the second generation and then the birth ceremony. From then on, the wedding only as a family celebration of the anniversary, according to the anniversary of the celebration (full of a "Huajia" held a grand celebration ceremony, called to do the remarriage wine), the annual value of the celebration, until the end of the year. In foreign countries, twenty-five years of marriage to do silver wedding. Fifty years of marriage to do the gold wedding. These are the memorial ceremony of the wedding .