Does anyone have information on ancient wedding customs?

Flower gold full head makeup treasure bun, two eyes Wuzhu red mouth skin.

It must be a blessing for the bride to have the old man of the moon as a good matchmaker.

A little bit of red in the midst of all the greenery, the weaving maiden will meet the cowherd tonight.

It's just like a good flower that blossoms in pairs.

The folk song of Putian vividly describes the real situation when men and women get married.

In the old days, Putian men and women basically inherited the custom of marrying by parents' order and matchmakers' words, and emphasized the importance of being in the right place and getting married early. The main procedures of marriage are the same as those of the Central Plains, such as the marriage rituals and folklore, such as the Nacai, asking for the name, the Naji, the Naji, the invitation period, and the pro-welcome. However, due to the special geographic location of Putian and the deep traditional cultural deposits, the wedding customs in this area are colorful and varied, and some of the life scenes of the ancient marital system still remain, from which the living fossil of the ancient marriage can be glimpsed.

The marriage proposal. In Putian, when men and women reach marriageable age, parents should ask elders to discuss the marriage, or ask matchmakers to try to get together. A thousand miles of marriage is a line, people often use the moon old man, the old man under the moon to call the matchmaker. Matchmaker this line, a very long history. According to the Book of Songs, no matchmaker is allowed. This refers to the marriage of the time to go through the custom of the matchmaker.

Matchmakers, there are masters invited, but also their own initiative to find the door. They tend to use sharp teeth, the men when the marriage, women when the marriage, when the family is right, the man and the woman, the natural pair, the ground to create a pair of words, the men and women who did not know each other's parents and elders said that the heart, and further requirements for men and women to open up the Geng sticker (i.e., the eight characters of the birth of the sticker) in order to both sides of the matchmaking. Female parents, such as marriage, will open the daughter's birthdate eight characters to the male family, according to the eight characters of men and women for comparison and projection, commonly known as the "eight characters", and the two sides of the eight characters pressed in the stove under the incense burner to rest for three days. If everything is safe and smooth in the home within three days, that is born together rather than together, is a match made in heaven, the man can officially ask the matchmaker to the woman proposed marriage.

The matchmaking. Kissing, Putian commonly known as look at the affinity. That is, after the man formally proposed to the woman, the man's parents will have to go to the woman's side to see the Alcove matchmaking. The ceremony is relatively simple. The man chooses an auspicious day, the matchmaker told the woman's parents, on the day of the blind date, let the daughter dress up, the man and his parents only observe the woman's appearance. The man and his parents only observe the woman's appearance. At this time, the woman also takes the opportunity to peek at the man's figure and appearance. If the man is satisfied with the woman's appearance and physique, he will recognize it, and the rest will depend solely on the words of the matchmaker. The first thing you need to do is to get your hands on a new pair of shoes or boots.

According to the customs of Putian, the male party door-to-door matchmaking, the woman if the man is satisfied, will give each guest of the male party a bowl of hard-boiled eggs, commonly known as the "old man's egg", the male party, if the woman (including the family situation, etc.) is satisfied, you can eat the old man's egg; if you do not want to, you do not transport this bowl of eggs. In this euphemistic way to express the party's feelings, to avoid both sides produce awkward unpleasant. After the man eats the egg, the woman will also cook a snack ~ line noodles (longevity noodles), meaning peace and longevity. After the guests eat the longevity noodles, each person should put a more generous red envelope at the bottom of the bowl to show their appreciation. After the matchmaking, men and women and their elders have no objections, the marriage is basically agreed.

Engagement. Betrothal, commonly known as "engagement" "He Ding" "release". Men and women meet after the matchmaker will play a very important role, she circled between men and women, after several bargaining, so that both sides are happy, so that the betrothal ceremony is carried out smoothly.

When the betrothal, the male party to choose an auspicious day, by the male relatives, such as husband and wife, children and grandchildren, or first-born boy women and other lucky people, composed of 6, 8 or 12 people and matchmakers and so on (the two sides of the even number), women should wear red clothes, carrying a part of the bride-price and gold and silver jewelry, together with the gung stickers, joss stickers, candles and firecrackers to send to the woman's home. At this time, the woman's family set off firecrackers, and then cooked snacks (noodles) to be distributed to relatives and neighbors, indicating that the daughter has been promised to someone else. In modern times, candies and cigarettes from the gifts sent by the man are given to relatives, friends and neighbors, while wine and banquets are prepared to entertain the man's guests. When the woman's home again firecrackers, the betrothal ceremony was completed.

Set a good date. Commonly known as "look at the day". The man decided to meet the day of marriage, the auspicious day with red stickers to inform the woman, and send tandem plate gift. Plate is thin bamboo gabions woven into a round plate with a wall, painted red, called red plate, its caliber is about 50 cm. Each quan *** have 10 size of the red plate, 5 on each side, under the big on the small stacked on top. There are also rich and powerful people to prepare a generous gift of up to 10 quan plate. The gift of the plate is a sign of respect for the woman's family. If the woman's grandmother is alive, the red plate should be pork, thread and noodles in a plate as a tribute to the elders, commonly known as mom plate. In the gifts sent to Tamban, there are pork feet, thread noodles, rice noodles, red dough, cake, vegetable balls, as well as bride-price, various colors of clothing, clothes, etc., respectively, according to the layer into the plate. After receiving the red plate, the daughter's family will make offerings to their ancestors and then distribute the gifts of meat and noodles and cakes to their friends and relatives to inform them of their daughter's wedding date. After friends and relatives know, they will send gifts to add makeup, commonly known as flower powder, also known as the wedding, go happy. As the wedding day approaches, the woman's family begins to prepare the dowry according to the amount of the bride price from the man's family. The male family prepares the red headscarf (called the bride's hood in Putian), the red jacket with wide shoulders and big sleeves (commonly known as the upper head shirt), the candles, the wedding guns, and the gift stickers according to the agreed-upon etiquette, and sends them to the female family by the matchmaker. Married woman to marry three or five days before the wedding, hair combing and dressing to try new clothes. Some coastal and mountainous villages, the woman also has to take the inner relatives of the boy (commonly known as brother-in-law) and the bride to sleep with the custom, praying for the next year to give birth to a boy.

Welcome. Commonly known as the wedding. Both men and women are decorated with lanterns and colors, set up a new. The day before the woman was married, the dowry will be divided into a number of bars, and then carried to the man's home, the more you carry, the more decent the woman's home. The dowry varies in thickness, and mainly consists of daily necessities such as Wu Bo clothes (inside and outside clothes and pants), thread bags of grains and seeds, etc. as dowry. Nowadays, in some places with good economic conditions, there are bicycles, motorcycles and color TVs, refrigerators and other household appliances for dowry.

In ancient times, when Putian married, they had to perform the maturity ritual, commonly known as the bride's rite of passage or on the head. Before the bride went to the red bridge, she had to comb her hair in the boudoir. Women's home please a blessed life of the elders of women, to the bride comb hair, and paper or red silk made of five core flowers, respectively, inserted in the new bun on both sides, commonly known as "on the head". "On the head" of its custom is very long ago, according to "Mrs. Rui Hua Palace Lyrics" said: the beginning of the fifteenth most popular, the new gift to the sideburns will be on the head. So the male crown ceremony, female maturity are called "on the head".

When welcoming the bride, the male party sent beforehand to hire a vegetarian bridge lift in the hall of the female family. Red sedan chair, Putian called "bride sedan chair". Sedan chair made of wood, carving and skeleton, color, sedan chair above, inserted four gold rolled dragon, so also known as the "Dragon Sedan Chair". Sedan chair door on both sides, paste a pair of red paper strips, reflecting the identity of the woman's family, in order to show decency. Sedan chair door hanging a piece of red-dyed pork, in order to avoid "white tiger" injury. After the red sedan chair changed to tie flowers ventilated sedan chair, commonly known as the "urge makeup". But the bride is still held in accordance with the usual rituals before the sedan chair, yi yi away from the love, reluctant to get on the sedan chair. Until the auspicious time has come, only to say goodbye to parents and friends, wearing a red coat, wearing a red silk knot scarf cap, in the support of the bridesmaids, waving tears and sobbing on the sedan chair. Bride closing the door of the sedan chair, put with a red rope knot. Sedan chair line, the bride will be a basin of water, and sedan chair bottom sprinkled, mouth praise four auspicious words, commonly known as shouting four sentences. The bride every shout, the crowd are followed by shouting a good wow! Such as:

Sprinkle sedan chair ah ...... good wow!

Good husband ah ...... good wow!

Sprinkle sedan chair foot ah ...... good wow!

Good Dajia (Putian dialect mother-in-law) ah ...... good wow!

As soon as the bride's sedan chair is out of the hall, the woman's family immediately closed the door, and used an iron rake to stop behind the door in case the dragon was dragged by the daughter, which is an old custom.

The sedan chair out on the road, the bride in the sedan chair to wailing and crying. If the parents have lost, but also to call the father's name mother's name, crying; if not, will be accused of unfiliality.

The sedan chair to the door of the male family, the groom's grandparents, parents and family members are required to temporarily avoid, commonly known as avoiding Chong. After the bride's palanquin into the door, the bridegroom that is, please "send room brother" dowry tray in the mosquito net out, hanging in the new room in the sleep bed, and then the jujubes, peanuts, melon seeds, dried cinnamon, candy and hard coins, etc. to the tent of the four solution to sprinkle to take the early birth of a son of goodwill. Send room brother side spread tent, a mouth praise auspicious words:

Spread tent east and west, north and south,

feckless Jiang Taigong.

Gui Zi Lan Xun Lian Kodi,

Glory, wealth and happiness in a hurry.

Putian folk wedding please "send room brother" is a legacy of the ancient plunder marriage system. This in many places in the Zhiyun can still see traces of the ancient marriage system. According to the "Jiaqing Diannan magazine", the ancient daughters married three days before, in front of the door to build a pine house, and reserve dozens of tanks of rice water. The day the man married, the groom and the wedding party straight into the pine house, holding the woman on a fast horse and go, parents with rice water splashed male, and call friends and relatives to catch up, catching up on the return. The male family plundered after the wedding, for fear that his wife's family rate back to the robbery, and then asked the strong friends and relatives to come to the defense or to help, until the cock crows to cover the door before dispersing.

In the coastal area of Putian, there is also a bride a day in advance to the man's home, the next day to hold the wedding custom, distinctive.

Worship. Commonly known as "adult" (line wedding). Sedan chair into the hall, the bride can not immediately get out of the sedan chair. To the auspicious time, the master of ceremonies shouted pro welcome ceremony, please groom to the hall. Bridesmaid that the bride to the sedan chair in front of the bride's hands to the sedan chair door of the red rope unlocked, and then the groom retired to the left side of the hall waiting. At this time, the bride led the groom's little brother (brother-in-law) or both parents of the two children, to the sedan chair, please the bride out of the sedan chair, which opened the door by the bride, help out of the bride, to the hall in front of the right side of the case and the groom across the station, that is, the wedding.

In Putian, the wedding is usually held at dusk. This can be traced back to the ancient marriage of women to dusk (Shuowen Jiezi) wedding customs. It is because of the ancient love affairs of men and women, more mysterious, often under the cover of the night to be appropriate. When the wedding was held, the drums outside the hall, firecrackers.

The bride and groom first worship heaven and earth, and then worship the ancestors. Then the couple worship, and to drink the cup of wine, into the three soup, three points (i.e., a small bowl containing cinnamon, jujube, lotus seed soup). Next, the groom's father and mother are invited to sit on the eight immortal chairs to accept the bride and groom's worship. After the ceremony, the father gives a pair of red chopsticks (10 pairs) to wish for an early birth, and the mother gives a pair of red balls to signify a family reunion. The bride and groom will also pay tribute to the elders present, the elders returned to the small red envelope ~ pressure to worship money.

After the bride and groom sue the ancestor, worship, the groom's family to prepare a banquet, feast guests. There should be 12 dishes, which means 12 months of the year, and every month is full of happiness. When the sixth course is served, the groom is accompanied by a grandpa and toasts to each table. The last two dishes of the banquet are sweet: round balls made of glutinous rice flour; sweet soup made of cinnamon, jujubes and lotus seeds, symbolizing the sweetness of the newlyweds and growing old together. After the last dish of the wedding banquet is eaten, the firecrackers go off again and the banquet is dispersed. The unique wedding custom of Putu Xian begins with the "Cave-in". It is said that the ancient wedding customs, in the marriage of the road, the bride and groom to tease or make fun of the bride, mixed with a lot of jokes program. Putian will be the ancient wedding customs to the cave.

Putian wedding customs, the cave is the culmination of the wedding, there are several forms:

Kirin sent children (i.e., send children), in the wedding banquet before the opening of the feast, by the band and phoenix lamps in front of the guide to send the house brother holding a ceramic child, followed by lamps, holding candles and fruit boxes, from the outdoors to the cave, the groom greeted at the door of the cave, the ceramic child placed in the sleep on the bed on the board shelf, and will be the red candles,

The bridegroom will be greeted at the entrance of the bridal chamber, the porcelain child will be placed on the shelf of the sleeping bed, and the red candle, the fruit box, and the bowl of water will be lined up on the table, and the phoenix lamps will be hung on the beams of the building in front of the bed.

The bride and groom are smiling.

The bride and groom are smiling.

After the praise was sung, the guests crowded into the new room to see the bride. The bride's brother deliberately spilled a bowl of water on the bed, saying that the child had spilled urine.

Hold out the light. At the end of the wedding banquet, it was already late at night. Guests in the organization to send the room brother, gathered in the cave, ready to make trouble in the cave. The first is to hold out the lamp (indicating early male children), in front of the new bed in the bridal chamber hanging a pair of small red lamps, commonly known as the hundred children lamp. In the send room under the orders of the brother, the bridegroom will pick up the bride, so that the bride with both hands to exchange the left and right lanterns, hung again, send room brother then praise auspicious language:

Cave flower candles small fairy,

a pair of phoenix lamps hanging on both sides.

The exchange of things for the entrance to the joy,

a quarter of a thousand dollars to enjoy the youth.

Doing the scripture (i.e., after holding out the lamp, the program to tease the bride and groom). Its main program in addition to hold out the lights, there are melons loaded nose, fairy bridge, fight to eat fairy fruit, Guanyin drip dew and so on. In general, only one program is made to tease the bride and groom, but the "sending brother" program is more, until the east is almost white, when the rooster crows, "sending brother" to let the host set off firecrackers.

The first meeting in the cave,

couples love each other.

While singing the hymns, the brother of the bridegroom will cover the door for the bride and groom, commonly known as the round room. At this point, the exhausted bride and groom just counted on a sigh of relief, want to rest, but the east has been put white, the golden rooster crowing more joy.

The bride returned to the door. Commonly known as please turn the horse (the bride in the company of the groom, the first time to return to the bride's home).

In the early morning of the second day of the wedding, the bride should go to the hall to greet in-laws, elders, and meet with relatives at home, commonly known as out of the hall. And to pro down to the kitchen for the first cooking.

Bride and groom after the third day of marriage (now generally in the second day after the wedding) the newlyweds must be together with the groom's home, before returning to the door, the female family to send the bride's younger brother (brother-in-law) to the male family to invite the bridegroom, commonly known as the invitation to the son-in-law, also known as the invitation to the turn of the horse. The newlyweds sit in a sedan chair (groom or horseback riding), guided by the grandpa walking door, while the bride can always sit in the sedan chair to the door. When the newlyweds enter the door, the woman's family cannon playing music, and after that, it is inevitable to do flavor feast, according to local customs and lively.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China *** and advocate the freedom of marriage. 1950s, with the implementation of the "Marriage Law", with the parents' orders, the words of the matchmaker arranged marriages and cumbersome marriage etiquette gradually abolished to tea party, such as the distribution of sugar and other simple and economical new-style wedding has been quite common. Into the 80's, free love has become a trend, festivals, around the organization of dozens or even hundreds of pairs of collective wedding, by the local leaders for the bride and groom witnessed the wedding, the wedding simple, grand. In the more economically developed places, the new trend of traveling for honeymoon is also becoming popular. The new style of traveling is also becoming popular in the more economically developed areas of the country. Cai

Commonly known as marriage or matchmaking, please matchmaker to the female side of the matchmaking, to understand the female side of the heart, to see if the marriage has the hope of success. When a matchmaker goes to a woman's home to propose marriage, he usually presents her with a live goose to symbolize his fidelity.

Ask.

Ask for the name: Commonly known as the "eight characters", the matchmaker first sends the woman's eight characters to the man's home, on which is written the woman's birth year, month, day, and hour, and the man must be placed on the ancestors' desk to observe and check for a few days, and then send the man's eight characters to the woman's home if the family is safe for the next few days. Within three days after the woman accepts the man's birthdate, she has to burn incense in front of her family's gods and buddhas every morning and evening. During these days, if any of the men's or women's homes are affected by theft, destruction of goods, or illness of family members, the marriage will not be consummated.

Na.

It is also known as the "small" or "civil" engagement, or betrothal. After asking for the name, if there is a good omen, the man will ask the matchmaker to go to the woman's house to present a gift and notify the woman's family of the decision, and at the same time, the man will go to the woman's house on an auspicious day to present the bride with a gold ring.

Na.

Commonly known as the big hire or complete hire, the man selected an auspicious date to the woman's home to hold the engagement ceremony. The ceremony is usually held ten days to a month before the wedding, and in addition to the bride price, there are six or twelve gifts, the names of which have auspicious connotations, and the number of which is in even numbers, meaning that they are paired.

Please.

Commonly known as the choice of date, the male family selected the wedding day, and ask for the consent of the female family.

Parent. Welcome

The formal wedding ceremony. The new couple's eight characters are written on red paper, please choose the day of the master to choose the auspicious day, and the matchmaker to send both sides agreed to hold a ceremony to welcome the bride.