The Cave Culture of the Cave

The custom of haunting the room may seem simple, but it has a long history and strong influence. From the scope of influence, it can be said that all over the country; from the time of existence, it is almost throughout the entire feudal society, until the modern era is still popular. Because of this custom to the bride as the main object of amusement, it is also known as "haunted bride", "play the bride", also known as "play women" in the old days.

The custom of haunting the room began in the pre-Qin period of the Han Dynasty, the wedding simple, solemn.

Confucius in the "Rituals - Zeng Zi asked" to describe the marriage of the scene, said: "marrying a woman's home, three days without resting the candle, thinking about leaving each other; marrying back to the family, three days without lifting the music, thinking about the heir of the family." Reflects the simplicity of the pre-Qin wedding habits, there is no clamor and chaos of the scene. Into the Han, after the social and economic development, people are no longer satisfied with the old-fashioned and dull wedding, no longer adhere to the "three days do not lift the music" of the ancient teachings, began to make a big deal, so that weddings are covered with secular festive colors. Recent Yang Shuda in the "Han dynasty wedding and funeral rites and customs" book test: "and for the guests, often drinking and laughing, words and deeds without fear, such as the world of the new room of those who have to make a fuss, Han that is, there has been." Yang cited the end of the Han Zhong Changtong's "Chang Yan" in the record: "This marriage will be, whacking staff to supervise the banter sweet to interest in the desire to proclaim obscene anonymous in a wide range of the public, show the private in the new family, dirty wind and weird customs, birth of obscene long adulterous, and more than this very much, can not be constantly also." From this, we can see that the room from the beginning of its emergence, is regarded as a kind of bad customs and vices.

On the origins of the custom of haunting the room, there are two sayings in our folklore. One says that it originated from driving away evil spirits to avoid disasters. Legend has it that, a long time ago, Zi Wei Xing one day down to earth, on the road to meet a woman wearing mourning, trailing in a group of welcoming team, he saw that this is the devil is waiting for an opportunity to do evil, and then tracked to the bridegroom's home, only to see that the woman has arrived first, and hide in the cave. When the bride and groom were about to enter the bridal chamber after paying respect to heaven and earth, Zi Wei Xing guarded the door and refused to enter, saying that the devil was hiding inside. The people asked him to show them the way to get rid of the devil, and he suggested: "The devil is most afraid of crowds, and if there are many people, the devil will not dare to do evil." So the groom invited the guests to play and joke in the bridal chamber, and drove away the evil spirits with laughter; sure enough, at the fifth hour, the devil finally fled. It can be seen that the beginning of the haunted room that is covered with the color of driving away evil spirits and avoiding disasters.

The custom of driving away evil spirits in the bridal chamber is found all over the north and south. Newlyweds into the bridal chamber before the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the bridegroom the night before must sleep in the bridal chamber, beforehand, please two girls holding red candles will be in the new room to light again; Tianjin people are asked to blowing class in the new room blowing, in order to seek good luck. Newlyweds into the room, the room is still very important to drive the evil. Such as in the east rise, the groom into the house to symbolically shoot an arrow to each of the four corners of the new room, or holding a single knife to each corner of the virtual cut a knife, and the song said: "a cut demon, two cut monster, three cut the devil's bad head, four cut the God of Mourning quickly leave, laugh at the unicorn to send a son." A more common custom is to build a long-lasting lamp in the new house. This is what is meant by the so-called "Candlelight Night in the Bridal Chamber". Some scholars say that the custom of "listening to the room" is essentially a protective measure against ghosts and monsters entering the room.

Another viewpoint on the origin of the haunted house is that the haunted house first appeared in the north, and the beginning of the groom, which is probably related to the habits of the northern peoples. They lived by hunting and nomadism, which made men very tough and brave, and enduring beatings on their wedding day could prove that a man was a qualified husband.

Some backward peoples in the world use self-mutilation and abuse to show the qualification of men, and even take the head of a hunted man as a token to courtship, I am afraid of the same meaning. The caveman retained this primitive custom in ancient times. Caveman is an indispensable part of the traditional wedding, can be regarded as the climax of the wedding, all over the world have their caveman custom. In addition to amusement, there are other meanings, it is said that there are often foxes and ghosts in the bridal chamber, the cave can expel the evil spirits of the yin qi, enhance the yang qi, so there is a saying: "people do not haunt ghosts haunted". Caveman from the positive sense. Can add a lively atmosphere, in addition to the feeling of coldness. Therefore, some places also called "warm room". In the old days, men and women were introduced to each other, each other relatively unfamiliar, the cave can let them eliminate the sense of strangeness, for the newlywed life a good start. In addition, the cave can also make friends and relatives familiar with each other. It shows the prosperity of the family and enhances the relationship between friends and relatives.

The bridal chamber is "three days regardless of size", the bride and groom and even the groom's parents will often be others and even the younger generation to make fun of teasing. Be teased to make fun of can not be angry, so as not to destroy the festive atmosphere of the newlyweds. Of course, the people in the bridal chamber should not be too out of the ordinary. Time should not be too long. So as not to affect the newlyweds rest. Especially not rough uproar, triggering unpleasant things. Often due to excessive bridal chamber to the bride and groom to bring physical and psychological harm, and even lead to the bride's injuries, paralysis reports, so that the bridal chamber is more than the limit. It should be taken as a warning.

Legend has it that a bridal chamber is an important part of rural marriage customs around Baqiao in Guanzhong, Shaanxi Province. The bride and groom and a group of young people in the village play and laugh to their heart's content for three days, no matter how big or small. Generally speaking, on the day of the wedding, the bride and groom are both afraid of people messing with the bridal chamber and afraid of no one messing with the bridal chamber. Because this cave if no one, indicating that the host's home township is not good, no one to deal with you. If you make too much noise, of course, people can not stand. Cave room is divided into "cultural" and "martial arts". The term "bridal chamber" appeared a long time ago, but initially it did not refer to the new room for marriage. It is said that Si Ma Xiangru, a great scholar of the Han Dynasty, wrote a poem called "Changmen Fu", which describes how a disgraced Empress Chen waited for her husband after learning that Emperor Wu had promised to come to her in the morning, but it was getting late and there was still no sign of him. However, it was getting late and the king was not yet seen, so she wandered alone and had to "hang the bright moon to illuminate herself, and Feedback on the clear night in the bridal chamber". The cave room here does not refer to the new room where the newlyweds got married, but to the deep and luxurious apartment. The Northern Zhou Dynasty Yu Xin "three and singing dance" poem has "cave room flower candle bright, Yan Yu double dance light" sentence, here for the first time the cave room and the flower candle "hand in hand", but also is not a description of the new room. To the Tang Dynasty, the word "cave room" is often used to refer to the place of male love, to describe the "love". For example, "the wind of falling leaves flows towards the jade platform, the night is cold and the cave is open in autumn thoughts" (Shen Nephew's "Ancient Song"), "don't blow the Qiang flute to frighten the neighbors, don't use the pipa to make noise in the cave" (Qiao Zhizhi's "Advocating Women's Row"), etc. are all examples. The term "cave room" was not specifically used to refer to the newlywed's bedroom. Since Buddhism was popular in the Tang Dynasty, the word "cave" was also used to refer to the mountain house of monks, and Wang Wei wrote the poem "The cave is hidden in the deep bamboo, and the distant springs are heard in the clear night" ("Staying at the Orchid House of Master Daoyi").

It was not until after the Middle Tang Dynasty that the term "cave room" was gradually extended to mean the bridal chamber of a newlywed. The poet Zhu Qingyu left a popular verse in the poem "Nearly Trial on Zhang Ji Shuibu": "The cave room stopped the red candles last night, waiting for the dawn to worship aunt and uncle in front of the hall." Ancient and Modern Novels - Jin Yu Nu Strikes a Thin Lover: "Both of them worshiped Heaven and Earth, and then they worshiped their father-in-law and mother-in-law, and then after paying their respects, they were sent back to the cave room to make a flower candle feast." Hong Shen, "The Young Grandmother's Fan," Act II: "Twenty years ago, men and women always spoke of love only after entering the bridal chamber." Hong Mai, a Song Dynasty scholar, wrote in Rongzhai Suibi (Essays of Rongzhai), "The night of the flower candle in the bridal chamber is the time of the inscription of the gold list", which has been passed down to future generations. Since then, the cave has slowly become the new couple's new room of the moniker, has been used to this day. The so-called "martial arts" is even more thrilling, with "embracing onions", "picking the yeast head", and "chain sets". The "onions" were embraced. This "embrace onion" is borrowed from the rural dishes of the terminology, refers to the lights pulled out, in the dark in the crowd of brides and grooms wrapped together, you push me, of course, there is no lack of hand-holding goat touching the bride's nipples to grab the bride's butt thighs of the disciples; "picking the leavened head" is to let the Groom public hand to the bride's sensitive departments scratching key ...... In short, belongs to the category of sexual enlightenment. Mainly by the wedding night cave, by some of the first sexual knowledge to the bride and groom implicitly and boldly introduced to the primary sexual skills, but also some unmarried young man to accept the sexual enlightenment, which is confined in people's minds, talk about sex color change of the times is not a popularization of sex education.

When I was a child, I visited the countryside in a "cultural" cave, which is still fresh in my mind. That is six or seven married youth rate of one or two dozen young men crowded with the newlyweds spacious new room, by Zhang, a certain master, a certain Li supervision and law enforcement, the bride and groom do not listen to the penalty can be enforced at any time, scratching the nose, wringing the ears, hit the head, other people as cheerleaders to accompany the noise, but there are suggestions and performances expressed dissatisfaction with the right to ask the bride and groom to re-perform the program. "The main" people point to the point, subtle humor: "bride, I give you a riddle: the night of the wedding flowers and candles - playing the "Water Margin" characters seven, five will do! The bride is a member of the production team's theoretical study group, but also "evaluation of the Water Margin", criticizing Song Jiang "advanced characters, but she can not say, to say all at once, it will lose the meaning of the joke, then pretending to be a silly eyebrow staring and said: "I do not know, you break the trick!" "Don't know, if you don't know, hit the groomer!" The supervising troublemaker looks like a businessman and does not engage in conciliatory compromise. The bride said to the main troublemaker: "Good my uncle mile ......" "Sensei called uncle, no size in three days, the countryside party of the class generation, hu ball of the an right, if you don't know, kiss me, I'll teach you!" As the age are about the same, the main troublemaker said proudly. "I remember, it's not good to say, I'll write it for you!" Bride with a hand in the face of the main hustler crossed a "shame", hand pulled out a ball of hand paper, asked the young man for a pencil, wrote a few words. The main hustler took read aloud: "high ball, Lin Chong, only into, send pulp, timely rain, soft small two, useless ......" are "Water Margin" characters of the harmonies.

The main troublemaker also said to the groom: "You also guess a riddle: cave flower candle night - playing a city name!" The groom said: "Kill a chicken, you come up with a difficult to guess, so simple riddle, I take the coccyx are guessed correctly, but also with the mouth!" The master of the house said, "It's good for you to guess with a ball, but with a coccyx? What is it say!"

The groom said, "You do not tell everyone?" "Tell everyone what?" The main troublemaker stared. "I can guess with a ball - Kaifeng!" "It's really red carrots with spices and white carrots with garlic, eat out of sight!" The main troublemaker said: "so, I put out riddles, you guess again: long a span, round a hand, the skin a peel, a pimple - playing a thing, what is it?" "It's a hairy hammer hammer!" A little child said. "Nonsense, cleaner mouth!" The main troublemaker said, "Obviously it's a bracteate stick stick, the following people are not allowed to speak, this is a question for the bride and groom, the dolls want to answer the question, and quickly ask your mother and your father to give you a daughter-in-law."

The main troublemaker said the topic changed, "Bride listen, a stick a span long, half hairy half light, morning and evening stuffed into the hole, goo dong goo dong flow white pulp - playing a thing, guess, what is it?" The following people must have thought crooked, including then still young me, the bride deliberately not guess, the groom said: "Hu asked what it is, not your crotch in the ugly thing what?" "Wrong, very wrong my groomsman, is a toothbrush!" The main messenger is a serious talk ......

Of course, "martial arts" cave habits have been gradually eliminated out of the game, because it is too uncivilized, but also as a result of a lot of trouble, such as a year a place in the provinces to make trouble in the cave, a group of young people with a braided silk bag straight set of the bride's head, the crowd of people a rush, the bride's head, the bride's head, the bride's head, the bride's head. Bride's head, the crowd of people, resulting in the bride suffocated to death, there is a case of bridal chamber caused by the bride's ribs several fractures, so that the happy event into a sad event, the bridal chamber so also ate a lawsuit. Nowadays, although fewer people in the bridal chamber, not how to make a fierce, but easy to change customs, civilized bridal chamber culture should be advocated, after all, the times are different, young people nowadays know what to do, especially for some of the unmarried pregnant, in the bridal chamber to be more prudent and prudent, do not get out of the embarrassing end. Jinzhong Qixian and other places, into the bridal chamber, the groom, the bride is sitting side by side on the edge of the bed, greeted by the "full happiness people", the bride's corner of the bride's robe pressed on top of the groom's lapels. The bridegroom uses a scale pole to pick off the bride's head "cover red", and then exit. The bride's sister-in-law took off the new shoes on the bride's feet and replaced them with another pair. The so-called "new shoes, on the new model", meaning that the bride will act in accordance with the rules of the male family, subject to the constraints of the in-laws. Xinzhou Hequ area, the groom picked off the bride's red head, but also with a comb symbolically to the bride combed a few hair, commonly known as "on the head", said the woman from now on to become his daughter-in-law.

Earlier, the bride and groom into the bridal chamber, but also with the same food and drink, line "fm fm radio (honor). Generally, the groom, the bride first each end of the cup to drink a little bit, and then the two cups of wine mixed, the two changed cups to drink. Shanxi customs are slightly different, Yan Bei Ping Beast area is the groom, the bride *** drink a cup of wine, known as the "Jade Emperor wine", also known as "and good wine"; Wenxi and other places are derived from the groom, the bride on the wedding night to eat the same "fusion fmidnight! "

The new bridegroom and the bride ate together on the wedding night.

Wedding night, some places in Jinnan, there is a "step on the four corners" of the custom. The groom pulls the bride in the kang left turn three times, right turn three times. When stepping on, there are also people reciting hymns next to them: "Step on, step on, step on the four corners, the four corners of the protection of the Queen. The baby is more, the woman is less, the mother-in-law and husband two often good ......"

Shanxi, like all parts of the country, there is the custom of "haunting the new room", the night of the cave, the hustle and bustle. As the saying goes: "do not make no hair, the more you make more hair"; folk there is a "newlywed three days without size" habit, three days after the wedding, guests, neighbors, relatives and friends regardless of seniority, men and women, young and old can converge on the new room to participate in the teasing the groom, the bride. People believe that the new room can not only add to the festive atmosphere of the wedding, but also to drive away evil spirits, blessing the groom, the bride after marriage, good luck, prosperity. Cave is a part of the traditional Chinese wedding customs. In the Central Plains, the activities usually carried out in the bridal chamber include biting apples, biting candies, walking on a log bridge, and singing with the husband and the wife. The content of the activities is not exactly the same in different regions, but the program of spreading joyful beds to the newlyweds is essential.

Spreading the bed of joy is in the bridal chamber, by the groom's sister-in-law performs a kind of song and dance game, sister-in-law hand tray, tray paved with red paper, red paper on the chestnuts, jujube, peanuts, Gui Yuan and other things. The bride sits on the bed, and the sister-in-law grabs the dried fruits and sprinkles them on the bed, singing as she does so. The people in the bridal chamber listened to the sister-in-law's singing, but also with the voice, the bridal chamber in the laughter all night long, laughing and joking sound higher than a wave.

The game of spreading the bed of joy is a group folk game in which all the people in the bridal chamber are actors and actresses, and the sister-in-law is the protagonist, while everyone else is a supporting actor.

Because the protagonist has to take up the task of enlivening the atmosphere of the cave, it is a great responsibility. Therefore, this protagonist is carefully selected by the family of the bridegroom. Its degree of importance, and the choice of wedding officiant as careful. Before the marriage, the groom's family in the same clan, neighbors of the sister-in-law generation by selection. In some places one is chosen, in others two.

Selected the protagonist of the spreading of the bed of joy, first of all, to children of both sexes "auspicious people"; but also sing songs, will make up the words; furthermore, to be articulate, flexible, good at observing and adapting to changing circumstances. In addition, because, spread the bed for a long time, the lyrics are also long, and sometimes also according to the specific circumstances of the scene play, so spread the bed people to have a strong memory, can correctly use the lyrics of the things they see and the scene depicted, subject to these conditions of the constraints of the screening out of the sister-in-law is naturally skillful.

As sister-in-laws, they are also proud to be honored by the family of the married couple. They will do their best to help the groom's family regulate the atmosphere in the bridal chamber. The history of Chinese civilization has been more than 5,000 years ago, people still call the marriage "into the cave", despite the transition of mankind from cave dwellings to today's skyscrapers, but into the cave this term remains unchanged to this day. I've never seen anyone change the word "cave" to "building".

Legend has it that our ancestor Emperor Xuanyuan stipulated this.

The Yellow Emperor defeated Chiyu, pacified the war, established a tribal alliance, stopped the group marriage, the end of the barbaric era, the era of human civilization began.

The human age of group marriage, all of a sudden to change into monogamy which is not an easy thing! I am afraid this was a great revolution even 5,000 years ago. This has just unified the tribal alliance, the group marriage system has a very unfavorable factors for unity, often occur in the event of robbery, not only men rob women, but also women rob men. Between the tribes of the new alliance, there were often fights and brawls for the sake of marriage. A long time, the conflict is bound to intensify, and the tribes have the possibility of splitting up again. The Yellow Emperor was often worried about this matter. He found around the ministers often first, big Hong, after the wind, Li Mu, Cangjie and so on. They discussed many times how to stop group marriages and establish monogamy, but none of them came up with a feasible solution.

One day, the Yellow Emperor accompanied a group of great giants to inspect the caves where the group of people lived to see if they were safe. Suddenly, he found a family living in three caves, and in order to prevent wild animals from attacking them, the surrounding area was surrounded by a high stone wall, leaving only a doorway where one person could enter and exit. This discovery immediately aroused the interest of the Yellow Emperor. That night he summoned all the ministers around him. The Yellow Emperor said, "I have an idea to stop group marriages, let's talk about it and see if it works." All the ministers told the Yellow Emperor to speak quickly. The Yellow Emperor said: "Today we have seen the caves where the people live, I think the only way to stop group marriages is that in the future, when a man and a woman get married, they will gather the people of the tribe to congratulate them, and hold a ceremony to worship heaven and earth, father and mother, and husband and wife. Then, eat wine to celebrate, singing and dancing, announcing that the two have been officially married. Then, the husband and wife will be sent into the pre-prepared cave (room), surrounded by high walls, leaving only one door in and out, eating and drinking water from both men and women in the home loved ones to send, the longest is three months, the shortest is forty days, so that they establish conjugal love in the cave, learn to burn cooking, learn how to live life. In the future, all tribal people married into the cave of men and women, which is called the official marriage, and then not allowed to rob others men and women. In order to distinguish between married and unmarried, where the married woman, must pull a knot in the disheveled hair. People take a look and know that the woman is married, and other men can no longer have other plans, or else they will have violated the tribal regulations."

After speaking of this proposition, the Yellow Emperor was immediately supported by Chang Xian, Dahong, and Li Mu. The crowd suggested that Cangjie should be told to write a statute and publicize it, and this idea was soon supported and embraced by all the tribal groups. People are scrambling for their children to dig caves (room), high walls, where the sons and daughters of a marriage, after the ceremony, they are sent to the cave. The vice of group marriage thus gradually disappeared.

But the force of habit over the centuries is the most formidable force, y rooted, not overnight can be completely changed over. There are also some group of people who are not used to monogamous couples for a while. It is said that there was a pair of capable hunters, the man named Shidun and the woman named Mumeo. The two were promised marriage by both parents. After the wedding ceremony, they were sent to their bridal chamber. After living together for less than ten days, Shidun began to feel that it was not interesting to spend the whole day with only one woman, and that it would be better to have a group marriage, where he could spend time with whichever one he liked, and could have two or three women in a day. Mumei also felt that it was not comfortable to be in a cave, and that it was no fun to be with a man all day long. It was better to have a group marriage, where you could fall in love with any man you liked for a few days. After a few days do not like to find another man, how free, due to the two are unwilling to live a monogamous life of the idea, one night, while the night is quiet, both over the wall, each escaped.

Shidun and Mimiao both fled into the forest, and were unable to find any populated areas. They had no hunting tools with them and were afraid of being attacked by wild animals. At dawn, thirsty and hungry, they unknowingly came together again. In order to save their lives, the two had to rely on each other. All day picking wild fruits, picking mushrooms to feed their hunger. Because of the lost, a moment can not go out of the big forest, really do not know what to do? In the end, they realized that no one could leave each other at the moment.

One day, the two men were so thirsty, hungry and tired that they lay down under a big tree to rest. A swarm of bees buzzed and circled around his two heads. Shidun broke a branch and beat it from side to side to disperse the swarm. Unexpectedly, the bees got angry and stung both of them. Shidun realized that the bees were coming out from the cracks of the tree and took out the flint he had brought with him. He told Mumeo to gather dry wood and quickly lit a big fire, from which they drew fire sticks and burned them vigorously towards the cracks on the tree. In a flash, the bees burned their wings and could no longer fly. The flames reached through the cracks and destroyed the hive, and honey oozed out of the cracks. At first, the two of them did not know what was coming out, but just smelled the aroma. Shidun dipped his hand into a bit of it, put it in his mouth and licked it with his tongue, and it was very sweet. He asked Mu Miao to taste it again, and they concluded that it was not poisonous, so they hurriedly picked up some tree bark and put all the honey flowing out into a container. The two had to pick mushrooms in the forest all day long and dip them in the honey to satisfy their hunger. They spent a whole month in the forest, but it was only when Yu Zai, a hunter under the Yellow Emperor, found them that they were able to save Shidun and Mimiao.

After more than a month in the forest, the young couple was scared and anxious all day long, fearing that wild animals would come and attack them. No one wanted to be separated, no one could leave each other, and the couple's affection grew deeper and deeper, and they truly understood the taste of love. After returning to the tribe, Shidun and Mimiao were never separated again, and the couple built a happy family. This is the origin of the "Cave and Honeymoon", which has been passed down to this day.