Ancient Tea Ceremony Customs Three Tea and Six Ceremonies refers to what

Three tea six rituals is an ancient Chinese traditional marriage ceremony in the process of a customary etiquette, modern society is also used to refer to business, trading, cooperation and so on.

"Three tea" this tea ceremony is China's ancient wedding in a grand ceremony, the original is out of the ancients of the tea tree habit of knowledge. The ancients believed that the tea tree can only sprout from the seed into a plant, it can not be transplanted, so the tea tree as a symbol of the nature of the immovable, so the folk tea as a man and a woman engaged to the tea ceremony.

The so-called "three tea ceremony" in the old days more popular in the Han region of Jiangnan, there are usually two ways of saying: one is to refer to the betrothal of the "next tea", the marriage of the "fixed tea" and the same room "together". The same room when the "joint tea". The other refers specifically to the wedding ceremony of the three tea ceremony, that is, the first course of the hundred fruits; the second course of lotus seeds, jujube; the third course is tea. Eat the way is also concerned: the first, the second is to receive the cup, hands cupped, deep bow, and then touch the cup with the lips, by the family to collect, the third course of tea after the bow before you can drink the tea.

The so-called six rituals refer to the entire marriage process from proposal to consummation, that is, the six ceremonies according to which the marriage is established, such as the Na Cai, asking for the name of the bride, Na Ji, Na Zheng, the invitation period, and the kiss.

The "six rites" began in the Zhou Dynasty, and according to legend, King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty, after divining the auspicious omen, welcomed Taisi in Weibin, and the whole process had six ceremonies, namely: Nacai, asking for the name, Naji, Najing, inviting the period, and welcoming the bride. Later on, this ceremony will be called the "Six Rites".

"Nacai" is the male family to ask the matchmaker to the female family to propose marriage, if the female with the family marriage, the male family to go to the female family to propose marriage, carrying a gift is usually live geese; "faint ceremony under the Naji, Naji using geese." Before the Zhou Dynasty, due to the different status of the gift of the different Nacai, and later changed to use geese. The reason for using geese is that the geese "wood fall south Xiang, ice Feng north group", in accordance with the yin and yang exchange; the second is that the geese lost their spouses, no longer a pair of life, to take its fidelity.

"Ask the name" is the male family to ask the matchmaker to the female side to ask the name of the female side and the birth year, month and day, in preparation for the marriage ceremony. After asking the name, the man will be men and women's birthdays row yin and yang, to determine the marriage of good and bad luck, if the eight characters together, you can get married.

"Naji" is the man will be the first name after divination to get a good omen can be married to the news told to the woman, ready to go to the woman with gifts to decide on the marriage contract. This is the main ritual of the engagement stage. In the past, the goose was used as a gift for the wedding has been decided to enter the "small hire" stage, commonly known as sending the final, over the final, the final hire and so on. Later, the gift from the geese gradually evolved into rings, jewelry, colored silk, gift cakes, gift candles and so on.

"Na Zheng" is a man and a woman after the conclusion of marriage, the male family will be the bride price to the female family rituals, very cumbersome. After receiving the gift, the woman's family has to return the gift, or return part of the food in the gift, or send the clothes, shoes and socks prepared by the woman's family for the man's family to the man's family. The items in the bride price are mostly taken as auspicious words, and the number of them is taken as double and avoided as single. The saying "to be able to get the hair do not leave the eight" is derived from this.

"Please period" is commonly known as "mention the day" "send the day", etc., is the male family bride price to choose the date of marriage, the preparation of gifts to go to the woman's home to seek advice on the ceremony. This ritual is more simple, in the "Na Zheng" at the same time to decide the date of marriage.

"Welcome" is to welcome the bride ceremony, etiquette is very complicated, there are a variety of styles, each customary around the different, roughly from the door into the interior of the whole process. Han areas about the welcome sedan chair, sedan chair, worship of heaven and earth, fm radio, into the bridal chamber and other procedures.

It is worth mentioning that the rituals of the traditional marriage customs of the three teas and six rites allow the married couple to obtain the approval of the ancestral spirits, and to assume and fulfill their rights and obligations to their parents as well as their relatives. Therefore, in ancient times, if a man and a woman did not complete the process of three tea and six rites, then such a marriage was not recognized.