Excuse me: What are the customs about engagement in northern Shaanxi or Yan 'an?

Manchu people, like their predecessors, have preserved many primitive marriage customs in their marriage customs. The most obvious is "labor marriage" or "buying and selling marriage". Among the Jurchen people in Jianzhou, there is a popular custom of "men are superior to women", that is, when men and women get married, men go to the woman's house and men go to the woman's house to kowtow to their elders and ask their parents for permission. After the woman's parents agree, the man's family will give her bride price, including horses, cows, armor, bows and arrows, clothes, handmaiden and so on. Some people have to wait at the woman's house because they can't afford the bride price, and some people can't marry for life because of insufficient bride price. This kind of buying and selling marriage has remained in Manchu society for quite a long time, but its nature has changed.

Adoptive marriage prevailed in early Manchu society, that is, the father died, the wife was his stepmother, the brother died, and the wife was widowed. In a society deeply influenced by Confucian ethics, this custom is regarded as "incest". In Manchu society, the law strictly forbids it and public opinion strongly condemns it. This marriage custom played a role in preventing the outflow of property during the period of economic underdevelopment. According to Records of the Li Dynasty, I, the mother of Fancha, the chieftain of left-back in Jianzhou, first married Fancha's half-brother Butch, and then married her half-brother Butch. This is the phenomenon of inherited marriage. Sourdrang dowager, who has been rumored for a long time in Qing Dynasty, married Dourgen, which is also the best example of this kind of marriage due to inheritance.

In the early Manchu families, polygamy was practiced because of adoption marriage and other reasons. Nurhachi's father Taksi married three wives, Nurhachi married nine wives, and his brother was also polygamous. In Nuerhachi's palace, besides his wife, there are people called "Little Fujin", and in Nuerhachi's harem, they are called "ordinary princesses", and even women who have no birthright of "Little Fujin". This system of combining wives was not abolished until Gan Yong's time. However, the folk system of concubinage remained until the end of Qing Dynasty, which was obviously different from the system of concubinage of Han nationality.

On the one hand, the marriage customs of Manchu in Liaohe River Basin introduced their own ancient customs, on the other hand, they were influenced by the marriage customs of Han nationality, resulting in the phenomenon of Manchu and Han living together. From engagement to marriage, there is a whole set of etiquette. The marriage customs in Liaohe River Basin are different from those in other areas. Take the Northeast as an example. Manchu people living in the north-eastern part of Northeast China have kept the customs of their ancestors more, while Manchu people in the south have more integrated the marriage customs of Han people. Even in the Liaohe River basin in the south, the marriage customs are different everywhere.

Generally speaking, the marriage custom of Manchu in Liaohe Valley is that the woman's parents discuss marriage when she is an adult. First, the matchmaker communicates, meets and gets engaged. After the agreement, it is called "putting" without using Geng posts. On this day, women dress up and present coins to their elders, which are called "cigarette money".

On the wedding day, the man's elders lead the groom to the woman's house to meet his parents and elders. This is called "kowtowing". On this day, the bride price given by the man was displayed in front of the ancestral temple, and relatives of both sides knelt in front of the temple, drinking two cups and offering sacrifices to each other, which was called "one change".

The custom of "setting the position" and "cutting in the car" is a traditional style in Manchu weddings. When the Nuerhachi family marries the daughter of a Mongolian tribe, the woman's family sends half, and the man's family greets. Munger Baylor of Horqin married his daughter to Huang Taiji, who went to meet him. After Huifa and Huerhada met, they held a big banquet and got married. In some places in modern times, the custom of "inserting cars" was abolished. Generally, the day before the wedding, the groom drives a float to welcome him back when the road is near. It's a long way, and the woman uses a carriage to send her to the man's house, with a dowry. There are some strong men in front of the car, who arrived first on horseback. At this time, there was a long table in front of the man's house with three bowls of wine on it. When guests arrive, they will drink this kind of cup, which is called "Yingfeng Wine" or "Dismount Cup". After drinking, the horses and chariots followed, and entered the room to place the betrothal gift. The bride lives in another house, which is called "Xiachu". Welcome home with a float on the next auspicious day.

When welcoming the bride, the bride gets on the sedan chair and her feet are not allowed to touch the ground. The bride's brother carries a sedan chair, commonly known as "carrying a sedan chair". After the bride gets off the bus, the groom whips the bride three times, or the groom shoots three arrows at the car door, and then pays homage to the bride, saying it is to drive away evil spirits.

After the church, the bride did not go into the bridal chamber, so she set up a green cloth tent on the right side of the bridal chamber in advance, where the bedding was placed and the bride sat down. This is the custom of "sitting on the bill" in Manchu weddings. The bride's relatives bid farewell, and after the horses and chariots have left, the rider walks behind, and the groom toasts everyone in front of the door, which is called "getting on the horse". At this time, the groom moved into the new house.

The custom of having children in Manchu nationality has a strong taste of simplicity and roughness of hunting nationality, and some of them follow the ancient customs of hunting era.

"Desperate" is the birth custom of Manchu. A long time ago, Manchu women gave birth to children on heatable adobe sleeping platform. Before giving birth, sweep the heatable adobe sleeping platform, and lay a layer of straw on the heatable adobe sleeping platform, on which the parturient will give birth. According to legend, Mr. Zu lived in a grass nest, and later generations followed this custom in order not to forget his roots.

According to Manchu custom, men should hang an arc on the left side of the door and women should put it on the right. Arc is not a real bow and arrow, but a bow made of twigs, with red silk as the string and a feather inserted in the middle. After the full moon, take off the small bow on the door, and some places are tied to the children's rope, which is called "the arrow of the child", meaning that when you grow up, you will not forget to advocate martial arts and strive for fame and fortune.

Influenced by the Han nationality, Manchu people also have the customs of "full moon", "steaming for a hundred years" and "grasping the week" when giving birth to children. When the baby is full moon, the bride's family should send embroidered hats, clothes and toys. , which is the so-called "full moon". Baby 100 day, the bride's family sends a hundred steamed buns, which is called "steaming for a hundred years"; Give a hundred dollars to be called "centenary money". When the baby reaches the anniversary, put the knife and scissors, colored thread, toy, bow and arrow, inkstone and ink in front of the baby and let the baby grab it at will to observe his ambition. This is the so-called "grasping the week".

After the Manchu gave birth to boys in Qing Dynasty, they went to the Qimen to register for "silver money", which was called "food for money" as the "Xiaoding" of the Eight Banners. And Yu Ding, who has never accepted money or food. He is called "Sura" in Manchu, also known as "prodigal son". Anyone who eats money and vegetables must wear police uniforms when he grows up. As an Eight Banners soldier, he can't walk around at will. Many Eight Banners families in the late Qing Dynasty, based on the shackles of the Eight Banners system and the hardships of their livelihood, gave their flags to the people and gave birth to children without "eating money or vegetables".

Manchu children sleep rocking car. In ancient times, it was made of birch bark, which was more than one meter long and more than sixty centimeters wide. The two ends are semicircular and slightly inclined, like a boat. At present, rocking carts are still used in some places, mostly made of thin basswood plates, with red paint on the edges, painted with patterns, and auspicious words such as "Long life" and "Dragon and Phoenix are auspicious" written on them. Manchu people like babies to sleep with their heads up. The baby was born and passed down from generation to generation, and it has not changed so far. Han people living in the north also follow their customs.

The custom of "changing locks" in Manchu is quite common. Bows and arrows or cloth hanging by the door when giving birth will be taken back after the full moon and tied to the child's rope. Children's rope, also known as "lock money", is placed in the children's bag in the middle of the western wall, and the Buddha mother is in the shrine. According to legend, Buddha's mother is the god who protects babies. Every spring and autumn, we should offer sacrifices and pray to the Buddha mother. At the opening ceremony, the children's ropes were pulled from the Buddhist temple to the yard. There are incense tables, cakes, incense trays and the like in the yard. There is a willow branch tied to the leg of the table, and the children's rope is tied to the willow branch. Men and women with children in their arms knelt before the case, and everyone kowtowed. Shaman first dipped willow branches in water and sprinkled them on children's heads, and then smoked them in front of each child with a fragrant dish, which is called exorcism and poison avoidance. Subsequently, the colored thread on the children's rope is removed and put on the children's hands, ankles or necks respectively. Take it back after three days and put it in a children's schoolbag, which is called "changing the lock". Although Manchu people no longer engage in sacrificial activities, they still have the custom of padlocks every spring and autumn.

Marriage customs in northern Shaanxi (see website for more details):

There are four kinds of marriage customs in northern Shaanxi: one is "early marriage", which is decided by parents when children are four or five years old; One is "child bride", which means that parents in the old society sold their underage daughters to the man's house because of the difficulties of the woman's family, and they didn't get married until they were thirteen or fourteen years old; One is free love; The other is the traditional "matchmaker" marriage of the Han nationality.

A "matchmaker" marriage is that after the matchmaker arranges the parents' consent, the woman and her daughter first visit the man's house. If the woman receives a gift from the man, it means that the marriage is successful. She will choose a date to hold the engagement ceremony and then choose an auspicious day to get married. On the wedding day, the wedding procession of the man's family set off early in the morning and arrived at the woman's house. Whenever, we should have breakfast first, and then have lunch. After lunch, the wedding team went to the man's house and played music in the village to celebrate. When the bus arrived at the entrance of the men's village, an old man was waiting at the intersection with a plate in his hand, which contained two dishes and a pot of wine. The matchmaker drinks a glass of wine for everyone and calls it "taking the road". After the sedan chair entered the hospital, the groom carried the bride out of the sedan chair, which was called "withdrawing the account", and then held a ceremony to worship heaven and earth.

After worshipping heaven and earth, the groom quickly picked up the incense barrel on the incense table and ran into the bridal chamber, while the bride was carried by her brother-in-law and followed the groom into the bridal chamber. It is said that the first person to meet has the upper hand everywhere. The bridal chamber was guarded by a lady named Zhao Zhang. After the couple entered the bridal chamber, they sat together back to back, and the cashier crossed the men's and women's hair on each other's shoulders with a wooden comb and sang while combing. The bride put on her head and ended her girlhood. Then, start making trouble. In the middle of the night, the groom's mother entered the bridal chamber with a plate of steamed buns. The bride and groom each ate half a steamed bun. When eating steamed buns, my mother-in-law will sing a toast.

The next morning, the groom will bring the guests water to wash their faces. Then, the groom and the agent will bring food and drinks to the guests and invite them to drink "head-up wine".

After breakfast, you should "light the box" and show the dowry one by one. Subsequently, the relatives of the husband's family were sorted by seniority, and the bride and groom paid New Year greetings in turn. Those who are worshipped should receive monetary rewards to thank them. After lunch, the bride goes home.

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