What are the ancient wedding customs and origins in China?

Historically, the traditional wedding customs are mainly accepting gifts, asking names, being lucky, accepting gifts, inviting parties and welcoming six gifts, and the source is mainly Han nationality, which has gradually developed in the historical evolution.

First, the historical evolution of the wedding.

The end of primitive society: according to legend, the engagement began in Fuxi era "with the couple's skins (paired deer skins) as a gift".

During the Xia and Shang Dynasties, I accepted the recruitment, asked my name, accepted the recruitment, and invited him to "meet in class".

Zhou Dynasty: Complete the "Six Rites", that is, receiving gifts, asking names, receiving gifts, inviting guests and welcoming relatives. The foundation of the traditional wedding of the Han nationality has been initially laid. After several generations of development, various wedding ceremonies have become more complicated and enthusiastic.

In the pre-Qin period, there were five kinds of ceremonies: accepting gifts, asking names, concubinage, accepting gifts and inviting parties (plus the so-called "six ceremonies" at weddings), and later generations gradually evolved into ceremonies such as urging makeup, sending makeup and vacating houses.

Han Dynasty: Liu Xin and others held a wedding ceremony, and Dr. Sifufu told the family of Qianlangshi that it was feasible to meet in person. The next year, the queen accepted Cai and Buqi.

Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties: The Crown Prince was not invited to the wedding. From the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, in many cases, people did not get married according to the Six Rites.

After the Tang Dynasty, the Crown Prince began to treat guests, and the pro-emperor wedding would follow the six rites. Later, "asking names" was based on "accepting talents" and "invitation meeting" was based on "accepting sincerity"; Therefore, although the concept is still in accordance with the Six Rites, in fact there are only four Rites, namely, accepting talents, accepting the pole, Zheng Na and kissing. Zhu Xi's family gifts combined "Naji" and "Zheng Na" into one, so there were only three gifts.

In the Yuan Dynasty, there was a ceremony to discuss marriage.

Ming Dynasty: In the first year of Hongwu, Zhu Xi's wedding was the standard.

Qing Dynasty: According to Tongli, Han officials had more than seven kinds of nine gifts, but all of them were combined into the ceremony of getting married. In ancient times, there were only five gifts: proposing marriage, receiving gifts, receiving coins, inviting guests and welcoming guests. Other literati and marriage are relatively simple, while folk weddings are generally carried out in accordance with Zhu's family law.

Second, the etiquette of the wedding

Customs and habits: three books and six gifts, bedding, dowry, heading, holding a red umbrella, changing Geng posts, making a decision, crying, bridging, visiting marriage, going out, going through the door, returning home three times, urging makeup, sending makeup, making a scene.

Among them, it is worth noting that crying marriage, according to the Book of Rites: "Confucius said: marry a woman's family, keep a candle for three nights, and miss each other." In ancient times, it was difficult for a daughter to see her family after she got married because of the inconvenient modern transportation.

Moreover, after marriage, ancient women belonged to their husband's family and had no personal freedom. You can't just go back to your mother's house to visit relatives. Going back to her mother's house requires the consent of her husband's family. In addition, some people say that crying marriage originated from the fact that ancient women could not marry freely, so they would use the song of crying marriage to accuse the unfair marriage system in ancient times. ?

Summary: The complexity of ancient weddings is far greater than today, and it is also closely related to the development of China culture. The ancients emphasized ceremony, especially what was the core of Confucian culture? Ren? And then what? A gift? . Therefore, many wedding customs reflect our cultural characteristics and national psychology.