Requirements for marrying a woman in Aba Prefecture

Qiang people mainly live in Maoxian, Wenchuan and Lixian in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province, Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County and Pingwu County in Mianyang City. Because of its unique geographical location, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province has formed a colorful national culture, of which Qiang culture is an important part, and Qiang marriage custom culture is the most representative.

The traditional wedding ceremony of Qiang nationality in Aba Prefecture is complex and grand. It is roughly divided into two stages: engagement and marriage. There are generally three procedures for engagement: "opening wine", "small ordering wine" and "large ordering wine". The man's family prepared a gift and invited the "red master" (matchmaker) to propose marriage to the woman's family. The woman's family needed the consent of her mother and uncle before marriage was allowed. When Grandpa Hong came again, the two sides exchanged "Geng Xu", and each put Geng Xu under the incense burner of the shrine to avoid breaking anything within seven days. Then the two families tied the knot, talked about the bride price and agreed on an auspicious day. At that time, the man will go to the woman's house to make "Sigur Buer", that is, "open wine" (Xu Kou wine), and the unmarried husband will go to see his parents. After a few months or years, when both parties reach the age of marriage, the man will hold a banquet at the woman's house, give a bride price and formally set a wedding date. In Qiang language, "order Russian and Spanish" means "order wine" or "give gifts".

Then, the man went to the woman's house to hold a banquet to make "Dragon Fruit Gore", that is, "order wine" to entertain the woman's family. And every family with a foreign surname from the same village also came to the party. When engaged, girls are not allowed to show up and need to hide in boudoir or relatives' homes. At the end of Qing dynasty, when engaged, the man gave five pendants, 200 yuan, to entertain the woman's relatives and friends. Three years later, the man feted the woman's relatives and friends. Rich people will have twenty or thirty seats, and those who have no money will have to gather enough seats and set the wedding time at the banquet. Next, the man will slaughter a sheep, send it to the woman's home with 19 silver, and hold a banquet to entertain his relatives, which is called "seeing the sun off".

Wedding, there are three ceremonies: "flower night", "formal banquet" and "returning to the door". Before and after the wedding, the host will entertain the chef and help each other twice. Men and women sip wine at the altar, which is called "opening the cage". "Flower Night" is on the first day of the banquet, which is divided into male flower night and female flower night. On this day, both men and women entertain relatives and friends at home, and guests give more gifts such as clothes, embroidered shoes and jewelry. During the dinner, parents toasted the guests twice. The Night of Flowers for Women is called "Chrysanthemum River West" in Qiang language, that is, "marrying a woman". The man's house went to the woman's house to give gifts. The bride accepts flowers from her parents and relatives, bows to them in turn, and then holds a banquet. After the banquet, seven-star lanterns were placed in front of the hall, drinking wine, singing happy songs and dancing shalang until late at night. Grooms in Black Lake, Mizoguchi, Shaoshan and Wenchuan. I have to kowtow to her parents and come back late at night. Nu Wa's "Men's Flower Night" treats Nu Wa as a woman and performs the same etiquette as "Women's Flower Night".

"Yan Zheng" is called "Jurog" in Qiang language, which means to get married. The next morning, the woman fired three shots, and relatives and friends helped the bride put on a red wedding dress and embroidered shoes. After the renovation, her uncle put on red silk and the female singer sang a wedding song on behalf of her parents. The bride is carried on the man's wedding horse or sedan chair by her own brother and maid of honor, and sent to the man's home with firecrackers and suona by her "four relatives", maid of honor, uncles and cousins. Relatives and friends of the man's family fired guns at Zhaikou to greet the bride. In the meantime, the man's family should give the woman money to open the door, dismount and enter the door. When they arrive at the man's house, the uncles and elders of both sides hang red flowers for the bride and groom, offer sacrifices to the gods and send blessings to the bride. Then they enter the bridal chamber, and the bridesmaids are responsible for placing dowry items in public. In the afternoon, when the banquet begins, the farewell team will be seated as the main guest first, followed by the man's guests, during which the bride and groom will propose a toast to the guests.

After the banquet, every household in the village "divided the guests", which is called "Ruoyueer" in Qiang language, that is, the guests were invited to stay and entertain the dinner with their seats. If you don't finish sharing or neglect the guests, it will be regarded as the shame of the whole village.

That night, relatives and friends gathered at the man's house and drank wine. The old man led the singing of wine songs, and his father's parents lit incense to worship God and said auspicious words to the newlyweds. The male guests sang "Praise the Bride" and the female guests sang "Praise the Groom", singing and dancing until late at night. The next day, the host gave a banquet to thank the guests, and the banquet fired off. Generally, newlyweds live in different rooms that night, and the bride and maid of honor live together.

Back to the door. After three days of marriage, the groom and his brothers took the bride back to her family with wine and meat. Girls in the Bride Village organized a banquet to "tease" the groom: use 4-foot-long oil bamboo poles as chopsticks, put them on the groom's shoulders, insert a few yams as pendants at the back end of the big chopsticks, and put some lights in the serving bowl on the table. The lamp nest is made of flour, more than an inch in diameter, and it is filled with oil and cotton cores. The groom needs to use big chopsticks to wring vegetables. The bowl is full of granular meat and vegetables, which are hard to wring, even worse and easier to eat. This kind of "teasing" often makes the groom flustered and dumbfounding. Then, four girls grabbed the groom's limbs and began to sift the chaff. After that, the newlyweds must stay in the woman's house for ten days and a half months before returning to her husband's house.