What are the traditional customs of the Han nationality?

Han nationality is the largest ancient nation in the world. Because of its long history and developed culture, its customs are rich and colorful.

1. Shangnongwuben

Han nationality is an ancient agricultural nation. Since ancient times, the agricultural population has accounted for more than 80% of the total population, and the custom of respecting agriculture has a long history. Since ancient times, the Han people have taken agriculture as their profession. As early as the Warring States period, Han Fei put forward the idea of "taking agriculture as the foundation". He said: "The reason why pale ice is real is also a farming industry." Everything is wrong, treacherous article. Under the influence of the thought of Shang and Nong, the society of Han Dynasty formed "Men plow and women eat, women weave and women dress" and "Shang Jun and Shu Hua plan". "Men plow and women weave" can be said to be a typical portrayal of the social customs of the Han nationality. Only in modern times, especially after liberation, have great changes taken place.

The twenty-four solar terms are an important part of the Han Chinese lunar calendar, and their formation and establishment are closely related to the agricultural production customs of the ancient working people of the Han nationality. With the change of climate throughout the year, the content of farming and farm work also changes. The meaning of the name of the twenty-four solar terms itself clearly reflects this point. Until now, Han farmers are still used to farming and arranging farm work according to solar terms.

Related to the custom of respecting agriculture is the worship of the land god by the Han nationality. "White Tiger Yi Tong" says: "When he releases the earth, he gets it from God." The worship form of the land god is "country worship". The land god is called the country god or the country owner, and the place where the land god is worshipped is called the country. The Book of Rites says: "Strong, offering sacrifices to the ground, and the main yin is also ... strong, so the way of God is also." Later, all classes of Han society had social sacrifices. Folk belief in land gods is very extensive, and before liberation, land temples were almost everywhere.

2. Respect ancestors and the elderly

Respecting ancestors and respecting the elderly is the eternal legacy of the Han nationality. Respecting ancestors is the worship of ancestors. Shang believed in the monism of the unity of gods and ancestors, while Zhou believed in the dualism of the separation of gods and ancestors. Ancestor worship is a more important tradition. The ancestor worship of the Han nationality mainly worships the distant ancestors who have achieved great success and the close relatives who are related by blood.

Ancestor worship custom has continued to modern times. Folk ancestor worship activities are still very grand. Sometimes there are sacrifices, such as church sacrifices, festival sacrifices, New Year sacrifices, house sacrifices, shrine sacrifices, etc. On holidays, some people should pay tribute to their ancestors' faces to show that they don't forget their ancestors, share the festival with them or ask them to bless them. The places where the Han people worship their ancestors are called ancestral halls or ancestral halls, which are spread all over the country.

Related to the custom of respecting ancestors, under the long-term influence of feudal patriarchal clan system, Han people like to live in groups and compile genealogies regularly. As a result of living together, the Han nationality has lived in it runs in the family since ancient times, and even lived under the same roof for five generations. Some of them have lived together for centuries. It's really "the young and the old get together and greet the wind." This clan that has lived together for generations is commonly known as "Yi Ju" or "Yi Men". In the Ming Dynasty, the Zheng family in Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province even lived under the same roof as the ninth generation. One example was the construction of Zhengmen. Nowadays, although family forms tend to be miniaturized, families in it families are more common.

The custom of respecting the elderly, which extends from respecting ancestors, is deeply rooted in the Han nationality. "The Book of Songs, Elegant and Drunken Weng" says: "There is no shortage of filial piety, and there is always kindness." It means that the filial piety of filial sons to respect the elderly is endless, which will inevitably affect the whole family and even the whole nation. The folk custom of respecting the elderly in the Han nationality is a fine tradition worth carrying forward.

3. Last name and first name

At first, the surnames of Han people were different. The original surname is the clan number of the matriarchal clan commune. The word "surname" is a combination of the words "female" and "born". Many ancient surnames have the word "female" beside them, such as Jiang, Yao and Ji. History is a branch of surname. Due to the reproduction of offspring, the family is divided into several branches, scattered all over the country, and each branch has a special symbol as a symbol, which is the surname. Later, there was little difference between surnames and surnames.

4. Architectural style

Due to the vast distribution area of Han nationality, its traditional folk houses have different styles due to different regions. Most of the traditional houses of the Han nationality living in the North China Plain are brick-and-wood bungalows, and most of the courtyards are quadrangles, represented by Beijing quadrangles. The traditional houses of the Han nationality living in the northeast are basically similar to those in North China, but the difference lies in the walls and roofs. The houses here are generally thick, mainly to keep warm. Han people living in northern Shaanxi dig caves to build houses according to the characteristics of thick soil layer and low groundwater level in the Loess Plateau. Caves are not only warm in winter and cool in summer, but also do not occupy cultivated land. The traditional houses of the Han nationality living in the south are mainly wooden structures, which pay attention to the eaves and pavilions and the structure of law. Due to the different customs and natural conditions in southern China, the layout of residential buildings is also different. For example, buildings in hilly areas are built on mountains, and Jiangsu and Zhejiang water towns pay attention to the front street and the back river. The earth buildings in Fujian are big and beautiful, while the pavilions in Suzhou are small and beautiful.

Regardless of the Han nationality in the south or the north, the traditional folk houses are characterized by sitting north facing south and paying attention to indoor lighting; Wood beam bearing, brick, stone, soil wall; Focusing on the main hall, he is good at carving beams and painting buildings, decorating roofs and cornices.

5. Culture and art

The Han nationality created splendid culture and art in ancient times with distinctive features. No matter in politics, military, philosophy, economy, history, natural science, literature, art and other fields, there are many far-reaching representatives and works. The Western Zhou Dynasty formed a perfect cultural achievement, that is, the culture of rites and music. The etiquette of the Zhou Dynasty is very complicated. According to "Zhou Li", there are five rites: Ji Li, Fierce Li, Wu Li, Bin Li and Etiquette. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, music was attached great importance, and there were special officials to manage it, and there were also music officials in the inscription. Da Wu and Zhou Dynasty Music and Dance were written by Zhou Wuwang Shang Ke. The education system in the Zhou Dynasty is relatively perfect, with six arts: ritual, music, shooting, imperial, skill and skill. The earliest classics in China are Zhouyi, Shangshu, Shijing, Zhou Li, Jing Yue (lost) and Shu.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there was a lively situation in which a hundred schools of thought contended, and the achievements of various ideological and academic schools also reflected the ancient Greek civilization. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (reigned before 14 1 ~ 87), the policy of "ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone" was implemented, so Confucianism represented by Confucius and Mencius became the ruling ideology, ruling the ancient ideology and culture of the Han nationality for nearly 2000 years. At the same time, it also affected other ethnic minorities in China and even neighboring countries to varying degrees. In terms of ancient military theory, as early as the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the famous military work Sun Tzu's Art of War was published. The 182 art of war compiled in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, especially the Seven Books of the Martial Classics, has been a must-read for martial arts since the Song Dynasty, concentrating the essence of ancient military works. Paying attention to history is also a prominent feature of Chinese cultural history. Since Sima Qian wrote Historical Records, biographical history books have been published in all dynasties, and the famous twenty-four histories have been formed in Qing Dynasty. The chronological style is represented by Chunqiu, Zuozhuan and Zitongzhi Bamboo Slips. Other official and folk works, such as history books, ancient history, miscellaneous history, local chronicles, historical theory, make China the country with the richest ancient historical documents in the world, most of which are written by Han scholars. In the natural sciences, achievements in astronomy and mathematics have attracted worldwide attention, such as Zhang Heng (78 ~ 139), Zu Chongzhi (429 ~ 500), Yi Hang (commonly known as 683 ~ 727) and Guo Shoujing (123 1 ~ 65438). Ancient agriculture often includes many ancient scientific and technological achievements. According to incomplete statistics, over the past 2000 years, there have been more than 370 kinds of agricultural books that have been lost to this day, among which The Book of Bi Sheng, The Skill of Yao in Qi Min, The Book of Wang Zhennong and The Complete Book of Agricultural Administration are the representative works of ancient agriculture.

In the development of ancient literature in China, the development of poetry occupies a prominent position, such as The Book of Songs, Songs of the South, Yuefu, Tang Poetry and Song Poetry, and many writers and works with high artistic achievements have emerged. Qu Yuan (about 340 ~ 278 BC), Li Bai (70 1 ~ 762), Du Fu (7 12 ~ 770), Liu Yong (about 987 ~ about 1053 BC) and Su Shi (/kloc-0). The name and works of Xin Qiji (1 140 ~ 1207) not only shine brilliantly in the history of China literature, but also are recognized as famous writers in the history of world literature. There were famous ancient prose in Qin and Han Dynasties. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, Han Yu (768 ~ 824) and Liu Zongyuan (773 ~ 8 19) advocated the restoration of the ancient prose movement in Qin and Han Dynasties. To Ouyang Xiu (1007 ~ 1072), Su Xun (1009 ~ 1066) and Ceng Gong (10/9 ~1066). Novel creation made great progress in Ming and Qing Dynasties, such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Journey to the West, The Water Margin and The Scholars. Short stories like Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio are well known. There are also many ethnic minority writers who have written in Chinese, resulting in many famous writers and masterpieces, among which Dream of Red Mansions is the most outstanding one. There are many other famous artists in painting, calligraphy, arts and crafts, music, dance, drama and folk art, and they have made amazing artistic achievements. In the development of these arts, especially the Han people are good at learning and absorbing the strengths of other nationalities, thus developing their own art and forming a unique style. It has a long history in the compilation of some books and masterpieces. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, there were Bei Tang Shuchao, Lei Ju, Tai Yu Pinglan and Yuan Gui. Especially Yongle Dadian and Book Integration of Ming and Qing Dynasties are world-famous ancient encyclopedias.

6. Han music

Han nationality has a musical tradition, and its music has a long history and unique creation. Before the Qin Dynasty, Han ancestors had created musical instruments and music, and invented musical rules. In the prosperous time of Han and Tang dynasties, Han music was good at singing and dancing; After the Song and Yuan Dynasties, opera music dominated. Nowadays, the world-recognized music rules, such as the five-degree law (which the Han people call the profit-loss dichotomy), the pure law and the average law, are all independently invented by the Han people, and their achievements, like the convergence of cars, have become the axis of world music theory. ?

7. Eating habits

1). staple food

The staple food of Han nationality is rice and wheat, supplemented by vegetables, meat and bean products. Tea and wine are traditional drinks of the Han nationality. The main way to eat rice is rice, as well as porridge, rice noodles, rice cakes, glutinous rice balls, zongzi, rice cakes and other foods. Wheat is eaten with steamed bread, noodles, flower rolls, steamed stuffed buns, jiaozi, wonton, fried dough sticks, spring rolls, fried cakes and pancakes. Han people pay attention to and are good at cooking. Han people in different regions have formed different local flavors through cooking methods such as frying, roasting, frying, boiling, steaming, roasting and cold salad. Chinese cuisine is generally divided into eight major cuisines: Sichuan, Guangdong, Fujian, Anhui, Shandong, Hunan, Zhejiang and Jiangsu.

2) Drink tea

Wine and tea are two main drinks of Han nationality. China is the hometown of tea, and China is one of the first countries in the world to invent brewing technology. Wine culture and tea culture have a long history in China. For thousands of years, they have become an indispensable part of the Han people's dietary customs and have had a wide influence in the world.

It is said that Han people began to drink tea in Shennong era, with a history of at least 4,700 years. Until now, Han compatriots in China still have the custom of replacing wine with tea. Han people have various methods of making tea: smoked bean tea in Taihu Lake, scented tea in Suzhou, ginger tea in Hunan, Gaiwan tea in Chengdu, frozen top tea in Taiwan Province Province, Longjing tea in Hangzhou, oolong tea in Fujian and so on.

The basic diet structure of Han nationality is based on food crops and various animal foods and vegetables as non-staple foods. This is in sharp contrast with the diet structure of ethnic groups in western China, Tibetans and Mongolians. In addition, the habit of eating three meals a day has been formed in the long-term national development. The collocation of staple food, dishes and drinks in three meals a day not only has certain similarity, but also forms a series of specific characteristics due to different geographical and climatic environment, economic development level, production and living conditions and other reasons.

China is the hometown of tea. Tea making and drinking have a history of thousands of years, and there are many famous products. The main varieties are green tea, black tea, oolong tea, scented tea, white tea and yellow tea. Chinese tea art enjoys a high reputation in the world. The Tang Dynasty was introduced to Japan, and the Japanese tea ceremony was formed.

Han people pay attention to the word "quality" when drinking tea. When the guests come, the etiquette of making tea and offering tea is essential. When guests come to visit, you can argue and choose the best tea set that best suits the taste of the guests. When offering tea to guests, it is also necessary to mix tea properly. When drinking tea with guests, the host should pay attention to the tea residue in the guest's cup and pot. Generally speaking, tea is brewed in a teacup. If you have already drunk half of it, you should add boiling water to make the concentration of tea basically the same and the water temperature appropriate. When drinking tea, it can also be properly accompanied by tea, candy, dishes and so on. To achieve the effect of regulating taste and snacks.

Tea culture is very important in the life of the Han nationality. Tea has always been used as a tribute to the king of Wu. In the late primitive commune, tea became a commodity exchange. During the Warring States period, tea had a certain scale. Tea was recorded in the Book of Songs in the pre-Qin period. For another example, in the Han Dynasty, tea became a special tonic for Buddhist meditation. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was an atmosphere of drinking tea. During the Sui Dynasty, the whole people generally drank tea. In the Tang Dynasty, the tea industry flourished, and tea became "indispensable to others". Teahouses, tea banquets and tea parties appeared one after another to encourage guests to worship tea. In Song Dynasty, fighting tea, tribute tea and gift tea were popular.

It is said that Han people began to drink tea in Shennong era, with a history of at least 4,700 years. Until now, Han compatriots in China still have the custom of replacing wine with tea. Han people have various methods of making tea: smoked bean tea in Taihu Lake, scented tea in Suzhou, ginger tea in Hunan, Gaiwan tea in Chengdu, frozen top tea in Taiwan Province Province, Longjing tea in Hangzhou, oolong tea in Fujian and so on.

The basic diet structure of Han nationality is based on food crops and various animal foods and vegetables as non-staple foods. This is in sharp contrast with the diet structure of ethnic groups in western China, Tibetans and Mongolians. In addition, the habit of eating three meals a day has been formed in the long-term national development. The collocation of staple food, dishes and drinks in three meals a day not only has certain similarity, but also forms a series of specific characteristics due to different geographical and climatic environment, economic development level, production and living conditions and other reasons.

3) wine

Rice wine, also known as fermented grains and sweet wine. In the old society, it was called "Yi". Brewed with glutinous rice, it is a traditional specialty wine of Han nationality.

Wine is not only a drink that can meet the physiological needs of refreshing, relieving fatigue and medical treatment, but also an important cultural medium, which plays an important role in the long-term diet culture of the Han nationality. In feudal society, it is an indispensable and important offering for offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors, and it plays a media role in this ceremony. In the important festivals of the Han nationality, wine is an indispensable necessity. There is a saying in the Han nationality that no table can be served without wine. Wine can add fun and increase the atmosphere of joy. Up to now, activities such as "guessing boxing", "drinking wine" and "qu" are very popular in many areas, which are not only a drinking custom, but also a kind of national entertainment and folk wisdom. They have many functions, such as activating the atmosphere, eliminating the power of alcohol, showing and exercising intelligence. Some drinking activities have formed unique cultural customs, such as drinking Tu Su wine on New Year's Eve, drinking realgar wine on Dragon Boat Festival and drinking chrysanthemum wine on Double Ninth Festival, which are widely circulated among the Han people and are still praised by people today. Wine is a medium for Han people to convey their feelings and strengthen their ties in daily life and various social activities. In many areas of the Han nationality, girls should drink the wine of other relatives before they get married and leave, and the bride and groom should toast when they enter the bridal chamber. All these drinking customs are an integral part of Han people's past and present dietary habits.

4). Festival food

Festival food is rich and colorful. It often skillfully combines rich nutrition, pleasing artistic forms and profound cultural connotations to become a typical festival food culture. It can be roughly divided into three categories:

One is as a sacrifice. In ancient times, it occupied an important position in special ceremonies such as sacrifices and celebrations of courts, officials, clans and families. In most areas of contemporary Han nationality, this phenomenon has long since ended, and only in a few remote areas or on certain occasions, there are still some symbolic activities left.

The second is the specific food that people eat in festivals. This is the mainstream of holiday food and eating customs. For example, on New Year's Eve, every household in the north has the habit of wrapping jiaozi, while the custom of playing and eating rice cakes prevails in all parts of the south of the Yangtze River. In addition, fish is often indispensable in Chinese New Year family banquets in many areas of Han nationality, symbolizing "more than one year". The custom of eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival has been circulating for thousands of years. Moon cakes in Mid-Autumn Festival contain blessings for family reunion and human harmony. Others, such as spring cakes and spring rolls eaten in early spring, Yuanxiao on the fifteenth day of the first month, Laba porridge and cold food at the Cold Food Festival on the eighth day of the twelfth month, eating pig's head, eating broad beans and tasting new grains on the second day of the twelfth month, toasting at wedding celebrations, and birthday peaches, peaches and cakes at birthday banquets, are all special food and eating customs with special connotations.

5) beliefs and taboos in diet

Most Han people avoid eating raw food on the first, second and third days of the first month, that is, the food on the first day of the New Year's Day is much more cooked than before the old calendar year, and it only takes three days to return to the pot. I think it's ripe and smooth, but my life is reverse. Therefore, in some places, everything is ready before the Spring Festival, and there is a saying that the knife can't be cut for three days. For another example, in some areas of Henan, the third day of the first month is Xiaomi's birthday, and rice is not eaten on this day, otherwise it will lead to millet production reduction; In the past, women had many dietary taboos during childbirth. For example, women in many areas of the Han nationality do not eat rabbit meat during pregnancy, and think that children who eat rabbit meat will have rabbit lips; In other places, it is forbidden to eat fresh ginger, because fresh ginger has many fingers, so as to prevent children from growing six fingers on their hands and feet. In the past, most childless women of Han nationality avoided eating dog meat, thinking that it was unclean and easy to cause dystocia.

8. Han costumes

Han people have their own long and colorful costumes, namely Hanfu.

Hanfu is one of the oldest national costumes in the world, which lasted from the legendary Yellow Emperor to the Shen Jia era (1644). 1644 After the Qing army entered the customs, a highly centralized government with Manchu as the core was established. The Manchu rulers ordered the whole country to shave and change clothes, which caused national anger, dissatisfaction and armed resistance. Then the Manchu dynasty carried out bloody repression and armed slaughter, and Hanfu gradually died out.

1683, the Qing army entered Taiwan Province province and destroyed the rest of Zheng Chenggong. Since then, Hanfu has completely disappeared from the daily life of the Chinese nation. After more than 200 years of Manchu rule, today's Han people have gradually forgotten the gorgeous costumes they once had and become the only ancient nation in the world without their own national costumes. The "Tang suit", cheongsam, gown and mandarin jacket that people see today are not the national costumes of the Han nationality, but the national costumes or improvements of the Manchu nationality. It is gratifying that today, more and more Han people are proudly wearing their beautiful clothes. This spontaneous folk movement to revive Han costumes is often called "Hanfu Movement".

9. Han nationality

Generally speaking, people of the same ethnic group live in the same or similar areas and have the same regional identity. Regional identity often becomes the name of clan, such as Chaozhou clan.

Among the Han people, Hakkas are the only Han people who have no place names.

For Han people, Yan Huang identity is one of the symbols and representatives of national spiritual tradition. Similarly, for ethnic groups under a nation, people of the same ethnic group often have a strong sense of identity with a particular thing, thinking that this thing represents some characteristics and spiritual traditions of their own ethnic group.

In the old society, marriage was called red marriage, and there were often couplets such as "Six Rites" on doors and gates. Six rites are custom-made marriage etiquette in the Zhou Dynasty, such as receiving gifts, asking names, accepting gifts, inviting guests, welcoming relatives and so on. Changsha wedding custom, on the basis of these ancient ceremonies, has derived complex procedures. Generally, the man's parents entrust relatives and friends or matchmakers to propose marriage, which means receiving ancient gifts. There are also matchmakers who make profits and cover up the truth in order to make up the marriage. Therefore, parents or relatives of both sides should go to each other's house to make an unannounced visit to "check the roots", which is called visiting relatives. If both sides think that the other side has good roots and good seedlings, the man will give birth to a boxer (year, month, day, and hour), which is represented by the eight characters of dry branches and ask the matchmaker to give it to the other side, which is called "sending eight characters". After the "fortune-telling", the woman thinks that it meets the requirements, and also gives her a boxer back to the man, which is called "returning the eight characters". If the man thinks that the character of both parties is bad or that of the woman is bad, he must return it within 7 days. The so-called "men are flying all over the sky, and women are seventeen times." This is the ancient ceremony of "combining Geng", that is, "asking the name to pass Geng" Some people accept each other's birth and put it on the sacred constitution first. If there is a phenomenon of losing chickens, dogs and broken bowls within 3 days, it is that they think that there is a conflict between the eight characters and will retreat. If family affairs go smoothly within three days, it will be lucky. He Geng went smoothly and gave each other tokens. The man gave him clothes, cloth and a small amount of gifts, plus a pair of shoes for the future groom, which means "harmony". The woman responded with pen and inkstone stationery and made a pair of cloth shoes and socks soles according to the shoe pattern. The two sides exchanged the words "a perfect match made in heaven" as evidence. This process is called "Ding Geng" or "Ding Geng", that is, the ancient ceremony of "Naji Xing Hire".

After the marriage is settled, the man must prepare a certain amount of bride price and other property for the woman as a dowry, which is also called big engagement, bride price, chicken and goose gift or door-to-door gift (some women ask for a high bride price, which is actually the nature of buying and selling marriage). The woman prepares a dowry, which is a gift for collecting money in ancient times. Then, the man sends a date list, that is, he chooses two auspicious days to urge the bride to go through the door (also called visiting the door). This is called reporting the day, and the common name is looking forward to the day, which is the ancient ceremony of "inviting the day to announce". The woman chooses one of the dates as the wedding date. One or two days before marriage, the man gives a bride price and likes to watch it. To the woman's house, this is called "giving gifts". The woman will pick the dowry box (box) to the man's house, decorate the new house and call it a shop. There are also men who carry dowry boxes when they take over marriage. The day before the bride's wedding, the married woman is asked to twist off the hair on her face with twine, and trim the velvet hair and eyebrows at the temples to make the temples neat and the eyebrows thin and curved, which is also called face-opening. On the wedding day, the man picks up his relatives in a sedan chair carried by four or eight people, or calls the bride, guided by flags and gongs. If there is a cage, the chickens and geese in the cage are paired. The pairing of chickens and geese originated from the ancient "drinking geese" ceremony: in the pre-Qin period, it was no longer an accident that the new husband needed to present two geese as a meeting gift when he went to Yue's home, in order to get the geese without losing the festival. Because geese fly in a line without losing the group, if they lose their lovers, they will only be together for life, and the road is at the end. Later, because geese were hard to find, chickens and geese were gradually regarded as symbols of "drinking geese". Hua Shan County Records Marriage in Qing Dynasty holds that "the so-called goose in Gaigu is also a goose". In cities, most of them also have ancient "marriage" ceremonies. In rural areas, matchmakers or other family members greet the bride. The bride is wearing a wind crown, a Xiapi (commonly known as a veil) and a red headscarf. Before getting on the sedan chair, an elderly woman twisted red paper soaked in vegetable oil and lit it, and looked inside and outside the sedan chair several times with a mirror in one hand, commonly known as "looking at the sedan chair" in order to exorcise evil spirits.

When the sedan chair entered the room, the ceremony exploded. The bride got off the sedan chair, and the floor was covered with a red carpet, supported by her mother, so that her feet didn't touch the ground. Otherwise, she thinks she stepped on her husband's house and her mother. There is also the custom of holding the bride in Changsha county, that is, relatives and friends carry the bride to the first room. After bowing to the bride in the hall, the bride entered the bridal chamber, and the newlyweds chose auspicious days to sit side by side. Their mother suggested that they drink a glass of wine (tea). In ancient times, it meant two spoonfuls of a glass of wine. In ancient times, the newlyweds each held a spoonful of acacia wine, indicating that they were one, so it was called wine in a cup. You bring your mother into the wine, praise her with happy words, and throw red dates, peanuts, cassia seeds, melon seeds and other things on the bed, which means "early birth." Then open the bride's red scarf (Ningxiang custom, the bride unveils the veil), and the newlyweds can only meet here. After the ceremony, the bride is taken to the hall to meet her relatives, elders and other family members. This is called "dividing the size", that is, seeing the ceremony in an ancient temple.

The wedding relatives of the woman are called big relatives, upper relatives, high relatives, the chairman sitting at the wedding banquet, and the old relatives of the man accompany the new ones. In some places in Nanxiang, Liuyang, after the wedding banquet, "high relatives" should try their best to steal a bowl and take it back, indicating that they are constantly picking up food for their families.

On the wedding night, it is informal to make trouble in the new house, and it is also fun to laugh at the bride. Some dragged their elders to the bridal chamber and forced them to carry ashes. The more elegant program is to praise tea. The bride and groom grab the tea tray to deliver tea, and the greeting guests must reply with rhyming compliments, such as: "As soon as they enter the new house, the lights are shining, gold and silver are everywhere, and the children and grandchildren are full." Another example is: "The tea tray is square, and the newcomer is better than Yuanyang. Tonight's wedding night, a champion lang will be born next year. "

On the second or third day of the wedding, the bride and groom go back to their parents' home to visit their relatives, which is called Huimen, which was called mothering in ancient times. The bride's family held a luncheon to thank the wine cellar, called a "back door banquet" to accompany the new guests, and served dry tea after the meal. On this day, the groom should be alert to being teased and become a laughing stock. Ningxiang, in particular, has a tradition of "harming new customers". When the groom is unprepared, young men and women often paint their faces with red and black pigments, which are called "coloring" and "refreshing".