When was the origin of the ancient wedding

Zhou Dynasty

Wedding, one of the five rites of life, is a traditional ceremony, equivalent to the legal civilization ceremony of a modern wedding, whose significance is to obtain the recognition and blessing of the society, to help newlyweds adapt to new social roles and requirements, and to prepare for social responsibilities.

Time of Origin of Ancient Weddings

Ancient weddings originated in the Zhou Dynasty. Weddings during the Zhou Dynasty are traditional Chinese weddings, and they are also the original orthodox Chinese weddings. The wedding program of the Zhou Dynasty was even more complicated and grand, and a complete wedding included three parts: the pre-wedding ceremony, the wedding ceremony and the post-wedding ceremony. The most detailed record of the wedding program of the Zhou Dynasty, "Rites of Passage", puts forward the "six rites", which include the six rites, asking for the name, Na Ji, Na Levy, the invitation period, and the kiss to welcome.

Part of the Wedding Process

Natsui

This is the first of the six rituals. First, the man must ask the matchmaker to send a message to the woman to express his desire to marry her. Rituals - Shi Fengli" mentioned at the beginning: "Fengli. The "Shimoda" (下达), the "Nachai" (纳彩) with geese." This "Shida" is the prelude to the nacai, only after the man's family has received permission to marry, there will be a later nacai ceremony. To put it in layman's terms, the man sent a matchmaker to the woman's home to propose marriage, and after the woman's family agreed, the man's family then let the messenger to send geese as a gift. So the practice was similar to today's, except that the geese were not sent.

Ask for the name

Ask for the name is when the man's family sends a messenger to ask for the woman's birth year, month and day, and her name. It is written in the Rites of Passage, "The guest carries a goose and asks for the name; the master grants permission, the guest enters, and grants, as in the first rites." The purpose of doing so are two: first, ask the woman's birth year, month and day, and the man's birthdate for divination, measurement of good and bad luck, to see if the marriage is in accordance with the will of God, in ancient times not only pay attention to the door when the family is right, the birthdate is not and is also the most taboo. Second, but also ask the woman's family name and first name, to see if she is in the scope of intermarriage. Because the Zhou Dynasty practiced the system of "no marriage with the same surname".

Naji

Naji is the male side of the woman's birth date, if the male side of the birth date, that will be in the temple after the divination prayer, predicting the fate of the marriage, if you get a good omen, then send messengers with geese to the female home to tell the results of the return to the divination, the female side, such as the expression of the "do not dare to resign! "If the result of the divination is unfavorable, the marriage will be finalized. If the result of the divination was a bad omen, the marriage would be canceled. The Rites of Passage: "The ceremony of the Naji is performed with geese, as in the ceremony of the Nacai."

The evolution of later weddings is almost always a reform of the Zhou wedding, and the general tendency is of course to simplify it or to add foreign (cultural and ethnic) elements to it, so that it will have different manifestations in different dynasties and periods of history, in different ethnic groups, and among different groups.