On How to Treat Traditional Marriage Culture

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Marriage

Marriage is defined in the Book of Rites - Fainting Rites: "Fainting Rites will be used to combine the good of the two surnames, so as to serve the clan and the temple, and

to succeed the future generations, therefore, the gentleman emphasizes it. Is to faint ceremony natsui, ask the name, naji, nazheng, please period, all master feast a few in

temple, and worship to welcome in the door, into, greet and rise, listen to orders in the temple, so respect prudent and heavy positive faint ceremony also." From these classic definitions of marriage in ancient China, we can see that in traditional Chinese culture, the purpose of marriage is only for the continuation of the family

and the worship of ancestors. It is entirely family-centered, not personal or social. In feudal society in China

the continuation of the family flame and ancestor worship are very closely related, sometimes inseparable. But in terms of importance

the importance of ancestor worship in the purpose of more important, in order to make the ancestors can "always enjoy the blood food" must make the family perpetual

far continuation, it can be said that the worship of the ancestors is the first purpose, or the ultimate purpose. Therefore, in traditional Chinese culture

, the marriage of children and grandchildren is a sacred duty to the ancestors, while celibacy and lack of descendants are considered a kind of unfilial

behavior to the ancestors. This is best illustrated by Mencius's saying, "There are three kinds of unfiliality, and having no offspring is the most important". Without a descendant, an ancestor becomes a ghost with no descendant to sacrifice to, and the ancients believed that ghosts had to be blood-fed.

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Family

Under different socio-historical conditions, the structure and function of the family are different, and their meanings are not exactly the same, and

therefore, it is difficult to define it. We know that in the Yangshao culture period of row houses, not only have a room or set of

room, but also with a fire pit; of course, the fire pit may be out of the need for heating, but it is also not impossible to be used for cooking.

So, at that time, it was not only "living together", but also probably "sharing a meal"; and "sharing a meal" is the

basic symbol of family The family is the basic symbol of the family, because it is a property-life ****same entity. In the book of the Later Han Dynasty, the biography of Zheng Jun, it is said, "

Jun

was a good and righteous man who raised his widowed and orphaned children, and was very kind and courteous to them. He often claimed that he was sick and did not want to be called by the counties." From this, we can learn that Zheng

Jun was a righteous and honest man who supported his widowed sister-in-law and the orphans she brought with her, and did all the favors and courtesies he could. He often claimed that he was too busy with his family not to respond to the summonses of the counties. We can roughly know that the family in traditional society is a social unit based on marriage and blood relations

, including parents, children and other relatives who live together.