What do you know about walking marriage?

Hainan Island is a multi-ethnic province, more ethnic minorities, the Han Chinese are foreign nationalities, Hainan Island, the original dominant ethnic groups are Li, Miao, Hui. These three ethnic groups, the earliest dominant role in Hainan, and the Li. As early as a few thousand years ago, the Li compatriots from Vietnam out to sea traveling east found Hainan Island, they landed on the shore of the landing place named "Oriental", that is, now the Oriental City, Hainan Province, (because from Vietnam to Hainan Island is traveling towards the east, can land on the place and the west side of Hainan Island.) On the island, in order to survive, they work hard, reclaiming barren mountains, slash-and-burn farming, fishing and catching crabs, and reproduce their offspring. The marriage system of the Li people is very strict, until the early liberation, the Li people do not intermarry with foreign nationalities, and the population growth is very slow. So, on Hainan Island, the Li population is now just over 50,000 people.

Li men and women are very open, the male called walking marriage, the female called trial marriage, but there is a, the man can not be married to the woman of the cottage, so the Li young men must go over the mountains to another Li cottage, wait until it is dark, singing songs, the other cottage of the female youth will be with you on the song, if both sides of the pair of happy, the woman's song will be led to the man to her own hut, but at this time he (she) But at this time he/she doesn't know anyone and hasn't seen anyone. In the hut he/she can make love until dawn, but there is a discipline that the man must leave the hut before dawn. Through the course of the night, if they fancy each other, the man will drop the machete, or other token he carries with him as he leaves the hut, and go out. Woman to fancy men, she will go out to send you a purse, if you do not fancy, she will go out and call you: A brother, "your things lost, put on the belt," that is to say you do not come, for nothing. If the man does not like the woman, after sex, before dawn, you do not lose anything, go away. Nothing happens. The next night, the man continued to other walled village song, sex, the woman also continued to answer the song, pick up the trial marriage.

Men and women are interested in, the man will call the Walled City's chief, family members, with a bride price to the woman's home to propose, choose a good day, the man's family to kill pigs and slaughter goats, the bride to marry in the Walled City feast, even if it is temporarily married and cohabited, the Li people do not get a marriage license, a month later, the woman's family, the bride back to her mother's home. In her mother's home, the bride can be like before, the same song, guests to try to get married. The bridegroom can also go to other villages to sing and make love. Within two years, if the man does not give a big gift to marry the bride back twice, the marriage will be dissolved on its own. Within two years, if the man under the heavy gift once again to take back the bride, the second time to marry back, the bride from then on to be quiet, have children, housekeeping, no longer take the trial marriage.

From then on, the groom is the son-in-law of the female walled village, the female walled village are the groom's relatives, every day there will be people to eat and drink at the man's home, older men and women are the groom's father-in-law, mother-in-law; younger, are aunts and uncles. Until now, this Li custom of marriage has not changed. Therefore, in the Li people, dozens of years old women did not officially married, holding the child in the song, the bride like an old woman, the old woman like a demon is a very normal phenomenon.

Now, the reform and opening up, the various ethnic groups can also be intermarried, but, Li compatriots marriage customs have not changed, in the Li village, no song of the a sister is very beautiful, big eyes, snow-white skin, the upper middle class figure, than other ethnic minorities, a sister are beautiful, very attractive to male compatriots eyeballs. However, their Li marriage customs are called Han A brother daunting, no one dares to marry.