Chinese Ancient Wedding Customs
Chinese Ancient Wedding Customs
In China, ever since ancient times, there has been a saying that the three most delightful moments in one's life come with success in the imperial examination, marriage and the birth of a son. From the ancient saying, we can know that the Chinese have paid great attention on the wedding.
In feudal society, a marriage would be decided not by a young couple's love, but by their parents' desires. Only after a matchmaker's introduction and parents had considered the two family conditions were similar and could be matched, would the marriage be allowed. If a boy's family was well-off or an official family, his parents would never permit him to marry a girl from a poor family.
Proposing
When a boy's parents intended to make a match, they would invite a matchmaker to propose with them at the girl's home. If the proposal was successful, the matchmaker (usually a woman) would be rewarded with profuse gifts and feasts to show the two families' gratitude. Many unmarried young people could not see and were unfamiliar with each other till their wedding day.
Birthday Matching
After knowing the girl's full name and birthday, they would ask a fortune teller to predict whether that could match their son's and whether there would be a happy marriage. The Chinese zodiac would be surely taken into consideration.
Presenting Betrothal Gifts
If the match was predicted to be auspicious, the matchmaker would take gifts to the girl's parents and tell them that the process could continue.
Presenting Wedding Gifts
This was the grandest etiquette of the whole process of engagement. Prolific gifts were presented again to the girl's family, symbolizing respect and kindness towards the girl's family as well as the capability of providing a good life for the girl.
Selecting the Wedding Date
The boy's family asked the fortune-teller to choose a date according to the astrological book when it would be proper and propitious to hold the wedding ceremony.
Wedding Ceremony
The wedding ceremony began with the groom and his party meeting the bride in her home. Before this day the bride's dowry would have been sent to the boy's house. The dowry represented her social status and wealth, and would be displayed at the boy's house. The most common dowries included scissors like two butterflies never separating, rulers indicating acres of fields, and vases for peace and wealth. Before the meeting party's arrival, the bride would be helped by a respectable old woman to tie up her hair with colorful cotton threads. She would wear a red wedding dress (http://www.dinodirect.com/celebrity-dresses/ ) as Chinese believed red foreshadowed delight. When the party arrived, the bride, covered by a red head-kerchief, must cry with her mother to show her reluctance to leave home. She would be led or carried by her elder brother to the sedan. In the meeting party the bridegroom would meet a series of difficulties intentionally set in his path. Only after coping with these could he pass to see his wife-to-be.
Of course, marriage customs differed by region, but these were the most common. They have been maintained for thousands of years, but in recent years (especially after the founding of modern China), people have tended to discard some of the details and advocate simplified marriage procedures and wedding ceremonies.
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