History
In the marriage custom of China, when a man and a woman are engaged or married, the property given by the man to the woman is called betrothal gifts, also known as betrothal gifts, betrothal gifts and financial gifts. However, the ancients generally also called the betrothal gifts "Hua Hong", such as Guan Hanqing's "Dou E yuan. The second discount" in Yuan Dynasty: "it is said that every family has its own plan, and there is no wine section of sheep, and there is no money gift of Hua Hong." In the seventh volume of the second quarter of the book, "the prefect pays the drummer of Huahong YANGJIU and sends it to his home." But why is the bride price also known as the bonus?
First of all, let's talk about the ancient wedding ceremony in our country. The ancient book "the book of rites. Hun Li" says: "those who have Hun Li will have a good relationship with their two surnames. They will serve the ancestral temple in the first place, and they will follow the later generations in the second place. Therefore, the gentleman attaches great importance to it. It's based on the Hun ceremony. It's to ask for the name, to accept the auspicious, to accept the levy, and to invite the time. All the masters hold a banquet at the temple. They worship outside the door, enter, bow and yield, and obey the orders of the temple. Therefore, they are respectful and prudent In addition, the book of rites says, "there are six rites for fainting, namely, to accept, to ask for, to accept, to accept, to invite and to welcome." This is the traditional custom of "six marriage rites" which was founded in the Western Zhou Dynasty and then followed by all dynasties. It is also the source of the custom of betrothal gifts.
"Six rites" refers to the whole marriage process from proposal to marriage. As the saying goes, "no cloud in the sky, no rain, no matchmaker in the earth." Another "menglianglu. Volume 20" says: "the God of marriage depends on the matchmaker." Therefore, the matchmaker is an indispensable important person in marriage.
Nacai is commonly known as "betrothal", that is, when a child and daughter get married, the parents of the man ask the matchmaker to propose marriage to a good woman. At the time of accepting, the man needs to give about 30 kinds of auspicious gifts to the woman, and the woman also asks the matchmaker about the man's family.
Wenming is also called shenggeng, commonly known as "eight characters". After the woman agrees to the man's proposal, the woman's parents will write her daughter's name, ranking, birth eight characters, etc. on the red post (Geng post) and bring it back to the man. After the man received it, he asked the fortune teller "he Ba Zi" to ask the fortune teller whether it was good or bad, and decided whether the two sides' BA Zi was suitable for wuchongsha, or put the woman's "Ba Zi" in front of the kitchen king. If it was peaceful, it would be the same. The suitor chooses the date to send the proposal post, otherwise the "Geng tie" must be returned to the woman.
Naji, also known as "Guo wending", was recorded in the book of rites. Shi hunli: "return to the temple, get the auspicious omen, and then send the envoys to report." That is to say, after the man asks for his name, if the result is auspicious, the two sides do not fight each other. At the same time, they have to report good news to the woman. Even if the marriage is preliminarily agreed, it is commonly known as "engagement" and "engagement".
Nazheng, also known as "Naqian", is the most important of the six rites. The book of rites, Shi Hun rites, contains: "to levy, to become, to make envoys accept money to become weddings." The bride price, bride price and gift money are given to the bride by the matchmaker, so it is commonly known as "wanpin", "dabpin" or "excessive gift". At this time, the bride needs to return the gift. After accepting the levy, marriage entered the formal preparation stage.
Please date, also known as "begging day", means that the man chooses a good wedding day and asks for the woman's consent. It is commonly known as "raising the date" or "sending the sun".
Greeting or greeting is the most complex and important ceremony in ancient marriage ceremony. It is the ceremony for a son-in-law to go to his daughter's home to marry the bride. It is commonly known as "wedding". On the wedding day, the groom goes to the woman's house first. After entering the temple, the bride goes out of the house, and the groom and the bride take them to the man's home. After the ceremony of worshiping heaven, earth and ancestors, he was sent to the bridal chamber.
When later generations talk about marriage, they often use the six gifts and three books together. The three books are "letter of engagement", "letter of gift" and "letter of welcome". The function of "Sanshu" should be an effective written record established by the ancients for the protection of marriage, but "Sanshu" is not a ritual made by Zhou Dynasty.
The letter of engagement is an instrument of engagement, which is used in Naji (guowending) and handed over by the man to the woman; the letter of gift is an instrument used in grand ceremony, which is a list of gifts, detailing the types and quantities of gifts; the letter of welcome is an instrument used in welcoming the bride, which is used in picking up the bride on the wedding day.
In fact, this kind of ancient ceremony has long been simplified. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the six rites were combined into three rites, namely, nacai, nazheng and Yingqin. In the Qing Dynasty, it was further simplified into two rites, leaving only nazheng and Yingqin. In modern wedding customs, the acceptance of three books and six rites is a relatively complete and valued traditional etiquette.
In the complicated wedding rituals of three books and six gifts, giving gifts and returning gifts are the main activities in all the process. All the gifts should be decorated with gold flowers and red silk, while the red hairpin symbolizes happiness and auspicious events, so it is commonly known as "Huahong".
From the ancient wedding rituals, we can find that the ancients attached great importance to marriage. On the contrary, the modern people adopted the principle of "harmony is to come, disagreement is to divide." Is not this also a moral corruption?
