Chapter 276: Marriage Customs in the Countryside

In the next few days, the families ate and drank from the sea, and in the middle they went to the mid-mountain forest farm to drag the furniture that Uncle Ah Chong made for Uncle Miao.

The green wood furniture of Yishui'er, the brown and gray boards are shiny and shiny, and Li Junge's eyes are hot.

The wood that can hang out the figure without paint, who looks at it is envious.

The old stone's two Qingminshi dragon and phoenix water tanks were also laid, as a congratulatory gift on the big platform under the stilted downstairs, and some copper money grass and water lilies were raised, and Li Junge also threw a few space betta fish into it, and the whole big platform was alive.

Uncle Craftsman's wedding is scheduled for the twelfth day of the New Year, and this is coming in a blink of an eye.

Li Junge called Qian Sanduo, the wooden building was repaired, everything was moved in, and he made an appointment to come over on the tenth day of the Lunar New Year to prepare, and the wedding of Uncle Craftsman on the twelfth day of the New Year was the first business.

It's a good thing to come in pairs.

There are many and cumbersome things for rural weddings, and to put it in detail, in the early stage, there are several major items such as inviting matchmakers, watching people, looking at houses, taking consent, opening up Geng, and combining eight characters.

In every village, there are middle-aged women who can speak well, and who like to match people, and everyone is jokingly called "matchmaker". fell into Li Jiagou, that is the non-famous emotional expert Granny Wang, that is, even Lao Tuanyu wants to match that person.

As the old saying goes, "a matchmaker is easy to do", but it is not just about introducing the two parties to know each other, but she is there in every link from watching people to passing through the door, so when the real thing is done, the man wants to "thank the matchmaker".

If the matchmaker introduces someone who is familiar with each other, some links can be omitted; if they are unfamiliar with each other and feel okay about the situation introduced by the matchmaker, the matchmaker will generally make an appointment to "see the person".

As the saying goes: "Three-six-nine rush to the scene - watch people talk." "That's what I'm talking about.

On the days when "watching people" mostly meet in the township, both men and women pack up and dress up and go to the scene.

In order to avoid embarrassment, generally men and women do not have direct contact, let alone talk to each other, but matchmakers run back and forth, telling each other where they are, what they are dressing, and what physical signs they have.

Many men and women are worried that they will not be able to see it alone, and they have to ask relatives and friends to accompany them and check them on their behalf.

Of course, "looking at people" can only look at a rough idea, most of them are based on their appearance and clothing, which can be regarded as a preliminary impression.

If the impression is bad, they will generally find a reason to refuse, and if both parties feel good, then move on to the next part of "looking at the house".

Because the information captured from "looking at people" is limited after all, some poor people borrow it from head to toe in order not to be shabby, and this kind of light cannot be seen through "looking at people".

Therefore, it is necessary to further verify the family background through the "house of viewing".

Because the woman is married to the man, it is natural for the woman to go to the man to "watch the house".

This is one of the key links that determine the success or failure of a marriage for the man.

Needless to say, families with solid family backgrounds have to decorate the façade at this time, because the woman's relatives have to go from house to house to inspect, and too much have to open the cabinet to see the stored grain, go down to the pigsty to see the fat and thin, open the wardrobe to see the cover, and don't talk about anything for their daughter.

Therefore, when the man lacks the east and the west, he often has to borrow from the neighbors and prepare in advance.

There is a deeper routine, that is, to discuss with the neighbor and wait for the woman to arrive before "happeningly" to come over, "Ouch, sister-in-law Wang's house has a visitor, this is a thousand yuan borrowed from you last month, and the baby finally sent it back, I am here to repay your money, thank you, thank you, it really saved me in a hurry!"

And so on, to show that the man's host has a balance.

There is even a story that the woman goes to the man's house to "watch the house", it's time to cook, the man's father goes up to the wooden building to get meat, throws down a piece of old bacon, and the man's mother says downstairs: "Get fat, take a piece again." Then he threw the meat on it.

Upstairs threw another piece, downstairs said "fat", and threw it up again.

After a few times, the man's mother finally said, "Forget it, just cook this piece." ”

In fact, this family only has that piece of meat, which is thrown up and down alternately.

Never underestimate the acting skills of the villagers, the reality is often more bizarre than the drama.

is a sad story, but it also profoundly illustrates the "pity of the world's parents".

There will also be a funny scene when "watching the house", that is, the neighbors know that there is a woman to "watch the house" today, so as long as the person arrives, Zhang Xian comes to borrow the needle, Wang Meier comes to borrow the line, anyway, how to find an excuse to come and shake the circle twice, the mouth has a match to speak, but the eyes only look at the girl, but when you leave, you are empty-handed, the needle is forgotten, and the line is forgotten.

When "looking at the house", the woman and her party usually have to stay for lunch.

Jiachuan people are more subtle in this regard, and they generally don't say it directly if they like it or not, for fear that the other party will be embarrassed.

If the woman can't stay for a few minutes and then excuses herself to leave, it must be that she didn't like the man, and the man knows that he won't force him to stay.

If the man's family has not been cooking on the fire, it means that the man has not taken a fancy to the woman, and the woman will say goodbye with interest.

If the woman eats at the table, it means that there is a drama in this family business.

So when leaving, the man also gave gifts to consolidate the results.

When the woman goes home, it's time for the matchmaker to appear again, run to the woman's house if she has nothing to do, say goodbye to each other, and urge the woman to reply in time.

If the woman has no opinion, then she will go to the man's house to "ask for consent" at a later date.

"Consent" is actually the "Wending" in the ancient rites.

Or also rely on the matchmaker, she is the host of the "consent" ceremony, and at the same time both the male and female parties and relatives must be present, after the matchmaker has said some polite words, both parties must make a clear statement.

Of course, it's all at this time, and it is generally said that "no opinion", and there are almost no things in it that jump a cousin out and shout "NO".

After obtaining the "consent", the young man and woman can be considered to have formally established the romantic relationship, and then they can start the "open beat" of the "serious eight classics".

Chang is a local dialect, which means whipping, this word is inexplicable, I don't know if it takes the meaning of "a slap does not make a sound".

During the busy farming season, men usually go to the women's houses to help, and women occasionally go to the men's houses to cook the pots. Walking around each other during the New Year's holidays, the relationship between men and women gradually warms up.

After a year and a half of "open beats", mutual understanding and deepening of affection, young men and women began to think about marriage.

The marriage date is not set randomly, and Mr. Yin and Yang must be invited to "watch the period meeting" according to the "Shenggeng Bazi" of young men and women - this requires "Kaishenggeng".

"Kaisheng Geng" is also called "Nacai", at this time the man gives a gift for the second time, the gift is not expensive, the man only needs to send a wooden comb, two sections of the head rope, a few feet of shoe cloth; the woman returns a pair of handmade wax bottom cloth shoes, a handkerchief.

Then it is to ask the woman for the eight characters of Shenggeng, mostly written on red paper as Geng stickers, Geng stickers are also known as "Luan Notes", which should appear in the form of pun texts. For example, "Zhu Chen in the past, Qin and Jin are reunited today, Mao Sui is a piece of Jiuding, and Ji Bu is a thousand gold." ”

The woman replied to "Hui Gengwen", also known as "Fengshu", and also wrote the eight characters of Shenggeng on red paper in the form of pun, with poems. For example, "because of the continuation of the relationship, the marriage is Zhu Chen, and the scholar Geng is respected, and a hundred years is the basis." ”

There are also questions and answers in the form of couplets, the upper link is the man's eight characters, and the lower one is filled in by the woman with the woman's eight characters.

An orphan picked up like Uncle Craftsman, he doesn't know what the eight characters are, and he can't trouble the fourth grandfather.

The fourth grandfather wrote on the note, "It has been a good match, and the children have been married for a hundred years;

It seems that it is embedded with the birth year of the unitary, but in fact, it has been unitary to form a matching word, the children to form a good character, the civil and military to form a bin character, and the sun and the moon to form a clear character;

The phoenix book wrote: "The heart of the sunflower is facing the sun, welcoming back the madder grass and the sky is green, the willow posture is near the water, and the plum blossoms are fragrant." ”

It not only implicitly explains the process of interaction between Uncle Meijiang and Liangzi, and the first word is removed from the side, and it is the year of Liangzi's birth - "癸卯".

The literati are like this, they can play word games by themselves!

Continuing to introduce the customs, the man's parents then took the young man and woman with the "Shenggeng Bazi" to "Hesheng Geng".

In fact, the parents of both sides knew that there were probably many slips in the township.

The conjunctions such as "rabbits and dogs have been around since ancient times, horses and sheep have a long lifespan, rats and cattle are prosperous, cattle and pigs are happy, and dragons and chickens are longer".

Incompatible, such as "the white horse is afraid of the green cow, the sheep and the mouse once rest, the snake and tiger are like a knife, the dragon and the rabbit are in tears, the golden rooster is afraid of the jade dog, and the pig and monkey are not headed" and so on.

Generally, if they are incompatible, parents will not agree to it at the beginning, which is a bad habit and breaks up a lot of good marriages.

When it comes to a good life, there is no place for "mutual restraint", and the "eight-character list" of both men and women is pressed under the incense burner of the shrine in the hall or placed in the shrine of the house, and if there is no family illness, chicken and duck death, broken things and other dilapidated phenomena within seven days, it will be regarded as an auspicious marriage.

If everything is fine, then it is necessary to "make up your mind". It is also called "passing the ceremony", which is an important sign for both men and women to enter the marriage stage.

The man's family chooses an even-numbered auspicious day, and the matchmaker and the man's parents and relatives carry the gift.

The dowry should be auspicious, and the number should be double-taboo.

If the woman prepares a rich dowry when she gets married, she will accept the man's gift in full and take a small part of it in return.

If the woman does not intend to accompany her with a large dowry, she returns most of the gifts to the man's family in the name of thanksgiving.

In addition, if the woman's family feels that the man's family has many brothers and sisters and the family conditions are not good, they will ask the man's family for a lot of bride price in the name of the ceremony, in case their daughter needs it in the future.

There are also women who have poor family conditions, or have to marry their other children, and may also ask the man for a high bride price, which requires the matchmaker to communicate in advance.

In short, on the day of the decision, the man prepared the things "sent" by the woman's family, specially invited someone to "carry the back", and sent it to the woman in a lively and lively manner.

When the person who recites the repetition is not randomly selected, the mouth is also sharp, and when he arrives at the woman's house, the ceremonies are placed on the table one by one, and the person who "recites the repetition" has to say some auspicious words.

The woman accepts the gift, and the marriage is officially decided, and then she can start the "invitation period", choose a good day and auspicious day, prepare for the wedding, and prepare to marry the girl into the door.

The date of invitation is to inform the woman of the date of marriage after asking someone to determine the auspicious day, also known as the "period brief text". For example, "Wending is auspicious, building a boat is a beam, the best period is checked, and the forecast is Huatang." Dry life so-and-so is hereby scheduled to be married on a certain year, month and day of the lunar calendar".

After the woman received the letter of issue, if she agreed, she replied with "Zhi Jianwen", such as "I have heard and seen Ya, I like to meet here, I respect the cursive words, and I obey everything." ”

……

Things are easy to say and hard to do, and when I get to Uncle Craftsman, it's a little numb. First there was no matchmaker, then no parents, and finally there were no relatives, and there were no products for the whole one-three, what should I do with this wedding, I was worried about my mother at the beginning.

Later, Li Junge had an idea, this professional matter should be handed over to professionals, so he simply pulled Granny Wang over, and made up a red envelope to be regarded as an invited matchmaker, and Granny Wang would give advice on anything in the future.

This is also a precedent, the man and woman have already played, and the two families go to find a matchmaker, there is a professional term called "An matchmaker", which means that the two families are courteous, and they also follow the traditional custom of "Ming media is marrying".

As soon as Granny Wang came out, things seemed to have become simpler, and the elders in the village were not young or old, so if you were looking for the closest one, then the fourth grandfather would be the representative of the woman's elders, and Grandma Li Junge would be the representative of the man's elders.

Then the man's house was placed in the new wooden house, and the woman's house was placed in the old house of Uncle Miao.

This is called the outline, and as soon as these two major events are implemented, the marriage can be handled logically.

Then it was to invite people and prepare gifts, Li Junge left the matter to Granny Wang and his mother, and he didn't care about it.

Granny Wang patted her chest and said that she guaranteed that it would be done well, and Li Junge would only need to sell her strength at that time.

On the sixth day of the new year, Li Junge left Lijiagou and went back to his parents' house with his mother today to Baimi Township by the Hongshui River.