What are the customs of Hakka people getting married?

: In the past, young Hakka men and women could ask matchmakers to arrange marriage arrangements after they turned sixteen. Usually, the parents of the man's family ask a matchmaker to go to the girl's family to talk. There are also cases where the girl's family asks a matchmaker to visit the boy's family first.

Looking at girls: The male and female families negotiate through the central media. If both parties are interested, they will agree on a time to "see girls".

Write Geng Tie: After both parties agree, they must tell each other the birth dates of the boy and girl. After returning home, each of them asked a fortune teller to "calculate their horoscopes". If the eight characters match each other and will not conflict with each other, write out Geng Tie (common name for marriage list) and place them on the incense table. If there are no ominous signs within three days, the marriage will be decided. (If the eight characters do not match, the husband will The female Geng Tie is returned to the female family).

Compiling red wedding invitations: also known as "red wedding invitations", or financial gifts. The man's parents, clan relatives and matchmaker go to the woman's family together and issue the financial gifts that the man wants to give to the woman's family. Some of the red slips also include gifts for the son-in-law, such as hats, silver flowers, clothes, shoes, socks, etc. During the process of opening a red order, both parties will bargain and finally negotiate and finalize. After the red orders are drawn, the men and women also exchange tokens such as rings, handkerchiefs, etc. Finally, the man came back after lunch at the woman’s house.

Engagement: also called "Dazha", which means to formally confirm the marriage again. The young man and his parents will go to the girl's house and bring pig heads, fish, meat, etc. The girl's parents, brothers-in-law, uncles, grandparents, etc. will all be present. After lunch, the girls come out to meet each other and call the boy's parents parents, and the parents of the two families call each other their in-laws and in-laws' mother.

Housekeeping: that is, the woman goes to see the man’s family, sometimes before the “big wedding” and sometimes after the “big wedding”. The only people the woman visits are the girl and her parents. , sisters-in-law, sisters, etc. are all going, there are more than a dozen people of all sizes, and if they don’t bring any gifts, even if they bring some, the groom’s family won’t dare to accept them.

Choose a date: After the wedding is decided, the man will ask a fortune teller to choose a date for the wedding, including the day and time when the bride will go out, and the time when she will return to the groom's house. In addition, the woman will cut a red dress and the man will make the bed. The day must also be chosen at the same time. Usually one month before the wedding, the man will give the bride price to the woman. Hakka people like to use "nine" as the teger of the betrothal fee, which is auspicious in the homophony of "jiu".

Sending vegetables and carrying dowry: One or two days before the bride passes the door, the groom’s family will ask relatives to deliver the betrothal gift specified in the red list and fish, meat, poultry, noodles and other items by more than ten people. The girl's family will take the dowry, furniture, etc. back to the boy's house when they come back. Among the Hakka people in Guangdong and overseas, there is still a unique custom of "vegetable dowry". When a Hakka daughter gets married, her parents will solemnly tie some vegetables that sound auspicious, such as celery, garlic, chives, leeks, etc., with red rope or strips of cloth as a dowry to express their love for their daughter and son-in-law. wish. What's even more interesting is that the Hakkas also have the custom of using "longevity grass" as dowry. The longevity grass is a wild grass, tied with a red rope, brought to the husband's house as a dowry, hung in a bamboo basket on the bedside of the bridal chamber, and planted in the vegetable garden the next day to show that it has taken root.