Gelao people’s wedding customs

The wedding customs of the Gelao people are simple, honest, neat, and the atmosphere is warm, grand and not extravagant, which is very distinctive. The Gelao people are one of the oldest ethnic minorities in Guizhou. They call themselves "Mudi people" or indigenous residents. In ancient times, it was one of the "Li" and "Dou" tribes of Baiyue.

Introduction to the marriage customs of the Gelao people

Most of the Gelao people live scattered in the northwest, southwest and north of Guizhou Province, including Zunyi, Renhuai, Anshun, Guanling, Pu'an, Qingzhen, There are more than 20 cities and counties in Pingba, Qianxi, Dafang, Zhijin, Jinsha, Zhenfeng, Qinglong, Liuzhi and Shuicheng; a few are distributed in Longlin Autonomous County of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guangzhou in Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province. Nan, Maguan, Funing and other counties. According to the fifth national census in 2000, the Gelao population was 579,357. Due to their small number, the Gelao people live in scattered places. The Gelao people vary greatly from place to place. Even the Gelao people scattered in the same county cannot talk to each other. At present, only a very small number of Gelao people can still speak Gelao language. Chinese is the main tool for communication among the Gelao people. Many people also speak Miao, Yi or Buyi languages, and some even speak three or four languages. The Gelao language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family, with undetermined language family and branch. The Gelao people have no written language and generally use Chinese.

Historically, the marriage customs of the Gelao ancestors were quite special. For example, "New Tang Book·Nanman Biography" records that according to Nanping Liao (marriage) law, a woman first seeks a man with a loan. This custom is different from the Han custom at that time that "men first offer goods to girls" marriage customs. The reason is that "there are more vulgar women than men, and women are serving as slaves." During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the feudal hierarchy of marriage among the Gelao people was extremely strict. "Book of Tang" records: "The Xie clan cannot have children by law. Since one has a high surname, one cannot marry into the family." In the Song Dynasty, young men and women of the Gelao ethnic group were free to go to the hillside to sing duets or "play house" to choose their lovers. This custom was still prevalent in Zunyi until the end of the Qing Dynasty. In the past, the traditional custom of marriage between uncle and cousin was prevalent in many Gelao areas. In modern times, the old marriage system of the Gelao people has changed greatly. Since modern times, the marriage customs of most Gelao people are basically the same as those of the Han people. When concluding a marriage, you must follow your parents' opinions and ask a matchmaker to come to your home to propose marriage. Practice monogamy. Some wealthy households took concubines.

In terms of marriage taboos, the Gelao people strictly prohibit marriage if they have the same surname. Intermarriage is also prohibited between certain surnames. For example, the two surnames Han and He of the Gelao people in Daozhen County do not intermarry. Marriage procedures and wedding ceremonies vary from place to place. Influenced by "The Rites of Zhou", there are generally six procedures including proposing a marriage, asking for a name, accepting a gift, accepting a petition, requesting a date, and welcoming a person in person.

Gelao brides in northern Guizhou stop farm work one or two months before their wedding and specialize in needlework, which is called "rushing marriage". Three to five days before the wedding, a "weeping wedding" ceremony is held, in which one bids farewell to parents, family members and respected relatives and relatives with the lyrics of "crying marriage". Relatives and friends give each other money and things, which is called "bao gifts". On the day of the wedding, two buckets filled with clean water are placed at the door of the bride's house. A group of young women are waiting with ladles. As soon as the wedding team arrives, they scoop out water and splash it to wet the brides, who are mainly matchmakers. This is called "wetting". Really) close”. Only by rushing into the bride's house as soon as possible can the bride-to-be avoid being showered with water. When getting married, the bride is supported by women from her own clan and pays homage to her ancestors, parents and elders. When the bride is about to leave, she throws a new pair of chopsticks behind her, and is then helped into the sedan by her brother or an elder, and her brothers "send her off" to the groom's home. The sedan is parked at the door of the groom's house, the bride gets off the sedan, and dried wine is offered to the gods to ward off evil spirits. This is called "returning the chariot and horses" or "returning to the happy god." On that day, we worship heaven and earth and our ancestors. The next day, I pay homage to my parents and other relatives. Husband and wife do not worship. On the third day, the bride and groom return to their natal home to pay homage, which is called the return home.

The Gelao family has strong marital relationships and rarely divorces. If your spouse dies, you can remarry. A widow who remarries is also respected by relatives and friends and understood by public opinion. The Gelao people allow "bridal marriage". Generally, a bride comes to the house because she has no children, or even though she has children, she is still young. The son-in-law takes the woman's surname, and the children born into the marriage also take the woman's surname. The son-in-law's name is included in the clan branch, he has the right to inherit property, and he is respected and supported by relatives and friends.

Most Gelao marriages are monogamous.

Most families are small families with a patriarchal system. Men and women generally have equal status in the family. In some areas, women do not have rights. Family property is divided equally between brothers. Married women have no inheritance rights. Unmarried women can generally be allocated some property to be used as dowry in the future. In some Gelao areas, when brothers separate, the younger brothers will be given some care and given priority in allocating houses. Parents must leave a portion of the "pension land" for their son who lives with them to cultivate it. The son will be responsible for the funeral expenses when his parents die and inherit the "pension land".

The ancient marriage customs of the Gelao people

The marriage customs of the Gelao people still retain many original ancient customs and are living materials for studying the ancient history of human marriage. For example, when getting engaged, you have to drink "Chicken Gua Liquor", which means killing a chicken and using the chicken femur to divine good luck. "Chicken Gua" is homophonic to "auspicious Gua". Nowadays, we no longer follow the original "divine judgment" method to determine whether the pattern on the chicken femur is auspicious or unlucky. Instead, eating wedding wine is collectively referred to as "chicken". (Ji) Gua wine".

There are also the customs of "guarding the door", "chasing girls" and "wet kissing", which are also very distinctive in the Gelao wedding customs. "Gangmenfang" means that when the bride leaves home to get married, she should hold the door tightly with both hands to express her unwillingness to leave. At this time, the matchmaker will come over and forcefully pull away the bride's hands and lead her away from her parents' home.

"Chasing girls" means that girls should cry loudly and sing "wedding crying songs" before getting married. Before getting married, she would take advantage of someone's "unpreparedness" and "escape", so that her aunt, sister-in-law and other female relatives would find her back. Before leaving her natal family to get married, she must bid farewell to her natal family's ancestors. The girl's father must untie the buckle on her collar, indicating that the married girl is no longer a member of her own clan and has joined her husband's clan.

"Wet kiss" means that when the bride marries her husband's family, as soon as she steps into the house, she must sprinkle the bride with clean water prepared by her husband's family. Legend has it that this way the water can be poured out to drive away evil spirits and bring good luck.

There are also some differences from other ethnic groups, that is, when the Gelao bride gets married, she must hold an umbrella and be escorted to her husband's house by the people who greet her and see her off. After arriving at her husband's house, she didn't bother to go to the church and was directly led into the bridal chamber. The dowry is not brought to the husband's family on the wedding day, but is sent to the husband's family after the birth of the first child.

Gelao people’s marriages are mostly arranged by their parents, with a heavy emphasis on betrothal gifts. This has also changed. After choosing an auspicious day, on the wedding day, the bride will be accompanied by the bride and groom. Holding an umbrella and walking to the husband's house, the bride is directly led into the bridal chamber without worshiping.

Among the Gelao people in northwest Guizhou, weddings are more interesting. The groom rides a horse to welcome the bride, and is accompanied by four groomsmen, two of whom carry bamboo brooms, and the other two carry gifts of wine and meat. On the way, several strong men sent by the woman's family were "robbed" on the road and ate the "robbed" wine and meat on the hillside, indicating that the woman's family was rich and did not care about your gifts. When the bridegroom arrives at the gate of the bride's village, a group of people holding pieces of wood surround and "beat" the groom. The man holding a bamboo broom must protect the bridegroom with all his strength and break through the encirclement. When the groom runs into the bride's house, he is immediately greeted with a toast, and the groom and the bride also toast each other. After the toast, the groom "carries" the bride onto the horse's back, and the groom leads the way home with the reins in hand.

When a Gelao woman gets married, she has to have 1-2 of her upper teeth automatically knocked out. It is said that this custom was born out of fear that the woman would harm her husband's family. The husband's family regards a virgin as a terrible thing, and her teeth must be knocked out before she dares to marry her. This ancient folk custom has a profound meaning.

When young men and women of the Gelao ethnic group fall in love, they will pick off banyan leaves, wrap them in horn handkerchiefs and throw them towards each other. This means that love is as evergreen as the banyan tree. Afterwards, the young man will wrap a pair of chopsticks in red cloth and go to the girl's house to ask for her hand in marriage. The young man came to the girl's house and said to the girl's father: "Age, next year I will come to your house for a drink." If the old man said: "I don't know if there is any wine, the fragrant glutinous rice is not yet ripe!" This means that they are inseparable. . The next year, the young man came again with a wine bottle: "Age, I'm really here to drink.

"If you want to drink, just drink!"

After the young man sits down, the girl's parents, brother and sister-in-law will serve wine and food, and invite the neighbors to come and have a drink. "Lang". Everyone was sitting at the table, and while the old man was drinking, he was praising the ancients for their loyalty to love and lashing out at all the ugly deceptions in love. When the young man agreed repeatedly and declared his sincerity again and again, everyone would question him. The young man's specific situation is all over the place. The young man must answer carefully.

After the interrogation is over, the marriage is settled in the third year. When he arrives at the girl's house, he performs the "cloth-throwing ceremony", which is actually a wedding ceremony. Girl, the girl's bridesmaid helps her wrap the cloth around her waist, and the groom can take the bride back. The bride will change into three pairs of shoes on this day. She wears a pair of white-soled cloth shoes when she gets up in the morning, and a pair of shoes when she leaves her parents' house. The groom has to put on another pair of shoes at the door. This means that the bride has been pure and chaste since her birth until her husband's family.

Gelao marriage conclusion process

< p> After the young men and women of the Gelao ethnic group get to know each other on the market, during festivals and other days, if the man is interested, he will wrap a pair of chopsticks in red cloth or red paper and put them in the chest of the couple's clothes, choose a day to come to the woman's house, and then from the chest He took out the pair of chopsticks and put them respectfully on the Eight Immortals table in the main room of the bride's family and left. This was a wedding proposal, which is called "giving chopsticks to ask for marriage" among the Gelao people. The bride's parents then discussed it with relatives and friends and inquired about the man. After about half a year, the man will bring a pot of special glutinous rice wine to the woman's house and put the wine on the Eight Immortals' table. Will say: "Mom and dad, you have a beautiful flower at home. I built a red bridge. I want to ask my aunt and dad to give me the flower to take home and plant in the soil, so that it can take root and sprout and bloom more beautifully." flower. Today I brought a jug of wine to the old man to quench his thirst, in order to ask him to open his mouth to gold. "After the man finishes speaking, the woman's parents will answer according to the pre-discussed countermeasures. There are generally three situations:

(1) If you do not agree with the marriage, say: "If my flowers are moved to your village, they may not survive. We can't enjoy the good wine you brought, so you can take it back. "The man who proposed marriage should not be angry when he received such a reply: "Thank you for your advice, old man. I sincerely wish that this flower in your family can be planted in a garden with sufficient soil and water!" Then, he had a hasty meal at the woman's house and then took the pot of glutinous rice wine home.

(2) If the woman is still undecided about the marriage and needs to know more about the man, the woman’s parents will say: “Your glutinous rice wine is not yet mature, so keep it in the kiln for another two years. "After hearing this, the proposing man stayed for a meal, then left the glutinous rice wine at the woman's house and went back. After two or three months, someone would go to the woman's house to inquire about the situation.

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(3) If the woman agrees to the marriage, the woman’s parents will happily say: “Thank you for the good wine, let’s share it together. "Then they brought three large bowls and poured the glutinous rice wine into the bowls. The woman's parents took a sip first, and then handed it to the relatives and friends present to take turns to drink until the wine was finished. After drinking the wine, the woman's parents spoke. He said: "The wine you brought tastes great and sweetens our hearts. May your days be as mellow as this magical wine. "On this day, the woman's family will set up a banquet to entertain the man. The grand banquet will include tea, white wine, braised pork, fried food, dried and fresh fruits, cold salad platters, and various stir-fried ethnic delicacies. Banquet Singing is required during the ceremony, and the main purpose is to test the man's knowledge, character, and skills by singing questions from the woman's family and friends. Time (season) for planting, harvesting, etc. The proposed woman and her female companions hide in the room and eavesdrop to see if the man is smart, what his character is, and whether he has work skills and the ability to make a living. Even if it's done,

After a while (usually a year), the man will be ready to take the bride home.

After selecting an auspicious day, the man should bring a bag of brown sugar to the woman's house two months in advance to announce the good news and inform the woman of the auspicious day. In this way, both parties are ready to wait for that day to arrive. The festive day has arrived. On this day, the groom will bring several male companions (mainly male singers) wearing traditional Gelao costumes, holding a piece of self-woven and self-dyed blue homespun cloth, a bag of brown sugar, and a pot of glutinous rice wine. , a big rooster, a knuckle of pork and twelve glutinous rice cakes came to pick up the bride. When he arrives at the woman's house, the man will give the meat, wine, etc. he brought to the woman's relatives and friends. The groom and his groomsmen must hold the piece of homespun cloth and stand in the center of the courtyard in front of the door to greet them, but cannot directly enter the door of the bride's house. At this time, a dozen or so sisters in costumes will step out of the house with the bride. After the bride stops, the groom immediately throws one end of the blue homespun cloth that has been rolled into a hydrangea shape to the bride. The sisters surrounding the bride will catch the thrown hydrangea and quickly untie it and tie it to the bride's waist. superior. At this time, the groom will take the other end of the hydrangea and pull the bride back to the groom's house. When you arrive at the groom's house, you don't have to go to the church but go straight to the bridal chamber. At this point, a good relationship is formed.