What are the customs of Yi people getting married?

There are many ethnic groups in China, and the marriage customs of all ethnic groups are also colorful, especially the marriage customs of Liangshan Yi people.

Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, the largest Yi Autonomous Prefecture in China, is located in the southwest of Sichuan Province, starting from Dadu River in the north, Jinsha River in the south, Zhaotong in Yunnan in the east and Ganzi Prefecture in the west. Autonomous Prefecture governs 17 counties and cities, with an area of over 60,000 square kilometers and a population of over 4 million. The Yi people in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture call themselves "Sunuo", "Nisu", "Nasu", "Luoluo" and "Sani". Its wedding customs are very special and interesting.

be engaged in

Engagement is called "I let wood" in Yi language. It is the main symbol of the formal marriage between the two parties. The Yi proverb says, "Zuling can play, but marriage can't play." Once the engagement ceremony is held, both parties can't go back on their word. The engagement ceremony should be splashed with water, smoked and slaughtered. When the man's emissary is coming, the woman's family will call the woman next door, hide the bucket and basin of water, and put a black pot of cigarettes on her hand, waiting for the guests to arrive. When the engaged guests came, women from all directions flocked to the room, splashing water and smearing cigarettes on the guests. Guests must be brave and tenacious, cover their heads with clothes or shoes, face the "storm", break through the girls' defenses and rush into the room. Girls will chase them, follow them into the room and splash them like a drowned rat. When splashing water and wiping cigarettes, guests should not be angry, and the host and guest can attack each other.

After pouring water, wipe the smoke from the pot, toast the guests and the meat (Yi language means "give up the house"). The host respectfully presented a wooden plate with barbecue and wine glasses to one of the guests, and the guests also extended their hands to accept it, and then tasted the barbecue when they were thirsty. You can finish the wine in the cup, but you can't finish the meat in the plate. Because drinking is a hero, eating meat is a bear. When the guests drank wine and tasted barbecue, they took money out of their bags and put it on a wooden plate. The money put on the plate is "my concession" (engagement ceremony), which is usually singular, but more is "nine", such as 9900 yuan, 19900 yuan. "Nine" means "ancient" in Yi language, and "ancient" means ancient and firm. So Liangshan Yi people like the number nine. In addition, Yi people also like the unlucky "four" at weddings, such as the bride price of 40,000 at the time of engagement and going at four o'clock, because "four" means "two" in Yi language. "Er" means that the man really wants the woman and will treat her well in the future, as long as she is his life.

At the engagement ceremony, it is necessary to set a wedding date. Generally speaking, the wedding date is decided by the man, but it depends on the woman's opinion, mainly on the animal sign and discord between the two sides, and Bimo should be invited to calculate.

Premarital

Yi people are ashamed to give up (especially between the opposite sex). When a woman gets married, it's a long way for a man to get married and bid farewell. In order to avoid being asked to give up her hands in front of her father and brother on the way and at the wedding, the bride should fast for a few days before marriage, eating only one or two eggs, drinking a few mouthfuls of water or eating a small piece of buckwheat cake every day. According to Yi custom, the longer the bride goes on a diet, the more polite and persistent she will be. In addition, whether you really want to get married or not, you should be a little sad. On the wedding day, it is better to cry. If a girl still appears happy, carefree and temperate before marriage, then she will be laughed at and criticized.

Pick up the bride (in a sedan chair) for the wedding.

On the eve of the wedding, the man's family sent two smart and brave people as "skewers", brought gifts and wedding gifts to the woman's family, and stated the purpose of proposing marriage. The girls in daughter village are waiting for water, setting up obstacles everywhere, splashing water on them and wiping cigarettes until they look like ghosts.

In the evening, the bride's sisters came to accompany her, and the bride cried, and her female companions sang with her in tears. Especially when she said goodbye to her parents, she complained about the pain of marriage and cried, which made her feel sad and reluctant. From this, a number of popular songs have been derived, such as "Weeping Marriage Song", "Fighting" and "Scolding Media Song".

The next morning, the woman's family asked a healthy woman with many children to comb her hair and dress the bride. After combing her hair, she put on earrings, headdress, hood and a new colorful skirt. As soon as the cock crows, the bride is pushed to sit under the fruit tree in front of the house. They are holding branches and washbasins, ready to beat those who come to touch their relatives. At this time, an elf representative sent by the man, surrounded and covered by others, tried to touch his loved ones in a compromise of not fighting back or scolding. As long as they touch the colorful cover on the bride's head, the bride will be regarded as a member of her husband's family. At this time, the "defense war" stopped, and everyone started to hit the road around the bride. All the relatives and neighbors of the bride are seeing her off, ranging from a dozen to dozens to hundreds. The local language areas are all men, but there are no women, which has been the case since ancient times. In Shichahai and enoch dialect areas, a few women participate in seeing off their relatives. Liangshan Yi people generally walk to see their relatives off, and only brides or old people can ride horses. It can be said that they traveled all the way through mountains and rivers. If the nieces of the bride who live along the way know that the bride is going to pass by, they should all receive them on the road and toast the bride and the farewell person with fried rice. This is a gift, a wish and a feeling.

The special thing about the wedding is that there will be a farce of robbing the wedding, but this time it is not at the woman's house, but on the road. Marriage snatching has a performance component, which is lively, festive and peaceful, and is a form of expression of Yi marriage. On this day, the newly dressed bride will be sent halfway by her family, while her husband's family will snatch the bride halfway, and the woman's family, relatives and friends will symbolically follow her. At this time, robbing her of her marriage became a marriage handover ceremony. Snatching marriage is not only a kind of respect for women, but also an ancient marriage form of Yi people.

wedding feast

The farewell party arrived near the groom's house, stopped to have a rest, and all the men, women and children on the groom's side greeted it. The man's family sent a glib talker with a little money, cigarettes, wine, a little salt and a sheepskin to greet the guests, offer cigarettes and propose a toast. Then, several lean boys were sent to the groom's house to "grab meat" from the farewell party. These boys swaggered to the groom's door and stood in front of the person in charge of distributing meat. The girl on the man's side stands opposite. As soon as the person in charge of meat distribution handed a basket of steaming meat to the young man, the girls swarmed and tried to grab the meat in their hands. The boys fought hard to protect the meat in their hands and scuffled for a while. Laughter, shouts and cheers are intertwined, earth-shattering, and the atmosphere is extremely active.

After all this, the bride and the wedding team entered the house. After the bride entered the room, an old woman named Sun blessed the bride with wine and fried food, then combed her loose hair into double braids, tied it with red rope and put it on her forehead. Then the wedding reception begins. At the wedding banquet, people happily ate beef, mutton and pork and drank a big bowl of wine. Seven or eight people form a circle and sit on the floor. The bride and the boy carrying the bride eat together. No one else can eat with the bride. After dinner, hosts and guests often stay up all night drinking, singing, saying proverbs and guessing riddles.