China is a large country with 56 nationalities . Different nationalities have different marriage customs, but whatever the nationality is, the wedding ceremony is usually very complicated. The traditional Chinese marriage usually involves 4 necessary procedures, namely: match-making, betrothal presents, meeting the bride , obeisance.
The wedding ceremony is usually presided warmly ,and the wedding ceremony very often ends with a very extravagant banquet. Traditional Chinese weddings are always filled with Red things to bring auspicious blessings and respects. And even wedding customs reflect traditions from Chinese philosophy.The Chinese regard the color red as the symbol of happiness, success, luck, faith and growth. We like red very much, which comes from worship of the Sun. In traditional Chinese weddings, there are double Xi characters in red, red scarves, red flowers and the bride wears a red coat。
The sound of musical instruments in the wedding usually loud enough to make nature know and to demonstrate the importance of the marriage .
Preparation before the wedding
“Match-making ”:When the men and women in love want to get married,the man's parents must ask matchmaker to visit the women’s parents.If permitted,they would give the birth of the date to the matchmaker.Then the groom’s parents will find a fortune teller to request for bride and groom’s birth dates.The fortune teller will according to their date of birth to divination a wedding day.
“Betrothal presents and return”:The groom's side sent the dowry to the bride's home.Each type of local gifts are not the same.For example,chicken means full of vitality,coconut means healthy for the old and child,wedding candies are used for send to relative of the bride's side.The cash gift symbol of the groom's side were rich,implies that the bride can enjoy a happy life,set the bride's side mind at rest.The bride's side received dowry and then they will return.In some places,a match will send back which means days go by very prosperous in Chinese.
“The preparation of the bride side”:The day before the wedding,both the groom's side and the bride's side will go to the worship of ancestors to tell the ancestors that there have a wedding.Towards evening before the wedding,a relative of the bride's side whose both parents are alive and both have sun and daughter will take their child to make the bed of wedding room.They put red dates, peanuts, longan, and chestnut that sounds like have a lovely baby early in Chinese on the new bed.
The ceremony on the day of the wedding
“Meeting the bride”:In the morning of the wedding day ,the groom will go to the bride's home with his team composed of his relatives and friends to escort the bride back to the wedding. When the team arrived at the bride's house,they will ignite firecrackers.
“Break into houses”:It was a very interesting thing on the day of the wedding.The groom will try his best to open the door .It's not so easy that the groom could take the bride back.His team must pass the test which include intellectual challenging and physical challenge from the bridesmaids.For example, singing love songs, saying lover's prattle, doing push ups and so on.But the most important is the red packets for open the door.
“Find the red shoes”:The groom can't take the bride back at once after entering the door.He had to find the red wedding shoes in the bride's room and wear shoes for her.If he can’t find the shoes, red packets can also solve this problem.
“Comb bride’s hair”:After wear shoes for the bride,a woman with good luck will comb the bride’s hair in the sound of firecrackers.The hair needs to be combed three times and each has different special meaning in different place.For example,the first combing symbolizes of harmony from now till old age,the second combing symbolizes of sons and grandsons all over the place,the third combing symbolizes of good wealth and a long-lasting marriage.
“Serve tea”:When the bride has finished her hair combed,it’s time for both the bride and groom to kneel in front of the bride’s parents and serve them tea.From this time,the groom would change forms that daddy instead of uncle and mummy instead of aunt,and the parents would gave the groom a big red packet.Chinese tradition dictated that couples had to be married not only on an auspicious day, but also at an auspicious hour. So photo-taking used to be squeezed into a very rushed ceremon.
“Bridal sedan chair”: When the auspicious hour coming,the bride would sit on a red chair and her head would be covered with a red silk veil with tassels or bead strings that hang from the phoenix crown. Her brother and uncle would carry her to bridal sedan chair or festooned vehicle, with married women talking around her about how to be a good wife.For the groom's side,the bride’s brother and uncle and bridesmaids would be the most precious guests who go along with the bride.
“Obeisance” :In order to welcome the bride, many fireworks and firecrackers would be ignited when they arrived at the wedding ceremony.The groom’s sister would sprinkle bran what sounds like happiness and healthy in Chinese to them.Obeisance was the most important ceremony in a wedding.The entire process is divided into three operations.First,bow to the heaven and earth.Second,bow to their parents.Third,bow to each other.After drinking wedlock wine,the couple could enter the bridal chamber.
“Rough horseplay at weddings”:After night falls, the teasing games start. Usually all young men can participate except for the groom's married brothers-in-laws.In China's long social development, it has quite great impact on forming of sexology and spread of sex knowledge and promoted the development of sex culture in China.The return of the bride to her mother's home on the third day of the wedding,after that,the wedding came to an end.
A marriage is not only a merger of the couple; traditionally, it symbolizes the merger of two families. So the wedding ceremony should reflect the holiness of marriage, drawing the attention of relatives and friends. There is harmony between nature and the people inside.Inviting relatives and friends to the wedding symbolizes the formality and the relationships between people. The ceremony reflects the importance and family status of the parents.
I will introduce Chinese traditional culture (2.the fifth great inventions of China- the 24 Solar Terms) next time，see you~
中国是一个有56个民族的大国，不同的民族有不同的婚俗。但无论是哪个民族，结婚仪式都很复杂。 传统的中国婚礼仪式包括4个必备步骤，它们是：说媒定亲、聘礼、迎娶、拜堂喝交杯酒等4步。婚礼庆典很隆重，最后是很奢华的婚宴。中国传统婚礼中总是用红色的东西来表达吉祥、祝福和隆重的意味。其实婚礼习俗也反映着中国的传统哲学思想。
中国人将红色看做是幸福、成功、好运、忠诚和繁荣的象征。他们很喜欢红色，其实是由于对太阳的崇拜。在传统中国婚礼上，有红色的“囍”字、红色的丝带、红花和新娘的红衣。婚礼中乐器的声音通常很响，足以让大自然知道，并证明婚姻的重要性。
婚前准备
说媒：当恋爱中的男女想要步入婚姻的殿堂，男方的父母会找一个媒人去女方家里说媒。如果女方家里同意这门婚事，他们便会把女方的生辰八字交给媒人，然后男方家里会带着双方的生辰八字找一个算命先生。算命先生会给他们合八字，并给他们的婚礼找一个黄道吉日。
聘礼和回礼：婚前男方要将娶亲的聘礼送到女方家，每个地方送的种类都大有相同，比如说，鸡寓意生机勃勃，椰子寓意有长有幼，尽享天伦之福，喜糖是用来让女方送亲戚的，礼金则象征着娶方多金，暗示着新娘嫁过去可以享福，让女方家放心。
女方婚礼前的准备：婚礼的前一天，男女双方都会到自家的祠堂去祭祖，告诉先人，家里有喜事将近。在结婚的前一天晚上，要由女方家出一个家庭和睦、父母双全、儿女双全的亲戚来整理婚房里的婚床，再将寓意早生贵子的四品：红枣、花生、桂圆、栗子铺在新床上面。
结婚当天的仪式迎亲：在结婚当天的早上，新郎会带着由他亲戚朋友组成的队伍去女方家里迎亲。当迎亲队伍到达女方家里时，会先放鞭炮。
进门：这是婚礼当天非常有趣的一件事情。新郎要尽他最大的努力敲开女方的家门。新郎想把新娘子接回家可不是一件很容易的事情，他的迎亲队伍必须通过来自伴娘的各种脑力和体力考验，比如说唱情歌，说情话，做俯卧撑等等。不过最重要的，还是敲门红包。
找鞋：新郎并不是进门就能把新娘带回家的。他还得找到藏在新娘房间里的红色婚鞋，并且顺利给新娘穿上才行。如果他找不到的话，红包也可以解决这个问题。梳妆：新郎给新娘穿上婚鞋，献上鲜花之后，会有一个有福的女人来给新娘梳妆打扮。头发需要从头到尾梳3次，不同的地区说法也各有不同，比如说一梳白头到老，二梳子孙满堂，三梳荣华富贵。
敬茶：梳妆打扮之后，就到了新郎新娘跪拜女方父母敬茶的程序。从这时候起，男方就要改口称呼女方的父母为爸爸妈妈了，女方父母会给新郎一个改口大红包。中国的传统规定，夫妻不仅要在吉日结婚，而且要在吉时结婚。所以留给拍照用的时间就被压缩的有点匆忙。
上花轿：吉时到，放鞭炮。新娘会穿着凤冠霞帔坐在一个红色的椅子上，她的哥哥和舅舅会把她抬到花轿或者婚车上。这时候就会有已婚女子在新娘耳边教导如何做一个好妻子。新娘的哥哥、舅舅和伴娘会跟随新娘到新郎家，他们是男方家里这一天最重要的客人。
拜堂：迎亲队伍回到新郎家里，烟花鞭炮齐鸣。新郎的姐姐会把象征着吉祥、健康的麸子撒到新人的身上。拜堂是婚礼中最重要的一环，分三步进行，一拜天地，二拜高堂，夫妻对拜。喝过交杯酒之后，新郎新娘进入洞房。
闹洞房：临近傍晚的时候，开始闹洞房。通常，除了新郎结婚的兄弟们以外，所有的年轻人都可以参加。在中国漫长的社会发展中，闹洞房对性知识的传播形成相当大的影响，促进了中国性文化的发展。结婚后的第三天，新娘由丈夫陪同回娘家，要带上礼物回去见女方父母，婚礼全部程序正式结束。
婚姻不仅是一对新人的结合，按照传统，婚姻也象征着两个家庭的结合。因此婚礼要能体现出婚姻的神圣，要能够吸引亲朋好友来参加。这里面有“天人合一”的思想。邀请亲朋好友来参加婚礼体现着人与人之间的关系和礼节。在婚姻中，双方的家庭结为“亲家”。婚礼体现了家长在家庭中的地位和重要性。