Go back to the valley to farm

Chapter 275
Chapter 270 Six Countryside Marriage Customs

In the next few days, each family will eat and drink, and they will go to the Banshan Forest Farm in the middle to drag the furniture that Uncle A Chong made for Uncle Bamboo Carpenter.

Li Junge's eyes were envious of the clean green gangwood furniture, and the brown-gray boards were polished to a shine.

Wood that can hang silhouettes without painting, whoever looks at it will be envious.

Laoshi’s two Qingming stone dragon and phoenix water tanks were also built, and as a gift, they took a bite on each side of the big platform downstairs on the hanging feet, and raised some copper money grass and water lilies. Li Junge also threw a few space bettas into it, and the whole big platform came alive. .

Uncle Bamboo Carpenter's wedding is scheduled for the twelfth day of the Lunar New Year, and it will be here in a blink of an eye.

Li Junge called Qian Sanduo. The wooden building was repaired and everything was moved in. He made an appointment to come over on the tenth day of the Lunar New Year to make preparations.

It can be regarded as a good thing.

There are many and cumbersome things about rural weddings. In detail, there are several major items in the early stage, such as inviting a matchmaker, looking at people, looking at the house, obtaining consent, opening a birthday, and combining horoscopes.

In every village, there are middle-aged women who can speak well and like to match others. Everyone jokingly calls them "matchmakers".If it falls to Lijiagou, it will be the non-famous emotional expert Granny Wang, the one that even the old Tuanyu wants to match up with.

It’s not easy to be a matchmaker, and if you don’t have professional ethics, you won’t be able to do it for long. As the old saying goes, “A matchmaker is easy to do, but it’s hard to get out of the way.” She is not only about introducing the two parties to each other, but she is also present in every link from meeting people to going through the door. Therefore, when the real thing is done, the man will "thank the matchmaker".

If the people introduced by the matchmaker are familiar with each other, some links can be saved; if they are unfamiliar with each other and the situation introduced by the matchmaker is okay, the matchmaker usually agrees to "see people" at a time.

As the saying goes: "Come to the market every three, six, nine - watch people talk." That's what it's about.

"Watching people" is mostly on the days when they meet in towns and villages, and both men and women pack up and go to the meeting.

In order to avoid embarrassment, generally men and women do not meet face-to-face, let alone talk to each other. Instead, matchmakers run back and forth to tell each other where they are, what they are wearing, and what physical signs they have.

Many men and women are worried that they can't see it well by themselves, and they have to invite relatives and friends to accompany them to take care of them.

"Looking at people" is of course only a rough idea, most of them are based on appearance and clothing, which can be regarded as an initial impression.

If you have a bad impression, you will usually find a reason to decline; if both parties feel good, then enter the next part of "housekeeping".

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

Therefore, it is necessary to further verify the family situation through "housekeeping".

Because it is the woman who marries the man, it is natural for the woman to "look at the house" of the man.

For the man, this is one of the key links that determine the success or failure of a marriage.

Needless to say, those from a well-to-do family have to decorate their facades at this time, because the relatives of the woman have to go from room to room to inspect, and if it is too much, they have to open the cabinet to see the stored grain, go down to the pigsty to see the fat and thin, and open the closet. Looking at the quilt, he doesn't talk about any face for his daughter.

Therefore, when the man is short of things, he often has to borrow from his neighbors and make preparations in advance.

There is also a deeper routine, which is to discuss with the neighbors and wait for the woman to come by "coincidentally". It’s sent back, I’m here to pay you back, thank you, thank you, you really saved my life!”

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

There is even such a story that the woman went to the man's house to "watch the house". It was time to cook. The man's father went up to the wooden building to fetch meat and threw down a piece of old bacon. Take a piece." After saying that, he threw the meat on it.

Another piece was thrown upstairs, and the downstairs said "fat", and then threw it up again.

After so many times, the man's mother finally said: "Forget it, let's cook this piece."

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

Never underestimate the villagers' acting skills, reality is often stranger than drama.

It is a sad story, but it also profoundly illustrates the "poor parents in the world".

There will also be a funny scene when "watching the house", that is, the neighbors know that there is a woman coming to "watch the house" today, as soon as the person arrives, Mrs. Zhang will come to borrow a needle, and Wang Meier will come to borrow a thread, anyway. They have to find an excuse to come and walk around twice, talking with their mouths but not talking, but their eyes are only looking at the girl, and when they leave, they are empty-handed, forgetting the needle and thread.

When "watching the house", the woman's party usually stays for lunch.

People in Jiachuan are more reserved in this regard. They usually don't say it directly if they like it or not, worrying about embarrassing the other party.

If the woman comes and can't stay for a few minutes and makes an excuse to leave, then she must have missed the man. At this time, the man knows it well and will not force him to stay.

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

If the woman goes to the table to eat, it means that there is something going on in this marriage.

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

When the woman returns home, it's time for the matchmaker to appear again, and run to the woman's house as soon as there is nothing to do, and the two sides talk about it, and urge the woman to reply in time.

If the woman has no objection, she will choose another day to go to the man's house to "take consent".

"Consent" is actually "wending" in ancient rituals.

It still depends on a matchmaker. She is the host of the "consent" ceremony. At the same time, both parties and relatives of the man and woman must be present. After the matchmaker has finished some polite words, both parties must make a clear statement.

Of course, at this time, it is generally said "no opinion". In the novel, there are almost no such things as jumping out of a cousin and shouting "NO".

After obtaining "consent", the young men and women have formally established a romantic relationship, and only then can the "open beat" of "seriousness and eight classics" begin.

Chang is a local dialect, which means whipping. This word is inexplicable. I don't know if it means "one slap can't make a sound".

During the busy farming season, the men usually go to the women's home to help, and the women occasionally go to the man's home to cook.Walking with each other during the holidays, the relationship between men and women gradually heats up.

After a year and a half of "open time", mutual understanding and deepening of feelings, young men and women began to consider marriage.

The date of marriage is not set casually, and Mr. Yin and Yang must be invited to "see the date meeting" according to the "Sheng Geng Bazi" of young men and women-this requires "Kai Sheng Geng".

"Kaishenggeng" is also called "Nacai". At this time, the man gives gifts for the second time. The gifts don't need to be expensive. The man only needs to send a wooden comb, two knots of hair rope, and a few feet of shoe cloth; the woman returns with a pair of handmade wax soles. Cloth shoes and a handkerchief are enough.

Then it is to collect the horoscope of Shenggeng from the woman, and write it on red paper as Gengpai. Gengpai is also called "Luanjian", and it must appear in the form of parallel prose.For example, "In the past, the millet listed Zhu and Chen, but today the reunion with the Qin and Jin Dynasties, Mao Sui made a few words of nine tripods, and Ji Bu promised a thousand gold."

The female side returns with "Hui Geng Wen", also known as "Feng Shu", which also uses parallel prose to write the eight characters of Sheng Geng on red paper, with poems attached.For example, "Because of the continuation of the relatives, we will become Zhu Chen, respect the scholar and give birth to Geng, and it will be a hundred years."

There are also questions and answers in the form of couplets. The upper couplet is the man's horoscope, and the second couplet is filled in by the woman's horoscope.

Orphans picked up like Uncle Bamboo Carpenter don't know what the horoscope is, and it's not difficult for Fourth Grandpa.

The fourth grandfather wrote on the Luan note, "You are worthy of marriage, and the children will be married for a hundred years; civil and military alliances, the sun and the moon reflect each other for thousands of miles."

It seems that the birth year of Jiyou is embedded, but in fact, Jiyou forms a pairing character, children form a good character, civil and military form a bin character, and the sun and moon form a Ming character; they are all anagrams, which means that the eight characters of the bamboo craftsman are a mystery ,neither knows.

It is written in the Phoenix Book: "The heart of the sunflower is facing the sun, and the madder is green in the sky, the willows are facing the water, and the plum blossoms are fragrant."

It not only implicitly explained the relationship between Uncle Bamboo Carpenter and Liangzi, but also removed the radical from the first character, and it was Liangzi's birth year - "Guimao".

Literati are like this, they can play word games so well by themselves!Don't set difficulty for yourself, don't feel uncomfortable!

Continuing with the introduction of the customs, the parents of the man's side should take the "Sheng Geng Bazi" of the young men and women to "He Sheng Geng".

In fact, the parents of both parties knew about it before, and there are many jingles in the village.

It is similar to "rabbits and dogs have existed since ancient times, horses and sheep have a long life, rats and cattle are prosperous, cattle and pigs are happy, and dragons and chickens live longer."

Incompatible ones, such as "white horses are afraid of green oxen, once sheep and mice rest, snakes and tigers are cut like knives, dragons and rabbits exchange tears, golden roosters are afraid of jade dogs, pigs and monkeys do not reach their heads" and so on.

Generally, if the zodiac signs are not compatible, the parents will not agree to it at the beginning. This is a bad habit, which has broken up many good marriages.

When they are married and born Geng, there is no "communication", and the "horoscopes" of both men and women must be pressed under the incense burner of the shrine in the main room at home or placed in the pan of the shrine. If there is no family illness, chickens and ducks die, Breaking things and other dilapidated phenomena are regarded as auspicious marriages.

If everything is normal, then you have to "make a decision".Making a decision is also called "passing the ceremony", and it is an important symbol for a man and a woman to enter the stage of marriage.

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

The dowry should be auspicious, and the number should be double or single.

If the bride's family prepares a generous dowry when they get married, they will accept all the groom's gift and take a small part of it in return.

If the woman does not intend to accompany the rich dowry, most of the gifts will be returned to the man's family in the name of thanking the gift.

Also, 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 dowry gifts in the name of a wedding ceremony, so as to prepare for their daughter's future needs.

Some women's family conditions are not good, or they have to arrange marriages for their other children, or they may ask the man for a high bride price, all of which require the matchmaker to communicate in advance.

In short, on the day when the decision is made, the man prepares all the things "sent" by the woman's family, and specially invites someone to "carry the bag" and send them to the woman in a lively manner.

The person who carries the 篼 is not chosen randomly, and the words must be sharp. When they arrive at the woman's house, the rituals are placed on the table one by one, and the person who "carries the 篼" will say some auspicious words .

After the woman accepts the betrothal, the marriage is considered officially settled, and then the "application period" can begin, choosing a good and auspicious date, preparing for the wedding, and preparing to marry the girl into the door.

Ask for a date, that is, ask someone to tell the woman the date of marriage after determining the auspicious day, also known as "Jian Jianwen".For example, "Wen Ding Jue Xiang, build a boat as a beam, check for a good time, and forecast the Huatang. Gan Ming is hereby scheduled to get married on a certain day, month, and day in the lunar calendar."

After the woman received the period letter, if she agreed, she would reply with the "Zhi Jian Wen", such as "I have heard the elegant opinion, and I am happy to meet you. I respectfully present the cursive script and follow everything."

……

Things are easy to talk about but not easy to do. When I come to Uncle Bamboo Carpenter, I feel a little numb.First of all, there is no matchmaker, then there are no parents, and finally there are no relatives. The whole Yi San has no products. What should I do with this wedding? At the beginning, my mother was very worried.

Later, Li Junge had an idea to leave this professional matter to professionals, so he simply brought Granny Wang over and made up a red envelope as the invited matchmaker.

There is also a precedent for this. The two parties have already played with each other, and the two families only went to find a matchmaker. There is a professional term called "an matchmaker", which means that the two families are abiding by etiquette and follow the traditional custom of "the bright matchmaker is marrying".

As soon as Granny Wang came out, things seemed to become simpler. There were many elders in the village who were older than the bamboo strip craftsman uncle. If you find the closest one, the fourth grandpa will be the representative of the female elders, and Grandma Li Junge will be the representative of the male elders.

Then the man's family will be placed in the new house of the wooden building, and the woman's family will be placed in the old house of Uncle Bamboo Carpenter.

This is what is called an outline. Once these two important matters are implemented, the marriage can be arranged in a logical manner.

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

Grandma Wang patted her chest and said that she would do it well, and that Li Junge only needed to show off his stupid strength when the time came.

On the sixth day of the lunar new year, Li Junge left Lijiagou, and today he was going to accompany his mother back to her natal home, to Baimi Township by the Hongshui River.

(End of this chapter)