Wedding Customs
01 · Historical Records
According to the Jingning She Autonomous County Gazetteer and the 'Tangchao Yuanhuang Nanquanshan Qianju Jianzao Huimingsi Baoshui Kaiken' (Record of Moving from Nanquan Mountain in the Yuanhuang Era of the Tang Dynasty to Build Huiming Temple, Declaring Taxes, and Opening the Land), preserved at Huiming Temple in Jingning County (the original is kept by Lan Yutang of Chimushan Village, Jingning), She people had already migrated to live in Jingning as early as the second year of the Yongtai era of the Tang dynasty (766). After the She migrated into Zhejiang, most of them lived in mountain areas closed to transport, maintaining their distinctive modes of production and way of life; She marriage customs are one of the characteristic elements of that culture and have been transmitted continuously since the She moved into Zhejiang in the Tang dynasty. In 1924, Shen Zuogan recorded the She marriage rituals, antiphonal singing, and related practices in great detail in his 'Survey of the She People of Kuocang' (Kuocang Shemin Diaochaji); these customs are still transmitted locally today.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
She marriage customs are traditional wedding customs formed by the She people over a long course of life and through their interaction with the Han people. Jingning She Autonomous County in Zhejiang Province is the only She autonomous county in China. The She practice monogamy, and marriage is permitted between distant relatives sharing the same surname. In most cases marriages are brought about through a matchmaker, but some young men and women also come to know and love each other during antiphonal singing and pledge themselves to each other for life. There are four main forms of She marriage: the woman marrying into the man's family, the man marrying into the woman's family, the 'two-headed household' (zuo liangtou jia), and the 'son's-wife kinship' (zixi yuanqin), of which the woman marrying into the man's family is the most common. When the woman marries into the man's family, the process generally passes through such stages as matchmaking (xiangqin), betrothal (dingqin), sending glutinous rice, choosing the in-laws, choosing the best man (xinglang), delivering the betrothal gifts, blocking the road (lanlu), borrowing the pot (jieguo), killing the chicken, urging wine, and antiphonal singing. Of these, the procedures of blocking the road, borrowing the pot, killing the chicken, urging wine, and antiphonal singing are the most distinctive. In the road-blocking segment, when the party escorting the bride nears the gate of the bride's house, the bride's aunts and maternal aunts bring fir branches to block the road; on the one hand this demands that the escorting party set off large quantities of firecrackers, and on the other it signals that antiphonal singing must certainly take place that evening. Borrowing the pot is necessary because the man's side feasts the bride's guests that evening, so the woman's family's cooking utensils must be borrowed to hold the banquet; the woman's side deliberately hides the utensils and requires the groom's attendant (chilang) to recite riddle verses until all the utensils have been borrowed. When killing the chicken, the groom's attendant (chilang) must slaughter it as an offering to the ancestors; while holding the knife he must not let the chicken's blood drip onto the ground, and the bride's young women deliberately bump into him as he kills the chicken, after which he is penalized by being made to drink wine. Antiphonal singing takes place at the table or in the evening, with the bride's maids (chiniang) and the groom's attendants (chilang) singing to each other until the bride rises from her seat.
Four forms of marriage
There are four ways: the man moving to the woman's house, the woman moving to the man's, sharing between two houses, and marriage to a sister-in-law.
The sequence of the customary marriage
The sequence runs from matchmaking and betrothal through gifts of sticky rice, choosing the matchmakers, the road blocks, borrowing the pots, killing the chicken and the songs.
Presenting sticky rice
Sticky rice sent after betrothal is a weighty gift, carried in loads; the receiving women count it before their eyes as the promise of a date.
Blocking the road for a song
As the party nears the gate, the women of the house bar the way with fir branches, demanding firecrackers and promising a song contest that night.
Borrowing the cooking pots
The pots are hidden until the groom's men can riddle them all out, and the laughter settles the match as the feast is laid.
The groom's man kills the chicken
The groom's man kills the chicken for the ancestors and must not let a drop of blood fall; the girls jostle him and fine him with drink.
The singing of the bride's and groom's women
The women and men of the two sides sing to each other through the evening, and the bride does not rise while the singing continues.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Jingning She Autonomous County is the only She autonomous county in China, and She marriage customs are preserved there most completely. The She practice monogamy, and marriage is permitted between distant relatives sharing the same surname, which differs from the marriage restrictions of the surrounding Han villages; most marriages are brought about through a matchmaker, while some young men and women also come to know and love each other during antiphonal singing and pledge themselves to each other for life. There are four main forms of marriage: the woman marrying into the man's family, the man marrying into the woman's family, the 'two-headed household', and the 'son's-wife kinship', of which the woman marrying into the man's family is the most common. According to the Jingning She Autonomous County Gazetteer and the 'Tangchao Yuanhuang Nanquanshan Qianju Jianzao Huimingsi Baoshui Kaiken' preserved at Huiming Temple in Jingning County, She people had already migrated to Jingning as early as the second year of the Yongtai era of the Tang dynasty (766); after the She moved into Zhejiang, most of them lived in mountain areas closed to transport, and marriage customs became one of the characteristic elements of their culture. Shen Zuogan's 1924 'Survey of the She People of Kuocang' recorded the details of She wedding rituals and antiphonal singing one by one, and the various observances he set down that year can still be matched one by one in weddings in Jingning today. Folk song and dance are integrated within the marriage customs; Lan Yugen, for instance, was especially skilled at presiding over She weddings and 'merit-making' (zuo gongde) rites, and also guided the filming of the special feature 'A She Wedding'.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Wedding Customs · Wedding Customs · Wedding Customs · Wedding Customs · Wedding Customs · Wedding Customs · Wedding Customs · Wedding Customs · Wedding Customs · Wedding Customs.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
She marriage customs are transmitted by the community as a whole, and many of the customary activities carry a strong mythological coloring. They are a special textbook through which the She people can understand and study the history of their own ethnicity, and a vehicle for transmitting ethnic culture and strengthening family unity and social harmony; the ethics, folk customs, and aesthetic ideals they express provide precious material for research in anthropology, folklore studies, and art studies. Lan Yugen (per the official records of the associated inheritor): Male, She ethnicity, born in May 1939, from Jingning She Autonomous County, Zhejiang Province. As he grew up, he became especially skilled at presiding over She weddings and 'merit-making' (zuo gongde) rites. He has mastered every procedure of She marriage customs and has actively participated in and directed She wedding performances, She folk song competitions, She dance competitions, and other activities. He compiled the folk songs within She marriage customs into a volume and recorded documentaries of She dance; he was in charge of guiding the filming of the special feature 'A She Wedding'. He is a representative inheritor of the Marriage Customs (She Marriage Customs) project in the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. He has devoted himself to passing on the relevant rites, observances, songs, and dances of She weddings and has trained a number of disciples.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Anfucheng 04-1986
- Mojinghai 05-3058
- Lan Yugen 05-3059
- Lei Qisong
- Wu Yumei
- Fang Weihua
- Guojinglin
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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