Wedding Customs
01 · Historical Records
The Tang dynasty poet Liu Yuxi, who was demoted to the prefect of Lianzhou during the Zhenguan era, once wrote the 'Song of the Moyao' (Moyao Ge): 'The Moyao grow up of themselves; their names are in no register.' At the wedding feasts held over three days, the groom and bride together return to the bride's natal home, commonly called 'hui mian' (returning to the maternal side); they return the same day and thereafter live their married life together.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Liannan Yao Autonomous County in Guangdong Province is the principal area of residence of the Pai Yao. The Pai Yao are a branch of the Yao people, named for their having lived mainly in the eight great stockaded settlements (pai) of Liannan — Youling, Nangang, Hengkeng, Junliao, Majian, Libadong, Huoshaoping, and Dazhang — during the Yuan and Ming periods. According to historical records and folk legends, the Yao migrated to Liannan more than a thousand years ago. 'Trading in the markets, they mingle with the shark-catchers; in marriage they consort with the timber merchants.' 'Their scattered dwellings claim the spring eyes; with fire-sticks they open the mountain ridges.' 'By night they cross streams a thousand ren deep; the sand-bearer cannot shoot them.' Thereafter, records of every subsequent dynasty contain accounts of Yao activity in Liannan. On this basis it is calculated that the Fang surname has been in Liannan for more than 1,100 years. Liannan Yao Autonomous County has a total population of 160,000, of whom as many as 82,000 are Yao. Yao marriage customs mainly comprise five processes: betrothal, recognizing the kinship, choosing the date, the wedding, and the return to the natal home. On the day of betrothal, the man's side prepares meat, wine, and the like, and the matchmaker delivers them to the woman's family to feast the inner relatives. After the betrothal, the man's side asks a 'xianshenggong' (ritual master) to choose a date and sends wine, meat, and the like as gifts for recognizing the kinship. The wedding date is set by the xianshenggong after consulting the Yao scriptures and the birth dates of both parties, and is mostly chosen between the sixteenth day of the tenth lunar month and the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. On the wedding day, the woman's family invites a xianshenggong to recite scriptures, praying to the ancestors for the giving away of the daughter. The bride, dressed in an embroidered floral skirt and carrying an evil-warding paper umbrella, is led out of the house by the groom's maternal uncle, with the bridal escort following behind. On reaching the entrance to the groom's village, the two sides send out singers to exchange antiphonal songs; only after several rounds can the party enter the village. Arriving at the groom's door, the xianshenggong recites scriptures to expel evil for the bride. Before entering the house, the bride first washes her face, then changes into the bridal attire of the groom's family, offers incense at the ancestral shrine, and then carries the washing water for the elders to wash their faces, recognizing each relative in turn. The dowry of a Pai Yao bride is rich and varied: embroidered wedding attire, 'dowry firewood' (the amount of firewood cut being an important measure of whether a girl is hardworking and capable of running a household), as well as draught cattle, fields, hills and forests, and various daily necessities. In the course of the wedding, people sing such songs as the 'Entering-the-Door Song', the 'Marrying-Out Song', the 'Escorting-the-Bride Song', and the 'Morality Song'. Their content is rich, reflecting from various aspects the productive activities, living customs, and religious beliefs of the Pai Yao, and expressing their thoughts, feelings, ideals, and wishes; they are an important vehicle of the traditional culture of the Eight-Pai Yao. For thousands of years, the history, culture, and customs of the Yao people have been transmitted orally from generation to generation through songs, stories, dances, and other forms.
Betrothal and kin recognition
At the betrothal the man sends meat and wine by a matchmaker to feast the bride's close kin; afterwards the day is fixed and gifts of recognition follow.
Fixing the date by the Yao books
The date is chosen by the officiant from the Yao books and the couple's birth data, usually between the sixteenth of the tenth and the twenty-eighth of the twelfth lunar months.
The bride leaves led by her uncle
The officiant prays to the ancestors for the marriage; the bride, in embroidered dress with a parasol, is led out by the groom's uncle.
Singing at the village gate
At the village gate singers from both sides exchange verses, and only after several rounds may the procession enter the settlement.
Washing, dressing and incense at the shrine
The bride is washed and dressed in the groom's family's style, offers incense at the shrine, then washes the elders' hands one by one in recognition of kin.
Firewood, cattle and fields as dowry
The dowry includes embroidered dress, a quantity of firewood by which a girl's diligence is judged, cattle, fields, woodland and household goods.
The entering song and the song of conduct
Songs sung through the wedding — entering, seeing off, escorting and moral songs — carry labour, custom and belief, and are a chief vehicle of local culture.
The return visits
Three days after the wedding the couple return to the bride's home, a visit that both sees kin and settles the new relationship.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Liannan Yao Autonomous County is the principal area of residence of the Pai Yao. The Pai Yao are a branch of the Yao people, named for their having lived mainly in the eight great stockaded settlements (pai) of Liannan — Youling, Nangang, Hengkeng, Junliao, Majian, Libadong, Huoshaoping, and Dazhang — during the Yuan and Ming periods; according to historical records and folk legends, the Yao migrated to Liannan more than a thousand years ago. According to the fairly complete Fang-surname genealogy of the Eight-Pai Yao kept today, they have lived in Liannan for fifty generations, meaning that the Fang surname has been in Liannan for more than 1,100 years. The county's population is about 160,000, of whom 82,000 are Yao, making it the Yao autonomous county with the highest population proportion in the mountain region of northern Guangdong. The Tang dynasty poet Liu Yuxi, who was demoted to the prefect of Lianzhou during the Zhenguan era, once wrote the 'Song of the Moyao'. Today the performance and singing of the marriage customs are mostly concentrated in the Eight-Pai area; intermarriage between the pai does not exclude distant kin; and the Fang-surname genealogy records the origins of each branch of the surname as well as the old practice, at wedding time, of asking the xianshenggong to consult the Yao scriptures to set the date.
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
According to the fairly complete Fang-surname genealogy of the Eight-Pai Yao kept today, they have lived in Liannan for fifty generations. Pai Yao marriage customs are a typical ethnic custom and a cultural landscape formed by the Eight-Pai Yao people over a long course of history, with broad popular participation and a basis in folk transmission. As an important component of the history and culture of the Yao people, Eight-Pai Yao marriage customs carry information on their ethnic origins, history, production and daily life, modes of labor, culture and art, and religious belief, and thus possess considerable value for ethnology, sociology, and folklore studies.
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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