In the past, I read the customs of Yunnan and Guizhou Yao and Dong records. Any marriage between a man and a woman usually consisted of playing the reed flute, singing and dancing, and planting bamboo as a symbol. The child would be born in the wild first, and then the wedding would be held. I think it's just a stereotype, but it's really not worth it. I just read "The Wedding Notes of the Chieftains of Yunnan and Guizhou" written by Mr. Chen Ding of Jiangyin, and it is very enviable. Let’s excerpt and briefly talk about it.
The ancestors of the chieftains of Yunnan and Guizhou were originally from the Jiu clan, and the Luo and Yu people recorded in "Zuo Zhuan" refer to them. Chu Kingdom destroyed the four kingdoms of Song, Cai, Luo, and Yu, captured their families, and exiled them to the south, thus becoming the four major Miao families. Each has his or her descendant, and men's crowning ceremony, marriage, funeral, sacrifice, clothing and food all adhere to the Zhou rites, and the Zhou Dynasty still uses the eleventh month of the lunar calendar as the beginning of the year. Later, the Yu brothers assisted Zhuge Liang and made great contributions to the plains. The elder brother ruled the eastern part of Yunnan, dropped the word "bird" and was renamed the Long family; the younger brother ruled the southern part of Yunnan, added the word "fan" and was renamed the "Fun" family, and both were knighted by the Shu Han Dynasty. Today, their mansion still has the scale of a royal family. Most of the four major families are related by marriage. With the eldest daughter as the queen ( matrilineal clan society ), the eldest daughter must be married with eight concubines to follow the ancient tradition of princes marrying nine daughters.
When Mr. Chen Ding was ten years old, he traveled to Yunnan with his uncle. The next year, his uncle died of illness, and he married his uncle Qian's concubine and Qian's brother Qian Boke to live in Yunnan. The situation was very embarrassing. Qian's accumulated wealth was less than a hundred taels of silver, so she asked her brother Qian Boke to start a business selling Fujian tobacco to earn a small amount of money to make ends meet. As a result, Qian Boke was able to associate with the chieftain surnamed Long. Chen Ding was young and intelligent. He was educated by the Qian family. At the age of fourteen, he was proficient in the imperial examination and studied ancient Chinese poetry. It happened that the imperial court issued an edict to change the eight-legged essay to policy theory. Although Yunnan people were old Confucian scholars, most of them did not know the genre of policy theory . When they heard that the boy Chen Ding was young and capable of writing, even the old Confucian with a bright head and thick eyebrows were willing to worship him. Studying under his disciple, he could earn hundreds of taels of silver every year, so his aunt Qian no longer had to worry about daily expenses. Chen Ding pretended to be from Yunnan and passed the provincial examination at the age of sixteen. At first, he was named Taixia, with the courtesy name Yu Ding. However, because the government discovered that his academic status had been revoked, the character Yu was removed, and he was only named after Ding, and therefore joined the army.
Initially, Qian Boke met the chieftain named Long because of his business, so he gave up doing business and let Chen Ding teach at the chieftain's home. The Long family loved talents very much. Because Chen Ding was young and talented, he betrothed his eldest daughter to him. When she got married at the age of seventeen, the dowry sent by the chieftain was comparable to that of a prince. The chieftain's daughter was three years younger than Chen Ding. Her name was Jihuan, also known as Youjun. She was beautiful and intelligent. She was proficient in Bo script (a minority language in southwest China) since she was a child. She was good at writing and painting. The eight concubines in the dowry were named Lan Fang, Zhen Gu, Zheng Zheng, Wan Xiang, Hui Xue, An Jie, Ruizhu and Qiong Tian. They were all of good looks. Either the daughter of a family with the surname Long; or from a good and wealthy family; or the daughter of a concubine. When a scholar-official in the Central Plains married his eldest daughter, he also married eight other people according to the ceremony. This was adding the etiquette of a royal minister to the princes.
Dragon Chieftain built a huge mansion for Chen Ding because of his poverty, and then held a wedding. The mansion has thirteen floors and is extremely beautiful. There are five houses on each of the ten floors in the middle, including the first door, the Yimen, the lobby, the second hall, and the third hall, all of which are bungalows. Behind it are the library building, the makeup building, the Tibetan building, the embroidery building, and the guard building. There are two wing rooms on each floor. Behind the three halls, there are five-story buildings on the left and right, each with three rooms and two wing rooms. Four concubines were placed on the left and right respectively. Each concubine had four maids and one old woman. The utensils are all made of red sandalwood , huanghuali , and I like the famous fragrances such as Yanshensu and Anxi. The daughters of local governors have the custom of foot-binding, but this is not the case among most people. It is extremely easy to bind feet. There is a herb in the mountains called "clematis". After boiling its rhizome and washing it for several days, it will become as thin as a crescent moon.
Women advocate wearing short clothes, only reaching the waist; skirts advocate pleated or two hundred pleats. Rich families often wear five layers, and daughters of poor families also wear two or three layers. The same goes for men. Their underwear and shorts are made of linen in both winter and summer.A virgin sleeps at night without taking off her clothes or taking a bath. She only takes a bath before getting married. After getting married, you should bathe once a day. After bathing, you must apply storax oil. Women from poor families use mutton fat , so their skin is like gelatin. Where the underwear and shorts meet, there are gold buttons, with more than a hundred buttons. The trouser cuffs and stockings are connected and tightly buckled. The buttons are round and flat, and poor people make them from lead and tin. The knot was only untied on the night of the wedding. After the knot was made, it was still fastened as before and was not untied until after the birth of the child. On the wedding day, ethnic minority music was played. Dozens of Miao girls, draped in red and colorful, beat Zhuge bronze drums and circled around the courtyard. Their singing was like orioles singing in the fragrant trees. It is really difficult to describe with words.
Tie a strand of red silk to the son-in-law's left arm, lead the silk into the room, tie a red thread to the bride's right arm, lead the bride out, cover her head with a brocade handkerchief, and the best man and bridesmaids praise each other at the side. After the ceremony, the best man and bridesmaid changed into their brocade clothes and danced, beat bronze drums , sang praises for the Miao people, invited the newlyweds to board the car, and the whole family cried to see them off. The mothers of the concubines also surrounded their daughters and boarded the car in tears. Arriving at the son-in-law's house, an old woman wearing a red dress opened the door of the sedan with a key, handed the red thread on the bride's arm to the groom, and led the bride out of the car; the maids helped the concubines out and embraced the bride into the new house; The couple bows to each other, and all the concubines follow the bride and salute; they sit on the ground and drink cups of wine, . The concubines also sit in rows, and the bride and groom each drink a cup and pass it to the concubines in order.
After drinking, the host beat the bronze drum, sang happy words, and sprinkled red beans to wish the couple a happy baby. After the music was played, the host led the groom to place the concubines; the old woman in red immediately closed the door, changed the bride's clothes and shoes, served fragrant soup, and bathed three times in total. The host leads the groom to place the concubines from the right side. Their custom advocates the right side, so they place them from the right side first. The maids help the concubines to pay homage to the groom, and the groom sits upright to receive two bows and thank her twice. The old woman offers the wine in the concubine’s cup and gives it to the groom to drink half. The concubine kneels down to drink the remaining half, and then gets up and bows again. With four bows, the maid helped the concubine enter the bed curtain, and the host led the groom to place the second concubine. The etiquette was the same as before. There are a total of eight concubines on the left and right. After they are arranged in order, the host leads the groom back to the main room to change clothes.
The host came out, the bride came out to welcome her, bowed four times to the groom, the groom responded with four bows, and they entered the bed curtains hand in hand. The concubines finished bathing, changed clothes, and came to the bed curtains together. They also bowed four times. After the bride and groom finished answering their greetings, they said goodbye and went back to their bedrooms. When the rooster crows, after dressing up, the concubines and concubines come to the bridal chamber to hand out tea to congratulate the bride, wait on the bride to dress up, and then follow the bride and groom to the door of the mother-in-law's room to hand out tea. The mother-in-law accepts the tea but does not receive it, and orders the maid to decline. The groom led the bride and concubines to bow down outside the bedroom door and then retreat. On the sixth day, music was played and a banquet was played in the back hall. The bride and groom worshiped heaven and earth, ancestors and the Kitchen God, and then visited mother-in-law, father-in-law and sister-in-law in turn; concubines and concubines followed the bride and saluted. The bride sat on one banquet in the south; the concubines sat on eight banquets in the east; the female relatives sat on four banquets in the west; the mother-in-law and sister-in-law were the hosts on the one banquet in the northwest.
The mother-in-law handed the cups and chopsticks to the bride, and the bride declined on her knees. After the sister-in-law answered the gift on her mother-in-law's behalf, the bride handed the cups and chopsticks to her mother-in-law, followed by the female relatives and sister-in-law. After drinking three cups, he left the table and changed his clothes. After drinking three more cups, the bride leads her concubines down to the hall. After paying homage, she follows her mother-in-law into the room, presents bed tents, quilt pillows, clothes, and jewelry to her mother-in-law, and waits for her to wash herself. After her mother-in-law goes to bed, she leads her concubines out. From then on, the bride must get up and wash herself every time the rooster crows, and lead all the concubines to her mother-in-law's door. If she is not awake, she will wait silently; when she wakes up, she will call the maids inside to open the door, put on clothes and shoes for her mother-in-law, and serve her. After freshening up and dressing up, breakfast was served. After the mother-in-law finished eating, the bride and others dared to leave. At noon, the concubines also served lunch. Every day, a concubine is arranged to serve the mother-in-law. She washes the bedpan, arranges quilts and pillows for her mother-in-law in the morning and evening, waits for her to sleep, and then leaves, this is the case every day. If a concubine becomes ill, she must take leave so that other concubines can continue to serve their mother-in-law.
In March, we respectfully invite you to set up a memorial tablet for the ancestors of the third generation. The couple will lead all the concubines to pay their respects.Then, a banquet is held, with male relatives arranged in the main hall and female relatives arranged in the back hall. The couple brings gifts to pay homage to the elders one by one. Everyone accepts the gifts and completes the marriage ceremony. In addition to the maid, there is also a nanny in each room, and the entire house is controlled by her. A "Shilao" (general manager) was also specially appointed, who was a middle-aged old woman with high reputation in the clan. She was hired to take charge of the affairs of the family, and everyone obeyed her command and did not dare to disobey orders. This person must be proficient in the Bo script and record everything at home to report to the woman's parents. He must have a very upright and strict temperament. When facing the bride, concubines, and all the maids, he will scold the bride, the concubines, and all the maids and others if they don't like it. Beating her with a cane, everyone who saw her was frightened. Each concubine and maidservant was left alone, and was not allowed to lie down in any direction. They were covered with quilts, and embroidered clothes were added on the outside. The four corners were pressed with copper beasts. Each copper beast weighed about two or three kilograms, as if to prevent them from tossing and turning; It is forbidden to get up to defecate after going to bed.
Candles were burning all night outside the bed curtains, and a maid was ordered to be on duty in front of the bed every night. The housekeeper would sneak in and monitor her from time to time. As soon as he heard the snoring, he would rush in, grab her hair and beat her. Every night at the second watch of the night, when the rooster crows, the housekeeper will hit the copper plate seven times, and the nuns in each house will also hit the copper plate in response, urging the women to get up. After washing, they all gathered in the main room to wait on the housewife to dress up. After finishing dressing up, they all went to greet their mother-in-law. Any person of high status who behaves improperly whether standing or sitting, who lies down or leans over, or who drinks alcohol and eats meat will be severely reprimanded by the boss of the house. The daughter-in-law usually cleans the bedpan, washes clothes, makes clothes and shoes, arranges quilts and pillows, and delivers food and drinks for her mother-in-law. She works for three days in a row after giving birth to a boy, two days in a row after giving birth to a girl, and only works for one day if she has not given birth. The shifts are arranged in order. There was no disorder at all, everything was presided over by the room elder.
Even housewives must participate in the work themselves and dare not rely on others. Only by asking for leave when sick can they be exempted from work. As for the master who wants to sit with his concubine, he must be allowed to sit on her couch; if he sits on a short stool, the master will definitely be whipped and severely punished when he learns of it. If a concubine offends her master, the elder will order her to take off her clothes and beat her severely on the spot. Therefore, no one in the family, concubines or maids dares to make a noise. They fear the elder just like the army fears the commander. It is a custom in the Miao territory of Yunnan and Guizhou that the parents-in-law dote on their son-in-law very much. Long Ma, the mother-in-law, came to Chen Ding's house in the old days. At first, Chen Ding personally welcomed her. Later, Long Ma came first once a month, and then two, three, or four or five times a month. When she came, she would definitely pay close attention to the features of her daughter and son-in-law, and would often Talk to the elder in private.
Chen Ding didn't know what they were talking about. He guessed based on the situation. It seemed that his son-in-law was young and had not yet learned how to be in love with his daughter. From time to time, she would quietly ask her daughter, but she would blush and bow her head without answering. After repeated questioning, she would not answer, so Long Ma would sigh and stomp away. Neither Chen Ding nor his aunt understood what he meant, they could only sigh in confusion. One day, Long Ma came to ask her daughter quietly again. When she didn't answer, she burst into tears. Her daughter had no choice but to whisper a few words. Long Ma was overjoyed. She stood up and touched Chen Ding's shoulder again and again, and left with a smile on her face. Chen Ding had a cousin named Qian, whose name was Qian Jie and whose courtesy name was Suyu. She was four years younger than Chen Ding and was the daughter of Qian Boke. He is also beautiful and intelligent, good at calligraphy, and can compose poetry. Especially good at short sentences. At first, when my aunt saw Long Ma and Shi Lao talking secretly, she didn't know what was going on and was very worried.
Qian Jie has lived in Miaojiang for a long time, and he understands everything they say, so he comforted his aunt: "You don't have to worry, there is nothing else. I know everything." His aunt asked again and again, but Qian Jie was too shy to say anything. It may be difficult to say. My aunt became increasingly worried and suspicious. Half a year later, they gradually became fluent in Han Miao language. Chen Ding asked his wife in private why his mother-in-law was in tears that day. Her daughter-in-law explained one by one, and it was just as Chen Ding expected. When Chen Ding was young, he was most timid and timid. I often heard that my uncle Qian Boke said that the four families of Dragon and Phoenix were very upright in the Miao ethnic group. Even if their own children raped servants and women, they would kill them without mercy, which made people feel even more horrified after hearing this. After getting married, I placed all my concubines, thinking that I would marry my biological daughter into my family. I have the way of being a master and should arrange all my concubines according to the etiquette.
The concubines and other concubines served me wine and food, and they thought they were all members of the same family. They treated me respectfully as a husband and son-in-law, and they did not dare to infringe on them in the slightest. Later, when I saw them serving their mother-in-law together with their housewives, I treated them as concubines. I also saw them living together with their housewives. If they were not humble people, when they saw their husbands, they would stand aside and not dare to sit down with their masters. The couple couldn't understand each other and had no way of asking questions. They seemed to have no idea who they were. Probably half of the concubines belong to the clan, half are selected from good families, and most of them are the daughters of retainers. Their age is centered around the bride, with the elder four years older and the younger four years younger. This is all following the etiquette of the Zhou Dynasty. The clothes and utensils they use are the same as those of the housewife, except that the housewife has a gold necklace and the earrings of the housewife are gold flowers. The other concubines have plain gold earrings. This is the only difference.
One night, Long Ma brought a banquet with flowers and candles, and ceremoniously set up curtains and quilts and pillows in the lower room. Concubine Lan came out to pay homage to her aunt, then paid homage to Chen Ding, his wife, the elders, and others, and finally paid homage to Long Ma. , each served three glasses of wine, and then returned to the lower room. In the evening, Long Ma left, and the bride took two lamps and candles and led Chen Ding to sleep in the lower room. Chen Ding laughed and asked, "What are you doing?" The bride replied, "The family tradition is that if a woman is infertile for half a year after marriage, she will have her concubine stay with her in the hope of giving birth to a son soon. I have been serving you for half a year now. Sister Lan lives in Elder, you should let her come into the house to serve you first. My mother specially sent flowers and candles. Besides, local custom requires that a man must have a child within one year, otherwise it will be detrimental to the continuation of the bloodline. Not pregnant.”
From then on, Lan Fang would definitely stay with Chen Ding for two days and leave as soon as the rooster crows. Could this be what is said in " Book of Songs " "covering the stars and wearing the moon, going back and forth"? Two months passed, and Lan Fang was not pregnant. Long Ma came again as before, bringing flowers, candles, wine and food, and sent Aunt Zhen in to stay with her. Everything was just like Lan Fang's etiquette. More than a month later, the housewife and her two concubines became pregnant. After she became pregnant, the elder of the house no longer arranged for her to serve her mother-in-law on duty, and there were strict prohibitions. Probably the most taboo thing for babies in the Miao border is pox, and only one or two of them survive. Pox is easily contagious, and even strong men will not get sick if they come into contact with it, and if infected, they will definitely die. Often because of a baby pox, the disaster spreads throughout the village, leaving no one alive. Therefore, once you are pregnant, you are forbidden to have contact with men, and the baby will never be born with chickenpox. Therefore, large families have elders who are responsible for their affairs; small families are closely monitored by the mother-in-law.
Whenever a woman becomes pregnant one night, a red line will appear faintly between her eyebrows the next morning. Women from wealthy families must visit their elders every morning. The elders will know at a glance and say: "You are pregnant." Immediately let her know. She moved to the bed and slept alone, and had to lock the door at night. The elders of the house were on guard day and night, and did not dare to be negligent. She did not dare to lift the guard until the fetus was mature in seven months, because this was not only related to the family. Mother Long was overjoyed because all three women were pregnant. She prepared a banquet with flowers and candles in turn, and sent six concubines, Zheng Zheng, Wan Xiang, Hui Xue, An Jie, Ruizhu, and Qiong Tian, into the house to serve her son-in-law, and then she left with peace of mind. Among the eight concubines, only Wanxiang looked very similar to the housewife. Chen Ding often mistook her for his wife and would often hold her hand and talk to her. Wanxiang would tactfully reproach her each time: "I am not a wife, please respect yourself." ." People laughed.
One day, the daughter-in-law played with Chen Ding, put a gold necklace around Wanxiang's neck, and asked her to enter the inner room. Chen Ding was sitting on the couch, thinking that Wanxiang was his wife, holding her hand and talking to her, Wanxiang Chen Ding was deeply surprised as he stumbled out like a startled dragon. However, his wife entered the house without a gold necklace around her neck. Chen Ding thought she was Wanxiang and asked the lady where she was going. The wife smiled and said, "Who is the lady?" Sitting on the couch with her husband, Chen Ding I was deeply surprised, thinking that concubines never dared to sit next to their masters. Soon, Wanxiang came in, took off the gold necklace she was wearing and put it on the housewife's neck. She looked back at Chen Ding and sneered, "Return to your husband, my wife." The whole room burst into laughter.Generally speaking, there are many similarities between the peaks and ridges in the Miao Mountains, so the faces of the people are also similar. This is not the case only for the housewife and Wanxiang. It is a pity that Chen Ding's wife Long died of dystocia at the age of seventeen.
Chen Ding’s second wife is his cousin Qian Jie. At first, Qian Jie and Long were the most in love with each other. When Chen Ding went on a trip, Qian Jie and Long lived together, sleeping on big pillows and hugging each other, just like sisters. When Long was on his deathbed, he told his parents that he would give Qian Jie all his clothes, treasures, and everything in the house. He also told her, "I hope my parents will treat her as their own child, so as to comfort their loved ones, and the child can rest in peace." ." After her death, Qian Jie felt the most sorrowful.
Seeing her true love, Lady Long's wife happily recognized her as her goddaughter, married her to Chen Ding, and gave her a dowry that was more generous than her biological daughter. There was a concubine named Ruizhu who was very beautiful and beautiful. Qian Jie personally taught her calligraphy and painting, and made her familiar with the nine-chapter counting method, so that she could predict solar and lunar eclipses without any mistakes. Soon, Chen Ding went north, just as Wu Sangui started a rebellion, and was blocked from returning home immediately. Qian Jie died of illness soon due to worries and depression. Within a year, Ruizhu also died.
The story recorded by Chen Ding is very long. I only excerpted roughly 40-50% of it.
Li Chengzi's comments: I used to read records in the series of books that talented and beautiful people met and catered to each other, or were entrusted to gods, or entrusted to the Dragon Palace, or even entrusted to ghosts and monsters in their dreams. They were probably nothing more than fables like "Zhuangzi" and "Liezi", not necessarily It is true. The so-called "Zi Zi" is a fiction. This is just a temporary statement. Now when I read the stories recorded by Mr. Chen Ding, I find that although he came from Miao territory, his rich dowry, graceful etiquette, and comfortable clothing and daily life are rare even when compared to aristocratic families.
Moreover, the Long family and the eight concubines were harmonious and not jealous of each other. They were good at teasing and joking in the boudoir. Just as Zhang Chang of the Han Dynasty said: "There are more fun things in the boudoir than thrush." And Chen Ding continued to marry his second wife. To get Qian Jie, the encounter is not without prosperity. Life is like this, even if I exchange it for the throne, I wouldn't want to! It's a pity that Chen Ding was uninformed and separated easily, which eventually broke up the happy marriage again. The two beauties withered and died one after another. Could it be that the beauty was too rich and the scholarly life was too thin to bear it?
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Translated from an
article in "The Foreign History of Lan Tiao Guan" [Excerpt from "The Wedding of the Chieftain"]
