The reasons why Chinese bride cry before marriage for a month
As Christianity has never been a major religion in China, and in China 90% of people define themselves as not having any religion; traditional Chinese weddings follow a very different format to what we’re accustomed to in America.
Although Chinese weddings have
gradually begun to assimilate with Western weddings, there are still some key
cultural differences and traditions that stand.
The brides have to cry everyday for an
hour for a month before their wedding. Other female relatives join in as well.
Crying for the Tujia people in China means the welcoming of a good marriage or
event.
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According to elderly
people, every bride had to cry at the wedding . Otherwise, the bride's
neighbors would look down upon her as a poorly cultivated girl and she would
become the laughingstock of the village. In fact, there were cases in which the
bride was beaten by her mother for not crying at the wedding ceremony.
During the Warring
States Period (475-221BC), as historical records reveal, the princess of the
Zhao State was married to the Yan State to be a queen. Her mother, on the point
of her daughter's departure, cried at her feet and asked her to return home as
soon as possible. Later, the story was alluded to as the origin of the
"crying marriage" custom.
In
west Sichuan Province, the custom is called "Zuo Tang (Sitting in the
Hall)". Usually, the bride begins to cry a month before the wedding day.
As the night falls, the bride walks inside the hall and weeps for about an
hour. Ten days later, her mother joins her, crying together with her.; Another
ten days later, the grandmother joins the daughter and mother, to cry together
with them. The sisters and aunts of the bride, if she has any, also have to
join the crying.
The bride may cry in
different ways with diversified words, which was also called "Crying
Marriage Song"; the somewhat exaggerated singing helps to enhance the
wedding atmosphere. In a word, crying at wedding is a way by custom to set off
the happiness of the wedding via falsely sorrowful words. However, in the
arranged marriages of the old days of China, there were indeed quite a lot of
brides who cried over their unsatisfactory marriage and even their miserable
life.
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There are a few Chinese traditions and customs we’d like to look at:
Red is a significant colour for the Chinese. You’ll see it at every
Chinese New Year and it also features heavily on all holidays and family
gatherings. Red symbolises many things including good luck, joy, fertility,
love and boldness.
A traditional Chinese wedding dress will also be red. While Western
brides wear white, in China it’s associated with funerals though this is
changing and today many Chinese brides will wear white.
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A bride’s failure to shed tears is considered a sign of poor breeding, and could result in the harsh judgment of her community. The ritual was most popular during the early 17th century, though it’s still practiced by many Tujia families today.
You don't need to be surprised when you hear anything about China. That makes China so special in this world.