Chapter 1337 Getting on the Sedan
From the end of the Qing Dynasty to the end of the Republic of China, our Chinese society has always been in a very contradictory and wonderful state.
Due to the national crisis caused by industrial backwardness and the decline of national self-confidence, it is difficult to believe that our five thousand years of cultural heritage is valuable. Some people even go so far as to completely deny everything about us.
But in terms of daily life and life etiquette, people have a certain stubborn insistence on traditions and habits, otherwise they will become at a loss.
In general, the new trend has emerged, but the old habits have not receded, the old and the new alternate, and they are mixed and tolerated.
Therefore, in the real social environment of the Republic of China for decades, those who dared to be the first in the world and fully westernized, and those who were content to stay behind others and still persist in tradition, were in the minority.
This is the mystery of social psychology.
The same is true when it is specifically projected into the wedding ceremony, which is one of the major events in life - it is too trendy and I dare not try it. It's so outdated and I'm afraid of being laughed at.
So, the wedding format that combines the old and the new, neither new nor old, came into being.
This kind of wedding style that combines the old and the new is not immune even to celebrities.
Despite the fact that the famous ladies turned to pursue the Western lifestyle in those days, many people also wore trendy white wedding dresses when they got married.
However, just as the Japanese still cannot completely give up on shrine weddings, they still have a deep-seated obsession with "Fengguanxiapei".
It was like the wedding between Mr. Sun of the Ma family, the richest man in the capital, and the daughter of the mayor of Peking.
Although the banquet was held at a hotel in Beijing, the ceremony was also a Western-style wedding.
But the bride who took the car to wear a wedding dress still took off her white wedding dress after completing the ceremony at the Beijing Hotel, put on a bright red traditional Kyrgyzstan dress, and covered her head with a hijab.
Witnessed by almost all the respectable people in the capital at that time, he was carried away in public by eight sedans. Starting from the capital hotel, with drums and music playing, he was swaggeringly carried through the city into Ma's Garden.
Another example is Lin Huiyin, a famous lady. When she married Liang Sicheng, she insisted on wearing traditional Chinese clothes even though she was in a foreign land.
Xiapei can be omitted, but the phoenix crown must be included!
Lin Huiyin thought about it and decided that if foreign countries didn’t have the conditions, he would design it himself.
Although the final finished phoenix crown has long lost half of the "shadow" of the ancient phoenix crown, it was paired with Liang Sicheng's Western-style dress and became one of the most unique and elegant Chinese wedding dresses of that era.
Therefore, in fact, as early as the Republic of China, we have learned to adapt etiquette to the situation.
The so-called traditional Chinese wedding has experienced a collision with Western culture. Just like the changes in customs in past dynasties, it has gradually changed into a different look since the Republic of China.
The Chinese bride’s phoenix crown and harem are not inconsistent with the Western-style groom’s Western-style dress.
Even this situation is the same in today's Chinese society.
In the era of reform and opening up in our country, after the door to the outside world was opened to the outside world.
In fact, the cultural mentality of young people in the mid-1980s is quite similar to that of people during the Republic of China to some extent.
Specifically when it comes to wedding ceremonies, people have consciously begun the process of simplifying and complexizing and restoring traditional elegance.
Brides in Beijing often have to wear a wedding dress to take a wedding photo, and they still have to wear red clothes to entertain guests when they get married.
On the other hand, the groom is much more relaxed and often only needs to wear a suit from beginning to end.
As for today’s wedding between Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko, it was almost the same.
In order not to show signs of twilight, but to be happy.
Not only in terms of clothing, today Ning Weimin did not wear a long robe or mandarin jacket, but only wore a black tunic suit to match Matsumoto Keiko's traditional Chinese Jifu.
Even when it came to the wedding procedures, they also assessed the situation and did not have to keep things as they were. They acted completely according to the old etiquette of the past.
Like following pure old etiquette, a standard traditional wedding is actually such a process.
First of all, the bride must be picked up in a sedan chair.
Early in the morning, when the sedan was brought, it had to be unveiled at the door of the master's house.
Two yellow-painted benches were set up, and the sedan chair was propped up and placed on it for people to watch.
And there is more than one sedan chair.
Like movies showing old-time bride-to-be marriage, there is often only one sedan shown. In fact, that is wrong, just one sedan is not enough!
It goes without saying that the bride must have an eight-carrying or four-carrying red sedan chair, and the marrying wife and the bride-to-be wife must also have a four-carrying or two-carrying green sedan chair.
Along with the sedan chair were various deacons.
There are two people each holding umbrellas and fans, four people holding flags, and several people playing gongs, drums, suonas, and trumpets.
So the eight drums, ten flags, a pair of lamps, a pair of umbrellas, a pair of dragons, a pair of phoenixes, the golden-clawed ax and the heavenly stirrups, the avoidance cards, the path-opening gongs, etc., are all together. Leave it at the door of your husband's house.
When almost all the guests have arrived, they start to ring in the room and send out sedan chairs.
It is carried by the head of the sedan chair, and the sound of the sedan chair is the sound of drums and music, which are beaten in the wedding room.
After he is ready, the man will find Quanheren'er, that is, a wife to marry, and then send off the sedan chair after ringing in the house.
Usually departure is no later than ten o'clock, and picking up the bride cannot be later than twelve noon.
Also, when the sedan arrives, the woman has to call the door. When the woman knows that the sedan is coming, she closes the door. This implies that the man is proposing.
At this time, as the man getting married, he has to "please" others, saying whatever is pleasant.
You have to stuff "Hong Feng'er" one by one into the door. When the door is filled with red seals, the door will be opened when the red seals are satisfied and given enough.
After opening the door, the wedding wife and the bride-to-be wife met first.
There is only one place where snacks and tea are provided for people receiving relatives, but they usually just don’t eat.
After that, the newlyweds get on the sedan.
At this time, in addition to the trumpeter starting to play "A Hundred Birds Pay Attention to the Phoenix", the bride should cover her head and hold a porcelain vase filled with five-color grain in her arms to show peace and prosperity.
The sedan has to be carried into the yard, the sedan curtains are opened, and the door of the bride's room is directly closed to prevent the bride from seeing a ray of skylight outside.
When the bride was supported by the bride to sit on the sedan, the bride herself got into the green sedan, and the groom also got on the horse. The bride's two brothers had to follow him, one on the left and the other on the right of the sedan.
The so-called "pressing the sedan chair" means to prevent the sedan chair from going too fast and to allow the bride to sit firmly in the sedan chair.
There are also specialties in carrying a sedan chair.
In addition to everyone knowing that you have to walk in the middle of the road even if you are playing and beating, the front bearer also needs a conductor - the head of the sedan chair.
The head of the sedan is the first one. For example, if there is a pit on the left, it is called the left pit, and the following people will know that there is a pit on the left.
I had to shout in my head, but later I realized that the steps of the bearers in front and behind were the same.
It will definitely not work if you step forward with your left leg and step behind with your right leg.
For example, in the movie "Red Sorghum" that Jiang Wen will take on next year, he plays the role of Yu Zhan'ao, who is the head of the sedan chair.
He deliberately teased the bride by rocking the sedan chair, causing Jiuerhuang, played by Gong Li, to vomit. He was using his "authority" to cause trouble.
Of course, it was also because Jiu'er had no brothers from her mother's family to accompany the sedan chair that she was bullied by the bearers.
Otherwise, my brothers would have to follow the sedan and lend ten courage to the sedan bearers, but they would not dare to do this.
And when a group of people arrived at the groom’s house playing music, the sedan fell flat. After entering the courtyard, the curtain of the sedan was not opened. The groom drew his bow and fired an arrow at the sedan to shoot away the demons and ghosts. Open the sedan curtain and let the bride get down.
However, after the bride came out, she was still covered with a veil. With the support of the wedding wife and the bride-to-be wife, she crossed the brazier and the saddle.
The brazier means red and hot, and the saddle means safe and sound, both of which are homophones.
After entering, there is also the custom of sitting in the tent, sitting on the bed or kang, drinking a cup of wine first, and then eating cakes and longevity noodles.
There must be children outside shouting, "Is there a baby or not?" and then the hijab can be removed.
After that, the couple worships heaven and earth, relatives and friends. This is the so-called worship hall.
First worship the ancestors, then worship the parents, then worship the matchmaker, all of them have been worshiped, and now the ceremony is complete.
This is the process for the wedding day.
As shown in some movies and TV shows, the bride’s hijab has to wait until the wedding at night before the husband can take it off.
I'm afraid that was an extremely long-standing feudal society, let alone modern society, and it couldn't be used in modern society at all.
Because as long as you think about it, you will know how anti-human and how unscientific it is.
Not to mention whether the groom can suppress his anxiety, nor whether the bride is depressed. Let's just say that marriage was originally a marriage between two families, and the purpose of all the complicated ceremonies was to tell the world that the man had married an innocent wife.
How could the bride not be allowed to meet her relatives and friends?
Don't let the servants at home recognize your appearance?
If this is the case, and there is no part of being strict about one's conduct in front of relatives and friends in court, how many troubles will be caused?
All the relatives and friends who came to congratulate the bride couldn’t even see her face, so wasn’t the wedding ceremony all in vain?
How do people know who you married? Is it a man or a woman? Is it a human or a ghost?
Even the concubines are not so shameless.
So otherwise, just because of the changes of the times, the social situation is very different from the past.
Even with sufficient financial support, these old etiquette and particularities must be changed according to the actual situation.
How can those vulgar customs that are feudal, inelegant, undignified, and unrealistic remain conservative?
If you don’t know how to adapt and copy everything, it will be unsightly and even become a joke, lowering the level of the wedding.
For example, let’s take this wedding reception. Nowadays, the main road is a road for cars. Is it possible to go through the middle of the main road?
Then the traffic police should ask questions.
The Pierre Cardin Hotel is far outside Jianguomen.
Let the team that picks up the bride carry the sedan and the guard of honor, and just say that the traffic police are not looking for trouble, and these people will be exhausted.
It’s simply impossible.
Of course the bride will suffer even more when she sits on the sedan chair. Even if no one praises her, she might end up like Jiu'er in "Red Sorghum".
Therefore, although there are steps of lighting up the sedan chair and getting on the sedan chair, they are very close.
After the convoy that picked up the bride drove out of the alley, the sedan and the guard of honor were brought to the alley by people from Yunyuan.
After the convoy picks up the people, the wedding car convoy will stop on the street outside the alley.
Then the customary move only started from the entrance of the alley, and the motorcade followed the procession of sedan chairs. This was an expedient move and a change made based on the actual situation.
When it comes to sending off the bride, according to old rules, the bride’s parents do not go to the groom’s house to join in the fun.
When sending off the sedan chair, the groom will give a banquet to his father-in-law, called "Li Niang Rice", and let them stay at his home to eat.
How is this possible?
Don’t say that Ning Weimin invited Matsumoto Keiko’s parents all the way from Japan to watch the ceremony.
Even if locals in the capital get married, no one does that nowadays. It’s so unkind.
Who is not born and raised by his parents? There is no reason why one's parents would be absent from a major life event.
There are also brides who cry when they go out, indicating that they are nostalgic for their parents and do not want to get married.
If someone wanted to do this in reality, it would be even more embarrassing, as if the man was some kind of villain who bullies men and dominates women.
In addition, locking the bride away after the ceremony is considered to be "making trouble".
In line with the principle of "nothing big or small for three days", some of them are really noisy and can make the bride unable to cry, laugh, anxious or annoyed.
How could Keiko Matsumoto, a Japanese bride, cope with this?
Ning Weimin would not give others the opportunity to tease his wife, and his father-in-law and mother-in-law would not agree. Of course, such a step must be avoided.
How else to put it, is it important to keep pace with the times?
How else to put it, everything is not static?
This is why.
So actually, on this day, Ning Weimin went to pick up his bride, not only with a large bouquet of flowers.
In the wedding room on the 18th floor of the Pierre Cardon Hotel, only the etiquette of calling the door and stuffing a red seal were retained.
Franc, pound, dollar, yen, renminbi, foreign exchange certificate.
Ning Weimin picked up the biggest banknotes and stuffed them with six red envelopes, stuffed them into the house, bribed the children of Song Huagui and Zou Guodong's family, and opened the door easily.
When she went downstairs and got into the car, the bride did not cover her head.
Surrounded by everyone, I went downstairs holding a bouquet and wearing a beautiful Jifu. In the eyes of many envious eyes, I and Ning Weimin got on the Mercedes-Benz head of the wedding convoy, and even passed by Tiananmen Square. When we arrived at Nanchizi, we went around the Forbidden City from Beihai to Jingshan Gate, and after a long circle, we arrived in front of Weijia Hutong Gate.
And true traditional etiquette only starts here.
This time it was different. Not only did Matsumoto Keiko wear a red hijab in the car, but she also did not touch the ground when she got into the sedan. Amidst the cheers and cheers, Ning Weimin gave her a hard Carrying a sedan chair.
When the bearer came up, closed the sedan door, and mounted the roof, the sedan was almost completely dark for Matsumoto Keiko.
The Japanese director Yutaka Osawa and the cameraman, who were already ready at this time, had actually already started shooting.
Afterwards, as the song "A Hundred Birds Pay Attention to the Phoenix" was played, a sedan chair and a guard of honor started, followed by a motorcade.
Even the crew, the wedding team, and the ordinary people who were watching all headed towards the gate of Yunyuan together.
That’s a lot of excitement.
However, it must be said that such a scene is indeed worth seeing.
The sedan that the newlyweds sit in was originally a sedan that was first and foremost.
The one Matsumoto Keiko is sitting on must be a new one. It is colorful and vivid.
Some of the four corners have four flower baskets hung on them, and some have four long tassels hung on them.
Although the eight bearers carrying the sedan were not professionals, they had practiced and their feet were quite accurate for this short distance.
Take four fingers in one step, and the left and right legs are in sync, as if shouting "one, two, one".
This sedan chair is also carried securely.
Of course there are some trembling tricks, but all I can see is regular slow rippling up and down, and absolutely no tilting left or right.
The professional folk band musicians in the guard of honor also began to show their talents.
Four pairs of golden drums beat, "dong dong".
As well as the "croak" sound along the edge of the drum, you can really hear the inside.
There are two gongs in charge of "beating the butler", one in front of the other, "head flag, slow down, the lights behind, keep up."
Although there is no real experience , but it also maintained its appearance.
With this posture and pomp, is it airy or not?
So, in the past, no matter how poor a family was, it was an inevitable right for a girl to sit in a sedan chair when she left the court.
This is a once in a lifetime trip.
Only such a magnificent sedan chair and the sound of gongs and drums can be called a grand wedding.
Otherwise, when the couple had a quarrel, the woman would make her husband angry, and he would always hold back such a sentence in the end.
"I am also the one who brought me here in your eight-carriage sedan chair!"
As soon as he said this, it was almost a fatal blow. No matter how arrogant the man was, he had no choice but to admit it.
And just when the sedan chair arrived about ten meters in front of Yunyuan Gate.
Hearing the sound of "crack, crackle, crackle", you can see the fire and smoke, and ten whips are set off at the same time. That's an amazing momentum.
At the same time, among the many envious eyes and the clamor of astonished exclamations.
The trembling sedan chair walked up the steps through the smoke and fog, passed through the gate of Yunyuan, and was carried inside.
And then came the moment that best reflected the enthusiasm of the guests.
Just outside the theater to the east of Yunyuan, the groom Ning Weimin opened the curtain of the stopped sedan. From the moment the bride Keiko Matsumoto got off the sedan wearing a red hijab, many people were already waiting. Amidst the cheers of welcome from relatives and friends, confetti suddenly flew up and fell from the sky.
The groom, the bride, the two "wives" who were getting married and seeing off the bride were all enveloped in it regardless of each other.
Almost everyone has "joy" in them.
Joy flows lively in the Yunyuan and in front of the theater, and joy spreads in people's laughter and laughter.
At this time, a group of white pigeons raised by someone unknown, like an uninvited band, were hovering in the clear sky directly above the yard for fun, and the sound of pigeon whistles was heard.
Crisp, loud, exciting...