Shangsha folk custom
Marrying a man and a woman is a life-long event. Before modern times, marriage between men and women was the fate of parents and the words of matchmakers. The bride and groom are strangers, just like passers-by A girl who wants to leave her parents and family and marry a stranger is reluctant to part with her family and uncertain about the future. The whole wedding custom in Shangsha Village is a reflection of this mentality.
When the girls in Shangsha Village reach the age of marriage, they will go to Majia to learn to sing "Crying Wedding Songs". Some girls have to live in a "hemp house". The so-called "hemp house" is the home of the elderly widow in the village. If you are married, you can't sing, or you can't sing well, that's very shameful.
Six to 12 days before marriage, the family should choose an auspicious day to build an attic at home, then build a wooden ladder, let the bride climb to the attic along the wooden ladder, and then take the wooden ladder away, so that the bride can never get down again before marriage. Accompanied by her unmarried sisters, she has been living in the attic. This ceremony is called "going to court" and is the first ceremony of the wedding. In the attic, the bride will sing farewell songs to her ancestors, parents, brothers and sisters, as well as domestic poultry and livestock such as chickens, ducks, pigs and dogs, and even mosquitoes, flies and insects. All relatives and friends who come to visit and congratulate will sing farewell songs. In order to express my reluctant feelings for my family and relatives.
On the morning of the wedding, the seven stars were still blinking in the sky. After seeing the bride off, she went to the attic to dress the bride, and called it "Shangtou". While dressing, the bride sang "Song of the Head": "Don't tie the cotton rope too tightly until I relax my fingers and smile; (It means that it will be more comfortable to tie the hair with a rope that is not too tight), and the teeth will be combed to the end, not knotted and then combed; (meaning to grow old together, don't stumble and remarry halfway), wearing a golden crown and colorful phoenix, five raindrops reflect jade. . . . . . "