(Original) Things about weddings in rural areas of northern Shaanxi

In the winter of 1999, on a warm and sunny day, I got engaged to my beloved husband.

There is a custom in the rural areas of northern Shaanxi that it is "grabbing" at the engagement banquet. As long as the woman's family has eaten the meal at the engagement banquet of the groom's family and received some betrothal money from the real sex, it is considered "grabbing the blame". . You can ask the groom's family to solemnly ask Mr. Dong Feng Shui to "specify an auspicious day for the wedding." At that time, my husband and I stayed in the village until we went out to do business. Naturally, we have to follow the rules left by the wise ancestors step by step.

So in 2000, my husband and I held a lively and unforgettable wedding in the village. ? In those years, weddings in rural areas in northern Shaanxi were mostly held in the courtyard of one's own cave dwelling. Relatives and friends nearby came to congratulate. I would come to my mother-in-law's house during the day and go back to each other's houses at night, while relatives who were far away would stay for a few days. I clearly remember that when there were the most relatives and friends who were far away, more than ten people could squeeze into the earthen kang of a cave dwelling. (They are all their own relatives) They will go home after the wedding ceremony.

My husband and I held our wedding in the first month of the year. Although the weather has warmed up a bit, the truly warm spring is far from coming to this cold mountain village in northern Shaanxi. People were still wearing three layers inside and three outside, tightly wrapped in thick cotton jackets and trousers.

But I am very grateful to God for the great gift to me! The Sun that day was also very caring for me. In the blue sky, there were occasionally a few white cotton-like clouds floating freely in the vast sky. The golden Sun next to me showed a sweet smile. Smile and send us full blessings. And spread golden light to the earth. The warmth shines on all the men, women, old and young who gathered in Shangjiagou Village.

At this moment, both sides of the small road in Shangjiagou Village were crowded with wedding teams watching the excitement of getting married. The suona team walked at the front, and the air was filled with the suona sounds of beautiful and beautiful love songs from northern Shaanxi (You have to hold my hand, hey, I want to kiss your mouth...). Behind them were the welcoming and seeing-off teams, as well as the Yangko team temporarily organized by the village and relatives. Those lovely villagers and enthusiastic relatives and friends of my husband’s family crowded around and squeezed my husband and I tightly into the middle of the crowd. They pushed my husband for a while, and then pushed me again.

Suddenly I was in the Yangko dancing team and discovered (I heard from people in the village that my father-in-law particularly liked Yangko dancing. Although he was illiterate, he was a top-notch eloquent performer in Northern Shaanxi and sang it well without drafting. . ) My dear mother-in-law was followed by my father-in-law, who had been fond of performing Yangko since childhood. Although she usually seems to be taciturn, my mother-in-law, who has a reserved personality, walks with a smile on her face. She takes two steps forward and takes one step back. What’s even more interesting is that the mother-in-law’s face is smeared with red ink, and her face covered with wrinkles from work seems to have two red apples embedded in it (this is a custom in northern Shaanxi, which is both a bridal chamber and a nuisance for the mother-in-law and father-in-law). It’s to make everyone happy. A lively group of people staggered into the courtyard of the mother-in-law's cave dwelling.

When I welcomed my new daughter-in-law into the cave, my mother-in-law put two bright red hairpins on my head, which I thought was very strange at the time. Explanation: A pair of red hair cards on the head: It means that the two newlyweds will live prosperously and grow old together in love. At that time, my mother-in-law and I were surrounded by people watching the bustling scene. We had just finished taking the hairpins, and my mother-in-law's hands were shaking slightly under the tension and excitement. Then she slowly reached into her own pocket with her right hand and took out the hairpin. What the Liu family considers to be their heirlooms (a few silver coins) are handed over to me, their daughter-in-law. At that moment, I seemed to see from my mother-in-law's joyful eyes that she was full of infinite trust and expectation for me, and all the love she could give to her son was all contained in her firm eyes at this moment. When I was young at that time, I secretly thought, wow! My mother-in-law’s eyes are so powerful! Haha, with such a lively wedding, the happy life of two young people begins!

With the changes of the times and the progress of society. Nowadays, most of the younger generation of rural people in northern Shaanxi have lived in big cities for a long time, so naturally they hold their weddings in cities. But there are also many young people who will go back to the village before and after the Spring Festival, gather relatives and friends in the courtyard of their cave dwellings, and hold a rural wedding that is exclusive to us in rural northern Shaanxi.

There are more and more rural weddings among the new generation, and many civilized, happy and amusing games continue to be passed down from generation to generation.

Although many years have passed since these happy things happened, the beautiful memories are always a happy and endless slender river that accompanies me through every bumpy road in life. Nourishes every living cell in my heart, allowing me to carry these happy blessings with me, always optimistic and open-minded, and steadily hold the sail of my happy life in this ups and downs of the world's rivers!

The rural wedding ceremony in northern Shaanxi has been passed down from generation to generation, and future generations are still reluctant to throw it away because it truly contains a lot of great wisdom in life. It reflects the hard-working, honest and simple villagers in northern Shaanxi's beautiful yearning for a happy life, and they face their own life with an open-minded, optimistic and sunny attitude. And the crystallization of the wisdom of being a human being who values ​​affection and justice in dealing with others.