What are the underworld marriages in history?
Cao Chong’s Underworld Marriage
The more famous underworld marriage in history was conducted by Cao Cao for his son Cao Chong who died early. According to the "Three Kingdoms·Book of Wei·Biography of Prince Wu Wenshi" (Volume 20), Cao Chong, the son of Cao Cao, "was thirteen years old and fell ill in the thirteenth year of Jian'an. Taizu personally asked for his life. When he died, he was deeply saddened. Emperor Wen gave a generous metaphor to Taizu, Taizu He said: "This is my misfortune, but it is your good fortune." He shed tears, and in order to hire the dead daughter of the Zhen family to be buried together, he gave the captain of the cavalry a seal and ordered Marquis Wan to follow his son Cong to the rear [4]. , Cao Cao hired a woman named Zhen who died young to be his daughter-in-law.
Cao Chong was born to Cao Cao and Mrs. Huan. Cao Chong was very smart and a genius. When he was five or six years old, Sun Quan, the emperor of Wu, gave an elephant to Cao Cao. Cao Cao wanted to know how much the elephant weighed, but he asked many ministers but couldn't think of a way to weigh it. Cao Chong said, "Put it on a big elephant ship, carve the water mark on it, weigh the object to carry it, and you will know." Such a talented son died at an early age. No wonder Cao Cao was deeply saddened by his death, and he also To arrange a ghost marriage for him.
The rise of ghost marriage is related to Cao Cao's doting on his children. But there is also a folk saying that if the deceased unmarried person is not "married", the home will be haunted and the family will be uneasy. Therefore, in ancient times when superstition was prevalent, underworld marriages were generally recognized by the people and became "legal marriages", and the two families of the tomb owners also became "in-laws".
Tang Dynasty
During the Tang Dynasty, underworld marriages also existed widely, and this situation was reflected in the fantasy novels of the time. The story of "Wang Yi" in "Guang Yi Zhi" written by Zai Fu in the Tang Dynasty is this. A man named Wang Yi once passed by the gate of Li's Village because he was going to the market. He saw a girl of fifteen or sixteen years old from a distance, and the girl also saw him. The two were interested, so the girl asked her maid to send a message to Wang Yi, asking him to stay at the village for the night. The two met each other in the middle of the night, and after some flirting, the girl suddenly felt sick and a little absent-minded.
Wang Yi asked what happened. It turned out that the girl climbed over the wall to have a tryst. When climbing over the wall, her foot was pierced by the climbing teeth at the corner of the wall, causing unbearable pain. When the girl left, she said, "It seems that I won't survive. If you really have feelings for me, come and see my grave when you pass by in the future to comfort my soul." After Wang Yi returned from his official career, he passed by Li's Village At that time, I heard that the girl was really dead. So he went to the girl's grave with his former maid in private to offer sacrifices, feeling very sad. After a while, the girl came out of the tomb. At this time, Wang Yi fell to the ground and died suddenly. The maid saw that Wang Yi's soul had entered the grave hand in hand with the girl, so the two families entered into a ghost marriage.
Southern Song Dynasty
According to "Yesterday's Dream Record" written by Kang Shuwen of the Southern Song Dynasty, this custom was also very popular among the people in the north during the Song Dynasty. The matchmakers ask for each other, and they are called ghost matchmakers. Each family member prays for the divination according to their parents' instructions, and the man is in Mingyi. According to "Yuan Shi·Lienv Zhuan 1" (Volume 200), there is a record of Dongping. Yang, a woman from Xucheng, was known for her filial piety. After her husband Guo San went to serve in the army, she stayed to serve her parents-in-law. In the sixth year of the Yuan Dynasty (AD 1269), Yang's mother forced her daughter to remarry, and she shed tears. He swore not to obey. After the husband's body was sent back to his hometown, the father-in-law considered that his daughter-in-law would definitely remarry in the future and his son would be a bachelor in the underworld, so he planned to ask someone to find a dead woman to bury his son with. After hearing this, Yang became even more sad, went on a hunger strike for five days, and finally hanged herself. This shows the influence of ghost marriage in the people of the Yuan Dynasty.
"Ghost marriage" was also very popular during the Republic of China. Many wealthy and powerful families would arrange this kind of ghost marriage for those who died early. I once talked about the feng shui of Chiang Kai-shek's ancestral graves, and I also learned during the interview that Chiang Kai-shek's family had a secret marriage. His younger brother also had a "shadow marriage".
This is a little-known "marriage" of the Chiang family. To talk about it, Chiang Kai-shek's father's name is Jiang Zhaocong. There are three sons: Jiang Jieqing, Jiang Ruiyuan, and Jiang Ruiqing. The Jiang Ruiyuan here is Chiang Kai-shek, that is to say, Chiang Kai-shek is the half-brother of Chiang Kai-shek, who was born to the first wife of Chiang Kai-shek’s father, Jiang Zhaocong. Jiang Ruiqing was born to Wang Caiyu, Chiang Kai-shek's biological mother and Chiang Zhaocong's third wife. Jiang Ruiqing was smarter, more talented than Chiang Kai-shek, and very lovable. Mentioning this younger brother, "He (Jiang Ruiqing) ranks at the bottom of my brother's behavior, but his talent is so outstanding that none of his brothers can match it. "
Wang Caiyu naturally loved his youngest son very much, but unfortunately, Jiang Ruiqing did not have a blessed life and died of illness before he reached adulthood.
Chiang Kai-shek also had great affection for his younger brother and personally wrote a memorial for him. The brotherly love was beyond words. Jiang Ruiqing's death caused a great mental shock to Wang. She was extremely sad and fell ill soon after. As a traditional Chinese mother, Wang felt very sorry for her youngest son and failed to bring him up. So Wang did what she could and arranged a "ghost marriage" for her younger son: she found a girl named Wang who also died early, buried her with her younger son, and married him as a "daughter-in-law." Later, the Wang family adopted Jiang Jingguo as a son under Jiang Ruiqing's family, giving Jiang Ruiqing a "descendant". When the bride and groom are ready, the matchmaker prepares wine and fruit at the tomb to offer sacrifices for the marriage. "
Zhuang marriage customs
are spread in the Mashan and Shanglin areas of western Guangxi. "Lingbiao Jiman" once recorded: "The local custom of Longshan (today's Mashan), Zi After the death, if the family is uneasy, a female corpse of the same age is chosen and buried together with her, which means that the son will find a mate and will no longer trouble the family. At this time, relatives and friends will congratulate you. The male and female families are also related by marriage and are united as relatives. This is called a 'ghost marriage'. "
It is said that in the past, there was a man in a certain family who was of marriageable age (usually thirteen or fourteen years old or above) and died without marrying a wife. After his death, disasters continued to occur in the family. The witch and fairy thought that the ghost of the deceased was causing trouble. The parents were asked to find a daughter-in-law in the underworld, so they found a female corpse of the same age who died unmarried. The two families agreed to send some gifts and money to prepare a banquet for the girl's family, and to send someone to move the female corpse to the male corpse's grave on a certain day for burial together. During the process of delivering the woman's body, a Taoist priest led the way. The mourners did not cry but played music. The scene was like a wedding, which was very grand.