The word newlywed yan'er is now used as a newlywed greeting, describing the meaning of the newlywed couple's joy and has the meaning of blessing.
But in fact, in the very beginning, the newlywed Yan'er wrote "Yan'er Newlywed", which originally meant that a little sister was abandoned by a man, and then watched her man marry a new daughter-in-law, from the Book of Poetry:
Who is bitter? It's as sweet as a tree. Feast on the new faint, like a brother like a brother.
This is a song sung by a little sister, writing a story that husband and wife can share hardships and cannot share happiness, and to put it bluntly, men become bad when they have money.
She said that when I married you, you were as poor as a dog, I was a big girl, I did not abandon you, still with you, thinking back to us at that time, we also had a mountain alliance and sea oath, and we also loved each other.
Although the days are hard, we all have a heart that is not willing to be salted fish, and later through the joint efforts of our husband and wife, the little days have become a little better. Who knows that you, the bastard, have changed your mind and want to marry other women, and that's all, they punched and kicked me and drove me out of the house, and I can only watch you welcome the bride at the door, and the two of them are as good as brothers.
Here, "feast" means wedding banquet, "Er" means you, and the new marriage of Yan'er means that you have a big wedding banquet.
Later, in the process of spreading, some false errors occurred, because the feast and Yan were homophonous, which became "Yan'er's new marriage".
In the famous Yuan Dynasty Miscellaneous Residence "The Book of the West Chamber", there is such a sentence:
"Cha newlywed, Cai Yan'er, came here for the name of merit."
The word is also mentioned in "Dream of the Red Chamber":
"It's really a pair of fiery dry firewood, like glue throwing paint, Yan'er newly married, and it can be opened there for days."
You see, the context of both places is to describe the newlywed, like glue like paint.
So, why is it "swallow"?
Not only because of the harmonic sound, but also because the swallow is an auspicious bird, the swallow mud nests under the eaves of the human roof, has children, since ancient times, the swallow has the meaning of home, at the same time, the swallow in the legend, is also a symbol of fertility.
The original meaning of "swallow" refers to the bird, that is, the swallow, and the swallow takes the meaning of an as an extension. Swallows with their mouths to mud, very delicate nest under the eaves of people's houses, the wind can not blow, the rain can not be broken, and then they have children, hard work, so the swallow is a symbol of settling down and caring for the family, so many words related to "swallow" have a beautiful image.
Therefore, people have replaced the original miserable "new marriage of Yan'er" with "newlywed Yan'er", and the new marriage should have been a happy event, so why should they be willing to make it tearful?
This is also a kind of sustenance of the romantic ancients for the good!