In our traditional Chinese wedding, the bride wears a red wedding dress, symbolizing good luck. However, for a long time in ancient times, women's wedding dresses were not big red. Shouldn't the wedding ceremony of marriage be wearing a red wedding dress?
In fact, in the Tang and Song dynasties, the groom wore a red wedding dress to represent a noble status in the family, and the bride wore a turquoise wedding dress to represent elegance and virtuousness, and such a wedding dress was very popular in the Song Dynasty. Men's clothing is crimson, women's clothing is green, and the so-called red men and green women also come from this.
Until the Ming Dynasty, women generally wore red wedding dresses, and the custom of men and women wearing red has been passed down to the present, so many people have the impression that marriage is a big red.
Stills from "Do You Know If It Should Be Green Fat Red Skinny"
"Tokyo Dream" is an ancient documentary that depicts the urban style and social life of Kaifeng Province, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty. The work recreates the details of people's marriages at that time. The details of the couple's big wedding are very exquisite. On the day of the marriage, the man will use a car or palanquin to bring the groomsmen and a group of helpers to the woman's door. The woman came out to greet him, handed the man a piece of colored silk, and then the groom began to recite the hypnotic poem outside the bride's window, and the chanting alone was inevitably boring, so there were musicians around to play joy, indicating that the bride could leave. After three or four turns, the bride got on the palanquin, but the sedan drivers did not lift the palanquin in vain, and they had to give a red envelope to get up. This red envelope also has a name called "eaves".
When the large team arrived at the door of the man's house, after the bride got out of the car, there was a witch holding a big bucket, which was filled with dried fruits and snacks, and recited some auspicious words in her mouth, and then began to sprinkle dried fruits and snacks for the children to eat. This link is called "sprinkling grain beans". The Northern Song Dynasty folk believe that the green sheep is unlucky, so after the bride comes down from the flower palanquin, her feet cannot step on the ground, and she must take a piece of green cloth and other things to pad under her feet. Arrange for a person to hold a mirror in front of the bride and step backwards into the door, while guiding the bride across the saddle into the door.
After entering the door, let the bride come to the hall where the drapery is hung and sit down, which is called "sitting in the false tent". Then the groom sent the woman away, and went to the door to quickly drink three bowls of wine and came back, which is called "walking and sending". After the guests who came to congratulate him had three drinks, the groom official put on his dress, planted flowers on his head, sat on a chair in the middle hall, and toasted to the matchmaker in turn, the male female elders toasted, and finally the mother-in-law toasted. After drinking, the groom's official could get up and go to see the bride.
The groom asks the bride to come out, at which time the man takes out a piece of colored silk and makes a concentric knot with the piece of colored silk that the woman gave to the man at the beginning, forming a "scarf". The two stood opposite each other, the groom exiting the house upside down, followed by the bride with a scarf. Come to the ancestral hall to pay your respects. After the ceremony, the bride withdrew first, and the groom followed. After the two sides have performed rituals and salutes, they can sit on the bed. The bride sits down facing left, the bride sits down facing right, and then the bride throws copper coins, dried fruits, and sugar cubes on the bed and on the ground, which is called "scattering the tent."
In addition, when the bride got married, she held a tuan fan in order to cover up her true appearance and not let the groom's official see it. The second is to ward off evil spirits. In the Song Dynasty, tuan fan was the most important tool at that time.
It is not difficult to see that the Song Dynasty was not only a dynasty that pursued a sense of refinement, but also a dynasty with a sense of ceremony.