Ancient wedding traditions in different provinces of China differed significantly from each other. This is due to the multinationality of the Celestial Empire. But we can highlight several of the most common and well-established customs. Want to know what weddings are like in China? Svadebka.ws will help you with this.
Chinese matchmaking
A Chinese wedding is not complete without matchmakers. According to ancient custom, the matchmaking ritual includes the following steps:
- The groom's father sends matchmakers to the bride's parents. According to tradition, the groom must give the bride a goose as a gift, as a symbol of the marriage proposal. If the answer is yes, then the matchmakers again go to the girl’s house with gifts, and in return receive information about the bride.
- The Chinese have always paid a lot of attention to horoscopes, fortune telling and numerology. Therefore, based on the information received, a favorable day for the wedding was calculated. It is believed that it is better to choose an even number, which means double happiness.
- The groom must pay a bride price. As a ransom, you need to bring money, sweets and wine to the girl’s house. In return, the bride must give clothes to the groom's relatives.
- The last stage of matchmaking is agreeing on the wedding date and all related issues.
Is it possible for a Chinese citizen to marry a foreigner?
Love knows no boundaries, so marriages between representatives of different countries and nationalities are not uncommon. However, in modern states, specific requirements have been formed for the institution of marriage, and therefore, in order to legitimize a union with a foreigner, the following rules will have to be observed:
- reach marriageable age (for example, you can marry a Chinese citizen no earlier than 20 years old);
- prove voluntary marriage, absence of selfish reasons and violence;
- undergo a medical examination.
It is necessary to confirm that the groom (bride) is not married to another person, and also does not have mental disabilities.
If all the requirements are met, you can begin to prepare a package of documents for marriage with a foreigner.
What documents to prepare
If the marriage takes place on the territory of the Russian Federation, then before submitting an application to the registry office, future newlyweds must prepare the following documents:
- the foreign fiancé prepares a foreign passport and a translation of the document into Russian certified by the consulate (or notary);
- both parties issue certificates stating that they are not married to other people;
- if necessary, you must obtain permission to enter into an alliance at the consulate;
- certificate of divorce or death of the former spouse of the bride and groom, if any;
- documents confirming the legality of residence of a foreigner on the territory of the Russian Federation;
- in some cases you will have to issue a certificate of no criminal record;
- if a foreign fiancé has a child and came to Russia with him, he must present documents for the child and the mother’s permission for his departure to the registry office;
- You will need a receipt for payment of the state duty.
Foreign certificates and documents are translated into Russian. If the marriage is planned to be concluded on the territory of another state, the list of documents will be approximately the same, only they will have to be translated into a foreign language and contacted by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The main document for the registry office is an application for marriage registration. A sample can be found on the Internet or taken from the registry office.
How marriage is legalized in the CIS
Legalization of a marriage certificate is necessary for stamping a passport, changing a surname, registering joint children, and obtaining citizenship by one of the spouses.
If the marriage was concluded on the territory of the CIS, documents on registration of the union are recognized without any problems, that is, according to a simplified scheme. The technique involves affixing a special stamp - an apostille - on the marriage certificate.
Legalizing marriage on a general basis is more difficult. To do this, you will need to provide the following documents to the Russian consulate located in the country of registration of relations:
- an application that can be taken at the consulate or printed;
- foreign and internal passport;
- Marriage certificate;
- receipt for payment of state duty.
The specialist takes the documents for review and sets a date for the next visit. The procedure may take a long time. In addition, under certain circumstances, marriage legalization may be refused.
Chinese style wedding: features of traditional preparation
Previously, in addition to traditional wedding chores, a Chinese bride had to perform several rituals. It was believed that the bride needed to cry before the wedding so that she would not have to shed tears in her married life. This ritual is combined with saying goodbye to family and friends. It should not be confused with a bachelorette party, which is inherent in European wedding traditions. After all, this is a very sad and touching ceremony. On the eve of the celebration, it was necessary to carry out the ceremony of bathing the bride. Healing herbal decoctions and grapefruit juice were added to the water. This ritual symbolizes cleansing from evil spirits.
According to an ancient tradition, the girl removed all hair from her face - completely plucked her eyebrows and eyelashes. This symbolizes renewal before starting a new life.
On the wedding day, a sign with a hieroglyph that means happiness is hung at the entrance to the bride’s house. And at the entrance to the groom’s house there should be a double hieroglyph, since with the appearance of his wife he will become doubly happier. By the way, this custom is still popular today.
Chinese wedding traditions
Chinese wedding customs and rituals
Marriage in China is inextricably linked with astrology and religion. From time immemorial, the horoscopes of the betrothed are carefully studied for successful compatibility, and the fate of the future family is calculated in advance. Similar Chinese wedding traditions are still observed today, but there are already changes in the costumes of the newlyweds. Young people allow themselves to add white colors to their formal attire.
How is matchmaking done in China?
Such a pre-wedding event as matchmaking is carried out by the parents of the spouses. Moreover, polite and punctual Chinese prefer to communicate their intentions in special letters. Such correspondence between families contains other important information. In it, the groom's relatives turn to astrologers, present them with the dates of birth of the prospective bride and groom and, according to the stars, compile a list of numbers for the upcoming celebration suitable for betrothal. The bride's family, in turn, studies this list and chooses a convenient wedding date. Young people can be engaged long before they come of age, and the wedding is scheduled when they reach the required age.
To guarantee the consent of the bride, the young groom presents her family with a kind of ransom, usually consisting of a certain amount of money and a set of favorite delicacies of the Chinese people: good wine, baked chicken, expensive sweets and other sweets. A popular drink in China, black or green oolong tea is also on the list of wedding gifts for the bride. The symbolic consent of the girl and her family is reciprocal gifts of various kinds, for example, elements of national clothing, accessories, delicacies. This two-way gifting of families marks the beginning of preparations for the wedding.
Preparing for a Chinese wedding
Before the wedding ceremony, the bride should spend some time in solitude to grieve for her lost girlhood. Usually the girl moves to separate apartments. Chinese customs require that the bride be saddened by the imminent separation from her family and her father's home. Therefore, a crowd of girlfriends comes for the young beauty, and the girls set off to wander together and sing tragic, drawn-out songs, yearning for their lost friend.
At the same time, the groom is systematically preparing the ceremony and improving the housing for the future family.
A Chinese bride should look luxurious at her own wedding. Before the ceremony, the girl carefully tidies up her appearance. A mandatory ritual is taking a bath with incense and essential oils that have special meaning in this country. The magical effect of ablution is accompanied by the fumigation of the room with candles with symbolic images of spirits in the form of a fire-breathing dragon and a phoenix bird.
In such exciting pre-wedding preparations, the bride usually acquires an assistant, who is a married relative who has been in a happy and fruitful marriage for many years. A respectable woman helps the newlywed to put on a formal outfit, puts her hair into a complex high hairstyle, talks with her, shares her experience, blesses her with prayers, and predicts the birth of healthy children.
An interesting ritual is the emergence of a dressed bride from her hiding place. The assistant carries the richly dressed bride to her waiting parents on her own back. In the room below, the girl is waiting for special wedding shoes - red shoes. The young beauty must hide her face under a veil and bow respectfully before the portraits of relatives, which are usually hung on the walls in the living room. Next, the whole family anxiously awaits the arrival of the groom with his numerous relatives and friends.
Bride's attire
According to the tradition of a Chinese wedding, the bride should be dressed very brightly, provocatively, using national symbols in her outfit. Instead of a dress, the girl wears a red robe or kimono with ties made of shiny silk, embroidered with precious stones or dazzling pearls. On the surface of the fabric there are fanciful drawings of mythical animals and plants that have special meaning. A scarlet wedding suit is carefully kept in the family for the rest of its life.
The decoration of the bride's head is no less impressive than the rich decoration. As a rule, this is a luxurious red crown with fur balls, coins, bird feathers and other unusual decor. A mandatory attribute is a dark fabric that hides the face. The groom is allowed to open the veil only after all the wedding rituals, at the end of the celebration.
In Chinese wedding traditions, the girl dresses up in three different costumes during the ceremony. The ceremony is opened by the newlywed in a sad white outfit, followed by an outfit of calm pastel color. And the event ends with a spectacular scarlet kimono, as a symbol of the onset of a happy and joyful family life.
Newlyweds moving to husband's house
The holiday of the young spouses is held in the house of the betrothed. The moving of the bride is a grandiose and beautiful spectacle, during which a dressed girl sits on a special, skillfully decorated stretcher or palanquin. The festive bier is surrounded on all sides by garlands to protect the bride from an unpleasant encounter with bad signs that predict trouble: cats or widowed women.
The magnificent cortege is accompanied by enthusiastic spectators who shower the stretcher with symbolic signs of love, happiness and fertility: coins, grains of rice. The bride's cortege advances to the cannonade of fireworks and roaring cannons, signifying the victory of good over evil and evil spirits.
A scarlet carpet is laid out in front of the groom's house so that the girl can shake off dirt and dust from her feet before entering her new life. In her hands the young bride holds a bronze mirror, from which, according to legend, a sacred ray of light emerges, illuminating family life.
wedding feast
A Chinese wedding is closely intertwined with the religious foundations of the people. The newlyweds thank the gods of fertility, love, moon and sun for the sacred union of hearts at a specially installed altar. It is also necessary to honor everyone present with a low bow. It is customary to decorate relatives, friends and loved ones with an iconic hieroglyph design that means “double happiness.” So that guests can touch the joy of lovers, they should attach the symbol to their clothes or weave it into their hair.
The feast opens with the ritual of young people drinking wine from a special bowl. Before the ceremony, the hands of the newlyweds are tied with a scarlet scarf, a symbol of unbreakable bonds. Then the young people take a place on the pedestal and begin to accept congratulations. The invitees present the newlyweds with rich gifts, sums of money in red envelopes.
According to the tradition of a Chinese wedding, the bride and groom ceremoniously go around all the tables with the guests, thank them for the visit, offer them a taste of the food, and drink to the health of the young family. Usually on wedding tables in China you can find national savory snacks, light wine, rice vodka, exotic fruits, and sweets. Guests are entertained by cheerful presenters, whose arsenal includes jokes, fun, competitions and karaoke songs.
Marriage bed
Arrangement of the family bed is an important part of the event, which is carried out by happy spouses with many children. Before the first wedding night, a child or children are supposed to lie on the bed in order to convey to the young family the power of fertility, motherhood and fatherhood. On the marriage bed, assistants lay out lotus seeds, nuts and fruits - symbols of the future wealth and well-being of the family.
Bride's outfit in China
Chinese wedding attire deserves special attention. In China, red is considered a symbol of love and happiness. According to tradition, the bride should be dressed in a red silk robe, decorated with embroidery, beads and pearls. The dress is embroidered with flowers, as well as images of a dragon and a phoenix. These are sacred animals that symbolize man and woman.
Chinese wedding traditions require a special headdress for the girl. This is a large phoenix crown, decorated with beads, traditional medallions, bird feathers and pom poms. But all this beauty, along with the bride’s face, is hidden behind a thick red veil.
Considering the peculiarities of modern weddings, such a headdress is used less and less. Today, Chinese brides can afford to wear a modern dress to their wedding, but many still prefer red dresses, since white is traditionally considered a symbol of mourning.
Matching
Marriage in Ancient China was very far from sensuality and romanticism. The Chinese considered it indecent to identify such an important matter with frivolous love. In some cases and with the happiest combination of circumstances, benefit and sympathy could actually coincide. However, the main driving forces that were supposed to connect two people were the will of the parents, duty and family interests.
For the ancient Chinese, a wedding is a kind of ritual that was recognized to enlarge the family and strengthen its ties. The head of the family (father), with the assistance of numerous relatives, must decide which son marries and with whom. Such an important decision was made only after the deceased ancestors gave the go-ahead. For this purpose, sacrifices and other rituals were carried out.
Traditional wedding ceremony
According to tradition, the groom takes the bride from her house and takes her to his. At the same time, the wedding procession does not stop anywhere and is accompanied by explosions of crackers and fireworks. Loud noises are believed to drive away evil spirits.
A wedding consists of three rites:
- Worship.
- Unity of cups.
- Tea ceremony.
At the beginning, the couple performs a ritual of worship. They need to kneel three times, bowing to the earth and sky, parents and elders of the family, and then to each other.
The Union of Cups is a ceremony during which the newlyweds drink special wine from cups tied with a scarlet ribbon. The newlyweds take a few sips and then exchange cups.
A Chinese-style wedding is not complete without a tea ceremony, during which the bride treats the groom's relatives to traditional tea. In return, they give her gifts or money in a red envelope.
Summarize
A Russian-Chinese wedding is truly a stunning spectacle. The unity of traditions and customs of the two peoples makes the holiday unusual and spectacular; a wedding in China promises unforgettable emotions for Russians.
According to statistics, a marriage between a Chinese man and a Russian woman lasts longer than a marriage with a Chinese woman. The difference in nations and customs brings partners together and makes them interesting to each other. The main difficulty in such a relationship is said to be learning a foreign language.
Bureaucratic difficulties are only a temporary stage. You can complete the documents without any obstacles if you follow the law and do everything on time.
Hair and makeup
Chinese style wedding hairstyle is characterized by modesty and maximum simplicity. This is hair gathered into a knot and tied at the back of the head or crown. They decorate their hair with flowers, silk ribbons, strings of pearls, various pendants, tiaras, and voluminous headdresses.
Traditional Chinese bride makeup should include a pale porcelain complexion, which can be achieved using layers of moisturizer and brightening foundation. Chinese eye makeup makes extensive use of eyeliner to visually lengthen the shape of the eye. In China, two lip makeup options are popular: either natural translucent colors are used, or lipstick in a classic rich red shade.
How to choose a wedding date?
An important condition for holding a wedding celebration is the right day. Using the astrological lunar calendar, a favorable time for a wedding is calculated, which will strengthen the connection. Often, couples in love have to wait several years for their cherished day. It is worth noting that they choose not only a specific day, but also the ideal time for marriage. It was believed that the union would be successful and prosperous if the marriage was registered in the second half of the hour, when the clock hands tended upward.
