Traditional marriage customs of the Han nationality

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: traditional marriage custom of Han nationality (Doumen water marriage custom)

Applicant: Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province

Project No.: 1005

Project No.: Ⅹ - 98

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Guangdong Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province

Protection unit: Zhuhai Doumen District Cultural Center (Zhuhai Doumen District Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center)

Introduction to the traditional marriage custom of the Han nationality (Doumen water marriage custom)

Applicant: Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province

The traditional marriage custom of the Han nationality has a long history. In the book of rites, Hunyi, it is said that "husband's ceremony begins with the crown, originates from Hun, is more important than funeral, respects chaopin, and shoots at the hometown. This ceremony is generally the same." For thousands of years, Han wedding has been regarded as an important part of Confucian "ceremony". Since the Zhou Dynasty, "six rites" (lottery, name asking, auspiciousness, levy, invitation and greeting) have become a kind of normative custom, and played an important role in the marriage life of the whole feudal society. After entering modern times, with the change of society, the traditional "six rites" fundamentally disappeared, but in some areas there are still "six rites" customs and other traditional marriage customs, which provide extremely valuable information for the study of folklore and sociology.

Doumen District, Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province is located in the southwest of the Pearl River Delta. It is a famous water town and overseas Chinese town in China. There is a unique water marriage custom popular in Doumen, which has a history of hundreds of years. Some of the customs radiate to Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Foshan and other Pearl River Delta water areas through marriage relationship.

The main contents include "sitting in the high hall", "sitting on the top", "sighing for my sister", "greeting with a flower boat", "paying homage to the hall", "returning to the door", etc. The whole wedding custom is closely related to the living environment of local residents, in which the contents of "greeting the bride with a flower boat", worshiping "the Duke of the boat" and "the Dragon King of the sea" all have the characteristics of "water". Shatin folk songs play an indispensable role in the marriage customs on water and become an integral part of the whole marriage customs.

Doumen water marriage shows a unique water style, which deepens the local people's sense of cultural identity, and then becomes a spiritual bond to maintain the hometown of overseas Chinese and Hong Kong and Macao compatriots. At present, due to the impact of Western wedding ceremony, Doumen water marriage is facing the danger of change or even disappear, which needs urgent rescue and protection.