The scope of marriage for the Mulao people is not limited to their own ethnic group, but they can intermarry with the surrounding Han and Zhuang ethnic groups. However, the Mulao people do not intermarry with people of the same surname, but people of the same surname but different "Dong" can usually intermarry. Intermarriage within other clans is "0" and is not tolerated by clan rules. "Dong" was originally a basic social unit for paying grain and money. Since most of the Mulao people live together in clans with the same surname, "Dong" is divided into "Fang", which actually becomes a surname and house organization under the feudal patriarchal system. In the Qing Dynasty, the Mulao area below the county was divided into "Li", and "Dong" was set up under the "Li". Each "Dong" has about ten households, with a "Dongtou" elected by everyone to be responsible for raising grain and collecting money. Mulao girls and Mulao young men and women have always practiced free love. In addition to getting acquainted during festivals, - and markets, the main way of love is to pass songs and make friends during "Zoupo". The season of "walking slope" is March and August. Young people dress up, and men and women go to the market to find singing partners. After finding a satisfactory opponent, they invite them to the beautiful hillside lawn to start singing, using songs as a medium, asking and answering, and giving each other tokens of love. Finally, they ask the matchmaker to inform the parents and confirm the wedding date. The three steps of marriage matchmaking When the man's family takes a fancy to a woman, they ask the matchmaker to go to the woman's family to ask. If the woman's parents agree to the marriage, they will give her birth date to the matchmaker to take to the man's family. After receiving it, the man's parents will first put the birth date under the incense burner. On the morning of the third, sixth, and ninth day, if there are no unexpected signs such as chickens crowing or breaking utensils during this period, they can "match the birth dates" and ask the fortune teller to tell their fortunes. If the birth dates of the man and woman are compatible and do not conflict (such as water overcoming fire, fire overcoming gold, etc.), they can get engaged. Otherwise, the man's family returns the birth date and the marriage is aborted. The horoscopes of the two parties to be engaged match, and the man leaves his horoscope and sends two kilograms of pork to the woman's family as a "warm marriage". The matchmaker then agrees with both parties that the man will bring eight kilograms of pork, a pair of capons, two pots of wine, and some betrothal money to the woman's family for engagement. In some places, after the man's family leaves the woman's horoscope, they ask the matchmaker to send three kilograms of pork to the woman's family to inform them, which is called "returning-", and is considered to have completed the engagement procedures. After the engagement, the fortune teller chooses an auspicious day as the wedding date, and then chooses another auspicious day to go to the street to buy fabrics for the woman to sew new clothes. Before the marriage, the man's family entrusts the matchmaker to go to the woman's family to discuss the betrothal silver. One month before the marriage, the man must "resolve the gift", that is, send the matchmaker with four kilograms of pork and half of the betrothal silver and the selected auspicious days (the day for dyeing and cutting the fabric of the bride's dowry, the day for welcoming the bride, etc.) to inform the woman's family. In some places, all the betrothal silver is sent to the woman's family 20 days before the marriage, which is called "passing the gift". On the day of the wedding, after the groom arrives at the bride's house, the bride's family will hold a banquet to entertain the guests and invite the family members, in-laws, and guests who will see them off. After the banquet, the bride's family will select two young male and female singers to accompany the guests to open two "singing halls" and gather young men and women in the village to accompany them. The male guests will be accompanied by women, and the female guests will be accompanied by men. They will sing and sing until dawn. The lyrics are rich and colorful, mainly flattering songs, ancient songs (i.e. story songs), and songs of mutual questioning. In some places, the bride's family does not have a singing hall. The next day, the bride is sent to the groom's house and the wedding is held. The groom's family holds a banquet to entertain the bride's bride and relatives. Marriage Customs The Bride Holds an Umbrella In some places, after the "marriage" ceremony is over, the bride is carried down from the upstairs by her brother, uncle, sister, or aunt, and she will go to the incense shrine to pay farewell to the ancestors before going out. At this time, a woman with a red bag among the guests will open the umbrella and wait outside the door. As soon as the bride goes out, she will give the umbrella to the bride to hold herself. The bride cannot show her head before she arrives at the groom's house. Three pairs of shoes for the bride's wedding In Mulao weddings, the bride must wear three pairs of new shoes on the day of her wedding. The occasions for wearing shoes are very particular. On the morning of the wedding day, the bride puts on a new pair of white-soled cloth shoes at home, and is carried out of the house by her brother, accompanied by the sisters who are sending her off to the groom's house. When they arrive at the village head of the groom's house, the procession stops, and one of the bride's closest sisters takes out a pair of new white-soled cloth shoes from her bag and replaces the pair of cloth shoes on the bride's feet. When they arrive at the front door of the groom's house, the procession stops again, and the bride's closest sister takes out another pair of new white-soled cloth shoes for the bride to change into. People believe that changing shoes several times in a row indicates that the girl has been innocent and pure-hearted since she was born until today when she enters her husband's house. The song of blocking the door When the bride passes through the door, she will be blocked by the "singing door" in some places. This is an important activity in the Mulao marriage customs. The village of the groom's family was filled with men, women, young and old on the wedding day. The young man on guard came running, and the young man who formed the "geka" went to meet him. They pretended to be calm, some sat by the small river at the village head, under the big tree, and some played on the road. When the bride's escort team approached, the melodious singing flew to the other side. As the singing started, the girls knew that the "geka" was in front of them, so they quickly gathered together, and after discussing, they sang in response. In this way, one question and one answer, in the round of singing, if the other party can't answer, the questioner will ask and answer himself, so the winner and loser will be clear. If the girls win, the young men will dismantle the song card and give the green light to let them go. The ancient "meeting relatives" is said to be the ancient marriage method of the Mulao people, but it has disappeared now. After the matchmaker has played the matchmaker, if both parties agree to get married, the man will carry a load of wine and meat and put it at the crossroads, and then get out of the way. The bride and her parents, relatives and friends go here to have a meal, and take away all the rest. The next day, the bride's family returns the same load of wine and meat at the intersection, and the groom and his parents, relatives and friends also come to eat. This is the "meeting of relatives". The "meeting of relatives" is the first step of the entire wedding ceremony. It is completely hosted by the matchmaker, and neither party meets. On the day of the wedding, the man sends two beautiful girls to go with the matchmaker to welcome the bride. The bride is accompanied by dozens of female companions, each holding an oil-paper umbrella to cover the bride all the way so that passers-by cannot see her. When arriving at the groom's house, she covers her head with a black cloth to enter the bridal chamber. The bride cannot see anyone or look at the sky from the time she comes out of her parents' home to the time she enters the bridal chamber. That night, the bridesmaids and the groom's guests competed in singing folk songs to bet on the outcome until dawn the next day. This custom has disappeared to this day, and is only preserved in the memories and narrations of the elderly. After the young people of the Mulao ethnic group find their ideal partner and the matchmaker informs their parents, the matchmaker is first asked by the man to go to the woman's family to propose marriage. If the woman's family agrees, the matchmaker will give the daughter's birth date to the matchmaker to pass on to the man. After receiving the woman's birth date, the man's parents think that it matches their son's birth date, and the marriage is basically complete. The way of welcoming the bride varies slightly from place to place. The most interesting one is "sending ten sisters to marry". One month before the bride's marriage, girls of the same generation in the same village voluntarily form a group of ten bridesmaids and go to the unmarried bride's house to be sisters. They accompany the bride day and night, help her make new shoes, sew wedding clothes, and prepare dowry. On the wedding day, the ten sisters dress exactly like the bride, wear the same "lover shoes" and "wedding clothes", hold the same "sister umbrella", cut the same hairstyle, tie the same braids, and even behave in a similar manner. If it weren't for relatives and friends, you really don't know who is the bride and who is the bridesmaid. When they arrived at the groom's house, the eleven girls entered the house together, which was very lively. On the day of the bride's reception, many places have the custom of setting up "song cards". When the man's party went to the woman's village to pick up the bride, they had to sing and answer questions before they could pass the "song card" to enter the bride's house. Similarly, when the woman's party sent the bride to the man's village, they had to answer the question song before they could enter the groom's house. Sometimes they sang from morning to night, and the crowds of people watching the excitement were crowded. In the end, if they couldn't answer, they would ask and answer themselves, or the parents would come forward to sing the "reconciliation song" to announce the end of the "gate song". During the long singing, the host should provide good food and drink to the guests to ensure that they are energetic and full of emotions during the singing. After the bride enters the house, many places will "make a fuss in the singing hall", that is, set up a competition stage inside and outside the bridal chamber, and men and women sing and answer. At 0:00, cheers and laughter rang out, becoming an excellent place for young people to show their talents.