In the eyes of most people, getting married and starting a family is undoubtedly the top priority in a person's life. Therefore, people regard it as very important. From the acquaintance of a man and a woman to the marriage, there are many cumbersome procedures, which have been followed for a long time and have become a custom. Zhen'an County, located at the junction of Qin and Chu, is a residential area where many immigrants from other places moved to live. Especially in the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, immigrants from Huguang, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanxi and other places settled in Zhen'an. The influence of different customs made a relatively remote place become both the roughness of the Qin and Chu exchanges and the charm of the fusion of the north and the south. The custom of intermarriage with etiquette is very particular. Even today, after the baptism of literature, there are still many local customs in some places in Zhen'an. Even if it is simple, there are also indispensable "four steps". Ask a matchmaker to propose marriage. "There is no rain without clouds in the sky, and there is no marriage without a matchmaker on the ground." In the old days, men and women were not allowed to touch each other, and unmarried men and women had no chance to fall in love freely. The marriage of children was entirely arranged by their parents, and the marriage of two families was mostly based on the orders of their parents and the words of the matchmaker. Generally, the man takes the initiative to propose to the woman, the so-called "marry a girl with your head up and marry a daughter-in-law with your head down". When the son of a family reaches the marriageable age, the parents will arrange to find a daughter-in-law for their son. However, for the sake of prudence and courtesy, the parents generally cannot go directly to the woman's house to explain their intentions. Therefore, they have to ask a person who has a good relationship with the woman or an elder with prestige in a place to go to the woman's house to tactfully explain the man's desire to propose marriage. The person invited is the matchmaker of this marriage (in the old days, there were also professional matchmakers who were good at speaking and had a high success rate in promoting marriage). The matchmaker goes to both men and women to solicit opinions and pass messages to each other, which is considered a proposal of marriage, and is the key to achieving a marriage in the local area. Home visit. If the girl's parents listen to the matchmaker's intentions, have some understanding of the boy's children and family situation, and have the intention to get married, they will choose a day at the invitation of the man to let their daughter be led by her mother or a trusted main relative to the man's house to see the man's family situation and the boy's situation in person. On the day of the house-watching, the man will make careful preparations and try to make the house look decent, in order to leave a good impression on the woman. The matchmaker will ask the woman for her opinion on the man on appropriate occasions. If the man is well-mannered and the woman has a good impression of the man's family and personality, the woman will express her attitude to the matchmaker. If the woman has no major objections, she will eat a prepared banquet at the man's house. Before leaving, she will also accept the engagement gift from the man. The man and the matchmaker will also take the four-color water gift to send the woman home. If the woman makes an excuse not to accept the man's blind date gift, it means that there are still difficulties in achieving this marriage, and the engagement still needs to be done. The engagement is called. The man and woman get to know each other better through the house-watching. If there are no other opinions or differences, they will set a date to confirm the marriage. In order to be auspicious, in the past, both the man and the woman had to report their birth dates, and ask a fortune teller who knows how to read dates to determine an auspicious date, and then ask the matchmaker to report it to the woman. If the woman agrees, the man will send an invitation or personally visit his uncles, elders, relatives and friends to tell the date, and sincerely invite the guests to the wedding wine, which also means to strengthen his family and let the woman see his prestige. On the day of engagement, in addition to preparing the four-color water gift (a large meat "gift hanging" made of red paper, desserts, tea, and wine), the man must also prepare the engagement gift according to the woman's requirements. The matchmaker and the elders in the family (formerly known as the "yi") will go to the woman to give instructions. The woman will also prepare wine and drinks to welcome the man's arrival, and invite relatives and friends to warmly entertain the man's guests. During the meal, the matchmaker arranges for the man to spread out the red envelope and the gifts that the woman has asked him to prepare. If there is any inconvenience, the man who comes with the woman (the one who bows) will apologize to the woman to win her understanding and make things go smoothly. During the engagement banquet, the man, led by the woman's parents, toasts to the woman's uncles, elders, relatives and friends, and calls them by the woman's name. At this point, the marriage is considered to be confirmed. After the engagement, the man has to prepare gifts to recognize the woman's family and relatives. The woman returns the gift with socks and shoes. Marrying in the doorway. After the engagement. When the man and woman reach the marriageable age, they will arrange to marry in the doorway and get married officially. Although the customs and procedures of marriage are similar to those of engagement, the scene is much more grand than that of engagement. Because from this day on, the girl will leave her mother and live with the man and become the man's daughter-in-law. On the wedding day, the wedding team composed of the groom, matchmaker, usher, etc., the number of people is not fixed, but it must be an even number, meaning that they should be in pairs. Arriving at the bride's house, the groom's party pays a visit to the bride's parents and all the family members present. The matchmaker carefully delivers the bride price prepared by the groom according to the bride's agreement so that the bride is satisfied. The groom accompanies the bride to dress up and prepare for departure. After the banquet, the groom pays respect to the bride's relatives and gives a red envelope to the mother-in-law who is reluctant to leave her daughter, thanking her for raising her and hinting that the bride wants to marry. After the etiquette procedures are in place, the bride can leave for the groom's house under the escort of the bride's escort. The bride's escort is usually composed of the bride's elders, peers, juniors and main relatives, and the number is also even to show auspiciousness. In order to ward off evil spirits, the bride also wears a bronze mirror on her chest and back. If conditions permit, the bride will also use a sedan chair or a car to travel. In some places, there are also music bands to show the festive mood. Generally, the bride's family also prepares boxes, cabinets, bedding and other dowries, and gives back gifts of four colors, such as hair (married couple), cypress leaves (eternal life), white rice (living together in old age), and tea leaves (evergreen all year round). In the past, the roads were not good, and the sedan bearers carried the bride in front and behind. In order to prevent the people behind from seeing the road clearly, the one walking in front had to report the way to the people behind, forming some catchy songs. If a girl came towards them, the one walking in front would remind them, "There is a flower in front", and the people walking behind would know that someone was coming, and they would say, "Go straight and don't step on her". During the long and slow journey, some mutually encouraging songs were also said to eliminate fatigue. For example, when going uphill, the one walking in front would say, "The higher you go, the higher you go", and the one behind would say, "Stretch your waist when you go up the beam", etc. There are also people who are good at speaking auspicious words to please the other party. For example, when the sedan was just lifted, the leader would say, "Hold it high", and the one behind would say, "Two families are happy". If the host family is happy, they will give money. If it is still early when the bride arrives at the groom's house, she will have to wait until it is dark and the roof ridge cannot be seen before entering the house. However, the groom has made preparations in advance. A special bride will be invited to lead the new bed for the newlyweds in advance. When leading the bed, some auspicious words will be said, such as: "Lead the bed, lead the bed, lead a pair of mandarin ducks, the mandarin ducks will have sex and give birth to a son, a boy will grow up to be a strong man, and a girl will grow up to be a queen." When it gets dark, the bride is led by the bride into the house to worship the groom. During the worship, they have to drink a cup of wine and eat a double-core egg, indicating that twins will be born. After the worship, they will compete for the room, which is the bridal chamber. The bride and groom will rush to the bridal chamber to see who will sit on the big head of the bed first (the right side of the door, it is said that whoever sits on the big side will be the head of the family after marriage). Next, the groom will invite a hairdresser (usually someone who has both sons and daughters and is compatible with the new bride) to comb and wash the bride's face (roll red thread powder on her face to remove sweat hair), indicating that the bride is no longer a little girl. Then, the wedding begins with a playful 0-room prank. In some places, it is jokingly called a three-day prank, no matter how big or small, which expands the scope of wedding entertainment. There are different ways of pranking, including civil pranking and martial pranking. Civil pranking is more acceptable, but often there are some puns that make the new bride shy and unable to say them. The four-sentence prank is asked to be said by the man first, one sentence each, and the woman is a little shy when she says the sentence. Say: Man: Paper-pasted ceiling tied with taro stalks, woman: I miss you at my mother's house, man: Why don't you come if you miss me? Woman: Hey, I'm afraid of my mother yelling (accusation). For martial pranks, it is not necessary to be particularly physical, but it is also a bit embarrassing to do it in front of everyone. For example, there is a "threading the needle" where the groom passes the red string through the sleeves of the bride and then pulls it out from the inside of her clothes. In some places, there are also old grandfathers and children talking, and there are many funny and fun ways, but not very civilized. Generally, on the second day of the wedding, the bride escort will explain to the man and give the cloth shoes made by the new bride at her parents' home as a gift to the relatives of her husband's family, showing that the new bride is capable and polite. Relatives and friends will happily disperse, and a marriage is considered a success. With the continuous civilization and progress of society, marriage customs are also being simplified and improved. In today's marriage autonomy and equality between men and women, free love has become the mainstream of marriage, and matchmakers have become supporting roles. The day for the wedding is mostly chosen in the season when there is plenty of time and people are relaxed, such as May Day, National Day, New Year's Day and other holidays. If conditions permit, they will also go on a trip to get married. The bride does not need to walk in a sedan chair when she gets married. Those with better conditions can sit in a high-end car. The wedding ceremony is no longer so complicated, many etiquette has been omitted, and some customs will no longer be continued. As time goes by, the old wedding customs will gradually become a beautiful comment and memory. Auspicious and interesting couplets such as welcoming the bride, welcoming the bride and pulling the bed, and making trouble in the room will become a unique folk culture record handed down from generation to generation. With the inheritance of civilization and progress and innovation, the wedding customs of Zhen'an in the new era will be a gorgeous flower, shining brilliantly in the long river of life.