Coming of Age |
In ancient China, men became adults at the age of 20, during the capping ceremony; women became adults at the age of only 15 during the hairpin ceremony. Those ceremonies are now over 2000 years old.
The ceremony for men was called capping ceremony which was held in February. Firstly, the man got his inner cap, then a cap and at last a scarf. After he got these three stuff, his hair will be combined into a bun, which symbolically meant that he became an adult. Then the honoured guest would deliver a congratulatory speech. After that, the man being capped would perform a formal bow to his mother. At last, the honoured guest would give him another name, which was the style name of the ancients. The ceremony for women was called the hairpin ceremony. The woman had her hair gathered into a knot and pinned it with a hairpin to keep it together. The ceremony was usually held when the woman has reached the age of 15, or between woman's engagement and wedding.The procedure of the hairpin ceremony was almost the same as the capping one. But most of the participating in this ceremony are women. |
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In feudal society, a marriage would be decided not by the love of the couple themselves but their parents' desires. In the morning of the wedding day, a red sedan is departing from the groom's house. It is usually accompanied by people playing different musical instruments and carrying red lanterns. As the sedan leaves groom's house, the groom's family light fireworks. Fire crackers are also set ready at the bride's house for welcoming. But the gate of the house is closed that the groom must get through all kinds of challenges in order to pass through the gate and get into the bride's room. When the bride leaves the house, her face is covered with traditional red cloth. Then the sedan begins to move towards the groom's house again. When the sedan arrives, groom lightly kicks the chair in the sedan three times and helps the bride to get down. He would be holding an edge of a piece of red ribbon which the other edge would be given to the bride. In such way he carefully leads his bride to the hall where the wedding ceremony takes place. In the whole process the bride's face is still covered. The ceremony is actually quite simple. It consists the 'three bows ritual'. Groom and bride first bow to Heaven and Earth, then to parents, and finally they turn and bow to each other. This ritual is analogous to the ring exchange in the western weddings. After the guests begin the wedding banquet the new wedding couple go to their bedroom where they enjoy food and drinks prepared for them. Later the groom would go out to toast the guests. |