What are the characteristics of Shunde’s customs?

Shunde County is a county with fertile land and relatively developed economy in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong. In the past, there were some special customs here, perhaps bad habits, which were quite interesting. Here are a few examples.

1. Special Wedding

Shiken Township in Shunde County and its nearby Nanhai County belong to the Qibao area. As of the early 1930s, there was still such a special wedding: Not only is it different from other counties, it’s also different from the rest of the county.

First, Caiyu returned the next day. If the first day of a certain month is set as the wedding date, the actual wedding should be the second day of the month. According to local rules, the man's wedding bride must go to the bride's house after sunset on the first day of the Lunar New Year, and the bride's bride will be dressed only after the bride's arrival. But when it comes to dressing up, not only parents can't do it, but also the maids and maids can't do it for them. They can only be dressed up by the group companions in the boudoir, and the group companions don't do it that night. They wait until dawn the next day. Hajime slowly moved his hands. Therefore, when Caiyu returned to her husband's house, it was already noon on the second day of the lunar month. This practice actually prevents the bride and groom from consummating their marriage on the wedding day.

The second reason is that there is no drum music when welcoming the bride. This is not only true for poor families, but also for children of wealthy families. This practice has its historical roots. The thing is this: It is said that during the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, Liang Sanjian, the third son of Liang Chuzhi, a bachelor and prince master, and a native of Shiken Township, used his father's influence to act tyrannically, misbehave and seize the women of the people. As soon as they heard the sound of drum music, they went to find out that a certain family in the village was getting married, and led their followers to suddenly go to "welcome the bride" and occupy the position of guest of honor at the wedding. If the bride is slightly attractive, the groom will be imprisoned or driven out and then occupy the bride. If you encounter a fierce woman and resist her, you will often be killed by her. Therefore, there are countless people who died tragically due to their violence. Those who are afraid of their power endure humiliation and survive, while those who are dissatisfied accuse the government officials. Officials are afraid of their power and instead accuse them falsely. Therefore, in hundreds of nearby villages, drums and music are not allowed when greeting each other, and this has been passed down from generation to generation.

2. Girls who do their own hair do not leave home

In the old society, unmarried girls in Shunde County had their hair braided and tied it into a bun after marriage. Braids and buns are used as signs of being unmarried and married. However, there are still many women who comb their homes and women who have left home. Similar situations also occur in Panyu, Zhongshan, and Nanhai counties.

The so-called self-combing women go through a specific ritual to change their braids and buns to show their determination not to get married and to live their whole lives. This is called "self-combing" or "self-combing", that is, self-combing. Comb girl.

Shunde self-combing girls

The so-called "not leaving home" refers to another kind of girl, who may be unable to comb her hair due to the orders of her parents, so she has to return to her mother's home after the wedding ceremony. Live with the head of the household and avoid cohabitation with the husband; or if you want to comb yourself without getting married, then when you are almost half old, you can find another reliable man, pay for him to have a concubine, and raise heirs on your behalf, and you will live as a couple in name only to show that you are not unmarried. Or, even though she is married, her parents do not encourage her to leave home because the daughter's daily income from silk reeling is only one or two cents. Even if she returns to her husband's house, it is only once or twice a year. Some even financed the establishment of concubines for their husbands, claiming to be married but actually living alone. These are all called homely women.

However, this kind of not leaving home has also been broken. According to the newspaper at that time, there was such a story. Luo Jinxiu, a woman from Banjiang Village in Shunde, made a living by reeling silk and had considerable savings. Her father used a matchmaker to marry her to Deng, a woodcutter from Xiqiao, Nanhai. After the wedding, she never lived with her husband's family for two years after their marriage. Deng was doing business in Guangzhou. Whenever he returned to his hometown during the season, his mother would hire a servant to welcome her to Jinxiu, but they were all turned away or shunned from meeting her. Deng had no choice but to tell his brothers. When the Tomb-Sweeping Day was coming, Deng wanted to return to his hometown to visit his tombs. Brother A from his clan came up with a plan to lure his wife out of the province. Deng was asked to die on a ferry to and from Shun Province, and he was covered with a dead mat. A messenger was sent by Jia to report the funeral to Deng's wife, saying that Deng died of phlegm on his way back to his hometown to sweep graves and return to the provincial capital. After her mother-in-law heard this, she believed it to be true and ordered Jinxiu to go to the ferry to pay filial piety. Jinxiu cried bitterly when she arrived at the ferry and saw her husband covered with rotten mats, so she sang a mournful song to mourn him: "Sister, now I step on the bow of the boat to see you in front of my brother! Seeing my brother dead on the mat (covering) the young man, alas!" At this time, As soon as the ferry had started sailing, Deng pushed aside the mat and sat up, frightening his wife to the point of turning pale.

Knowing that he was caught in the trap, but the ship was sailing, he could not escape, so he had no choice but to live with his husband in Guangzhou.

The emergence of Shunde self-combing women is directly related to the relatively developed silk reeling industry in Shunde before the 1930s. Shunde women work as silk reelers and silkworm raisers and are quite financially self-sufficient, so many girls are satisfied with "self-combing". They are richer. I am more particular about eating, can cook well, and can cook. In the 1930s, Guangdong's silk industry was hit by imported silk and plummeted. These women who did their own hair or those who had left home were unemployed due to the closure of silk factories and worked as "houseworkers" in Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Because they were gentle and capable The dish is very popular with the owner. At that time, 90% of the maids in Hong Kong were from Guangdong, and the majority were from Shunde.

However, the custom of not staying home is not advisable. From time to time, there will always be things that "infringe on moral customs". According to the report of "Vietnam News" on April 17, 1930, "Yesterday, there was a person named Feng from Pengjia Lane, Rongqi, who sold medicine in Xiaolandu for a living. His daughter had an affair with a beef boy, and she was pregnant with cardamom. Neighbors After a while, she was about to give birth to a baby in private. She died of an overdose of medicine. She went to the bride's house to attend the funeral and acted out a strange drama about buying water. She often wiped her tears with a towel along the way. What happened is said to be a private show of true love."

3. Drinking Wedding Wine

In the Chencun area of ??Shunde, there is a custom for wedding banquets, that is, at the banquet on the wedding day, the uncle should sit at the head of the table. After the uncle comes to the table, all relatives and friends can enter the table. If the uncle leaves the table, all relatives and friends must also leave.

According to reports, on May 18, 1930, Li married Long in Tea Lane, Jiewu, Chencun. They married on the same day and held a banquet to celebrate. His eldest uncle entered the banquet first as customary. Soon, he suddenly suffered from dysentery and was anxious to leave his seat and go to the toilet. But since we had just sat down, if we left, as usual, all our relatives and friends would also have to leave the table, so we had to endure the pressure. But as the saying goes: "A lawsuit is not as tight as poop and urine." Although I endured it, I was really embarrassed and anxious. The food was tasteless and it was not easy to talk about it. As a result, something happened in my stomach, and the stench overflowed in my pants, making me miserable. Relatives and friends were also very disappointed. My eldest uncle was blushing and had no choice but to rush home to cook. All the relatives and friends here believed that this custom should be abolished.

4. Qixi Festival

July 7th is said to be the time when double stars meet once a year, so it is called the Double Star Festival. It has been passed down through the ages and has been passed down as a myth. Generally, women with little knowledge spend money on large-scale exhibitions, show great reverence and worship to the extreme. This bad habit should be eradicated. However, many Shunde women were enthusiastic about this activity, especially the silk reeling women. At that time, more than 10 people or dozens of people will gather to organize the so-called Chinese Valentine's Day party. Some people gather together in advance, allocate funds on a monthly basis, and store them for future use for long-term meetings. Some are temporarily gathered and organized on a regular basis. The funds are allocated in full at one time for short-term meetings. Regardless of whether it is a long-term meeting or a short-term meeting, in the few days before the festival, everyone will do their own thing and prepare for each subject. After several days of preparation work, it was finally completed. Such as flower fruits, sacred clothes, chairs, tables, bedding, and other small utensils, some are made of paper, some are made of wood, some are made of sesame, and they are made of colored beans. They are all kinds of weird and bizarre. Cover it with a sunflower shed, arrange tables for display, line it with antiques, and add lights to it. It is said that this is used to invite immortals to appreciate it and for people to watch. Larger ones cost thousands and hundreds of gold. The simplest one costs hundreds or tens of gold, or one or two hundred gold.