Chapter 1: The Crown Ceremony and the Engagement Ceremony
Of the six ancient rites, the Crowning Ceremony is the first, why? The Crowning Ceremony is also the beginning of etiquette. After being crowned, a person officially enters the society from an irresponsible "child" to an adult, fulfilling filial piety, brotherhood, loyalty,
Shun means to be a person's son, a person's younger brother, and a person's minister. Only in this way can one be called a human being, and only then can one be qualified to govern others, and only then can one inherit and carry forward Chinese etiquette.
The Hairpin Ceremony is a coming-of-age ceremony for girls of the Han nationality, a type of ancient ceremony. It is commonly known as "Shangtou" or "Shangtou Ceremony". The hairpin is a hairpin. Since the Zhou Dynasty, it has been stipulated that noble women should perform the hairpin ceremony after getting engaged (promise) and before getting married.
According to the Zhou system, men were crowned at the age of twenty, women were crowned at the age of fifteen, and princes and kings were born earlier. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, younger brothers of prominent families were generally crowned at the age of sixteen and hairpinted at the age of thirteen. This is because the ancients got married earlier than later.
This is why the crown and hairpin cannot get married.
That year, on May 3rd, Zhu Kui was twenty years old and Shu Shu'er was seventeen years old. At the same time, the marriage was arranged today.
That Shu Shu'er was born in the green forest, but she had not received her hairpin ceremony when she was fifteen years old. These people with a rough background were tired of these red tapes. If they had not come to propose marriage today, they would not have remembered it, so today they both received their hairpin ceremony at the same time.
Two ceremonies, and then exchange of tokens to show engagement.
In fact, this was also due to the early death of Shu Shuer's mother. Kaohsiung never renewed her marriage, and everyone was a rough guy, so that was normal.
The ceremony was supposed to be held in the ancestral temple, but Zhu Laoshi didn't know where his ancestral hall was, so it was held at home instead. Shu Shuer's hairpin ceremony was also held at Zhu's house at the same time.
Within ten days before the crowning, the person who receives the crown must first divination an auspicious day. If there is no auspicious day within ten days, the auspicious day will be chosen in the next ten days, and the divination must be used to decide which guest will crown him. It happens that the guest and the person who is crowned are not the same.
The other person is none other than the county magistrate Ma Jun.
Before the ceremony, one needs to burn incense and bathe, and must fast for three days. Of course, although it is a rigid rule, not many people abide by it. If they don't eat for three days, they will be dizzy with hunger. How can they still have the strength to perform the ceremony?
Ma Jun, who has always been easy-going, turned out to be far more superstitious about ghosts and gods than others, and was under strict supervision. As a last resort, Zhu Kui and Shu Shu'er had no choice but to live lightly for three days, and finally ushered in the auspicious day.
Early in the morning, the servants had prepared the ceremonial utensils, and Zhu Kui took the lead in walking out in his crown robes and long hair. In ancient times, men came first and women came behind. After the crown ceremony, it was the turn to hairpin ceremony.
A banquet was held in the hall, filled with elegant guests, including Kaohsiung, Gan Ning, Zhou Tai, Wang Zhong, Gao Yi and other members of the original Gao family, as well as Zhao Bancheng and his daughter, Lu Xian, Zhang Hong and other well-known families.
After bowing to everyone one by one, he faced his parents, knelt down firmly on the mat, and knelt down first to express his gratitude to his parents for their upbringing.
Then Ma Jun personally combed Zhu Kui's hair, tied it on his head, and fixed it with a silk ribbon specially designed to bind his hair. Then he took the black linen cloth crown from the servant's hand and put it on his head.
Turning back to face the guests in the hall, he gave a congratulatory speech and said: "On an auspicious day of the month, I will start to wear clothes of the Yuan Dynasty. I will give up my youthful ambitions and follow you to become a virtuous person. My longevity will only be remembered, and I will be blessed with good fortune!" The general idea is that today is an auspicious day.
First of all, I would like to crown you with a crown. I hope you will abandon your childish temper and carefully cultivate your adult character. I wish you a long life, good luck, and great blessings.
Zhu Kui stood up and thanked him, then turned and went into the side room to change clothes. This time he put on a white robe and white shoes. When he came back and sat back down, Ma Jun removed his cloth crown and combed his hair again.
The second crown was Pi Bian. Pi Bian is similar to the melon skin hat of later generations. The joints between the leather pieces are inlaid with colorful jade. This kind of crown is usually worn by ministers when they go to court. The purpose is to hope that the crowned person can serve the emperor and be diligent in government in the future.
, to care for the people.
"On the day of the auspicious month, you will be humble, respect your majesty, and be virtuous. Your eyebrows will live for thousands of years, and you will be blessed forever."
Zhu Kui thanked him again, then changed his clothes again, and crowned him for the last time.
Jue Bian, this crown was used in ancient times for sacrifices, so that the recipient could respect the gods.
"With the correctness of the year, with the order of the moon, Xian Jiafu. Brothers are here, so as to achieve great virtue, Huang Lao has no boundaries, and is celebrated by heaven."….
Zhu Kui bowed three times, and the last step was to express his inscriptions. Generally, after the crowning ceremony, the inscriptions are given by elders such as father, teacher, etc. Zhu Laoshi did not know Chinese characters, so he had already thought of one himself.
The word "Huai Ming", as he told his guests, means embracing the wish of a prosperous and enlightened country.
After bowing to their parents, the eldest brother, Zhu Meng, changed back to his regular clothes, put on his hat and went down to the hall to receive the guests. At the same time, he waited for Shu Shuer's hairpin gift.
After a while, Shu Shu'er finished taking a bath, changed into clothes and shoes, and went out in style. The change from the previous men's clothing style made the little girl feel uncomfortable. Kaohsiung came forward and took his daughter to salute the guests one by one, and sat down just now.
Zhu Laoshi sat down, kneeling and sitting.
At the beginning of the Hair Hair Ceremony, Ma Jun walked out first to the venue, facing south, and bowed to the guests watching the ceremony. His congratulatory message was similar to that of the Crowning Ceremony, with three plus three bows.
The person who praised Shu Shu'er was the one who combed Shu Shu'er's hair. Ma Jun chose Zhang Hong's wife, Li, and combed Shu Shu'er's long hair and added hairpins. Finally, he thanked his father.
After returning to the room and changing the deep robe, go back to the hall, take off the hairpin, replace it with a hairpin, and then perform the formal salutation, which is two plus two salutations.
After three bows and three additions, Shu Shu'er wore a long-sleeved dress. Li once again put on a hairpin crown and performed formal bows. Finally, Shu Shu'er took the wine from Li, faced the guests, and saluted.
At the end of the day, Ma Jun gave his last wish: "The sweet wine is thick and sweet, and I recommend it to you. I will worship you and accept the sacrifice, so that you will be auspicious. I will bear the end of heaven and never forget my longevity test."
After the ceremony, Zhu Laoshi and Kaohsiung announced their marriage in public. This news was not surprising as everyone had already known about it.
Zhu Kui took Shu Shu'er's hand and toasted around. After half a round, Shu Shu'er was already too drunk and returned to the women's seat.
As soon as the guests had paid their respects, Zhu Kui went to meet his friends.
"Brother, congratulations." Gan Ning and Zhou Tai clasped their fists and congratulated.
"Second brother, hurry up too. You will also be crowned next year." Zhu Kui chuckled.
"Then please, eldest brother, please give me the first words for my second brother and me, okay?" Gan Ning suggested.
"Both my father-in-law and Mr. Ma are here, why don't they do the favor for you, and the elder comes first." Zhu Kui declined slightly, showing respect.
"The boss and military advisor Ma won't mind. I'll just help you two foster brothers say their names."
The person who spoke was Gao Yi. In two years, the county soldiers who were originally small bandit soldiers had become the leading escorts in the six counties east of the Yangtze River, transporting goods for small and medium-sized merchants in the south of the Yangtze River. However, the chaos in the north temporarily delayed the march to the north.
"Jing Xing is right. Since you are their eldest brother, you are more suitable to represent them than us."
Jingxing is Gao Yi's calligraphy. After the rise of the World Escort Bureau, Gao Yi knew that he was uneducated, so he asked his teacher to teach him literary characters, and he also wrote down the characters.
Zhu Kui had an idea and told the names that originally belonged to them in the official history in advance.
"Zhou Tai, Zhou Youchang; Gan Ning, Gan Xingba; what do you think?"
Upon hearing this, the two of them recited it silently several times and were both satisfied. Zhu Kui secretly smiled in his heart, it was your name, so he must be satisfied.
Opposite Wang Cheng saw Zhu Kui writing the Chinese characters for Gan Ning and Zhou Tai, and he also shouted: "Third brother, then you can also write Chinese characters for me."
Zhu Kui took a sip of wine and said, "Uncle Wang had already thought about it for you before he left, so I'll tell you today."
"Step ancestor, inherit the glory of your ancestors."
Zhu Kui smiled and nodded, and said, "Let's talk first, I'll go greet the Lu family."
Lu Xian and Zhang Hong were sitting at the same table, and next to them were Wang Zhong, Zhao Bancheng and other good businessmen.
"Brother Ji Ming, Brother Zigang, thank you very much for coming to watch the ceremony despite your busy schedule. Zhu would like to thank you here."
"You're welcome. Young Master is performing the crowning ceremony. How can we not come?"
Zhang Hong lifted his chin and said, "Huai Ming, I heard that after the ceremony, you led five hundred volunteers to the north to attack the Yellow Turban bandits. Is this true?"
"Is this the case? What's the matter? Now that the prison of the Party has been lifted, does Brother Zigang still want to be like me and rely on military exploits to gain fame and fame?"
Zhang Hong put down his wine glass and said with some regret in his tone: "Cultivating one's family, bringing peace to the world, and fighting rebellions for the country are important matters for the country. If Hong cannot do his best for the country, he has no face to discuss it with Huai Ming."
"In the past two years, the Zhang family leader saw that Zigang had managed the salt business in an orderly manner, so he gave him full power. Therefore, he was unable to go north to quell the rebellion, so he often sighed in my office." Lu Xian refilled Zhang Hong's glass of wine.
explained.
Zhu Kui lowered his eyes and looked deeply at the two of them. After taking a sip of wine, his expression changed and he said with a smile: "Brother Zigang, since you have the heart to serve the country, why don't you also support my five hundred sons? It is said that the Zhang family just traded hundreds of dollars from the north.
A good horse, can you resell it to me at a low price?"