Tujia Wedding Custom of Crying Marriage in Zhangjiajie
Visiting Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, besides enjoying the spectacular natural scenery of towering peaks, the unique wedding customs of the local ethnic minorities offer a special charm. Through "bianbianchang" market gatherings, mountain antiphonal singing, and leaf-sent love messages, unmarried men send signals of love to acquainted or unfamiliar girls.
This article has been compiled from historical materials on 'Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network' (33519.com · Specialty Foods / Cuisine / Customs section). Prices, business hours, administrative divisions, and statistical data mentioned in the text may already be outdated. Before traveling, please refer to the latest announcements from merchants, scenic areas, and local competent authorities; the parts involving folk legends and folk customs are local historical and cultural anecdotes, provided for cultural reference.
The Tujia Custom of Crying Marriage in Zhangjiajie
When touring Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, besides enjoying the spectacular natural scenery of towering peaks vying in beauty, the unique marriage customs of the local ethnic minorities offer a special charm of their own.
Through attending "edge-of-the-field" markets, antiphonal singing in the mountains, and conveying love through wooden leaves, unmarried men and women send messages of love to acquaintances or strangers. The man will take the initiative to sing: "In my sister's garden grows a plum tree, your parents fenced it round with thorns; a thousand fences, ten thousand fences cannot hold me—I'll turn into a bee and fly to the flowers." If the girl is interested, she'll sing back: "Wooden leaves pile up all over the mountain, can you play them, brother? If one day you learn to play, you'll need only wooden leaves, no matchmaker." The girl expresses herself boldly to the other, and the first step is accomplished. After the girl gains her parents' consent, the man's family invites a matchmaker to thread the needle, and chooses a major festival to send a generous piece of rump meat with the tail attached to the prospective mother-in-law's home. The woman's family will entertain warmly but say not a word about the marriage. When the boy returns home, if only a small piece of that rump meat was cut off and the rest returned together with the tail, then it's surely no go. If the woman's family keeps it all, that means the matter is settled.
After a period of courtship, the feelings between the lovers heat up. The man and woman will discuss marriage arrangements. From then on, the Tujia girl will secretly practice singing the crying-marriage songs.
When the man's family sends the wedding date to the woman's family, the girl should be overjoyed and the whole family should be laughing and cheerful—but what emerges instead is a house full of crying. This is the beginning of crying marriage. From that day on, the bride-to-be sets up a table in her boudoir, inviting nine female relatives and friends to sit around on four sides, with herself in the center, leading the crying song while her companions respond. The main content of crying marriage is: recalling the mother-daughter bond, lamenting the pain of parting, thanking for the grace of upbringing, and entrusting matters to brothers and sisters-in-law. The lyrics are partly fixed and partly improvised. The rhythm is free, the melody simple, the interjections specific.
Generally, the bride-to-be has secretly learned the crying-marriage lyrics and tunes beforehand. The lyrics for the mother-daughter duet include:
Daughter: Mother, oh mother, I'm leaving now, let me comb your hair once more. I remember wildflowers bright in your temples—when did bitter-melon wrinkles appear on your brow? The cradle still rings in my ears, mother rocked herself white-haired for her daughter.
Mother: The brass gong and flowered sedan urge the daughter away, so many words left unsaid. The daughter goes, oh, and mother cannot keep her. The days ahead start anew—honor your parents, be diligent in housekeeping, and may husband and wife love each other through the years.
Crying marriage also includes scolding, though it's never meant seriously—mainly crying-scolding the matchmaker. The gist of the lyrics: "You ill-fated matchmaker want noodles, you ill-fated matchmaker want pig's head, you ill-fated matchmaker with a rotten mouth, you ill-fated matchmaker with a rotten tongue." The matchmaker, hearing this, is not angered at all, but instead chimes in from time to time with laughing song: "The swallow grown flies from the flowered tower, the pup grown goes out the door, the daughter grown leaves in marriage. If I didn't have a rotten mouth, you'd be kowtowing and begging." One mournful, one joyful; one angry, one laughing—witty and humorous, making one unable to suppress a smile.
The wedding day is the peak of crying marriage. The bride cries for her parents, cries for her uncles, cries for her aunts, cries for her sisters, cries for her brothers and sisters-in-law, cries for her bosom friends, cries while having her hair combed, cries while entering the sedan, cries farewell to the ancestors. The crying rises loud, tears and voice together, crying mournfully, crying earth-shakingly. The crying is genuine, the lyrics are poignant. Upon entering the groom's home, the crying continues, and the groom carries the bride on his back into the hall to bow to Heaven and Earth.
The level of skill in crying marriage is also an important marker of a girl's wisdom and virtuous character. Modern Tujia marriage customs have changed somewhat, but crying marriage still exists—the difference being that the content has changed and, strictly speaking, it is now a ceremony. Moreover, in today's crying marriage, everyone the bride cries for will give her a substantial red envelope, in hopes of conjugal love and eternal happiness.