Tujia Weeping Wedding Songs
Drinking the clear mountain spring water, Tujia girls grow up. When a young man plays a leaf whistle until the azaleas bloom red, the wine of love grows fragrant. From the day the groom's family announces the wedding date, the girl stops going out to work. First, she sets up a square table in her boudoir, places ten bowls of old tea, and invites nine neighboring girls to sit around in turn and begin weeping the wedding songs. There are rules: the bride sits at the center as the "host."
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 Prices, business hours, administrative divisions, and statistical data mentioned in the text may already be outdated.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.
Tujia Crying-Marriage Songs
Having drunk the clear, cool mountain spring water, the Tujia girls have grown up. When the young men blow on tree leaves and turn the azaleas red, the wine of love grows rich and fragrant. From the day the groom's family announces the betrothal date, the girl no longer goes out to work. First, in her boudoir, she sets up a square table, places ten bowls of old tea, and invites nine girls—relatives and neighbors—to sit around her in order and begin singing the crying-marriage songs. The crying-marriage has its established rules: the bride sits in the center as the "presiding seat," the girl on her right is the "supporting seat," and the girl on her left is the "closing seat." The bride starts the song, the "supporting seat" picks up the tune, and they cry in sequence, regardless of day or night, crying until heaven and earth are dark, crying until the roads are empty of people. Mother and daughter cry, aunt and niece cry... They cry for ten days to half a month, and some for as long as one or two months. The main content includes recalling the bond between mother and daughter, expressing the pain of parting, thanking parents for their nurturing grace, entrusting brothers and sisters-in-law to care for aging parents, and teaching the daughter how to conduct herself in life.
The crying-marriage songs are generally improvised on the spot—crying for mother when seeing mother, crying for aunt when seeing aunt; this is the mark of a master crier. There are also fixed lyrics, such as Comparing the Ancients, Crying Together in the Same Room, Ten Drawings, Ten Cuttings, Ten Embroideries, Ten Beats, Ten Longings, and so on. The metrical patterns are flexible and varied, with free and changeable rhythms. The melodies plainly employ the "canon" technique of polyphony, interspersed with exclamatory particles like "weng," "man," "a ya ya," and "liao liao li," rising and falling, now lamenting, now weeping—poignant and moving.
For example, "Crying for the Sisters": "...We drank from the same well, walked the same stone-paved road; eighteen years in the same village and stockade, we played and grew up together. By day we shared the same bench, by night the same oil lamp; spinning hemp in the same basket, grinding at the same mill..."—sketching a beautiful picture of girlish life. Another example, "Scolding the Matchmaker": "The chestnuts in my yard hang in strings—that ill-fated matchmaker wants to hang noodles; the chestnuts in my yard form round balls—that ill-fated matchmaker wants a pig's head; pea blossoms open pod to pod—that ill-fated matchmaker's mouth will rot; the vine blossoms on a single stem—that ill-fated matchmaker's tongue will rot..." And the matchmaker? She stands smiling to one side, neither angry nor annoyed, occasionally chiming in: "When the swallow chick grows up it leaves the flower tower; when the puppy grows up it goes out the door. If I kept my mouth shut for another year or two, I'm afraid you'd grab me and not let go, kneeling before me knocking your head on the ground..." The two—one grieving, one joyful, one annoyed, one laughing—are witty and humorous, making one unable to suppress a smile. But "Crying for Parents" is voiced with tears streaming down, the crying genuine, the words desolate: Mama! Mama feared her child wouldn't have enough milk and would go hungry, and she didn't mind the leftover soup and dregs; with no chicken and no eggs, you carried them to one side and ate sweet potato slices. My mama, Mama! At night you held your child sleeping on your wrist, and all night you dared not turn over; when the left side was wet you moved me to the right, when the right side was wet you moved me to the left,
and if both sides were wet, Mama! You held your child against your bosom. The dry place you let your child sleep, the wet place you soaked dry yourself..." The crier is moved, and the listeners are stirred as well. Before the bride gets into the sedan chair, she must bid farewell to the ancestors: "In the hall there are people, yet people must leave; on the genealogy there is a name, but it is a name in vain." Marriage, as the transfer of clan bloodline, uses the form of crying-marriage to seek the ancestors' forgiveness and to show that one does not forget one's roots.
The Tujia custom of women crying at marriage has ancient origins. Peng Tanqiu, a Tujia poet of the Qing Dynasty's Qianlong era, recorded: "The Song of the Ten Sisters—lamenting kinship, grieving separation; the song is a long drawn-out sound, most sorrowful, tears falling with the voice; this is the lingering spirit of the 'Bamboo Branch.'" Thus a "Bamboo Branch Ci" sighs: "Raised you up and now must give a dowry too, raising a daughter has always been its own sorrow. Most unbearable is the sound of crying—one cry of 'daughter,' one cry of 'mother.'"
It is said the crying-marriage custom is related to ancient marriage by capture. Lu You recorded in his Notes from the Old Study Thatched Hut: "The Man peoples of Chang, Yuan, Jing, and Chuan... when marrying, they first make a secret agreement, then waylay the girl on the road, seize and bind her and take her home; the girl also struggles and cries for help, but in truth it is all pretense." But this Tujia marriage by capture had already undergone a qualitative change from the marriage by capture at the end of primitive society; it was a protest and resistance against the feudal system of mercenary marriage. And the crying-marriage songs that developed from it are an outstanding lyric poetry unique to the Tujia people.