Marriage Ceremony - Marrying the deceased; Scary custom in China

Marrying the dead is an ancient Chinese custom (also known as yin marriage - ghost wedding). According to historians, ghost weddings can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC - 256 BC).

According to ancient beliefs and customs, young people who have been engaged in marriage, are waiting for their wedding day but unfortunately die suddenly, their family members must help them complete the marriage, otherwise their ghosts will disturb them. insecure family.

Therefore, no matter what, the family has to perform the sound marriage for them, and then carry out the burial. The organization of a wedding with a negative person must also proceed as with a living person, not allowing to ignore any details because many people believe that ghosts who have not been married will be "difficult". calculation", if not "smart", the family members will be "executed" for the rest of their lives.

Origin of Yin Kiss

This custom has existed for a long time, some documents record the legend that Cao Chong, Cao Cao's son unfortunately died early. Cao Cao is suffering and tormented because he has not been able to marry a wife for his children while he is still alive, so he wants to find a lady from a noble family who has died to marry Cao Chong.

Some time later, when he heard that the Chan family had a daughter who died prematurely, Cao Cao immediately came to talk. Two families choose auspicious days and months to hold a "ghost wedding" like the real thing, then have a funeral, bury the lady surnamed Chan in the same place as Cao Chong.

Kissing sounds were most popular in the Song Dynasty. According to the records in "Carving a Dream", unmarried young men and women who unfortunately die prematurely are forced by their parents to organize a marriage ceremony for them. However, this custom was officially banned after the Communist Party of China came to power in 1949. Today, yin marriage only exists in a few remote rural areas.

The reason for holding a kiss

There are many reasons why the Chinese hold the yin marriage. According to folklore, if the living person is still single when they die, they will still be lonely in the afterlife. So they will "catch" a member of their family to the afterlife to be friends. In particular, young people who have been engaged but unfortunately die suddenly, their family members must organize a "ghost wedding", otherwise their souls will disturb and cause the family to have a lot of bad luck.

The Chinese attach great importance to ancestor worship. Girls who die unmarried will have no one to worship. Therefore, relatives will hold a lunar wedding ceremony so that they can enjoy smoke at the husband's house. On the other hand, if a girl reaches marriageable age and no one marries her, it will embarrass her parents. Therefore, the girl may have to accept to marry a dead son and move in with the deceased husband's house. This girl will take care of her husband's family like a real daughter-in-law.

Some families remarry for their dead son due to inheritance of property. When the dead person has a wife in name, the husband's family can find a nephew in them to adopt as the deceased's son to inherit the property and be responsible for the incense for the ancestors.

In Chinese culture, younger brother cannot marry before brother. In the case of the brother's death, the family must do a "ghost wedding" for the brother first and then hold the wedding ceremony for the younger brother to avoid the unsatisfied brother's spirit, causing chaos in the family.

The process of the marriage ceremony

Basically, the wedding ceremony is also organized similar to the wedding for the living: it must be through a matchmaker, the two families go to each other's house, and when the wedding ceremony is held, a table is also organized. hearty. In the "ghost wedding", relatives and friends of the deceased are all invited to celebrate with the "bride and groom".

In the lunar marriage, the groom's family must also give gifts to the bride's family, all food and drink are real, only clothes and jewelry are votive items that are burned after the wedding ceremony for the bride to enjoy under the golden stream. . While burning votive paper, the groom's family will stand around, beat drums and blow trumpets.

The procedures before receiving the bride in the marriage can be omitted, but the procedure for welcoming the bride is required to be celebrated. On that day, the family also had to set up a theater to welcome guests and relatives. The groom's wedding room is also arranged, the photo and tablet of the "spouse" is placed on a table, in front is a plate of fruit, candies and a bright red flower with a silk ribbon, on which is written. the word "newcomer".

And the bride's wedding room is also displayed with photos and tablets of the "new lady", as well as fruits, candies and ribbons with the word "new lady". After the palanquin arrives at the bride's house, the matchmaker will carry a photo or a tablet of the "new bride" and place it on the palanquin. At this time, the girl's parents not only mourn for their child, but also chase them out, completely without air. of "happiness"

During the ceremony, the dolls will be treated and talked as if they were living people. After this, the two families will choose auspicious days to carry out the grave picking. The girl will be buried next to the boy to whom she is to be married.

If the surviving groom marries a "ghost" bride, then instead of having two dolls, just one picture of the bride is left. The groom will wear black gloves instead of white at the usual wedding. After the marriage ceremony, the two families with the "bride and groom" will become closer to each other, especially during Tet holidays and festivals.

Some Chinese even believe that a "ghost wedding" is a lasting, eternal marriage. Two people in the underworld will live happily ever after, without divorce like couples on earth.

Kissing leads to corpse trafficking

Yin marriage is considered illegal, but some well-to-do families in the countryside are still willing to spend money to buy a "ghost bride" for their dead son. Beautiful women die young, the higher the price, the price of a newly deceased female corpse on the black market can be up to $ 30,000 (about VND 630 million). Therefore, some people take advantage of this custom to dig graves and sell corpses.

Some people steal graves because they want to find a "ghost wife" for their relatives, some people sell their daughter's body for a small profit or their wife has unfortunately died, for example, two brothers in Son Tay, whose father is not dead yet. going to steal graves, prepare a "new wife" for his father in the afterlife.