DONGJING MENG HUA LU / 卷五
娶婦
Threshold by threshold.
A wedding in the capital was a chain of negotiated exchanges — draft posts, betrothal wine, a bride inspection that could end with consolation gifts — followed by a wedding day built from thresholds: the sedan that would not rise until paid, grain thrown at the door, the saddle, the scale, the mirror carried backwards. Then the household began counting days.
CLIMB THE LADDER ↓Thirteen editorial steps before the wedding.
This page groups the pre-marriage sequence into thirteen editorial steps for reading; the transmitted text runs the moves continuously without numbering them. Each step names an exchange; the inspection step even names its exit: if the match displeases, one or two lengths of silk are left as 壓驚, and the matter is over.
A rough draft post opens the exchange.
The detailed post sets out three generations of names, kinship and mourning ties, property and office.
Betrothal wine in a net, bottles dressed with eight great flowers and silver ornaments, red silk over the sedan poles.
The girl's family returns two bottles of fresh water, three to five live fish, and a pair of chopsticks in the original wine bottles.
Minor and major settlement — the engagement in two grades.
Inspecting the bride: approval sets a hairpin in her cap; displeasure leaves silk for 壓驚, and the match is off.
After the betrothal the matchmaker carries messages at the new and full moons.
The betrothal gifts pass.
The wedding date is announced.
The great gifts go over — a day early, or the very morning.
Dressing-table gifts sent to hurry the bride's toilette; the groom's family answers with robes and headcloths.
The day before, the bride's family hangs the curtains and lays out the chamber.
The bride's kin arrive with tea, wine and lucky money.
The day is built from crossings.
The sedan will not rise until its bearers are paid; the returning party is held at the groom's gate while lucky money and gifts are demanded; the bride will not touch the ground at all. Each panel is one of the day's thresholds, in the entry's order.
Performed music, the sedan readied — and the bearers will not rise until they are given their lucky money (炒咬利市).
The returning party is met and held at the door while the household begs lucky coins, money and red flowers.
A yin-yang master scatters grain, beans, coins and straw with a charm — children scramble — said to ward off the green-sheep spirits.
The bride steps on cloth or felt, never the earth, past a mirror carried backwards, over a saddle, grass and a scale.
A canopy hung in the middle room — or straight to the bed — for the sitting of wealth and honor.
After the wedding
A table with mirror and stand before the hall: the new wife's bow, then the elders — 賞賀 answered by 答賀.
The bride's family sends honey-and-oil steamed cakes and holds the gathering that warms the marriage.
The girl is fetched home, or sent silks and head-ornaments, for the hair washing.
The full month: a great gathering of congratulation. After this, the text says, the ceremonies grow simpler.
1. The negotiated chain.
凡娶媳婦，先起草帖子，兩家允許，然後起細帖子，序三代名諱，議親人有服親田產官職之類。次檐許口酒，以絡盛酒瓶，裝以大花八朵、羅絹生色或銀勝八枚，又以花紅繳檐上，謂之「繳檐紅」，與女家。女家以淡水二瓶，活魚三五個，箸一雙，悉送在元酒瓶內，謂之「回魚箸」。或下小定、大定，或相媳婦與不相。若相媳婦，即男家親人或婆往女家看中，即以釵子插冠中，謂之「插釵子」；或不入意，即留一兩端綵段，與之壓驚，則此親不諧矣。其媒人有數等，上等戴蓋頭，著紫背子，說官親宮院恩澤；中等戴冠子，黃包髻背子，或只繫裙手，把青涼傘兒，皆兩人同行。下定了，即旦望媒人傳語。遇節序，即以節物頭面羊酒之類追女家，隨家豐儉。女家多回巧作之類。次下財禮，次報成結日子。次過大禮，先一日或是日早下催妝冠帔花粉，女家回公裳花襆頭之類。前一日女家先來掛帳，鋪設房臥，謂之「鋪房」。女家親人有茶酒利市之類。
When a son took a wife, the family first drafted a rough post; once both sides agreed, a detailed post followed, setting out three generations of names, the kin within mourning degrees, property and office. Then came the consent wine carried on a pole — bottles in a net dressed with eight great flowers, plain-silk favors or eight silver ornaments, red silk wound over the sedan poles, called the silk-wrapped sedan. The girl's family returned two bottles of fresh water, three to five live fish and a pair of chopsticks, all placed inside the original wine bottles: the fish-and-chopsticks return. Then the minor or major settlement; or the bride-inspection. If the visiting relatives approved, a hairpin was set in her cap; if not, one or two lengths of silk were left to calm the shock, and the match was off. Matchmakers came in grades, from the veiled and purple-jacketed who spoke of palace connections to the middle sort in caps, their hair-knots wrapped in yellow under a loose over-jacket, or simply in a tied skirt, carrying a green parasol and always working in pairs. Once the major settlement was down, the matchmaker carried messages at every new and full moon, and at festivals gifts of season foods, head-ornaments, mutton and wine pressed upon the girl's family, each according to its means. Then the betrothal gifts; then the announcement of the wedding date; then the great gifts, sent the day before or that same morning, with dressing-table gifts returned. The day before, the bride's family hung the curtains and set out the chamber — the room-dressing — and her kin arrived with tea, wine and lucky money.
Galok groups the transmitted sequence into thirteen editorial stages, and every one is an exchange of information or goods. The detailed post reads like a household dossier — names, mourning ties, property, office — but the page keeps the register descriptive: this is structured kinship exchange, not a legal document, and the entry's own exit conditions (silk left behind, the match dissolving) show how negotiable the whole chain remained.
2. The day of thresholds.
至迎娶日，兒家以車子或花檐子發迎客引至女家門，女家管待迎客，與之綵段，作樂催妝上車檐，從人未肯起，炒咬利市，謂之「起檐子」，與了然後行。迎客先回至兒家門，從人及兒家人乞覓利市錢物花紅等，謂之「攔門」。新婦下車子，有陰陽人執鬥，內盛穀豆錢果草節等咒祝，望門而撒，小兒輩爭拾之，謂之「撒穀豆」，俗云厭青羊等殺神也。新人下車檐，踏青布條或氈席，不得踏地，一人捧鏡倒行，引新人跨鞍驀草及秤上過，入門，於一室內當中懸帳，謂之「坐虛帳」；或只逕入房中，坐於床上，亦謂之「坐富貴」。其送女客，急三盞而退，謂之「走送」。眾客就筵三杯之後，婿具公裳花勝簇面，於中堂升一榻，上置椅子，謂之「高坐」，先媒氏請，次姨氏或妗氏請，各斟一杯飲之；次丈母請，方下坐。新人門額，用綵一段，碎裂其下，橫抹掛之，婿入房，即眾爭扯小片而去，謂之「利市繳門紅」。婿於床前請新婦出，二家各出綵段，綰一同心，謂之「牽巾」，男掛於笏，女搭於手，男倒行出，面皆相向，至家廟前參拜畢，女復倒行，扶入房講拜，男女各爭先後對拜畢，就床女向左，男向右坐，婦女以金錢彩果散擲，謂之「撒帳」。男左女右，留少頭髮，二家出匹段、釵子、木梳、頭鬚之類，謂之「合髻」。然後用兩盞以綵結連之，互飲一盞，謂之「交杯酒」。飲訖擲盞，並花冠子於床下，盞一仰一合，俗云「大吉」，則眾喜賀。然後掩帳訖。
On the wedding day the groom's family sent carriages or flowered sedans with escorts to the bride's door, where her family feasted them and gave silks; music urged the toilette, and as she mounted the sedan the bearers would not rise until they had haggled their lucky money — the sedan-rise. When the returning party reached the groom's gate, his people begged lucky money and red flowers of them: the door-blocking. As the bride stepped down, a yin-yang master held a dou-dipper of grain, beans, coins, fruit and straw, chanted over it and scattered it at the door for the children to scramble for — the bean-scatter, said to press down the green-sheep spirits. The bride walked on green cloth or felt, never the ground, while a man walked backwards holding up a mirror, leading her over the saddle, the grass and the scale. Inside, a canopy hung in the middle of a room: the sitting of the empty canopy — or she went straight to the chamber and sat on the bed, the sitting of wealth and honor. The bride's escort withdrew after three quick cups — the walking send-off. After the guests had taken three cups, the groom, in official robes with flowers at his temples, mounted a dais in the central hall with a chair upon it: the high seat. First the matchmaker invited him to drink, then aunts by blood or marriage, and only when the mother-in-law invited did he come down. Silks hung across the door lintel of the bridal room, torn to pieces as he entered, everyone scrambling for a scrap: the lucky door-red. At the bed the groom invited the bride out; both families contributed silk joined into one knot — the drawn scarf — hung from his girdle and her hand, and he walked backwards facing her all the way to the family shrine. After the bows she walked backwards in her turn, and led into the chamber they exchanged formal bows, each striving to be first; then they sat on the bed, she left, he right, while women scattered coins and colored fruit: the canopy-scatter. Leaving a little hair on either side, left and right, the two families offered lengths of silk, hairpins, combs and hair-threads, and joined portions of their hair: the joined chignons. Then two cups joined by colored silk; each drank, and exchanged — the crossed-cup wine. Drained, the cups were thrown under the bed with the flower headdresses: one face up, one face down was the great good fortune, and all congratulated the pair. Then the canopy was drawn.
The day is staged as crossings, and even the joy is transactional at every edge: bearers paid to rise, doors paid to open, a door-red torn for luck. The bride herself never touches the ground, sees by mirror-light, and passes saddle, grass and scale — the entry lists the actions without explaining any of them. One later scholarly reading hears 平安, safety, in the saddle-plus-scale pairing; the page reports that as an interpretation, not as Meng's explanation.
3. Counting the days after.
宮院中即親隨人抱女婿去，已下人家即行出房，參謝諸親，復就飲酒。散後。次日五更，用一卓，盛鏡台鏡子於其上，望堂展拜，謂之「新婦拜堂」。次拜尊長親戚，各有綵段巧作鞋襪等為獻，謂之「賞賀」。尊長則復換一匹回之，謂之「答賀」。婿復參婦家，謂之「拜門」。有力能趣辦，次日即往，謂之「復面拜門」，不然，三日七日皆可，賞賀亦如女家之禮。酒散，女家具鼓吹從物，迎婿還家，三日，女家送綵段油蜜蒸餅，謂之「蜜和油蒸餅」。其女家來作會，謂之「暖女」。七日，則取女歸，或送綵段頭面與之，謂之「洗頭」。一月，則大會相慶，謂之「滿月」。自此以後，禮數簡矣。
In palace households the attendants simply carried the groom away; in ordinary families the pair came out, thanked the kin in turn, and the drinking resumed. When it broke up, at the fifth watch the next morning a table was set with a mirror-stand and mirror facing the hall for the new wife's bow. She bowed next to the elders and kin, presenting silks and crafted shoes and socks — the congratulatory gifts — and each elder returned a bolt: the answered gift. The groom then paid his respects at her family's house: the gate-bow. Those who could afford the hurry went the very next day — the return-face gate-bow — otherwise the third or seventh day served, with gifts as at the bride's family. When the wine dispersed, her family came with drums and retinue to fetch the groom home. On the third day her family sent silks and honey-and-oil steamed cakes — the honey-oil cakes — and their gathering was the marriage-warming. On the seventh day she was fetched home again, or sent silks and head-ornaments: the hair-washing. At the full month came the great gathering of congratulation: the full month. After that, the ceremonies grew simpler.
Incorporation runs on a calendar. The bride bows into the groom's lineage the morning after; her family answers at three days with the warming visit and at seven with the hair-washing; the full month closes the sequence. The entry's own last sentence — after this, the rites simplify — is why the page trusts the structure: Meng is counting observances, not composing sentiment. The two families keep transacting across all of it, which is the point: the marriage knits households by scheduled obligation.
Three points where the witnesses meet the scholars.
The sedan terms follow the Siku form 檐 (花檐子、起檐子、繳檐紅), consistent with Entries 29–31; Gutenberg prints 簷 throughout. Recorded, not debated.
Three OCR gaps in Gutenberg (the bed in 坐富貴, the bed before which the groom calls, the bed under the thrown cups) are filled from the Siku witness, which prints 床 in all three.
A later reading hears 平安 — peace — in the saddle-and-scale crossing. The page reports it as a scholarly interpretation and notes that Meng explains nothing of the kind.
The engagement's two documents — rough opening, then names, kin and property.
Red silk wound over the sedan poles with the consent wine.
The bride's family's return: fresh water, live fish, a pair of chopsticks.
Grain and coins at the door, scattered against the green-sheep spirits.
Portions of the couple's hair joined by the families.
The bride's family's third-day gathering, with honey-oil cakes.
Entry 42 is the book's longest chain of named actions, and its grammar never changes: something is written, carried, inspected, scattered, crossed or counted. The wedding knits two households by making them pay attention to the same dates — and when the last observance is done, Meng closes the ledger without ceremony: after this, the rites grow simple.
自此以後，禮數簡矣。The sequence is textual. The symbolism is not Meng's.
The primary text is read against the Siku-family witness (Kanripo KR2k0111, 卷五) and the Gutenberg transcription #24137; sedan vocabulary follows the Siku 檐, and three Gutenberg OCR gaps are filled from the Siku witness. The 平安 reading of the saddle and scale is reported as scholarship, never as the entry's own explanation.