The Night of the Candles

The Origin of "Cave Room"

A long time ago, it was customary to call the new room where the newlyweds got married "Cave Room". There are numerous poems written by the ancients about the "bridal chamber". Lu Ji, a writer of the Western Jin Dynasty, wrote in his poem "A Gentleman's Thoughts": "A high door, a cave room, a pavilion." Maltreated in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, he wrote a poem entitled "Three Harmonies and Dancing Poems", which reads: "The flower candle in the cave room is bright, and the dance is light after the two swallows." Song Qingyu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote in his poem "Trial of Zhang ShuiBu": "The red candles were stopped in the bridal chamber last night, and I am going to pay my respects to my aunt and uncle in front of the hall in the morning." Hong Mai, a Song Dynasty poet, wrote in Rongzhai Suibi (Essentials of Rongzhai), "The night of the red candle in the bridal chamber is the night of the inscription on the gold list". It can be seen, "cave room" the origin of the name of the beauty of a long time. But when and why is the new room called "cave"?

According to legend, in ancient times, Tao Tang's Yao was soon to be king. Very concerned about the life of the herdsmen. One day he personally visited the pastoral area to ask about the suffering, suddenly came the general fragrance, there is a beautiful woman in the distance holding a fire floating,. King Yao was stunned, asked the herdsman only to know is the deer fairy, from now on, King Yao food is not sweet, a heart of fairy, determined to go down to the mountains to find the fairy.

King Yao led four ministers to visit the fairy in the Jinnan "fairy cave ditch", long to find no. Suddenly, he saw a beautiful plum blossom. Suddenly, he saw a beautiful deer leisurely from the Gushu fairy cave, King Yao knew that it was the fairy, so he greeted the front, and was about to meet, a python suddenly came out and pushed the king of Yao, who was caught off guard. When he saw the deer nymph approaching, he pointed with his hand, and the python trembled and fled in fear.

Yao Wang is a tall and handsome man, and the fairy is a beautiful woman. They fell in love at first sight, and a beautiful mythological relationship was formed.

They were married in the Gushu fairy cave, a time of auspicious clouds, birds and song. In the evening, when the knot luan, a cluster of divine fire suddenly on the roof of the cave, dazzling, luminous. From then on, the world also has the bride's house called the cave, the wedding night called the cave flower candle night custom.

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The origin of the cave house

The history of Chinese civilization is more than 5,000 years old, and people still refer to marriage as "entering the cave house", even though the human race has transitioned from cave dwellings to today's skyscrapers, the term "cave house" has remained unchanged. Although mankind has transitioned from cave dwellings to today's high-rise buildings, the term "cave house" remains unchanged to this day. I've never seen anyone change the word "cave" to "building".

Legend has it that our ancestor Emperor Xuanyuan stipulated this.

The Yellow Emperor defeated Chiyu, pacified the war, established a tribal alliance, stopped the group marriage, the end of the barbaric Ridai, the era of human civilization initially began.

The human age of group marriage, all of a sudden to change into monogamy this is how not easy a thing! I am afraid this was a great revolution even 5,000 years ago. This has just unified the tribal alliance, the group marriage system has a very unfavorable factors for unity, often occur in the event of robbery, not only men rob women, but also women rob men. Between the tribes of the new alliance, there were often fights and brawls for the sake of marriage. A long time, the conflict is bound to intensify, and the tribes have the possibility of splitting up again. The Yellow Emperor was often worried about this matter. He found around the ministers often first, big Hong, after the wind, Li Mu, Cangjie and so on. They discussed how to stop group marriages and establish monogamy, but none of them came up with a feasible solution. One day, the Yellow Emperor accompanied a group of great giants to inspect the caves where the group of people lived to see if they were safe. Suddenly, he found a family living in three caves, and in order to prevent wild animals from attacking them, the surrounding area was surrounded by a high stone wall, leaving only a doorway where people could enter and exit. This discovery immediately aroused the interest of the Yellow Emperor. That night he summoned all the ministers around him. The Yellow Emperor said, "I have an idea to stop group marriages, let's talk about it and see if it works." All the ministers told the Yellow Emperor to speak quickly. The Yellow Emperor said: "Today we have seen the caves where the people live, I think the only way to stop group marriages is that in the future, when a man and a woman get married, they will gather the people of the tribe to congratulate them, and hold a ceremony to worship heaven and earth, father and mother, and husband and wife. Then, eat wine to celebrate, singing and dancing, announcing that the two have been officially married. Then, the husband and wife will be sent into the pre-prepared cave (room), surrounded by high walls, leaving only one door in and out, eating and drinking water from both men and women in the home loved ones to send, the longest is three months, the shortest is forty days, so that they establish conjugal love in the cave, learn to burn cooking, learn how to live life. In the future, all tribal people married into the cave of men and women, which is called the official marriage, and then not allowed to rob others men and women. In order to distinguish between married and unmarried, where the married woman, must pull a knot in the disheveled hair. People take a look and know that the woman is married, and other men can no longer have other plans, or else they will have violated the tribal regulations."

After speaking of this proposition, the Yellow Emperor was immediately supported by Chang Xian, Dahong, and Li Mu. The crowd suggested that Cangjie should be told to write a statute and publicize it, and this idea was soon supported and embraced by all the tribal groups. People are scrambling for their children to dig caves (room), high walls, where the sons and daughters of a marriage, after the ceremony, they are sent to the cave. The vice of group marriage thus gradually disappeared.

But the force of habit over the centuries is the most formidable force, y rooted, not overnight can be completely changed over. There are also some group of people who are not used to monogamous couples for a while. It is said that there was a pair of capable hunters, the man named Shidun and the woman named Mumeo. The two were promised marriage by both parents. After the wedding ceremony, they were sent to their bridal chamber. After living together for less than ten days, Shidun began to feel that it was not interesting to spend the whole day with only one woman, and that it would be better to have a group marriage, where he could spend time with whichever one he liked, and could have two or three women in a day. Mumei also felt that it was not comfortable to be in a cave, and that it was no fun to be with a man all day long. It was better to have a group marriage, where you could fall in love with any man you liked for a few days. After a few days do not like to find another man, how free, due to the two are reluctant to live a monogamous life of the idea, one night, while the night is quiet, both over the wall, each escaped.

Shidun and Mimiao both fled into the forest, and were unable to find any populated areas. They had no hunting tools with them and were afraid of being attacked by wild animals. At dawn, thirsty and hungry, they unknowingly came together again. In order to save their lives, the two had to rely on each other. All day picking wild fruits, picking mushrooms to feed their hunger. Because of the lost, a moment can not go out of the big forest, really do not know what to do? Now, they realized that no one can live without the other. One day, the two are really thirsty, hungry and tired, both lying under a big tree to rest. A swarm of bees buzzed around their heads. Shidun broke a branch and beat it from side to side to disperse the swarm. Unexpectedly, the bees got angry and stung both of them. Shidun realized that the bees were coming out from the cracks of the tree and took out the flint he had brought with him. He told Mumeo to gather dry wood and quickly lit a big fire, from which they drew fire sticks and burned them vigorously towards the cracks on the tree. In a flash, the bees burned their wings and could no longer fly. The flames reached through the cracks and destroyed the hive, and honey oozed out of the cracks. At first, the two of them did not know what was coming out, but just smelled the aroma. Shidun dipped his hand into a bit of it, put it in his mouth and licked it with his tongue, and it was very sweet. He asked Mu Miao to taste it again, and they concluded that it was not poisonous, so they hurriedly picked up some tree bark and put all the honey flowing out into a container. The two had to pick mushrooms in the forest all day long and dip them in the honey to satisfy their hunger. They spent a whole month in the forest, but it was only when Yu Ze, the hunter of the Yellow Emperor, found them that they were able to save Shidun and Mimiao.

After more than a month in the forest, the young couple was scared and anxious all day long, fearing that wild animals would come and attack them. No one wanted to be separated, no one could leave each other, and the couple's affection grew deeper and deeper, and they truly understood the taste of love. After returning to the tribe, Shidun and Mimiao were never separated again, and the couple built a happy family. This is the origin of the saying, "The Cave and the Honeymoon", which has been passed down to this day.

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The origin of the cave-in

The custom of the cave-in may seem simple, but it has a long history and strong influence. From the scope of influence, it can be said that all over the country; from the time of existence, it is almost throughout the feudal society, until the modern era is still popular. Because of this custom to the bride as the main object of amusement, it is also known as "haunted bride", "play the bride", also known as "play women" in the old days.

The custom of haunting the room began in the pre-Qin period of the Han Dynasty, the wedding simple, solemn.

Confucius in the "Rituals - Zeng Zi asked" to describe the marriage of the scene, said: "marrying a woman's home, three days without resting the candle, thinking about leaving each other; marrying back to the family, three days without lifting the music, thinking about the heir of the family." Reflects the simplicity of the pre-Qin wedding habits, there is no clamor and chaos of the scene. Into the Han, after the social and economic development, people are no longer satisfied with the old-fashioned and dull wedding, no longer adhere to the "three days do not lift the music" of the ancient teachings, began to make a big deal, so that weddings are covered with secular festive colors. Recent Yang Shuda in the "Han dynasty wedding and funeral rites and customs" book test: "and for the guests, often drinking and laughing, words and deeds without fear, such as the world of the new room for those who have to make a fuss, Han that is, there has been." Yang cited the end of the Han Zhong Changtong's "Chang Yan" in the record: "This marriage will be, whacking staff to supervise the banter sweet to interest in the desire to proclaim obscene anonymous in a wide range of the public, show the private in the new family, dirty wind and weird customs, birth of obscene long adulterous, and more than this very much, can not be constantly also." From this, we can see that the room from the beginning of its emergence, is regarded as a kind of bad customs and vices.

On the origins of the custom of haunting the room, there are two sayings in our folklore. One says that it originates from driving away evil spirits to avoid disasters. Legend has it that, a long time ago, Zi Wei Xing one day down to earth, on the road to meet a woman wearing mourning, trailing in a group of welcoming team, he saw that this is the devil is waiting for an opportunity to do evil, and then tracked to the bridegroom's home, only to see that the woman has arrived first, and hide in the cave. When the bride and groom were about to enter the bridal chamber after worshipping Heaven and Earth, Zi Wei Xing guarded the door and refused to enter, saying that the devil was hiding inside. The people asked him to show them the way to get rid of the devil, and he suggested: "The devil is most afraid of crowds, and if there are many people, the devil will not dare to do evil." So the groom invited the guests to play and joke in the bridal chamber, and drove away the evil spirits with laughter; and sure enough, at the fifth hour, the devil finally fled. It can be seen that the beginning of the haunted room that is covered with the color of driving away evil spirits and avoiding disasters.

The custom of driving away evil spirits in the bridal chamber is found all over the north and south. Newlyweds into the bridal chamber before the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the bridegroom the night before must sleep in the bridal chamber, beforehand, please two girls holding red candles will be in the new room to light again; Tianjin people are asked to blowing class in the new room blowing, in order to seek good luck. Newlyweds into the room, the room is still very important to drive the evil. Such as in the east rise, the groom into the house to symbolically shoot an arrow to each of the four corners of the new room, or holding a single knife to each corner of the virtual cut a knife, and the song said: "a cut demon, two cut monster, three cut the devil's bad head, four cut the God of Mourning quickly leave, laugh at the unicorn to send a son." A more common custom is to build a long-lasting lamp in the new house. This is what is meant by the so-called "Candlelight Night in the Bridal Chamber". Some scholars say that the custom of "listening to the room" is essentially a protective measure against ghosts and monsters entering the room.

Another viewpoint on the origin of the haunted house is that the haunted house first appeared in the north, and the beginning of the groom, which is probably related to the habits of the northern peoples. Their hunting and nomadic lifestyle made the men very tough and courageous, and enduring beatings on their wedding day could prove that a man was a qualified husband.

Some backward peoples in the world use self-mutilation and abuse to show the qualification of men, and even take the head of a hunted man as a token to courtship, I am afraid of the same meaning. Haunting the house in ancient times retained this primitive custom.