Northern Shaanxi：Simple Yet Precise Village Marriage Ceremony
Northern Shaanxi boys are called lads and girlsare called daughters before they marry andcalled man and wife afterwards.When a girlreaches the age of 17 or 18 her family finds someone forher（called a boyfriend）。They don’t place much importanceon how much money the family has or how muchproperty they own，concentrating more onwhether or not the potential boyfriend is sincereand truly ready to make progress.Themeeting of the girl and boy is fairly simpleand the couple only makes sure they arecompatible，placing more emphasis on whether or not they can live together happily rather thanhow well they can carry out house chores.
The engagement ceremony takes place in the man’shome.The ceremony is fairly simple.The woman’s familysends a senior member of the family，usually thebride’s father，to go with the bride and participate in theceremony.The man’s family does not put on a grand affair.
They only invite a few close relatives，such as aunts，uncles and sisters of the groom，plus a few good friendsof the groom to participate.After the two sides greet eachother，they sit down for a noon banquet，the groom’s familypresent gifts to the bride’s family and the ceremony isconsidered finished.
Marriages in northern Shaanxi usually take place inthe winter，when the year’s farm work is over and peoplehave more spare time.In some other areas where transportationis difficult and economic conditions are poor，vegetables，meat，fish and fowl do not spoil easily and can be kept for a long time.
The marriage ceremony takes three days to completeand is divided into two parts，the process of the girl leavinghome to get married and the boy going to pick up hisnew bride.The length of the marriage ceremony is determinedby a certain number of meals，usually four.
Before the marriage ceremony，the man’s family goesto the home of the woman to talk to the head of her familyand formally request her hand in marriage.Sometimesthe woman’s family may invite the man’s family to comeand ask for the marriage，usually because the woman isold enough.To avoid the occurrence of any problems，they invite the man to take the woman away to marryher.After the two parties come to an agreement，the mangoes home to select an auspicious date and make preparationsbefore formally marrying the woman.Two daysbefore the selected date for the ceremony，the woman beginsthe process of leaving home to get married.On this day the woman leaves her home to live in someone else’shome fairly far away from her own and cannot returnor receive food from home.This is called“leaving thehouse，”meaning leaving her family’s home.In the eveninga relative of the groom comes to give her clothing，ornaments and some daily necessities.On the second daythe bride puts on the clothing and ornaments，and getsdressed from head to foot in preparation for the groom’srepresentatives to come for her.
The man’s family usually sends 4 to 6 members asrepresentatives to pick up the bride.An older relativeof the groom，usually an uncle，represents the groom’sfamily in communicating with the bride’s family andhandling financial matters and miscellaneous tasks.Oneis the advance party，usually an uncle of the groom，whois responsible for communicating the good news to thegroom’s family.Sometimes the groom’s family will senda band to serenade the bride.The marriage scene is verylively，with blaring suonas，exploding fireworks andmany happy faces as the representatives of the groomdistribute candy and cigarettes to the guests.
Before transportation conditions improved，the groomwould lead a mule ridden by the bride while everyoneelse walked.Later it was changed to four representativesof the groom carrying the bride in a sedan chair.With improvedeconomic conditions，the bride is usually pickedup in a well-decorated automobile，and the car used hasbecome more and more upscale.