Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/32

20 A youth then carries the two candles from the altar into the tung fang 洞房 nuptial chamber very carefully, not changing the right and left hand position of the two, and letting nothing befall them. Then the groom leads the bride into this chamber, and they drink together the nuptial cup 交杯酒 chiao pel chiu. The candles are allowed to burn out. If that on the left goes out first the husband will die first; if that on the right, the wife will be first to die. A light is kept in the room all night with the idea that there will be continuous light in the home and always someone to attend to the family altar and the ancestral sacrifices.

When the pair have had a little time together they return to the chief room, where people come in turn to offer congratulations. A good deal of importance is attached to priority in doing this. Rich persons with large families are preferred. No widow or widower would be allowed to escort or receive, or to be first in congratulating. The guests bow, while the newly wedded couple kneel and knock their heads on the ground 磕頭 k'o t'ou.

At the feast which follows, men and women sit separate. The bride eats nothing the first day in her new home. All who have given presents are invited and regard it as a right.

In the evening the intimate friends of the bridegroom enter the private apartments, examine the bride's hands and feet, make rude remarks about her clothing, ability, general appearance, etc. Her clothing will be examined and tried on, but she must sit still through it all and say nothing. About midnight the visitors depart.

On or about the third day the bride returns to her parents' home, accompanied by her husband. Day and hour are fixed by the wife's parents, who send someone to meet them. A feast is prepared and guests invited to meet the bridegroom. If it rains on that day it is said the bridegroom rides a dog. The same is said of the bride if it rains on the wedding day.

There is a table with wine at the door of the bride's old home, "to stop the horses of the bridegroom," and he has almost always to drink before he can enter the house.