Page:The Spirit of the Chinese People.djvu/133

 Toilet finished,—in a low voice she asks her sweetheart husband, "Are the shades in my painted eyebrows quite à la mode?"

But here in order to understand the above, I must tell you something about marriage in China. There are in every legal marriage in China six ceremonies (六禮): first, (問名) asking for the name, i.e., formal proposal; second (納綵) receiving the silk presents, i.e., betrothal:; [sic] third (定期) fixing the day of marriage; fourth (親迎) fetching the bride; fifth (奠鴈) pouring libation before the wild goose, i.e., plighting troth, so-called because the wild goose is supposed to be most faithful in connubial love; sixth (廟見)—temple presentation. Of these six ceremonies, the last two are the most important, I shall therefore here describe them more in detail.

The fourth ceremony, fetching the bride at the present day, is, except in my province Fukien where we keep up the old customs,—generally dispensed with, as it entails too much trouble and expense to the bride's family. The bride now, instead of being fetched, is sent to the bride-grooms' house. When the bride arrives there, the bridegroom receives her at the gate and himself opens the door of the bridal chair and leads her to the hall of the house. There the bride and bride-groom worship Heaven and Earth (拜天地), i.e. to say, they fall on their knessknees [sic] with their faces turned to the door of the hall with a table carrying two red burning candles