Page:The Spirit of the Chinese People.djvu/134

 before the open sky and then the husband pours libations on the ground,—in presence of the pair of wild geese (if wild goose cannot be had, an ordinary goose) which the bride has brought with her. This is the ceremony called Tien yen pouring libation before the wild goose; plighting of troth between man and woman—he vowing to be true to her, and she, to be true to him, just as faithful as the pair of wild geese they see before them. From this moment, they become, goso [sic] to speak, natural sweetheart husband and sweetheart wife, bound only by the moral law, the Law of the Gentleman,—the word of honour which they have given to each other, but not yet by the Civic Law. This ceremony therefore may be called the moral or Religious marriage.

After this comes the ceremony called the (交拜) mutual salutation between bride and bride-groom. The bride standing on the right side of the hall first goes on her knees before the bride-groom,—he going on his knees to her at the same time. Then they change places. The bride-groom now standing where the bride stood, goes on his knees to her,—she returning the salute just as he did. Now this ceremony of chiao pai mutual salutation, I wish to point out here, proves beyond all doubt that in China there is perfect equality between man and woman, between husband and wife.

As I said before, the ceremony of plighting troth may be called the moral or Religious marriage as distinguished from what may called the civic marriage,