For the Tujia people of Zhangjiajie, China, brides traditionally cry for an hour a day the month before the wedding, according to Zhangjiajie Tour Club.
As a part of a ritual by the Tulja people of China, the bride starts crying 30 days before the wedding. After 10 days she is joined by her mother.
Another 10 days later, she is joined by her grandmother. All this while, the bride never stops crying as it is meant to bring happiness to her wedding life.
The Tujia ethnic group (Chinese: 土家族 Tǔjiāzú) has more than 8 million
people and are considered the 8th largest of China’s 55 official minority classifications.
Their main homeland is the Wuling Mountains, a famous and scenic mountain range, that is on the border of Guizhou Province, Hu
bei, Hunan, and Chongqing.
In the final days leading up to the wedding, a bride’s mother, grandmother, and sisters join in the crying too. Tujia people
judge a girl’s intelligence and virtue by how well she can cry while singing songs during her wedding.
Why such sorrow? It dates back to the Warring States Period in which a Zhao State princess’s mother fell to her daught
er’s feet in tears when the girl left home to be married, according to China Daily.
Later, other brides copied the practice as a way to express their sorrow at leaving home for marriage — and perhaps imitate a princess’ bridal customs.
In this way, the practice of crying before a wedding i
s an expression of a bride’s love and gratitude for her family of origin.
But a different explanation for the pre-marriage crying exists as well. Because arranged marriages were the norm in China for a long time, young girls approached marriage with a tremendous sense of fear.
“Girls cried for their destiny because they cannot freely choose their husband,” reporter Jiangli Tian told Skedline.com. The idea of marrying a stranger, and having no say about your future, is scary s
tuff indeed.
