Ghostly

First of all I want to apologize for any content, especially the pictures that would possibly cause any uneasiness. Sorry if I creep any of you out.


Being inspired by a reading we did a couple of weeks ago, in which the idea of 'ghost marriage' was referenced, I decided to do a blog on this to briefly introduce this fascinating old Chinese tradition that has been practiced by the Chinese. Similar ritual is also practiced in various Asian countries including Korea, Singapore, Sudan etc.and it's a legal event in France, but here I will only focus on talking about the Chinese one.

Hung Liu Minghun – Ghost Marriage
Oil on canvas, 80" x 80" 2010. Courtesy of Rena Bransten Gallery. 

When it comes to finding a quick definition there's nothing works better than Wikipedia (here I used Chinese Wikipedia and translated the definition to avoid cross-cultural misinterpretation). According to Wikipedia 'ghost marriage' is a folk custom. If an engaged couple died before they were actually married or two young kids died before they get engaged, then their parents will "help" them to get married in the love and memory for them.

In old China ghost marriage is normally practiced by affluent families, and poor families could rarely afford it. The custom has been quite popular lately in Northern China. There are more men than women in China for now, and dead bodies of women has been very precious and are frequently stolen and sold as items. This raises social issues and concerns. I won't be ranting about this problem too much here, but WHERE ARE THE RESPECTS PEOPLE?!

An old picture of ghost marriage from the period of Republic of China.
The ceremony was held in a family of Shanxi province (my hometown).
The couple in the picture were dead when the picture was taken
and both of them had their feet hung in the air. credit

The originating time of this custom remains ambiguous. Some say it is from Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC) while the others say it's from Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE). The custom peeked at Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE), and it was documented by scholars at that time:  “年当嫁娶未婚而死者，两家令媒互求之，谓之鬼媒人。通家状细帖，各以父母命祷而卜之。得卜，即制服冥衣，男带女裙帔等毕备，媒者就墓备酒果，祭以合婚”. (Translation: The ones died before marriage, their families hire matchmaker to find an appropriate families, this is the ghost matchmaker. The families list out detailed record of their horoscope, and have their parents to pray. If the matchmaking went well, they immediately make clothes for the dead, and when the couple is well-dressed, the matchmaker prepare the offering and hold the wedding) .

Most parts of China are patrilineal. It was seen as a shame and misfortune of a family to have a unmarried daughter dies because the deceased woman could not be included in the genealogy. Thus the ghost marriage was often a way to maintain a woman's status and name, and a way to find the woman a home so she would not wander and get lost in the living's world.

A poetry written by Anita N. Feng provides some sort of description of the ghost marriage in modern Chinese community: 

ghost marriage 

paper stars and moon  three tiered houses and their utensils 

fast heated column of paper money 

lifted by ghosts 

the 

impatient  and delighted spark 

here are two houses 

crackling to heaven  paper rabbit lantern tinseled and sprung 

into celebration 

and from the mud bath the ghosts 

lay paper rice into their mouths 

fire dribbling down their chins with happiness  black 

liquor 

double tongued 

flame and aspirations lovely ash a young bride 

lovely ash a husband  their children deities 

strewn about the burial site as the 

living guests depart 

 This video recorded a ghost marriage in Chinese community of Lukut, a small town in Malaysia. You guys can get a taste of it. Please turn your volume down if you decided to watch it as it has continual sound of clapping cymbals.