Life Cycle Ceremonies
Traditional ceremonies and rituals
are a very important part of the Chinese way of life. Although the
country has undergone many changes througout its history the importnace
of these rituals has not really changed. Some of the individual practices
in these ceremonies have altered, but for the most part their tradtions
have remained the same. The most important rituals in the Chinese
culture are coined the, "Life Cycle Ceremonies," by William Parish, in
his book, Village and Family in Contemporary China.
These ceremonies include the one-month, naming ceremony of an infant,
the wedding ceremony, and the rituals of burial.
These three ceremonies are the most
important in the Chinese culture. Individual practices of each of
these three rituals have changed, making it a difficult task to describe
each one. Therefore, I have listed some sources for each one below.
The Wedding
This picture came from a very resourceful website called Chinese
Wedding Traditions. It explains many different aspects of this
ceremony, and includes a detailed history of each tradition within this
ceremony. You can either click on the link or go to http://www.chcp.org/Vweddings.html
Death and Dying
Many of the funeral customs came from buddhist traditions.
This picture and more information about this subject can be found at a
website called On Death
and Dying, or to sepcifically find out about Chinese burials you can
go to http://www.buddhanet.net/cfuneral.htm
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