变化中的婚礼
The changing wedding ceremony

虽然如今的新人们不再下跪磕头，但仍要用为长辈敬茶、互相鞠躬来表达礼敬。随着时代的发展，婚俗在中国发生了许多变化，并被不断赋予新的内容。例如迎亲时，唢呐声被替换成了鞭炮声和欢快的电子音乐，新娘的红盖头变成了白色头纱，迎接新娘的花轿也被替换成系着丝带和气球的高级轿车。
Even though nowadays the newlyweds do not have to kneel down and kowtow, they must still serve tea to the older generation and bow to each other as an expression of respect. With the modern development, the wedding customs in China have undergone great changes, and continuously absorb new things. For example, when the bride is being fetched, the traditional sounds of suona (a trumpet-like musical instrument) have been replaced by firecrackers and cheerful electronic music, the brides red veil has changed to a white gauze scarf, and the wedding floats used to welcome the groom have also been replaced with top range sedan cars with silk ribbons and balloons tied to them.

80岁的黄奶奶，见证了中国巨大变化，也经历过不同年代的婚礼。她和老伴张爷爷已经携手走过50多年。但婚礼在她的回忆里依然简朴而甜蜜，”结婚那天，我们从单位借了二十几张凳子，自己炒了两大盆带壳花生和葵花子，又买了10斤糖果。婚礼共请了四桌亲朋好友，每桌都有’四菜一汤’，大家一起开开心心吃了好久。
” Eighty years old grandmother Huang, a witness to the great changes that China has undergone, has also experienced wedding ceremonies of different generations. She and grandfather Zhang, her husband, have already spent more than 50 years together, but she still remembers her simple but sweet wedding. “On the wedding day we borrowed twenty stools from our workplace, fried two large pans of shelled peanuts and sunflower seeds, and bought five kilos of candy. The friends and family who were invited to the wedding took up four tables, each table had three dishes and a soup, and we all enjoyed a long and happy meal together.”

张蓉是黄奶奶的女儿，在1982年结婚。结婚那天，新郎穿一件蓝色中山装，新娘则是一件红色棉袄罩衫。他们二人去照相馆拍了一张黑白大头合影，贴在结婚证上，再请亲朋好友到家里吃顿饭，就算完成了人生的一桩大事。对于女儿的婚礼，黄奶奶说：”那会儿结婚讲究配备’三转一响’，就是自行车、手表、缝纫机和收音机。虽然现在看来没有什么，但当时可是很高的标准了。
” Zhang Rong, grandmother Huang’s daughter, got married in 1982. On the wedding day the groom wore a Mao suit and the bride a quilted jacket. The two of them went to a photo studio to take a black and white portrait photo of them together to stick it onto their wedding certificate, and then invited the friends and family to their house for a meal – and the great event in their lives was over and done with. Grandmother Huang had this to say about her daughter’s wedding: “At that time it was important to provide the “three things that turn and one that makes sound” for a marriage – bicycle, watch, sewing machine and radio. Nowadays this is nothing, but those were the highest standards at that time”.

在中国民间，流传着八十年代要三转一响，九十年代要三电一轮——电视机、洗衣机、电冰箱、自行车, 21世纪要三子一本——房子、车子、票子、学历本的说法，代表着不同时代中国新人的婚礼物品清单。
“Three things that turn and one that makes sound” of the 80s, “three electrical things and one with wheels” – television set, washing machine, refrigerator and bicycle of the 90s, “apartment, car, money and university diploma” of the XXI century – these are the wedding wish lists of the different generations of newlyweds of the common folk in China.

如今，黄奶奶的外孙周勇也面临成家。这场21世纪的新式婚礼保留了中国传统婚礼的喜庆热闹，又融合了西式婚礼的庄重圣洁。婚礼宴会上依然随处可见大红色的彩带和喜字，而新娘的服装除了有喜庆的大红旗袍，还添置了一席白色的拖地婚纱。婚礼上，新娘挽着父亲的手，伴着《婚礼进行曲》缓缓走向等在前方的新郎，接受所有宾客的祝福。
Now the time has also come for Zhou Yong, the grandson of Grandmother Huang to get married. His 21st century wedding has a new style, preserving the joy and the excitement traditional to a Chinese wedding, but fusing them with Western-style solemnity and the sense of holiness and purity. During the wedding banquet the red ribbons and the red signs with double-happiness character are everywhere, but the bride has added a white floor-length wedding gown to the joyful red qipao. During the wedding itself, the bride is slowly led out by her father, to the tune of a wedding march, towards the groom who is waiting ahead, as the guests impart their blessings.


本文由北京翻译公司品格翻译提供，未经允许，不得转载。