Want to get married? Dig! Touching Chinese Tradition (6 photos)

In China, especially in the eastern provinces, there is a special rice wine called Nuer Hong or Huadiao. It is special because it is meant to be drunk at weddings, but of course it is not the occasion itself that makes it special.





In this photo, the girl is almost crying, but she is carrying rice wine

How Huadiao or Bride's Wine is Made

Huadiao literally means "wine with flower carvings." Because it is customary to give or sell it in a very beautifully molded bottle, decorated with bows and painted with auspicious flowers and pictures. And the second name nuer hong means "daughter red", because red is the color of the bride's wedding dress in China.

There is a rule that it must be aged for 18 years. And its bottle is opened when the daughter leaves home to get married. That is, it should be pawned almost immediately after the birth of the daughter, you never know when she will want to get married?



A wedding in traditional attire with a large jug of buried wine

But on the other hand, this is a good tradition, which hints that you should not marry your daughter off too early, let her turn at least 18.

The wine is brewed using the "yellow wine" technology, in which steamed grains are mixed with a traditional fermentation starter called jiuqu. The average strength of such wines is 16 percent, they can be brown, but more often amber in color.





A woman "stamps" identical jugs by hand to sell for a special wine

In the old days, and this tradition began at the beginning of our era, the whole family began to prepare it when the daughter was from one to several years old.

The wine was poured into jugs, tightly sealed on top and buried. But this was always done in winter, when the ponds froze. They were buried along the edges of the pond, and when spring came, the water rose and the edges "flooded", so that the wine could not be taken out.



The lazy can buy it in a wine shop, or as a gift

When a girl was planning a wedding, the whole family would take shovels and picks and go dig up wine. It was not necessary to wait for winter again and put it off, often the pond would be dug up to lower the water level, and jugs buried many years ago would be taken out of the freed bank.

The taste of wine that has been fermenting underground for many years is very rich and deep, as tasters say. The main thing for the family was not to forget where everything was buried, and so that random people would not find out where the wine stash was and dig it up in the winter.



I don't know which pond they dug in, like this?

The practice of making it from the daughter's infancy continued in Shaoxing until the beginning of the 20th century.

Still need to dig?

Of course, they don't bury it anymore, but traditionally store it somewhere in a cellar. Sometimes they make and paint the bottles themselves, but there is also a whole industry of craftswomen who make beautiful wedding bottles for bottling this wine. So that it wouldn't be embarrassing to put on the wedding table.

There is even a song called "A sip of nuer hong to melt two hearts. But only a woman can understand the bitter and sour taste in the cup." This is a hint at the difficulties that a woman will have to endure in a marriage, torn away from her usual family, because in China a girl was often given away "for good."



Wine with red rags, because the Bride is red

In general, this wine has a very dual image. Previously, it was perceived as a "sad wine" that would help distract from a sad farewell. Today, it is simply a beautiful festive wine, without the bitter admixture of a woman's difficult fate. At weddings, the first three cups of the drink are served to the bride's father, father-in-law and husband.

Well, at least the tradition has become healthier somehow.

But there are still provinces where everyone wants to do it right and really bury the wine. And then you dig on the pond!