Global InformationChinese ghost marriage information
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Social anthropology Cultural anthropology |
| Chinese ghost marriage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese | 冥婚 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "netherworld marriage" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In Chinese tradition, a Ghost Marriage (Chinese: 冥婚; pinyin: mínghūn; lit. 'spirit marriage') refers to a marriage in which one or both parties are deceased.[1]: 99 In mainland China, the practice of ghost marriages involves two deceased individuals. Meanwhile, in special administrative regions, Taiwan and South East Asia, it involves one deceased individual and one living individual.
The practice of ghost marriages can be traced back to the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.), with its participants being among those who were wealthy. Its origins are said to stem from the Chinese Yin and Yang philosophy, where the Yin has to merge with the Yang in order to achieve harmony and the philosophy of life after death. It was believed that if a person had died as a bachelor or bachelorette, his or her spirit would feel lonely in the afterlife, thus, breaking the Yin and Yang rule. As these spirits are unable to find harmony, many believed that they would return to cause harm to living family members and their descendants. Due to this belief, living family members would seek out deceased individuals of the opposite sex to accompany their deceased bachelor or bachelorette during burial, thus completing the Yin and Yang balance.
Today, many consider the real purpose of ghost marriages to be the appeasement of the minds of the living. It is a form of bereavement therapy practiced in ancient times that is kept alive by various Chinese communities today.[2] Despite its long history and unique practices, the original purposes of ghost marriages remain largely unknown. Even so, ghost marriages are often stigmatized and surrounded with superstitions.
Worldwide, other forms of ghost marriages are also practiced, for example in France since 1959 (see posthumous marriage; compare levirate marriage and ghost marriage in South Sudan, i.e. marriage to a living relative of the deceased).
- ^ Stockard, Janice E. Daughters of the Canton Delta
- ^ "一個人的婚禮…女友過世男辦冥婚". 東森新聞. 東森新聞网. 6 November 2015. Archived from the original on 16 March 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2016.