Singapore Paranormal Investigators

Ghost Marriage

Other Reports of Ghost Marriage

Come, I hereby pronounce you as husband and wife, in hell

　

(Source from: http://www.stthomasu.ca/~parkhill/cj01/irepsw.htm)

"Spirit Brides". Gods, Ghosts and Ancestors. By Jordan, David K. 1972.

Hell marriage in the rural Taiwanese village of Bo-an, is incredibly popular. After all, marrying the spirit of a dead girl is better than suffering from her ghostly wrath. As soon as the ancestral tablet is established on her new family's altar, the spirit and all her ill effects disappear becoming part of the innocuous world of ancestors. The shame and danger of an unmarried girl vanishes.

In the tradition system of hell marriage, it didn't even matter who the groom was. The unhappy girl's spirit would appear to her family in a dream. Given the fact that ghosts are known to be sources of misfortune, it isn't much of a mental leap to deduce that an unmarried daughter is trouble. Although she was a member of her father's house during her life, her natal family cannot maintain her spirit in the afterlife. She needs to beget sons of her own to secure ancestor worship. Without sons, a woman cannot have an active role in her community. As one ancient sage put it, unmarried women don't take part in rites when alive, so why should they when they are dead? It is an easy diagnosis for the shaman. It also happens to be a prescription she can fill herself. Most shamans also rent the equipment necessary for a spirit marriage.

In some parts of China, the ghost's family proceeds to leave a red envelop in the road. The man who happens upon it first will be the husband. (a dowry is added as an incentive). In Bo-an, a variation has sprung up in which the chosen groom is the husband of the ghost's sister; specifically requested by the deceased!

On the designated wedding day, the hell marriage takes place, mixing elements of a funeral as well as a wedding. The dead girl's tablet is brought out from its secluded place in her old room or behind a door. It is fitted into the back of the mannequin bride. The dummy is really extraordinary. It sits, some 80 cm tall, leering. It is all lace and obscenity. Made of paper and cloth, with oversized head and children's shoes she awaits her marriage. She is dressed with care in three layers or red and white lace and her fingers and arms are adorned with false gold - just like a real bride. The play here is dead serious. Only the bride smiles, something a real bride would never do. Her face stolen from a Japanese calendar and pasted on, she looks at her company, triumphant. The two families burn incense and exchange token gifts. She is then moved to the groom’s house.

After a second day of feasting, the effigy is committed to fire, her clothes returned to the shaman and her tablet on the home altar where it will remain permanently. The layers of her clothing, the seven sticks of incense burned all proclaim the fact that this has been a proper funeral as well as a marriage. Everyone hopes that this will be the end of the bride. However modest she may have been in her lifetime, in her death she is unwomanly in her dominance and aggression. The bitterness of her spiritual limbo need never be experienced by a man. When young men die they are never without sons. If they haven't had the time or good fortune to have their own, adoption is possible. If they didn't have time to make this arrangement in life, after their death they are given sons from their nephews or brothers. Such a massive rewriting of the family organization shows how vitally important men are in the community. Women are forced into less acceptable avenues to assert themselves. They come perilously close to oblivion. In both cases one thing is obvious. The dead must be in order for the living to be at peace. A hell marriage can be just the thing for a tranquil life.

(Source from: http://www.sacu.org.uk/marriage.html)

Almost everyone got married in the traditional society. The family needed children partly for economic reasons, to continue the line, and to ensure that there would be sacrifices to their parents after their deaths.
The match-maker would first determine the bazi (八字)of the girl, whom she would take to the family of an eligible boy, who would lay the red paper with the bazi before the Kitchen God. The boy's family would then consult a fortune-teller about the compatibility of the girl and boy. In the event of there being several girls who wanted to marry the boy, the family would have to choose: a bad choice could later be blamed on the matchmaker or on Fate, manifested in the bazi horoscopes.
After the engagement was announced, betrothal gifts were given to the bride's family, and a dowry sent. After the wedding ceremony, the couple would settle in the groom's house. The young bride would be expected to work under the instruction of her mother-in-law, and the cruel mother-in-law is a frequent theme in Chinese literature.

Even if the son died, he could still be married. In such cases his place in the wedding ceremony would be taken by a white cockerel. After this 'ghost' marriage, the woman could adopt a son, who would then be able to transmit the family's surname down to future generations.

A Scary Chinese Urban Legend about Ghost Marriage

第一次看到這照片我沒覺得什麼異樣感覺後來突然照片上的女人我覺得她好象笑了一下有突然有觸電的感覺。據說是民間的冥婚，但是都什麼具體的說話。後來我就查了就是中國舊時民間為已死亡子女尋求聯姻的婚俗。具有濃厚的迷信色彩，故又稱嫁殤婚、娶殤婚。此婚按照一定的婚儀完婚後男女合葬。後世還曾出現過為已亡的未婚男女聯姻的“鬼媒人”。

冥婚流傳於周代並被明令禁止，《周禮·地官》載：“禁遷葬者與嫁殤者。” 但後來由於統治階級的提倡，直到中華人民共和國建立前，仍在部分地區流傳。當時我害怕得很，因為覺得那很奇怪的感覺後來我這幾天到處查冥婚姻有關的消息。看到了很多消息，beyond的葉世榮也進行過冥婚。還是比較轟動的。我就花了幾天找這照片的出處，到處都查不到。然後讓我要吃驚的事就發生了，我做夢和那個女人結婚了，而她是死人我醒來後就狂吐，一頭的汗，場景裏那個奇怪的音樂讓我實在承受不了類似嗩吶什麼的。後來是 8號吧，我去找我們學校歷史係的周鍵明老師，確認了關於冥婚的一些說法他也看了我印下的這照片，好象讓他想起了什麼，他就查給我了。

這照片裏的人是餘杭鄉村的！那個女人叫葉子梅 17歲，家裏很有錢當時的地主，和那個小夥子 19歲王海德結婚了，後來還沒過門，女方得了熱病死了他們已經訂婚1年了 1922年，後來小夥子不想按當地風俗和死人結婚，就逃跑去當兵，後來被女方家人捉了回來。這照片是下午傍晚拍的，女人已經死了6天，背後是用木架支撐起來的，她的腳沒有著地！

你們看他們背後的2邊的字一橫是上凸的，那是專用給死人寫的字！後來男人去了上海，開了小茶館，死在1988年，後來和一個上海本地女人結了婚，生有1女1子。舊社會的惡風俗啊，這些資料有的也沒辦法查證了，因為圖書館那些資料的來源就不清晰。不要盯著女人的眼睛看太久，如果也看到她對你笑的話，可能有很不好的事情發生哦。因為當時男人不是情願的，因為男人是當地的帥小生，但是沒什麼錢，女人是喜歡他，靠家庭權力硬拉他和自己訂婚的，可憐的人啊。覺得鬱悶發到網上給大家看看這個比江西趕屍的風俗更讓我覺得難受。還有人說女人的眼睛在流血什麼的，其實那是風俗化的紅粧，還有人說女人沒右手，你自己看光線暗而已，用ps打下可以清晰得看到2個手

Reference

Scholar Journal titled "Ghost Marriages Among the Singapore Chinese", by Marjorie Topley, Man, Vol. 55 (Feb., 1955), 29-30. View PDF here.
Scholar Journal titled "Ghost Marriages Among the Singapore Chinese: A Further Note", by Marjorie Topley, Man, Vol. 56 (May., 1956), 71-72. View PDF here.
Scholar Journal titled "Spiritual Bonds to The Dead in Cross-Cultural and Historical Perspective: Comparative Religion and Modern Grief", by Dennis Klass and Robert Goss, Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. View PDF here.
Scholar Journal titled "Can a Person Really Survive After Death?", by Bryan J. Williams, The Journal of Religion and Psychical Research. View PDF here.

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