What are the Khitan marriage customs? Why is it so unspeakable?

As we all know, in Chinese history, various dynasties will be invaded by some special ethnic groups, and today we will talk about the Khitan people. Speaking of the Khitan people, what impresses us the most is the marriage customs of the Khitan people. The Khitan customs regarding marriage are very different from some of the marriage customs of our dynasty.

Some customs are very difficult to talk about.

1. Legends of Khitan marriage customs There have always been some legends about the marriage customs of the Khitan people, among which some people say that the Khitan people once described their ancestors as a prince charming and a beautiful and generous green cow woman, and the two of them fell in love at first sight, so they began their married life of marriage and children. Then, after generations of reproduction, there were eight Khitan tribes at that time. At the same time, there are some legends that the Khitan people have actually begun to practice the marriage system of exogamy very early.

The so-called clan exogamy system means that people from two different clans can marry and have children. At that time, the two clans actually referred to the clans with the green ox and the white horse as the totem.

2. The marriage customs of the Khitan people have changed over the times, and the marriage customs of the Khitan people have not changed, but have been passed down by later generations. From the marriage customs of the Khitan people, we can know that the Khitan people were very open to this kind of marriage thinking at that time. It is precisely because it is too open that for some people in the Central Plains, this kind of marriage custom is completely unacceptable.

In other words, if this marriage system is implemented, then there will be an uncle who can take his niece, which is what modern people call a marriage between close relatives.

3. Later Generations' Evaluation of the Khitan Marriage Customs From a historical point of view, the unique marriage system of the Khitan people has never appeared anywhere else in Chinese history except for the Khitan people. In fact, this kind of marriage system also has certain drawbacks now. Because we all know that marriage between close relatives will increase the probability of family genetic diseases in future generations, and it will also cause family relationships to be very complicated.

As a nomadic people, the Khitan's marriage customs are very unspeakable. Because the Khitan people clearly stipulate that nobles are not allowed to intermarry with commoners, and the Khitan only has two nobles, Lu Abaoji and Xiao surnames, there are cousin marriages and confusion within the Khitan people, so in the Khitan people, nephews, nephews, cousins and nephews are a very common phenomenon, and such customs are very difficult to talk about in our Han nationality, which is contrary to human morality. In addition to the Khitan nobles, intermarriage between cousins, sisters, cousins, etc. among the Khitan commoners was also very common.

In the biography, their ancestors were a man riding a hundred horses and a woman riding an ox. After the two of them met, they fell in love with each other and became husband and wife. After they got married, they multiplied, and gradually formed the Khitan nation in the future, and the Khitan people also formed two clans of "Green Cow" and "White Horse", the green cow represents the Yelu clan, and the white horse represents the Xiao clan, although the Khitan clan continues to develop and change, but they still maintain the marriage custom of intermarriage between the two surnames of the Xiao family and the Yelu family, that is to say, the Yelu family can only intermarry with the Xiao family, and the two surnames are historically related, and the cousin can marry a cousin, an uncle marries a niece, and an uncle marries a niece in the Khitan clan. It is not surprising that granddaughters marry their maternal grandfathers, it is very common, such marriage customs are unacceptable among our Han people, but the Khitan people feel that only the marriage of the two surnames Xiao and Yelu can preserve the purity of their aristocratic blood.

In 1986, Mongolia discovered a Liao Dynasty Princess Chen Guo tomb, coffin lying in two people, according to archaeologists confirmed, they are husband and wife relationship is also niece and uncle relationship, Chen Guo Princess is Yelu, and his husband is also his uncle named Xiao, it can be seen that the Khitan two surnames intermarriage marriage custom is real. <>

It has to be said that the Khitan marriage system of intermarriage between the two surnames could not exist in the ancient Chinese emperors, although there were similar marriage customs in the Manchus of the Qing Dynasty, but they were separated by several generations, not direct relatives, and the practice of marriage between the Yelu royal group and the Xiao clan group from generation to generation did not exist in the Qing Dynasty.

Khitan marriage customs stipulate that nobles and commoners cannot intermarry, and nobles are intermarried, so there are cousin marriages internally, and it is very common for nephews, uncles, cousins and nephews to marry, and the generations are confused.

The Khitan people clearly stipulate that nobles cannot intermarry with commoners, which leads to the chaos of close relatives marriage within the Khitan, which is contrary to human ethics, and there are often chaos such as cousin marriages, aunts and nephews, etc., and the probability of children born in this way is quite high.