Living in the vast Inner Mongolia, the Mongolians have various wedding ceremonies of which Ordos wedding ceremony is the most wonderful. Ordos wedding ceremony has been passed down for more than 700 years and still keeps an ancient style and flavor. With distinctive ethnic features, strong flavor of life, melodious songs and dances as well as warm and grand scenes, Ordos wedding ceremony reflects the yearning quest for a better life and the rough, forthright and kindhearted nature of industrious, brave and wise Mongolians in Ordos. Therefore, Ordos wedding ceremony spreads far and wide.
Ordos wedding ceremony can be traced back to ancient Mongolia and took shape in the Yuan Dynasty. In the 15th century, as the Ordos Mongolian tribe moved into Ordos, the "Eight Sacred White Yurts" to offer a sacrifice to Genghis Khan was located in Kandehuo Enclosure in Ordos, and Ordos wedding ceremony was hence circulated among the Mongolians with its unique procedures and celebrating activities, such as getting engaged with Khatag, marrying the bride with a bow, meeting the bridegroom at the gate, offering a sheep and toasting, asking names and birth dates, cutting the sheep's neck, combing hair for marriage, Mother's blessings, scrambling for hats, baptizing with sacred water, kneeling down before the father-in-law and mother-in-law, unveiling the bride's veil, bride offering tea to parents and going back to the bride's home. These procedures and activities are different from wedding procedures of other ethnic groups and those Mongolians living in other areas. They constitute the most unique, appealing and magnificent part of Mongolian wedding ceremonies, represent the best of Mongolian customs and rites, and has become the most intact picture scroll with the richest contents displaying Mongolian style.
