People had other ways of choosing a wedding day. For example, in the old times, people preferred to hold weddings in the spring. There are explanations for this in “Comprehensive Discussion in the White Tiger Hall” (complied in the 1st century), “spring is the time for plants to grow and for animals and humans to mate. So having wedding in the spring us un tune with the nature.” But some other preferred to hold weddings in the autumn.

As is recorded in “The Book of Poetry” (written as early as 1000BC), “I am not breaking my promise, but you have not found a matchmaker. Don’t be angry, for autumn is the best time for our wedding.” Peasants preferred the winter to hold the wedding. One reason was that they could not afford the betrothal gifts until harvest and they could not spare time for a wedding because of the heavy work at other times. The other reason was that the Kitchen God was said to go back to Heaven to report his work on the 24th of the 12th lunar month and did not return until the eve of the Spring Festival. Therefore, during this period of time people were not watched over by any gods and could enjoy themselves freely. A proverb goes, “whether you have money or not, take a wife at the year’s end.”