Crying on your wedding day is very common, and for a wide variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s even ritualized, like for the brides of Tujia, who live in central China, where they are obliged by tradition to force themselves to cry in front of family. Like an acting student, the bride practices for weeks, sometimes years. As the big day approaches, her female relatives join in. Backed by an ancient legend, the idea is to highlight the joy of getting married by contrasting it with an opposite emotion.
