Traditional wedding is meant for the union of a male and a female, yin and yang, which lead to human propagation and perpetual life. The folk art works on custom wedding ceremony bear distinctive features on the theme.
Fish, being a proliferous legendary animal, is often used to symbolize having multiple children. A yin-yang paired fish became a cultural code in Chinese folk art works.
At wedding ceremony, paper-cut "Fish playing around lotus," "Fish biting lotus," "Lotus bearing seeds" and "Happy dolls" (baby with coiled hair holding a pair of fish) are pasted on the ceiling of the bridal chamber. In northern Shaanxi, red or green paper-cutting of "Baby with coiled hair holding a pair of fish" in a big ball flower design is pasted on the center of the cave window. They are called "revolving flower," as the revolving sky. The lower and middle part of the cave window is usually a lattice window in 36 counts. A large totem animal paper-cut (a tiger, a sheep or a deer) is over the middle four lattice; each corner lattice has a corner flower; the rest space are filled with colorful paper-cuts like "Buckled bowls," "Paired fish,""Fish playing around lotus," "Lotus bearing babies," "Rat eating pumpkins," "Squirrel eating grape," "Monkey eating peach," "Rabbit eating cabbage," "Golden pheasant visiting lotus flower" etc., making up a diamond square shaped "36 lattice window of clouds." The colorful paper-cuttings against the white window paper liner definitely add a delightful atmosphere. In here, rat, squirrel, rabbit and golden pheasant are male; and lotus flower, pumpkin, grape, cabbage, peach are female. Putting animals and plants implies combining male and female for multiplication.
