As a part of its celebrations for Chinese Valentine's Day, Qixi, 22 couples from Shanxi took part in a grand traditional wedding ceremony, on Aug 9.

At the ceremony, the couples dressed in traditional costumes and took part in ancient customs associated with marriage.

Shanxi province holds a grand traditional ceremony for 22 couples on the Chinese Valentine's Day. [Photo/Xinhua]

In ancient Chinese wedding ceremonies, the bride and groom must first wash their?faces and hands to show their piety, followed by kowtowing to heaven.

After the ceremony, the wedded couple must then share the same piece of meat, and drink wine together out of a gourd, to symbolize that the couple will stick together through happiness and sorrow. The gourd is then tied with a silk ribbon to represent their life's journey with one another.

Finally, the bridegroom must untie a ribbon from the bride's hair and throw it into the air to announce to the world that the two are now married.

Bridegrooms untie red ribbons from the hair of their wives. [Photo/chinanews.com]

Hao Yehe, a young bride who took part in the ceremony, spoke of her joy at the event and her excitement at sharing wine with her new husband.

"It has made us realize that we should take care of each other no matter what difficulties we will encounter," Hao said.

Wang Peng and his wife, who have already been married for five years, said that they just wanted to take part in the ceremony to experience the tradition in the same way as their ancestors.

Senior wedding planner, Zhao Chunlin, said that nowadays more and more young people are choosing Chinese traditional wedding ceremonies, as it brings them closer to their culture and provides a special memory for happy couples to share for the rest of their lives.

A bride about to drink wine from a gourd. [Photo/xinhua]