The wedding rites of the Nanai people had several main stages: the betrothal, marriage proposal, feast in the bride’s house, bride’s moving to the groom’s house, and feast in the groom’s house. All stages of the rites were most fully observed when the wedding was accompanied by bridewealth.

The bride and groom were required to wear festive outfits. Traditionally, the bride’s attire was abundantly decorated with the patterns that had special protective functions. According to ancient tradition, the patterned ornaments on all women’s robes were concentrated on the back.

On the whole, the Nanai bride’s costume embodied the image of the dragon, a mythical creature that cared for human well-being and protected from evil spirits. The wedding attire included several robes, the number of which depended on the wealth of the bride’s parents, but had to be at least four.

The upper open robe was called “sike”. It had equal panels, a long slit in the lower back, and short sleeves. Ornamental compositions in the upper part of the robe back were viewed as armor — dragon scales. The number of scales had to be equal to 40, according to the number of weeks needed to carry a child during pregnancy.

Each scale was decorated with stylized images of birds, fish, mammals, reptiles and insects. Sike moni — ancestral trees — were embroidered on the lower part of the back. The parts of the tree were perceived by the Nanai people as three levels of the universe: the roots of the tree — the Lower World (the world of spirits, the past), the trunk and branches — the Middle World (the world of people, the present), the top of the tree, the crown — the Upper World (the world of heavenly deities, the future).

The branches of the tree were embroidered with choka birds, which personified the souls of yet unborn children. The characteristic feature of Nanai ancestral trees embroidered on women’s wedding gowns was the animals facing each other, placed on the sides of the tree. They formed a heraldic composition.

The animals were chosen for a reason: they were animals from which, according to legends, the Nanai clans descended: tiger, dragon, Manchurian deer, and vulture. The images of reptiles in the roots of trees including snakes, toads, lizards symbolized protecting spirits of the bride, while embroidered hoofed animals were symbols of taiga animals.