Chinese Traditional Wedding Ceremony

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As we all know that a wedding is usually a grand occasion with various involved ceremonies in ancient China. Traditional wedding customs in China are regarded as the foundation of ritual in historical Chinese culture. In order to have a brief understanding, an introduction of the customs before and day after the wedding will be followed.

 

Before the wedding
In traditional China, the marriage of the new couple is usually based on the introduction of a go-between and the agreement of the two families according to their social status.


The proposal
This process is undertaken by a go-between who promises the boy’s family to find a suitable girl. And being matched of the marriage is the first choice. As soon as the go-between has found a well-pleasing girl, she will ask for the girl’s birthday day to match with the boy’s to define if they will have a happy marriage. Once this so called “marriage divination” is matched and the two families are agreed, the next step will go on; otherwise they have to make another choice.


The betrothal

The groom-to-be will go with the go-between to the bride-to-be’s house for asking marriage, and send varieties of gifts to her family as a sign of betrothal, such as wedding dresses, bridal jewelry, gold, silver and money etc. At that time, the marriage was confirmed by both families.


The preparation

Before preparation, the boy’s family would invite a fortune teller who is specialize in studying a suitable wedding date which is believed to bring the most happiness and luck to the newlywed couple according to the Chinese calendar mythology. After that, the two families will make arrangements for their son and daughter’s wedding. The boy’s family will decorate their house with the girl’s dowry and prepare a bridal chamber for the newlywed couple, which indicates a new beginning. While the girl’s family just waits for the wedding day and promises their daughter to have ceremonious attire.

There is one thing have to be noticed that the bride-to-be and the groom-to-be can’t meet each other before the wedding for the consideration of good luck and fortune.
Day after the wedding
There are another two must should be done in the traditional Chinese wedding ceremony which are essential to the new beginning.


The following day of the wedding

On the following day of the wedding, the bride has to awake early to honor the ancestor by kneeling in front of the parents-in-law, presenting tea to them and saying some auspicious words to her new family. And at that time, the parents-in-law will give her a red packet.


Three days after the wedding
Three days after the wedding is the time for the bride to go home with her husband. Actually, it’s a form of showing respect and regard to the bride’s parents and relatives, which indicates that the bride is a guest now.
These two parts are the preparation and termination of a whole traditional Chinese wedding ceremony. And between them, on the wedding day, a definitely essential and splendid celebration will be hold with a lot of traditions. Next time, more details on the wedding day will be explained.

Day of the wedding

The ceremony on wedding day is the most solemn and important part in traditional Chinese wedding. And there are mainly four steps as following.
Obtain the bride
The firecrackers, loud gongs and drums are working together while the groom is going to the bride’s house with his relatives and friends in the earlier morning. When they arrived, they will be welcomed by the bride’s family and friends. They have to go through several difficulties before picking up the bride successfully.

The bride will be carried by the groom to the bridal sedan chair which is covered by red embroidered brocade and carried by eight males dressed in red or gold. On the way to the groom’s house, there is always accompanied by firecrackers, loud gongs and drums.

 

Once again, firecrackers, loud gongs and drums work when they are arriving at the groom’s house. And a red carpet will be placed before the sedan chair, because the bride cannot touch the earth, which is a taboo.
Three prayers
Before the bride crossing the threshold, she has to step over a saddle which forecasts a happy and rich life. When they enter the main foyer, the three prayers are going to perform at an auspicious moment.

The first prayer is to the heaven and earth, which is meant to get the approval of marriage from gods, divinities and ancestors; the second prayer is to the groom’s parents or eldership, which is to thank for the agreement and blessing from them; the third prayer comes to the newlywed couple—bow to each other. With this three prayers finished, the marriage of this new couple is admitted and protected by the law, which is similar with resigning in the register office and getting a marriage certificate in modern days.
Treat to guests
Next comes to the big treat to all guests. After the three prayers, the bride was sent to the bridal chamber. It’s the groom and his family who treat all the guests with toasting for their coming and sincere blessing. During this tremendous treat, there are some traditional displays, such as the lion dance, acrobatism, opera and so on.

 

The bridal chamber
When the feast is over, the groom will go to the bridal chamber with the accompaniment of some friends and relatives who intend to play some tricks on this newlywed couple. The groom could finally raise the red scarf and view the bride’s face when they left. Afterwards, the go-between will say some auspicious words to them while they are toasting each other with crossing their hands.

By now, the wedding celebration is almost come to the end.
Traditional Chinese wedding customs have a history of thousands of years. And they may vary from time to time and from place to place, however, its important position in Chinese people’s lives has never changed and it is still adopted by many newlywed couples in nowadays.


source : artsyweddingblog.com