Chinese Wedding Rituals & the Tea Ceremony
While every culture has their own traditions and beliefs surrounding marriage, those of the Chinese culture are some of the oldest and most rigidly observed today. Built on a foundation of respect for the position and social standing of both the bride and groom's families, much of the ceremony has to do with honoring one's parents, rather than more western notions of romance.
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The Importance of Tea
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In contrast with Western sets, there are no cream or sugar bowls. In Chinese culture, tea plays a very central role. The national drink of the country, tea has also been used as currency at different points in China's history. It should come as no surprise then that tea plays a pivotal role in Chinese wedding ceremonies. Included both in the gifts that are made to the bride's family and in the dowry presented to the groom's, tea is almost universally present in Chinese weddings. An engagement was not considered official, unless the bride was drinking tea when she accepted the proposal.
The Tea Ceremony
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Though a matter of great tradition, the tea ceremony is also very sentimental. The tea service takes place as part of the actual wedding ceremony. The wedding tea ceremony involves the bride and groom serving tea to their elders. In a traditional tea ceremony, the bride and groom stand together, with the bride to the groom's right hand side. They will face first the parents, then grandparents, then great aunts and uncles, then aunts and uncles, then older brothers and sisters, then older cousins. The groom will face the mother and the bride the father. As they make their way down the line, they will serve each couple, man first from a kneeling position. As each person is served, they will present the bride with a gift.
The tea ceremony may also be performed outside of the official wedding ceremony, first at the groom's home, on the morning of the wedding, and later at the bride's home, during the bride's home visit.
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Traditional Chinese Wedding Attire
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Traditional Chinese wedding attire is made from beautiful red silk. In China, the color red is equated with good luck. It is thought to be a strong color that is capable of scaring away evil and warding off bad spirits. For this reason, a traditional Chinese wedding dress is red and is decorated with beautiful silver and gold embroidery. This embroidery often depicts dragons and phoenixes, which are meant to symbolize man and woman.
The groom also typically is adorned in red garments. A long gown with red shoes and a red silk sash are just part of the groom's wedding clothing. He also wears a cap on his head that is adorned with cypress leaves.
Modern Chinese Wedding Attire
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The civil ceremony looks much like any other western wedding. Today it is not uncommon for a Chinese bride to change her dress three times throughout the course of the wedding. Typically she will begin her day in the traditional white wedding dress of western culture, for the civil ceremony. For the tea ceremony, she will change into the traditional red wedding dress and veil. At some point during the reception, she will change into a cocktail dress, which is also red, and is known as the "seeing off" dress. It is in this dress that she will bid the wedding guests goodbye.
Wedding Night Ritual
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The dragon and phoenix candles are red. In western culture, the unity candle is a very popular feature in most weddings. In Chinese weddings, this is replaced with a candle lighting ceremony that is performed the night of the wedding, by the bride and the groom. The phoenix and dragon candles will be lit in the bridal chamber, to drive out bad spirits. The couple will then drink wine from cups that are tethered together with a red string. Some rituals also include feeding the bride half cooked dumplings, which are supposed to symbolize fertility.
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References
- Photo Credit chinese papercutting:red double happiness(horizont image by zhigong å¿---功 Zhang å¼ from Fotolia.com Ancient chinese teapot. image by Saskia Massink from Fotolia.com chinese cup image by Daria Miroshnikova from Fotolia.com chinese dress, image by Gunsel Yildirim from Fotolia.com bride image by chinatiger from Fotolia.com red wine and candles image by MAXFX from Fotolia.com
