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The Chinese wedding ceremony is like a machine that needs a manual to build. It's customs and traditions are elaborately prepared and connotes different meanings. Such symbols and meanings were handed down from generations to generations and still being practiced in modern China. Some innovations were integrated but the meanings remain the same.
Chinese wedding tradition is bounded by ancient principles. The principles were very traditional as well as desirable. Respect for parents and ancestors is the primary principle being strictly observant along with rituals to drive away bad omens, fanciful exchange of gifts and the merger of the bride with her husband's family.
If you are not of Chinese descendants and you are marrying a Chinese woman, be prepared for the extensive and highly elaborated rituals from proposal up to a couple of days after the wedding. For the Chinese people, marriage is a major responsibility that it can not be left for the couple to decide on themselves. In fact, they are not involved with the arrangements. A go-between, (akin to a sales agent) will negotiate the wedding between the two families. Neither the bride nor the groom will have any say on the matter. Every aspect will be considered: from your family's background, financial condition, present obligations and reputation, numerology, astrology as well as the ability to provide food on the table.
When everything has been agreed upon, the rituals will start. From the day before the wedding, wedding day itself, and 3 days thereof, consists of numerous rituals. The bride will undergo hair dressing ritual and combing ritual. The groom will also experience being blocked by the bride's friends and will answer questions or pay her friends to get his bride. The bride's travel from her house to the groom's place is also rich with rituals. She is to use a red veil and red umbrella to protect her from evil. Her path will be strewn with red bean or rice, symbols of fertility.
The rituals before and after the wedding are filled with rituals that the wedding ceremony pales in comparison. Simplicity and respect mixed with humility – this is what the ceremony is. It consist of bowing to Heaven and Earth, paying respects to the ancestors, bowing to each other by the couple then eating together. Such a simple ceremony, you may ask, do they need wedding favors?
Of course, they do. To some of us, the Chinese fans are promotional products for tropical countries and costume shops. But for the Chinese people, it signifies their grace and culture. What better way to give away as favors than wedding fans?
Giving away of wedding fans are viewed as symbols of good luck charms and generosity. If written in Chinese chirography, the word 'fan' has the same sound with the characters used to describe 'kindness.' However, it is highly discouraged to give the bride a fan as a wedding gift. The pronunciation of fan is 'san' which also means scatter and it is a bad omen.
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Source by Jesse Vickers
