Finally... the Taiwanese Wedding (Part 3 of 5)
I could only get five days off from Nova with shift-swaps, because my holidays weren't illegible until July or so I thought. So I spent my first day trying on dresses and my second day traveling across the country before the
Now, from what I knew upon arrival about Chinese weddings was from the stories of my cousins wedding. She married a classmate whose parents immigrated from Korea, I believe, maybe the Philippines. Anyway, they had decided to have a private ceremony, but they had of course took pictures and told us about it. Apparently, it has become a blend of the Chinese and Western traditions. In fact if anything they have retained more of the Western customs than the countries of their origin. For example, a wedding dress was presented to me as a bride's maid's dress. Upon its appearance, I was quick to make clear, "I'm not the bride."
The poor woman apparently didn't misunderstood my rejection of the white gown and began to scan it for possible flaws. When she spotted none she again pushed it towards me once more. "Try. Should fit."
"Not bride," I tried once more backing away. I eventually backed into the proximity of FuYung and Helen where they thought my alarmed face was amusing. Now, I know the original purpose of bride's maids was to have them act as decoys for demons and the like that could pounce on the vulnerable bride-to-be. I however didn't know that the Chinese/Taiwanese still followed this ritual so closely. And they in turn thought it was odd that our bride's maids didn't wear a bride's dress. So a few minutes later, I was wearing my first wedding dress and strangely enough it would be to a wedding.
The other three dresses mentioned earlier for the bride include, of course, the white wedding dress, one gold dress, and the last one is pink. We arrived at the hotel the night before and after a buffet dinner where I was pestered to eat third and fourth helpings by the Wangs we went to bed. I can understand their persistence if I was sickly skinny, there they all were, tiny figured ladies putting away their third serving of spaghetti, second portion of soup & dessert while I was on the verge of detonation. So I was a bit drowsy when the wake up call came at five in the morning for hair and make-up. Though Fu-Yung and I wore the wedding dresses for the whole event, Helen only wore hers for the first league. Normally the groom picks the bride up at her parent's house, but because they lived on other ends of the country, he was picking her up at the hotel. so we were divided, David escorted Helen from her room to her parents where they sat waiting in their Sunday best. They sat quietly while David and Helen presented their intentions as if asking permission, and they extended their consent when the father placed the veil over his daughter's face. It was kinda sweet, a bit like our version of the father walking his daughter down the aisle.
Once the ride from the house was over, they met the groom's parents in the ancestor's room where all four preyed to his paternal and maternal ancestors in turn. I guess after that they were technically married, because they went straight to a prepared room. I simply followed Fu-Yung's lead, so when they entered the room and Fu-Yung veered to the open room across the hall where we waited a fairly long time, I thought this was an uncomfortable custom. I felt like a was playing watchdog while they consummated the marriage. I'm pretty sure that wasn't the case as they still had the reception and Helen wasn't going to mess up the hours of hair and make-up. So not long later, David left and we entered, and waited much longer (about an hour or so) for everyone to arrive. We were all tired and the pristine marriage bed was looking pretty good. Unfortunately, it's bad luck for the room and bed to be used for anything other than... well, you know.
Well, I'm literally counting down the days until I go home. Partially because I want to be home and also because I'm running out of time to get everything done.
To Be Continued...
Dripping Anxious Tears
Now, from what I knew upon arrival about Chinese weddings was from the stories of my cousins wedding. She married a classmate whose parents immigrated from Korea, I believe, maybe the Philippines. Anyway, they had decided to have a private ceremony, but they had of course took pictures and told us about it. Apparently, it has become a blend of the Chinese and Western traditions. In fact if anything they have retained more of the Western customs than the countries of their origin. For example, a wedding dress was presented to me as a bride's maid's dress. Upon its appearance, I was quick to make clear, "I'm not the bride."
The poor woman apparently didn't misunderstood my rejection of the white gown and began to scan it for possible flaws. When she spotted none she again pushed it towards me once more. "Try. Should fit."
"Not bride," I tried once more backing away. I eventually backed into the proximity of FuYung and Helen where they thought my alarmed face was amusing. Now, I know the original purpose of bride's maids was to have them act as decoys for demons and the like that could pounce on the vulnerable bride-to-be. I however didn't know that the Chinese/Taiwanese still followed this ritual so closely. And they in turn thought it was odd that our bride's maids didn't wear a bride's dress. So a few minutes later, I was wearing my first wedding dress and strangely enough it would be to a wedding.
The other three dresses mentioned earlier for the bride include, of course, the white wedding dress, one gold dress, and the last one is pink. We arrived at the hotel the night before and after a buffet dinner where I was pestered to eat third and fourth helpings by the Wangs we went to bed. I can understand their persistence if I was sickly skinny, there they all were, tiny figured ladies putting away their third serving of spaghetti, second portion of soup & dessert while I was on the verge of detonation. So I was a bit drowsy when the wake up call came at five in the morning for hair and make-up. Though Fu-Yung and I wore the wedding dresses for the whole event, Helen only wore hers for the first league. Normally the groom picks the bride up at her parent's house, but because they lived on other ends of the country, he was picking her up at the hotel. so we were divided, David escorted Helen from her room to her parents where they sat waiting in their Sunday best. They sat quietly while David and Helen presented their intentions as if asking permission, and they extended their consent when the father placed the veil over his daughter's face. It was kinda sweet, a bit like our version of the father walking his daughter down the aisle.
Once the ride from the house was over, they met the groom's parents in the ancestor's room where all four preyed to his paternal and maternal ancestors in turn. I guess after that they were technically married, because they went straight to a prepared room. I simply followed Fu-Yung's lead, so when they entered the room and Fu-Yung veered to the open room across the hall where we waited a fairly long time, I thought this was an uncomfortable custom. I felt like a was playing watchdog while they consummated the marriage. I'm pretty sure that wasn't the case as they still had the reception and Helen wasn't going to mess up the hours of hair and make-up. So not long later, David left and we entered, and waited much longer (about an hour or so) for everyone to arrive. We were all tired and the pristine marriage bed was looking pretty good. Unfortunately, it's bad luck for the room and bed to be used for anything other than... well, you know.
Well, I'm literally counting down the days until I go home. Partially because I want to be home and also because I'm running out of time to get everything done.
To Be Continued...
Dripping Anxious Tears