The Chinese calendar must have been in line on Sunday January 6th because it sure was a day filled with weddings. Two of my classmates, two of my friends from school, my teacher, and I all attended weddings this past sunday. The picture above is the character for xi3 (double happiness or in this case marital happiness) and that double happiness was surly represented on Sunday. My friend, who i met here in Taipei through another friend, Chantell and her now husband Alex held a wonderful Chinese style lunch party in honor of their wedding and I was grateful to be a part of it. While I cannot vouch for the goings on of a chinese wedding, I can tell you that the wedding party is much different from what I am used to in America.
The festivities started at around 12:30 when the bride and groom walked graciously to the head table filled with family members from both sides of the marriage. They said a few words thanking everyone for coming to the wedding and then everyone in the dinning hall was treated to a wonderful short video of how Chantell and Alex met. It was a short side show telling a bit about their lives together. A really wonderful treat and not something that I am certainly accustomed to. It was of course in Chinese, but I was able to get most of the story thanks to subtitles! After that video was over they played another short video put together by the bride and grooms friends and coworkers. Rather than having just a few people give a toast everyone got to hear about 20 people wish the new couple well. With the videos done it was time to get on the the main event, the giant and wonderful meal... of which I could not eat at all. I was thankful that my friends alerted the kitchen staff of my vegetarian needs because had nothing been said there would not have been a single dish, save dessert, that I could have even nibbled on. There was crab, fish, pork, lobster, chicken, more fish and more fish.
The dishes just kept on coming, and somehow people were able to keep on eating. My meal was a little less glamourous, it consisted of tofu, noodles, vegetables, and some interesting soup. It main not have been super fancy on my end but it did taste delicious and in the end I was full as could be.After the seemingly never ending meal the coolest part of the wedding began. The MC's of the wedding went around with a microphone and let people congratulate the bride and groom in other languages of the world. It was wonderful to see people from all over coming together to share in such a special day, and also that other languages and cultures were being appreciated. I was able to hear well wishes spoken in Hakka (spoken in Taiwan by very few people) Taiwanese, Tai, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and English. After the well wishes it was time for the bride and groom to make the rounds. In chinese wedding parties the bride, groom and both there mothers and fathers visit each table sharing in a more personal toast with their guests. It was a very nice touch to an already wonderful day. I really felt a nice connection with this kind of a wedding. There was no stress on alcohol or dancing the night away, it was just a ton of people gathering together to share a wonderful meal in celebration of two lovers tying the knot. I still wish I could speak more Chinese so that I could communicate better with the people around me but I did know how to say the most important things in Chinese:
Chantell today you look absolutely beautiful... and of course I congratulate you both on this joyous day.
7 comments:
Hi Jake,
When my sister got married the first time, they spent a good portion of the evening going around to every table greeting everyone and talking to them. The dancing and drinking is mainly to provide the guests already visited with something to do. There really isn't an emphasis on alcohol at weddings per say, but it is usually up to the groom's family to choose how much drink to provide. Typically beer and soda are free flowing and heavy drinks are paid for but some people like to offer an open bar like we did at our celebration. Steve and I didn't choose that because we were not the ones covering the cost. As your grandmother did, she decided to make it an open bar.
The problem with free flowing beer and soda is that you have to pay for the entire keg once it's cracked open and many, many Americans have the notion of "we must drink all beer wasting it a shame" (yes, there is sarcasm in that phrase"
I also think that the way a wedding goes depends upon whether or not the Bride and Groom want to be traditional or not and how much money they really want to spend, etc.
I just thought that you should know that there are some similarities between the two but there are obvious differences as well.
I hear you on the food thing. While you had to trouble finding something without meat, I had difficulty finding foods without fruits and vegetables. I had to make a special request at every sit-down place we went to at Moon Palace.
So, how do you say "today you look absolutely beautiful" and "I congratulate you both on this joyous day"?
Whew!!! You haven't even been in Taipei for two months and already so many unique experiences.
Your sharing is well done, Jake. Reading your blog and seeing the photos is like being there. Thanks.
Love, gmj
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While I understand that there are similarities between both styles of wedding I was just pointing out that it was unlike sometime I had seen before. If you are interested in some of the other things about Chinese weddings you can check out http://www.chcp.org/wedding.html
which gives a nice run down of both traditional and contemporary weddings. I you want to say someone look pretty in Chinese you would say.
Ni jintian feichang piaoliang.
(you look extremely beautiful today).
to wish someone a happy day. I said
gongxi gongxi nimen. Jintian shi jihao rizi. (congratulations, congratulations, today is extremely special)
Wow, viva la difference! (to mix in another language attempt)...interesting to read of your experience at the wedding...good descriptions and pics. Those seafood dishes are incredible looking, remind me of the way food is presented on a cruise ship or at the resort we were at...good eating, tentacles and all!
It was also very promising to hear how many different nationalities were present...you are fortunate to be experiencing global community and celebrations. Keep the details coming! - dad
Hi again!
I got that you were trying to point out differences and I really respect that, but I was also trying to say that the tradition of visiting with attendees wasn't so different. I guess I was just trying to emphasize a similarity rather than a difference.
While you are in a foreign country and speaking a foreign language, it would be good practice to compare similarities as well as differences. It will make for a more, well-rounded view (I'm not saying that you don't have one, just making a general observation). Besides, I am curious to know what kind of similarities do exist other than the basic ones (eat, sleep, etc.).
How's your Flowering Man Way going?
Thanks for the link, I can't wait to check it out!
Carrie
Forgive me, instead of "Flowering Man Way", I should have put "HwaRangDo" but I couldn't remember the exact spelling so I used what it meant.
Great pictures! It sounds like a lovely wedding. Deb
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