Bride’s Dowry Of Chinese Wedding
Bride’s Dowry, part of the Chinese Wedding customs and rituals from the 3-Letters and 6 Etiquette’s. This part actually consists of the most things or accessories for the bride to prepare or to buy. The Dowry is actually the gifts from the bride’s parents for her to get married and these are the things that she will bring to her new home once she got married and moved in with her husband.
Back in ancient China, no doubts that a lot of Chinese Wedding’s bridal accessories have been missing compare to what we have today. That is the reason why we sometimes called it contemporary Chinese Wedding. It has been simplified. Totally changed but the root is still there.
The most important Bride’s Dowry usually consists of the followings. The Dragon & Phoenix or the Mandarin Ducks Bed Sheet. The color will be in Red cause the color itself represents auspicious for the Chinese. A lot of people still think that this item, the bed-sheet should be bought by the Groom instead. The truth is the other way round. This is the very first item of the Dowries. The parent will look for this first before any other thing else. It is belief that this bed sheet will bring them the luck and good omen of getting a child or a boy as soon as possible.
The second item will be the Potty Set. It consists of a potty, spittoon, round tray, basin and a baby basin. Nowadays, most of the Chinese couples that I found in Malaysia are trying to opt this out. This is actually very wrong. They dont even know what they are missing out. As I totally understand that most of them dont want children as soon as they get married. They are actually afraid the having children will tie them up. This set is actually meant for them to have children. In Chinese we call it
Red Wooden Clog – a pair for each of the couple wear inside their new home after they got married and also meant for the couple to be successful after they got married. It usually will be placed on top of the war drop and the higher it goes, the more successful the couple will be in the future.
Pair of charcoals actually meant for two things. The first one is meant for the bride to bring luck and prosperity to her husband. The second one is for the bride to use. Back in the old days, the charcoal will be lit and placed on the ground right in the middle of the grooms house front door for the bride to enter the door by crossing over it. This is to spell off evil spirit from entering the house.
Red or wedding umbrella- for the bride’s elderly usually the father will have to use it when sending the bride out of the house when the groom comes fetching her on the wedding day. The reason is her father is blessing them to have lots of children.
A pair of paper fans will also be needed on the big day. One will be used during the wedding day before the groom come to fetch her. Once she is inside the car, then she will have to throw the one she is using and change to the other one and continue to hold it until they reach the grooms house. The first one will be thrown out to leave part of the good luck and prosperity back to the brides home instead of bringing all over to the other side.
Chinese Wedding Tea Set is also a must. A new set is needed for the bride to bring it over the new home for her to serve tea grooms elderly during the tea ceremony. This is actually one of the major events in Chinese Wedding.
Lastly it will be the 8-boys cushion for the needles. For the Chinese, this is meant for more boys. This is a very good omen for them.
The above are only partly of whatever that has to be done. Betrothal Gifts is another custom that Chinese are still practicing until today.