Wedding In Hong Kong
People in Hong Kong emphasize wedding customs
and traditions. It usually takes
more time in Hong Kong than in United States
to prepare a wedding. Comparing to
the casual wedding in United States,
wedding in Hong Kong are more complex,
especially the ceremony and the
banquet. The ceremony is usually a combination
of the western and eastern
style. The eastern style ceremony includes
traditional Chinese elements and
is much more complex than the western style. So
the couples usually start to
prepare their wedding six months ahead of time.
Chinese emphasize wedding
on customs and traditions. It is important for them to
marry on an auspicious
day and, if possible, at an auspicious hour. When a
couple decides to get
married, both sides of the family will meet together.
First, they will
decide on the amount of money that the groom should pay for the
bride's
wedding preparation. Then they will pick the wedding day by looking
through
the Chinese lunar calendar and the astrological charts, which shows the
days
that are suitable for the wedding and will bring them luck. In contrast
to
Chinese, Americans are not superstitions when it comes to choose the
wedding
date. They will emphasize on practicality throughout the wedding
preparation.
The bride's family usually pays for the whole wedding. In
addition, Chinese will
prepare both western and eastern style wedding gowns.
The bride usually wears
the eastern style-wedding gown at the wedding
banquet. It is a robe of red
brocade or satin richly embroidered in gold
thread and sequins. American, on the
other hand, will choose only one kind of
wedding gown. Chinese wedding and
American wedding also differ in
ceremony. Besides the church ceremony, the
traditional tea ceremony is also
important to the Chinese. This tradition is
often observed after the church
ceremony in the main sitting room at the home of
the groom's parents. The
bride would "kowtow" to the groom's parents
the groom greets the bride's
parents. The bride then serves tea to the groom's
father and mother. In
return, the groom's parents give her a valuable gift, such
as a piece of
jewelry. It is a symbol of acceptance into the family. Then the
bride will
pour tea and bow to the groom's siblings, starting with the eldest
brother
and his spouse. One simple way for an American couple to get married is
to go
to Las Vegas, spend $25 and have a "simple marriage". This
process takes less
than 2 hours. In contrast to Chinese, Americans have the
simple church
ceremony. The Chinese usually regard the wedding banquet as the
important
part of the wedding besides the church and tea ceremony. Both sides of
the
family will be pleased to see more guests to come and more tables to
serve
the guest. Unlike Americans, they will never serve buffet or
refreshment as the
wedding banquet. Americans will usually held the banquet
at large hotels. On the
other hand, the Chinese will usually held the banquet
at a large Chinese
restaurant. Every meal that is going to serve the guest
will be named a special
lucky name. Before the banquet start, the guests will
come early to the
restaurant and play "Mazhong" with other guests. The bride
might
change into the traditional Chinese wedding outfit or "kwa"
when
receiving guests. The guest will play jokes on both bride and groom.
For
instance, they will ask the groom to identify the bride by touching the
girls
hands without looking at their face. Unlike Chinese, American are
more
respectful to the wedding. The guests would not play "Mazhong" or
any
other gambling games at the wedding banquet. They will bless both the
bride and
the groom and will not play jokes on them. In conclusion, we can
see how the
Chinese emphasize more on the traditions and customs when it
comes to weddings.
The Americans, on the other hand, focuses more on
practicality. Although
American weddings are casual but at some point
they are more respectful to the
weddings than the Chinese.