A celebration in a family gives pleasure to all the Members of the family.

Friends and relatives also attend the occasion and share the pleasure. Pleasure multiplies when there is a wedding in the family. I drew immense pleasure when the marriage ceremony of my cousin was held. It was performed on 23rd of the last month. We had not seen any marriage celebration in our family beforehand. My cousin was the first child to be married in the family. Her marriage was celebrated with great enthusiasm. Preparations for the marriage started one month before the celebration. My parents and my uncle and aunt spent a whole week making necessary purchases. The whole house was colour washed. The doors were republished. Our house looked like a bride. Many kinds of gold ornaments were bought for my cousin. Several clothes were also purchased for all the family members and relatives. My cousin herself chose clothes for her. Invitation cards were printed and were sent to friends and relatives. There was a great excitement and joy among us to see the preparations for the wedding celebration in our family, Decorations were made on the day before the marriage ceremony. A shrine was prepared for the celebration. It was also decorated with paper flowers. The canopy above the shrine was made of coloured cloths. Another big canopy was put up in the open ground in front of our house. An electrician with his four assistants decorated the closed space with a number of multi-coloured electric lamps. The space was meant for the marriage feast. Rows of tables were arranged on three sides. The tables were covered with white sheets of cloth. On one side chairs were arranged for the guests. Sweets were made and kept for the guests. The feast on the date of marriage was very delicious. My parents were very busy. My aunt and uncle were also terribly engaged in different works. Our relatives were making our house a noisy place. The ladies were busy with religious ceremonies. Two cooks were engaged to prepare the dinner for the guests and the bridegroom party members. Colddrinks were ready. Large quantities of fresh fruits Were also arranged for the guests. My father and uncle stood at the gate to receive the guests. The marriage party arrived at-seven in the eveningFirst, the guests were served sweets and cold drinks. Many guests had brought different gifts for my cousin who was the bride. The marriage party members were very gentle. The groom was seated on a palanquin with thick garlands around his neck. The marriage ceremony was held after the reception. The priest chanted sholkas from the Vedas. Many senior members including my parents and the parents of the groom were present at the time of the holy marriage on the shrine. The bride and the groom exchanged garlands and sacredly accepted each other as the partner of life. We cried when my cousin parted with us and went to her new house.

A Traditional Chinese Wedding One of my friends told me he will marry soon when we were talking today, and it made me so surprised that I could not believe it. After that, I remembered an article which I wrote when I was new here. I read it again and I found many mistakes. I corrected them and put it on my blogs because I want to share this culture with my friends. I hope you guys can enjoy it. In every culture, weddings are always very important events, so both of the bride and groom spent a lot to prepare their wedding. Before the wedding, bride s parents always prepare bride s wedding clothes Red cheongsam . At the same time, they will buy many goods for the bride s life, such as cabinets, pans, and desks and so on. They always make cotton blankets with jujube and chestnut since it has a special story. In Chinese, jujube pronounces zao , and chestnut pronounces li zi In English, zao means early, and li zi means to born a son. They want the new couple to have a son

soon after they marry since it is a masculine society in traditionally Chinese social system. Meanwhile, the groom s family will prepare a house for the new couple. On the morning before the wedding, the bride often cries because she will leave her parents and they will live by themselves. Meanwhile, the groom s family will very happy, because their family will get a new person. During the wedding, the bride wears red cheongsam and red veil; the groom wears black upper cloth and red down cloth. There are a lot of fireworks when the bride gets out of the sedan chair which is similar to car. They always worship earth, heaven and their parents on bended knees. Their parents usually give them some money or some gifts. After that, sometimes, the groom will hold his bride in the arm and take her to their bedroom. And then, the groom will lift the veil away. Sometimes, the new couple will join hands to go to their bedroom. People generally will kid the new couple, and they think the more they kid around with the new couple, the better friends. Then, they will go to lunch together. Generally, there is a lot of food in the wedding lunch, such as fish, pork, chicken and seafood and so on. After the lunch, the bride s family will go home, the rest of people and their neighbors will go to their house to congratulate their wedding and held party in there. Sometimes, the party will not finish until midnight. Usually, they will kid new couple again and talk some thing and enjoy their happy life. Sometimes, the new couple s home have a little people to congratulate their wedding, and party is finish in early times because they haven t many friend or they had a bad relationship with their neighbors. People always wish that many people go to their home to congratulate their wedding and enjoy their happy life. Chinese Wedding Traditions Red is the Color of Weddings in China Red is central to the wedding theme of China. It signifies love, joy and prosperity and is used in a variety of ways in Chinese wedding traditions. The bride's wedding down is often red, as are the wedding invitations, and wedding gift boxes or envelopes for cash gifts. Even the bride and groom's homes are decorated in red on the wedding day. Before the Chinese Wedding Day Before her wedding celebration, a Chinese bride traditionally goes into seclusion with her closest friends. This Chinese custom gives the bride-to-be some time to symbolically mourn the loss of her friends and family. Some time before the couple are married, the groom's family carries wedding gifts in red baskets and boxes to the bride's house. One of the baskets will contain "uang susu" or 'milk money'. Others will contain personal things for the bride, so that on her wedding day all of her personal belongings will be in the groom's house. The bride takes the gifts to another room where they are sorted through. Three days before the wedding day, women from the bride's family reciprocate, bearing gifts -- including some 'returns'-- in red wrappings to the groom's family. The Day of the Wedding Ceremony Wedding anniversaries in China, are carefully chosen according to astrological signs. It is also customary for couples to be married on the half-hour or their wedding day rather than at the top of the hour. In this way, the couple begins their new lives together on an 'upswing', while the hands of the clock are moving up, rather than down. On the morning of his wedding day, the groom is symbolically dressed by his parents. The groom arrives at the house of his bride on the way to the wedding chapel. He brings gifts of cash, wrapped in red tissue, to give to his bride's friends, in exchange for 'letting her go'. In some families, the wedding couple serves tea to both sets of parents while kneeling in front of them. a symbolic gesture of asking for permission. The bride and groom then leave for the wedding site together. Chinese Marriage Ceremony and Wedding Reception The wedding ceremony is usually attended only by the couples' immediate families. Just after the ceremony and before the wedding reception, the bride who honors tradition will serve tea to her in-laws in a formal ceremony. The couple will

usually go to a professional studio for wedding pictures before they proceed to their reception. The wedding reception, an elaborate standing only affair. A welcoming speech is usually performed by an MC who is hired for the occasion. The speech is followed by a cake cutting ceremony. The traditional wedding cake is immense, with many layers. The layers symbolize a ladder that they couple will 'climb to success', so couples will cut the cake from the bottom and work their way up. The cutting of the cake is the only event of the reception. The bride and groom feed each other a piece of cake with arms entwined, trying not to destroy the bride's elaborate makeup. A piece is then cut for each of the parents and for the grandparents, who are fed by the bride and groom holding the cake together. Sometimes a wedding toast is given and guests are invited to greet the newlyweds and their parents. Musical entertainment, which ranges from a simple keyboard player to a symphony or orchestra, accompanies the receiving line It is customary for guests to shake hands again before leaving the reception. At more elaborate Chinese weddings, a sit-down reception may feature a 9 or 10 course meal as well as musical entertainment. Chinese brides often change outfits at least three times during the reception.

According to the traditional Chinese culture, birth, marriage, and death are most important in one s life. Especially, marriage is the only event that can be controlled by human beings. Thus, wedding has been held in China as a magnificent ceremony for thousands of years. The Chinese traditional wedding ceremony shows not only the fortune of the two families involved, but also the abundant heritage of Chinese civilization. This essay introduces the symbols, preparation, and procession of the traditional Chinese wedding ceremony. The most intriguing part is possibly the kinds of symbols of Chinese traditional wedding. In a Chinese legend, the God-in-moon, who was known as the god of love in tales, would tie a red string between the man and the woman who were meant to become a couple in the future. Therefore, no matter how long the distance was between these two persons, the red string would bring them together. Finally, the magic power of the red string would have them get married. Hereafter, red was considered to have a powerful meaning and used on many royal occasions, especially at weddings. Since red was the symbol of utmost happiness and joy, almost all the backgrounds of Chinese traditional wedding ceremonies were red. Traditionally, the red double happiness (Shuang-xi) as well as the red dragons & phoenixes design was thought to be meaningful and indispensable in weddings. The former signified a happy future for the newlyweds, while the latter demonstrated the firm relationship between them. In addition, special flower decorations showed the characteristic of Chinese culture. Contrary to the flowers used in Western weddings, traditional Chinese never used white flowers in ceremonies except funerals. The flowers for weddings were red peonies and orchids, connoting love, new life, safety and peace. Since it was a grand ceremony in one s life (particularly in history, it was rare the wedding required systematic and elaborate preparation. Firstly, as the traditional wedding meant the joining of not only two people but also two families, the householders of these two families would have a formal meeting to discuss the wedding, especially the wedding date. They would pick an auspicious day as the wedding day according to astrological signs. After the meeting, these two people who might have never seen each other before were considered as legally engaged. Secondly, the groom s family would present the betrothal gifts called Grand Gifts to display their sincerity and financial ability. Additionally, the number of gifts should have connotational meanings, which must be even numbers or contained the number 9, a homophone of a word meaning lasting forever in Chinese. For instance, red eggs should be wrapped in pairs, which meant good things in double ; Li Shi money should be 99 or 999 yuan, which meant good luck forever . A few weeks before the wedding day, the bride was not encouraged to go

out any more in order to show attachment to the family, friends and relatives. Therefore, the bride s family would have time to prepare dowries and household accessories, such as bedding or dining facilities, for the new home; meanwhile, the bride could make her wedding dress with the help of her unmarried girlfriends. At the same time, the groom s family would decorate the bridal home or house with auspicious accessories such as double happiness signs, red dragon & phoenix designs, and red candles. Nine days before the wedding day, the bride s family would send the dowries to the groom s home, which might be an appropriate opportunity to show their love to their daughter as well as their wealth. The wedding day procession, solemn and meaningful, was divided into several steps. First, two rituals would be held in the bride s and the groom s homes on the morning of the wedding day. Hair dressing ritual was performed in the bride s home. The lucky woman, who had living parents and parents-in-law, children and husband, would help the bride to make her hair in a bun, which was the common style for traditional married women. Similarly, capping ritual was performed for the groom usually by his mother. The changing of hairstyle of these two people meant they had become adults. After that, the groom would set off for the bride s home with Li Shi money wrapped in red paper. In order to bring his bride home, the groom would play door games with the bride s relatives and friends. For example, the groom should answer many questions about the bride to show how much he cared about her. Also, he should give Li Shi money to them, meaning please let her go . Finally, the new couple would perform a tea ceremony to their parents (mothers first) to show their filial respect for them. Moreover, the parents would give the newlyweds Li Shi money and peanuts, which were considered to encourage them to have children as soon as possible. After this ceremony, the new couple would leave the occasion together for their bridal room. In conclusion, the Chinese traditional wedding ceremony is considered a spiritual ceremony. Not only the symbols and preparation but also the procession of the wedding displays the long history and the plentiful heritage of China. Although this kind of wedding is no longer common in modern cities, its quintessence is worth remembering.