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Love and Marriage, Hong Kong Style
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Evelyn Hannon
On a recent trip
to Hong Kong, Journeywoman gossiped and ruminated with Asian women
about love and marriage. They took me window shopping for bridal
gowns, told me about their Grannies' love rules, explained their
courting traditions and even invited me to my first Chinese wedding.
This is what I learned.... |
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Chinese Grandmothers
say...
Where you
hold your chopsticks -- bottom, top or middle, is equal
to the distance you live from the one you will eventually
marry. That means, hold them at the bottom and you will
marry the boy next door. Hold them at the top and you
will have to travel to find him. |
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Culturally Correct
Courting
In
Hong Kong, a prospective husband who feels he has met the
woman of his dreams, offers small wedding cakes to his future
in-laws. If they approve of him, they accept these "goodies"
and distribute them to family and friends announcing the
engagement and making it official. If not, he's left with
an awful lot of cake! |
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Pray For a Husband!
Every August 20th, the women
of Hong Kong traditionally visit Lover's Rock in Mid-Levels
to leave food offerings, praying to the deities for kind,
prosperous husbands for their daughters or....at times,
for themselves! |
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Chinese Brides Must
Avoid Eggplant!
Chinese
grandmothers say that certain foods must definitely be avoided
at a Chinese wedding banquet. The bride cannot eat any form
of eggplant as that can result in sterility. And, the groom
must be careful not to eat pig's brains because that delicacy
can produce male impotence. And, providing all goes well
and she becomes pregnant, mama-to-be must avoid eating both
rabbit and chicken or her baby will be born with a hoarse
voice. |
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Everybody Loves
a Wedding!
In
Hong Kong, all day Sunday is the best time for bride-spotting.
You'll find these delightful love-struck beauties posing
for their formal photos on the long entry stairway to the
Hong Kong Cultural Center (harbourside in Kowloon). Expect
a wonderful bridal parade with everything from full length
lace to basic black leather. Quite wonderful to watch! |
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Wedding Guest Know-How
If you're invited to a wedding in
Hong Kong, try to go with Chinese guests who will know the
ropes. Don't rush out to buy crystal as a gift. Presents
are unusual unless it is money delivered in a red packet
called "laisee." If you are simply invited as a business
associate just go and don't worry about a present. If the
person being married is the child of a close associate or
a long time member of your Hong Kong agent's staff then
get advice as to how much money to give. Various numbers
mean various things: for example "bat" or "eight" is equal
to "fat" or "prosperity." So your gift should have an eight
in it, ie. $88.00. However the amount will tell in what
esteem you hold the person. Proceed cautiously!
(Source- Doing Business With the Hong Kong Chinese by Elizabeth
Thomson) |
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One-stop Trousseau
Shopping!
If love
and wedding traditions interest you, then make your way
to Hong Kong's Shanghai Street for some culturally-correct
window shopping. On view are the beautiful red silk bridal
outfits traditionally worn at the wedding banquet. Ditto
for the intricately embroidered black silk outfits reserved
for the female elders of the wedding party. Don't be surprised
to find linens and pillows stacked indoors and outside of
these dress shops. This is definitely one-stop Asian trousseau
shopping. Very worth a look-see. Who know? You might find
something perfectly lovely for yourself! |
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Marriage Words
A successful marriage requires falling
in love many times always with the same person.
Mignon
McLaughlin - The Second Neurotic's Notebook (1966)
Source - The New Beacon Book of Quotations by Women Love
Words
What we have once enjoyed we can
never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.
Helen Keller-We Bereaved (1929)
Source - The New Beacon Book of Quotations by Women
Woman Words
How do you know that love has gone?
If you said you would be there at seven, you get there by nine
and he has not called the police yet--it's gone.
Marlene Dietrich, Marlene Dietrich's ABC (1962)
Source- The New Beacon Book of Quotations by Women |
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