Wedding in the Country

Wedding decoration

Weddings in Jianli, Hubei last two days.  The night before the wedding celebration begins, a stage and tent is constructed.  Then a large, red blow-up gate is placed in front and inflated the following morning.  

The first day begins early with loud music blaring from the speakers on the stage.  A troupe of country performers has been hired to sing all day and entertain in the evenings.

Cooking large quantities

Family and close friends spend all morning washing and chopping vegetables.  There’s no wedding cake or sparkling champagne on the menu.  Instead special food delicacies like turtle and chicken feet will be served and the commonplace vegetable dishes will all be replaced with expensive meat dishes.  And these same foods will be served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next two days. 

Chicken feet

(I never did see anyone eat any turtle meat.  I’m not sure that it exists.  I guess the bones flavor the broth and tofu-noodles.  )

Fish

Turtle soup

Neighbors wander in and out all day and eat and sit and watch the singers.  Since my friend is the sister of the groom, we can get up on stage and sing karaoke whenever we want without having to pay. 

They didn’t have any English songs but, of course, Candy has “My Heart Will Go On” and the lyrics on her phone so we sing that.  I could load songs from my mp3 player and, though I didn’t have the lyrics, I was still able to muffle through “Bridge O’er Troubled Waters” by Simon and Garfunkel and “The Call” by Regina Spektor.  When you’re a foreigner, everything you do is a little strange anyway. 

Neighbors and family members

On the second day of the wedding the groom and his family go to get the bride.  I’m not sure what exactly they do.  I think they eat, visit, and get the bride ready.  Then they begin the wedding procession.  Both sides of the family pile into cars and vans and make their way to the groom’s house.  The first car is decorated with flowers and ribbons and the bride and groom ride in it.  When they’re about a mile away from the groom’s house, they are greeted by a wedding band, friends, and firecrackers.  

Fire crackers

In fact, this entire section of the road is lined with firecrackers and the groom’s friends race around in front of the car lighting them.  The whole point is to make a lot of noise.  Noise is equal to celebration in China and the louder, the happier.  At this wedding, the band at was just a snare drum and baritone but I’ve also seen a wedding caravan being followed by a small parade that even included a Chinese dragon. 

The arrival of the wedding caravan

Wedding band

When the bride and groom arrive at them home, the groom must carry the bride all the way up to their new room.  Everything in this room is new.  The parents and groom have been preparing it by purchasing a new bed, wardrobe, desk, mattress, sheets, curtains, night stand, quilts, garbage can…everything in it is NWT.  The bride brings nothing with her from her old home- not even shoes.  The living room was also new: new couch, AC/heating unit, TV, coffee table, even the light fixtures were new.  Weddings are expensive.

The bride and groom

Bargaining

Confetti showers the bride and groom as he pulls her out of the car and carries her to the door, which his friends have all barricaded with wooden benches.  Now begins the interesting part. 

Candy with the lucky money

The groom must give out red envelopes stuffed with ‘lucky money,’ to anyone who asks.  Most have ¥4 or ¥5 and some have as much as ¥20.  The grooms ‘friends’ do not let him pass until they have reached an agreement about how many of these envelopes he has to give out.  They bargained with him all the way up the stairs.  Apparently, the more they argue, the more memorable the wedding is. 

After that, is lunch.  The close family eats upstairs in the brand new living room and everyone else eats downstairs and outside.  Then the bride’s family leaves.  During dinner, the country singers give another performance with singing, dancing, skits, and a little bit of opera similar to Beijing opera.  It’s similar to the previous night but with different material.

The next morning, everyone packs up and picks up.  The stage and blow up disappears and it’s back to the fields and cotton.