The Household COO

The process of choosing a wedding date is not as simple as you would think. In the western world that I grew up in, it was just a matter of deciding how much time you needed to prepare, when the hotels were available, and what date was most convenient to both families.

For a traditional Chinese family, all of these factors are secondary. The critical date had to be one that was favourable to both the bride and groom, according to their date and time of birth. Some families even go as far as to check whether the bride and groom are suitably matched according to their astrological readings. Although I really wouldn’t know what you would do if you had been dating for six years only to be informed by some old man that your stars are not aligned.

I supposed it made better sense in the past when couples were introduced by a matchmaker and didn’t know the first thing about their partners until the wedding night. Since there was no other way to screen your potential partner, such methods would seem almost logical.

If you wanted to ensure complete harmony within the family, you should also take into consideration the birth dates of the parents.

All relevant dates are given to a wise old man from the temple the family worships at. He has the ability to identify auspicious dates for the couple to get married. The couple could also select the date themselves if they are able to read a Chinese Almanac.

The original wedding for C and I had been November 11, 2005. It had been selected based on our birth dates, but it had not taken into consideration the birth dates of our parents. We later discovered from his father’s secretary (who owns an almanac) that the date clashed with his mother, so the date was subsequently changed to January 8, 2006.

According to the almanac, January 8, 2006 was such an auspicious date that there were no restrictions on the time of arrival or departure.

For most couples, there is an opportune time that the bride and groom should arrive at the groom’s house. If they missed the window, it would have grave consequences for the couple, although I was not made to understand the nature of these consequences. Since my date was as auspicious as they came, I didn’t have to worry about such consequences.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 16th, 2005 at 2:45 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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