♥ sassycat ♥: Part 2- Wedding Tea Ceremony

Monday, November 12, 2012

Part 2- Wedding Tea Ceremony

After the groom successfully went through all the challenges, entered the room, opened my veil and then we proceed to go outside and were ready for the tea ceremony with my family *sweats* Just as per the advice of one of my ‘zi muis’ cum chaperone also known as ‘dai kam jie’, the first thing we had to do is to pray to heaven and earth followed by the Buddha at my house. Following the prayer ritual, we had to walk out from our house for a round outside before entered the house for the tea ceremony.

Next, we started the Tea Ceremony with the bride's elderly family members where both of us served the tea to grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts and married cousins to pay respect and give formal family introduction. ** Notice my grandma's natural smile ^^ i feel incredibly grateful to have her attending the tea ceremony session despite her health condition and she's the one who took care of me while i was young so it means alot to me...

During the tea ceremony, we had to address formal titles of the family and the ‘dai kam jie’ will say afew good words to the seniors members as part of official introduction and to pay respect to them. We, the newlyweds, will receive a red packet or jewelry from the family members ^^

After serving tea to the senior, we had to feed each other with boiled eggs and and glutinous rice balls as a symbol of good luck and happy life together. We will then give red packets to all younger (unmarried) siblings, cousins and nephews/nieces. I remember we had to pack close to 50 red packets for our wedding day. Plus, some who help out during the wedding reception, i.e. becoming the guest receptionists, ushers, etc.

I felt touched when serving the tea to my mum... Memories of how she single- handedly brought us up....

Soon after, we took photos with family and friends too during this session before we went downstairs and were ready to make a move to the groom's house for tea ceremony with his family. On my way to ascend the wedding car, my aunt held a red umbrella over my head outside the house as according to Chinese wedding traditions, this red umbrella would protect the bride from evil spirits. As we were about to leave,i threw a red fan out from the car window to avoid taking bad temper to the groom's home.

Few minutes of driving later, we arrived at the groom's house where his mum and sister waited. All the ‘zi muis’ and some of my family members also followed us to the groom's house. Once we went inside the house, the guests were served with simple delicacies and we had to go straight to the bridal room. We did not serve the tea at the groom side as most of his family members are in Kota Kinabalu (KK) and the tea ceremony will be served there.

Next, i invited my nephew to jump on the bridal bed as the Chinese custom believe that children invited to jump on the bridal bed are to bless the couple with fertility #^.^# Once this was done, my other nephew jumped into the picture by punching through the red paper on top of the “tam tung” to take out the orange and ang pow inside. POW!

After we completed all the customs for the wedding ceremony, we ended with flower throwing tradition and so happen one of my ‘zi muis’, Chelle managed to grab the bouquet lolz ** Notice the sweet smile on her face! ;p