China -- Description and travel; China -- Social life and customs
The day after the wedding it is the custom for the bride to cook her
husband's rice, the fire being made from wood, which forms part of her
trousseau, as she is supposed to bring everything necessary for the
purpose to her new home. At a wedding at Macao not long ago, on
proceeding to perform the usual ceremony, it was found to the
consternation of the bride that no firewood had been sent. Her
mother-in-law good-naturedly offered to give her the wood, but this
the proud bride would by no means permit. Calling her amah, she
directed her to fetch two rolls of silk, each worth about forty
dollars, and with them she cooked the rice. When next her father came
to see her she told him of the occurrence. He said, "You did right, my
daughter; you have saved your father's face"; and on his return he
promptly dispatched a hundred coolies laden with firewood, which was
more than the bridegroom's house could hold.
[Illustration: A STUDENT.]
The ceremony of the "teasing of the bride" is sometimes trying for
her, but in good families propriety is rarely outraged. Here is an
account of such a ceremony which took place in the house of one of our
friends the day after her marriage. The ladies' dinner was over when
we arrived; the gentlemen had not yet come up from their dinner at
the restaurant. This evening the bride had gone round the tables
pouring out samshu, a ceremony that her mother-in-law had performed on
the previous evening. The bride came into the room wearing a gorgeous
and elaborate costume of red, the long ribbon-like arrangements over
her skirt, huge open-work collar of red and gold, and the bridal crown
on her head. The veil of pearls was looped back from her face, and she
looked arch and smiling. It was quite a relief to see her after the
shrinking, downcast girl of the previous evening. When the gentlemen
came the "teasing" of the bride began. She was given various puzzles
to solve, two or three of which she undid very deftly. An intricate
Japanese puzzle was produced, but the mother-in-law would not allow it
to be given to the bride to solve, as she said it was too difficult.
The bridegroom came in, and the gentlemen present demanded that he and
the bride should walk round the room together, which they did, and
were then made to repeat the peregrination. There was a demand that
the pearl veil, which had been let down, should be hooked back that
all present might see her face. This was done. Then a sort of poetic
category was put to her, a gentleman of the family standing near to
judge if she answered correctly. The bride was told to ask her husband
to take her hand; to ask him what he had gained in marrying her, and
so on. The bride had to go round the room saluting and offering tea
to the various gentlemen. To one or two relatives she kotowed, and one
or two kotowed to her. This, of course, was a question of seniority.
Some of the questions and remarks made on the bride must have been
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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