Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Malaysia, Weddings - Part of the Cantonese wedding traditions

Not kidding you - I swear this is part of Cantonese wedding traditions. 

Because the sugarcane is sweet, it is supposed to symbolise the same for the marriage. Or as they say in Chinese - "tien tien mi mi". 

In the McWorld of today, a lot of these traditions are lost as people opt for convenience. In this case, two bottles of honey were prepared as stand-in for the sugarcane. 

Not ones to give in, the bride's relatives scouted around the taman (garden) and at last found some in front of a house. 

The owners of the house, an Indian family, when once told that it's for a wedding, asked the relatives to just go ahead and cut some down. At no cost. But the relatives insisted on giving the Indian family an 'ang pow' (lucky red packet containing money) in return, no matter how insignificant the amount. 

"You give some, you take some," uncle said.

It is nice to encounter people who are not predatory and can be generous with strangers. And to see people insisting on upholding traditions, which is in turn respected by others from an entirely different background. 














How 'big' was the 'ang pow'? RM2.

3 comments:

  1. wah, i tot in indo bamboo is where the ghosts stay?

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  2. That is not bamboo! it's sugar cane! Tebu, TEBU!!! And no one stays inside a sugar cane.

    RM2? I feel its better not to give... self insulting, lol...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yans: Is it? Lol. We squeeze the juices out, add ice and it's a drink!

    HS: Why so angers? And you're completely missing the point about the RM2. It's not the amount that matters.

    ReplyDelete