The Beijing Olympic Games found people full of expectations for 2008, considered a lucky year in China because of the eight. It is also considered a good year for marriage when using the lunar calendar. This left hundreds of Chinese wanting to get married in 2008, truly a “Marriage Year”.

Chinese marriages traditionally include many must haves like dragon and phoenix jewelry, mandarin duck quilts, Double “Xi” cut outs on red paper, Chinese dates, chestnut and the marriage shoes.

Dragon- phoenix jewelry

On her special day, the bride wears a flowery beautiful dress with glimmering jewelry to enhance her beauty. Dragon-phoenix bangles are classical marriage jewelry and are a necessary part of a Chinese wedding. In the Chinese tradition, parents of the couple will give them a pair of Dragon-phoenix bangles which represent eternal love. Dragon- phoenix bangles consist of a lifelike dragon and phoenix carved onto gold bangles. Some of them have a dragon and phoenix on each bangle while others have a dragon on one bangle and phoenix on the other.

In recent years, dragon- phoenix rings have also become very popular in traditional marriages. The bridegroom wears the dragon one, while the bride gets the phoenix, symbolizing best wishes of staying together forever. As the saying goes “fingers connected with your hearts, to keep you holding hands forever.”

Mandarin duck quilt

Mandarin ducks, which our forefathers call “double ducks”, mate for life always staying together. They fly together, swim together, and rest together, if one of them dies the other will live alone for the rest of its life. Because of this they have become symbols of eternal love and marriage. Many wedding items and gifts have mandarin ducks pictured on them, such as quilts, pillows or clothes. The picture of a mandarin ducks and winter jasmine wishes the couple a safe and calm marriage, and the mandarin ducks swimming with water lilies wishes the couple a happy life.

Double “Xi” cut outs on red paper

Double “Xi” words write “囍” in Chinese. It means two happy things happened at the same time, and is now always used in marriage celebrations to represent the happiness of the couple. Sticking doubles “Xi” words in red paper is also an essential in Chinese traditional marriage.

In some places, double “Xi’s” are also put in the lobby of a house as well as on the outside of the door, windows, quilts and pillows.

Sprinkle some nuts in nuptial room

Before the couple enters their nuptial room, their parents will choose one of the elders who have healthy children. This elder takes a platter, which is full of Chinese dates, chestnuts, longans and earthnuts, and then enters the room to sprinkle the nuts around it. The partial tone of Chinese date when said in Chinese, means “getting a child early”, chestnut means “a beautiful daughter”, and earthnut means “a son and a daughter”. The whole platter of nuts symbolizes the wish that the couple can have their own child soon.

According to records, this custom began at the time of Wu, an emperor in the Han dynasty. When Wu emperor married Ms. Li, he ordered his servants to sprinkle some nuts in their room and tie their lapel together to wish them a happy marriage. From then on, sprinkling nuts in the sweet room became a funny tradition, but also important ceremony during the marriage. Some think that sprinkling colorful pieces of paper in a modern marriage is a new custom that came from sprinkling the nuts.

Marriage Shoes

Ritual of entering the door of the husband's family

Shoes are an important item in traditional Chinese marriages, because shoes are always in pairs and have a similar tone to “harmony” in Chinese. Some of them are gifts to the couple, representing best wishes for the marriage. There are many kinds of marriage shoes in China, for example the Lanzi shoe, bombazine shoes, Xie shoes and bridegroom-dancing shoes. There are also interesting activities surrounding the shoes. The most interesting one is the “stealing bride’s shoes”. Guests will try to steal the bride’s shoes in many different ways before the ceremony begins, and make the bridegroom pay for the shoes with some cigarettes or candy. This makes the mood of the weddings more festive and lively. There are many different ways to steal the shoes in separate different provinces. For instance, in Qian towns, shoes-thieves will often stay at the route to the marriage for a whole night just to grab bride’s shoes.

Although Chinese marriages have a lot of traditions and superstitions surrounding them, in the end it all comes down to wishing the new husband and wife a happy, prosperous and long marriage.