wedding party in my hometown

For many, especially girls, it’s getting married. Today I will speak about the ceremony of wedding in my hometown. The wedding parties will last 4 days.


Double Happiness: Each half of the symbol is the standard character for happiness, written "hsi" or "xi," and pronounced something like "she" in Mandarin (high level tone –; the first tone). Therefore, two "hsi" graphs together represent the wish for the two young newlyweds to have happiness together.
DAY 1
The day before the wedding, the bride and the groom can not see each other just like here in America. If they do, they will have a bad marriage. The night before the wedding, both the bride and the groom go outside to drink or play with their friends to say bye to their single life. In America, it’s similar to a Bachelor Party.
After returning home, both the bride and the groom need to take a thorough shower before the event, change to some fresh new underwear and incense needs to be burnt.
DAY 2 - Wedding Day: picking up the Bride
On the day of the wedding, early in the morning, the groom and the ushers will decorate the cars in the red and drive them over to the bride's home. The groom will send a car of gifts to the bride's family to bring the bride home.

At the door, the bridesmaids will prepare a lot of tricky questions for the groom to answer. The groom not only has to answer all the questions, he also has perform certain acts such as doing push-ups to show that he's strong enough to take care of the bride, or sing out his love for the bride in front of many people. The ushers will help the groom to pass all these tests. The last test is a financial test. The groom has to pay the bridesmaids some 'red envelopes [good fortune] as gifts, then the groom and his ushers can enter the house and greet the bride.
At the bride's home, the bride will put on her bright red wedding gown and the bride's parents will give her jewelry to wear. The bride and the groom have a big feast on the bride’s house in lunch time and toast a lot of relatives.

Good Fortune woman feeds the bride with rice with 3 dishes.
This first feeding symbolizes ever-lasting happiness.
The second feeding symbolizes many future children for happy family.
The third feeding symbolizes good wealth and health and harmony from beginning to end.
. Bride Leaving Home
During the afternoon, the groom's spokeswoman will enter the bride's house and will carry the bride on her back. The bride cannot touch the ground with her feet until she arrives at the groom's house. In some regions, the bride's relatives will throw rice into the air, hoping that the chickens around will eat the rice instead of pecking at the bride. Sometimes, a red umbrella is used to shield the bride as the opening of the umbrella will symbolize she bring good fortune to the groom's family.
As the bride leaves the house, her parents and her relatives will bid her farewell. Wealthy brides often have several girls who will follow her to the groom's family and continue to serve her. These maids are known as ones who 'accompany the marriage'.

. Bride Arriving at the Groom's Home
After the bride arrives at the groom's house, the couple will worship the ancestors and worship the heavens and earth. Then they will serve tea to the groom's family and the relatives will give them red envelopes.

Before the big wedding banquet or dinner, most of the guests will participate in Chinese national games such as mahjong.
During the dinner or wedding banquet, the bride will change into different dresses. But the main dress will be the RED QIPAO.
The bride and groom will toast their guests and receive red envelopes from their guests. After that, the ushers and bridesmaids and friends of the newly married couple will often play certain tricks and games on them. The goal is to make the groom show his love in public.
Day 3 - The Bride Returning Home after the wedding day
On the day after the wedding, the bride awoke early to attend honor the ancestors at dawn.Long long ago, the bride is expected to return to her family three years after the wedding. Nowadays, the bride can be expected to return to her family the day after the wedding. The groom needs to accompany the bride to bring gifts to the bride family.
Day 4

As a tradition, the next day the bride's family will also return part of the gifts to the groom's family as a courtesy. Some regional custom requires that the family should return the head and tail of the roasted pig to the groom's family symbolizing the good beginning and end of the wedding.

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