Livin' It Up: Top Five 'Initiation' Pranks during a Chinese Wedding

The Chinese are quite a creative bunch one would have to agree – their lives are governed by an overload of rites and traditions handed over to the next generation by the one before and so forth. Over time, some of these rites have evolved – well, kind of anyway. I got to thinking about the rites that we practice on the day of the wedding itself after attending such an event last Saturday. It has got to be one of the most entertaining and unforgettable moments in any Chinese wedding without a doubt, for the couple as well as their guests.

Upon our arrival to the bride's home

May & I with the bride

Bridesmaids...?

Our Kodak Moment

The gorgeous dinner dress

The girls chilling out while waiting for the groom and his entourage to arrive.

There’s a name for the rite mentioned – Chip San Leong (in Cantonese) or translated into simple English, Fetch-the-Bride. It means just literally that – the groom and his entourage will make their ways to the bride’s home, making a lot of noise as they arrive to ward off evil or bad luck. Usually they do this by honking (since nobody in their right minds would use gongs or old Chinese instruments anymore) when they’re around the vicinity – this also serves to alert the bride’s entourage of their arrival. In tradition, it symbolizes that the groom is taking the bride out of her home and accepting her into his. Usually, the groom’s entourage would present ‘gifts’ to the bride’s family – like a suckling pig or in ancient times, life chickens, etc – how funny is that really. This rite includes the tea ceremony, whereby the couple would invite all the older relatives to have a cup of tea as a mark of respect. In return, they would be given red packets or jewelry as a blessing for their future. Also, the couple would give out red packets to the younger ones in the family.

The men bringing in the 'gifts'

The very poor roasted pig presented to the bride's family

Prayers

Car Deco

But that’s not the fun part. Let’s jump right on the good leg and do the bad thing, so to speak – one of the most awaited moments of the day would have to be what I call the ‘initiation’, the part whereby the bridesmaids pose blockages to the groom’s entourage before they are able to reach the bride and escort her out of her home – some sort like an obstacle race for the groom to reach his booty. I’m not sure how this ‘rite’ came about, but it is pretty reasonable, come to think of it. As people liked to say, easy come, easy go. So the harder it is to take the bride out of the house, the better the prospects for the couple. But that’s only my interpretation haha.

So here are the top five ‘initiation’ pranks I’ve seen carried out during the weddings that I’ve attended thus far:

1. The groom’s entourage has to sing for the bride and bridesmaids. Any song would usually do – preferably something romantic to ‘seal the deal’.

They've come prepared with a song! Good on them!

2. A few representatives from the groom’s entourage have to eat something quite so unpleasant. I’ve seen concoctions of fruit juices/ pulps mixed with alcohol of some sort and wasabi even. Some even include cili padi into their witch’s brew. The down side is that there is a possibility of the concoction bringing more harm than it should and the whole groom’s entourage would end up stuck in the loo all day or worse!

3. The bridesmaids will concoct a series of very private questions about the bride that the groom has to answer correctly, or be punished. A way for everyone present to get to know the couple better, I would think.

4. The groom has to pick out his bride’s lipstick mark from a collection of marks (made by the bridesmaids of course), otherwise be subjected to some sort of punishment.

Which belongs to the bride? Perhaps none at all haha!

5. The groom and his entourage have to run around the neighborhood, loudly professing his love for his bride and telling one and all why he loves her and is marrying her.

So, what kinds of punishment then you may ask? From the wedding that day, these were meted out…warning – very side-splittingly hilarious images ahead!

- Passing a boiled egg from one man to another – using only the mouth. Hmh, what a way to cultivate male bonding really. *guffaws*

Very masculine smoochies!

- Pumping – with another male below the ‘pumper’. I almost died laughing over this, I swear to God.

The 69 pumping position

Another shot...

Hmmhh...missionary? Hahaha...

These guys are very great sports!

"Whooaaa...my hands are not strong enough! I'm going to crush you!"

Most of the time, to end the ‘negotiation’ between the bridesmaids and the groom’s entourage, some sort of ‘bribe’ would be given to the bridesmaids in the form of red packets. Money speaks louder than anything else at the end of the day I suppose. And so, the groom successfully makes his way to ‘fetch’ his bride at last, passing the ‘initiation’ stage. *Applause*

In negotiation - tough luck for the guys!