There are a lot of customs associated with a wedding that can differ greatly from culture to culture. In China, for example, it is traditional for the groom and the bride to kneel in front of their parents and serve them tea at the so-called tea ceremony. They are not allowed to see the groom’s older siblings – this is said to bring bad luck.
So that this really doesn’t happen, the groom’s siblings sometimes look for strange hiding places. One such case is causing a stir in China: a 25-year-old man named Hu spoke on social media about how his parents persuaded him to hide from his younger brother and his wife. He himself is unmarried, reports the “South China Morning Post”.
Because it was very important to his parents, the old customs, Hu stuck to it. However, he didn’t quite follow the instructions: his tradition-conscious parents wanted him to hide in the toilet. But Hu preferred to look for a more pleasant spot in the backyard. The main thing anyway was that his brother and his newly wedded wife couldn’t see him – so nothing should stand in the way of a happy marriage.
“As long as the bride couldn’t see me, everything was fine. That’s our custom,” said the 25-year-old. The tea ceremony lasted about ten minutes, after which Hu was free to attend the wedding ceremony. His fate is shared by some Chinese, who sometimes look for even stranger hiding places: According to “South China Morning Post”, a 31-year-old even hid on the roof at the wedding of her younger siblings.
But even the younger siblings need to fulfill certain customs when they get married. If a man marries before his older brother, he has to buy him a pair of pants because the words “pants” and “wealth” sound the same. Women give their younger sister a skirt. The older sibling then moves into the house with the groom or the bride under the pants or skirt. This is a way of showing respect to their younger siblings.
Quelle: “South China Morning Post” / “Singapore Brides”
