Comparison of Wedding of India and China

The approach of these paper work is to know and compare the two country’s tradition when it comes to wedding. Talking about wedding, we all know that it is the important aspect when two people want to enter the life of having a family. According to Webster, wedding is the ceremony of marriage with its accompanying festive. And as I go on with these paper work, we will all know the different traditions in wedding of the two countries and its histories. To formally start this topic, we must first know the two country’s wedding history.

In India, history of Indian Wedding says that early societies for social as well as political reasons had to have secure means for the perpetuation of the species and an institution to handle the granting of property rights and marriage was the institution for fulfilling that need. History of Indian Wedding says that early societies for social as well as political reasons had to have secure means for the perpetuation of the species and an institution to handle the granting of property rights and marriage was the institution for fulfilling that need.

In Indian culture arranged marriages have a history since fourth century. The culture of arranged marriages has still survived modernization and industrialization in India. Ancient times, the marriages took place while the couple was very young. In fact, the boy`s parents searched for a matching alliance for him in his preadolescent age and then approached the girl`s family with the proposition. There used to be a middleman to look for alliance and propose it to each family about the match.

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He even acted as a negotiator, also would suggest a suitable date and hour for the marriage to take place after matching the bride and the groom`s birth charts, he further also would facilitate in decision of the venue suitable for each families. In Indian Weddings the bride`s family was the host for the function. In China the process began with an elaborate marriage proposal and acceptance. This process was placed in the hands of a go-between, who acted as a buffer between the two parties – a role similar to that of a real estate agent today.

The important parties in proposal and betrothal negotiations were the parents of the prospective bride and groom, rather than the bride and groom themselves. “Marriage was for continuing the ancestral line and creating alliances between families –; too important a duty to be left in the rash hands of the young," Costa explains. ” When the boy’s parents identified a likely bride-to-be, they would send the go-between to present gifts to the girl’s parents and to sound out their feelings about the match. If the proposal was well-received, the go-between would obtain the date and hour of the girl’s birth recorded on a formal document.

The groom’s family would place this document on the ancestral altar for three days. If no inauspicious omens, e. g. quarrels between the parents or a loss of property, took place within that time, the parents would give the information to a astrological expert to confirm that the young woman and their son would make a good match. If the boy’s family found the horoscope to be favourable, they gave the boy’s birth date and hour to the go-between to bring to the girl’s family, who would go through the same process. Only after both outcomes were favourable, would the two families arrange to meet.

Finally face-to-face, each family evaluated the other in terms of appearance, education, character, and social position. If both were satisfied they would proceed to the betrothal. Since these is a paper work having a comparison of the two countries wedding tradition it must have the dresses they wear, the accessories the have, the meaning if averything they do and the astrological meanings which I’ve learned that are all important to the people of the two countries. Let’s start with their clothing or dresses they wear. In Chinese Red is central to the wedding theme of China.

It signifies love, joy and prosperity and is used in a variety of ways in Chinese wedding traditions. The bride's wedding gown is often red, as are the wedding invitations, and wedding gift boxes or envelopes for cash gifts. Even the bride and groom's homes are decorated in red on the wedding day while in India, Indian brides wear pink and red saris on their wedding day, adorning themselves extravagantly with as much jewelry as possible. In these two countries it is important to know their astrology, if they are compatible to each other.

Because they believe that having the compatible horoscope means they will be having abundant life ahead. According to the encyclopaedia titled Americana, the Hindu marriage rite opens with prayers by a Hindu priest. The priest pins one end of concentrated linen to the bride and groom’s clothing while the other side is on the bricks as a symbol of unity. The couple then walk around the sacred area. After the seventh time, the sealing of contract is done. The Ceremony may last as long as two hours. At the end a whole coconut is broken as the priest blesses the couple. hile in China, few religious ceremonies are today in either Communist or Nationalist China. Marriages often take place in public hall. The rite is simply an announcement with a couple’s marriage by their presence before at least two witnesses. The marriage is then recorded with the state authorities. In Indian culture arranged marriages have a history since fourth century. The culture of arranged marriages has still survived modernization and industrialization in India. Ancient times, the marriages took place while the couple was very young.

In fact, the boy`s parents searched for a matching alliance for him in his preadolescent age and then approached the girl`s family with the proposition. There used to be a middleman to look for alliance and propose it to each family about the match. He even acted as a negotiator, also would suggest a suitable date and hour for the marriage to take place after matching the bride and the groom`s birth charts, he further also would facilitate in decision of the venue suitable for each families. In Indian Weddings the bride`s family was the host for the function.

While in Chinese systemization of apparently pre-existing elements of traditional Chinese wedding ceremony is generally credited to scholars of the Warring States period , 402-221 B. C. Three venerable texts, The Book of Rites, The Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial, and the Baihu Tong outline the Three Covenants and the Six Rites, that were considered necessary elements of a marriage. However, the full ritual was so complicated that even within the p of the Warring States period, the etiquette underwent changes and simplification.

What remained constant were the chief objectives: joining and enhancing the two families and ensuring succession with numerous descendants. Reverence to parents and ancestors, omens to encourage fertility and wealth, financial and social obligations contracted by both families at the betrothal, extensive gift giving etiquette, and the bride’s incorporation into her husband’s family are recurring elements. Since these are the most essential thing in their wedding traditions, it is still being practiced by them.

I have learned that they have some comparison though Indians are Hindus and Chinese are Buddhists, for example with their astrological means. But I can say that the Indians has more preparations than Chinese and also, China’s marriage are more simple than with the Indian people. The Chinese practices the monogamy marriage while the Indian practices the polygamy. But what’s important with the two countries is to have their wedding done and to have it in blessed way by the priest and under their GODs according to their religion.

Reference

http://www.indianetzone.com/2/history_indian_wedding.htm

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