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Check your Chinese Zodiac for wedding dates

Posted by on April 26, 2010 3 Comments
chinese zodiac

chinese zodiac

Feb 14 2010 is the start of Chinese new year of Tiger. As the new year is about to begin, Chinese ask our fortune based on Sheng Xiao, Chinese Zodiac Sign, (生肖）.

In Chinese Zodiac, each of us belongs to one of the twelve animals based on the year we were born.  If you don’t know your Chinese Zodiac Sign, here is a simple table to find out:

RAT

Jan.31,1900 to Feb.19,1901
Feb.18,1912 to Feb.06,1913
Feb.05,1924 to Jan.24,1925
Jan.24,1936 to Feb.10,1937
Feb.10,1948 to Feb.14,1949
Jan.28,1960 to Feb.14,1961
Jan.16,1972 to Feb.02,1973
Feb.02,1984 to Feb.19,1985


OX

Feb.19,1901 to Feb.07,1902
Feb.06,1913 to Jan.25,1914
Jan.25,1925 to Feb.12,1926
Feb.11,1937 to Jan.30,1938
Jan.29,1949 to Feb.16,1950
Feb.15,1961 to Feb.04,1962
Feb.03,1973 to Jan.22,1974
Feb.20,1985 to Feb.08,1986


TIGER

Feb.08,1902 to Jan.28,1903
Jan.26,1914 to Feb.13,1915
Feb.13,1926 to Feb.01,1927
Jan.31,1938 to Feb.18,1939
Feb.17,1950 to Feb.05,1951
Feb.05,1962 to Jan.24,1963
Jan.23,1974 to Feb.10,1975
Jan.09,1986 to Jan.28,1987

HARE

Jan.29,1903 to Feb.15,1904
Feb.14,1915 to Feb.16,1916
Feb.02,1927 to Jan.22,1928
Feb.19,1939 to Feb.07,1940
Feb.06,1951 to Jan.26,1952
Jan.25,1963 to Feb.12,1964
Feb.11,1975 to Jan.30,1976
Jan.29,1987 to Feb.16,1988

DRAGON

Feb.16,1904 to Feb.03,1905
Feb.03,1916 to Jan.22,1917
Jan.23,1928 to Feb.09,1929
Feb.08,1940 to Jan.26,1941
Jan.27,1952 to Feb.13,1953
Feb.13,1964 to Feb.01,1965
Jan.31,1976 to Feb.17,1977
Feb.17,1988 to Feb.05,1989

SNAKE

Feb.04,1905 to Jan.24,1906
Jan.23,1917 to Feb.10,1918
Feb.10,1929 to Jan.29,1930
Jan.27,1941 to Feb.14,1942
Feb.14,1953 to Feb.02,1954
Feb.02,1965 to Jan.20,1966
Feb.18,1977 to Feb.06,1978
Feb.06,1989 to Jan.26,1990

HORSE

Jan.25,1906 to Feb.12,1907
Feb.11,1918 to Jan.31,1919
Jan.30,1930 to Feb.16,1931
Jan.15,1942 to Feb.04 1943
Feb.03,1954 to Jan.23,1955
Jan.21,1966 to Feb.08,1967
Feb.07,1978 to Jan.27,1979
Jan.27,1990 to Feb.14,1991

SHEEP

Feb.13,1907 to Feb.01,1908
Feb.01,1919 to Feb.19,1920
Feb.17,1931 to Feb.05,1932
Jan.05,1943 to Jan.24,1944
Jan.24,1955 to Feb.11,1956
Feb.09,1967 to Jan.28,1968
Jan.28,1979 to Feb.15,1980
Feb.15,1991 to Feb.03,1992

MONKEY

Feb.02,1908 to Jan.21,1909
Feb.20,1920 to Feb.07,1921
Feb.06,1932 to Jan.25,1933
Jan.25,1944 to Feb.12,1945
Feb.12,1956 to Jan.30,1957
Jan.30,1968 to Feb.16,1969
Feb.16,1980 to Feb.04,1981
Feb.04,1992 to Jan.22,1993

ROOSTER

Jan.22,1909 to Feb.09,1910
Feb.08,1921 to Jan.27,1922
Jan.26,1933 to Feb.13,1934
Feb.13,1945 to Feb.01,1946
Jan.31,1957 to Feb.17,1958
Feb.17,1969 to Feb.05,1970
Feb.05,1981 to Jan.24,1982
Jan.23,1993 to Feb.09,1994

DOG

Feb.10,1910 to Jan.29,1911
Jan.28,1922 to Feb.13,1923
Feb.14,1934 to Feb.03,1935
Feb.02,1946 to Jan.21,1947
Feb.18,1958 to Feb.07,1959
Feb.06,1970 to Jan.26,1971
Jan.25,1982 to Feb.12,1983
Feb.10,1994 to Jan.30,1995

BOAR

Jan.30,1911 to Feb.17,1912
Feb.16,1923 to Feb.04,1924
Feb.04,1935 to Jan.23,1936
Jan.22,1947 to Feb.09,1948
Feb.08,1959 to Jan.27,1960
Jan.27,1971 to Jan.15,1972
Feb.13,1983 to Feb.01,1984
Jan.31,1995 to Feb.18,1996


Chinese use Lunar calendar which does not match the western year exactly. In general, Chinese year start from mid-Feb, so when you try to find out your zodiac sign, make sure you take this into consideration.

Filed Under: Auspicious Wedding Dates, Chinese Marriage | Tagged: Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Deliver the chinese dowry 送嫁妆

Posted by on April 14, 2010 Leave a Comment

Deliver the chinese dowry 送嫁妆

The chinese dowry may be delivered with the return gifts on the day of betrothal or delivered a few days before the wedding.

Some people have the impression that chinese weddings are expensive affair for the groom’s parents since they have to pay for the betrothal gifts, bride price and wedding banquet.

However, it may not be so, as the bride’s parents also have a long long list of items to prepare for the bride’s dowry and may also co-pay for the wedding banquet.

The dowry typically include personal items for the bride and household or electrical appliances for the couple’s new home, such as

  • tea set,
  • beddings,
  • bedroom furniture and bathroom items,
  • set of washbasins and buckets called “子孙桶”,
  • electrical household appliances,
  • clothing,
  • gold jewellery, etc.
bride's dowry- wedding jewellery

bride's dowry- wedding jewellery

Tea set for wedding tea ceremony 茶具

chinese_wedding_tea_ceremony

chinese_wedding_tea_ceremony

A tea set for the wedding tea ceremony must be included. After the wedding, the tea set is kept and used once again when the bride’s and groom’s daughter serve her parents tea when she gets married.

It is a chinese tradition for daughter-in-law to greet her parents-in-law with tea (敬茶）every morning. However, in modern society, such traditions are no longer followed.

The bride will only serve her parents-in-law tea during the wedding ceremony and perhaps during certain festive events, such as the in-law’s birthdays and chinese new year.

Beddings

The bride’s parents will provide a new set of bedsheet for the couple to install the bridal bed.

The beddings may include a new set of pillows, bolsters, comforter set, blankets, bed sheets, etc. all tied with red ribbons.

Bedroom furniture and bathroom items

In the past, the bride’s parent might provide bedroom furniture such as vanity table, wardrobe, basin stand and washbasin, bath tub, spittoon, etc. Some would give wooden chinese wedding chests instead of wardrobes.

Instead of providing the couple with the bedroom furniture, parents are now giving a sum of money to for the couple to buy their own furniture. These days, the wardrobes or wedding chests are usually replaced with traveling suitcases.

Small item including toiletries such as comb and mirror, toothpaste and toothbrushes, tumblers, perfume and lotions, are also packaged with little red or pink ribbons and delivered to the groom’s home as part of the chinese dowry.

Buckets of off-spring! 子孙桶

A set of baby bathtubs, pails, face washbasin, in red and with chinese wedding designs and the famous chinese spittoon collectively referred to as 子孙桶 is included in the dowry. 子孙桶 is literally “buckets of off-spring”

Why? Because in the past when women gave birth at home, these bathtubs and buckets were necessary items to be used for childbirth.

From a practical aspect, the spittoon was also necessary gift from the bride’s parents. The toilets of chinese household were not easily accessible from the bedrooms in the past as they were usually built as out-houses for sanitation purposes. Hence chinese used spittoons for passing urine in the bedrooms at night and clear them in the morning. (The stuff made very good fertilizer :-0 ).

Bathrooms are now build in-door in modern chinese housing. Therefore spittoons for the chinese dowry are now usually replaced with cutesy baby potties instead of the adult version.

A Hokkien’s special tradition for the 子孙桶

The hokkiens will seal red dates, dried longans, dried lotus seeds, sweets etc into the spittoon/baby potty 子孙桶 with a piece of red paper.

When the dowry is delivered to the groom’s side, the red paper and all the sweet goodies inside are removed and distributed to children. A young boy, preferably born in the year of the dragon, will be invited to pass urine into the spittoon.

Yes, you guessed it! This ritual wishes for a boy child for the couple!

Electrical household appliances

Most modern young chinese prefer to set up their own household when they get married. It became popular for parents to give the bride electrical household appliances as part of her dowry. These may include refrigerator, microwaves, washing machines, televisions, etc.

In the 60s and 70s it was popular to give sewing machines as part of the dowry as sewing was considered a wifely virtue. Many housewives made clothes for their own family and supplemented their husbands’ income with tailoring.

However, by the 80s hardly anyone wanted to sew their own clothes when manufactured ones were affordable and easily available. More women became better educated and entered the workforce and shifted their attention to acquiring workplace skills rather than domestic skills.

dowry sewing basket

dowry sewing basket

A simple sewing basket meant only for the occasional patching and mending job is included in the dowry.

This is usually a double joy sewing basket with even numbered rolls of colourful thread, needles, pincushion, scissors, and sewing wax with auspicious words on it.

Clothing

The quantity of new clothing included in the chinese dowry varies from dialect groups to dialect groups. For teochews, it can be between 10 to 12 sets of new clothes which for economic purposes may also include pyjamas .

Red wooden clogs were worn as wedding shoes during the Later Han 后汉 (AD947-950). In traditional families, two pairs of red wooden clogs wedding slippers are included as part of the chinese dowry. Since they are not commonly available they are now usually replaced with bedroom slippers.

I remembered the wooden red clogs were usually relegated for use in the wet toilet in grandma’s house after weddings. As a kid, I wore them as playthings. They made nice ki-ki-kia-kia sounds while skipping or walking in them but were not particularly comfortable to wear.

Gold jewellery

Gold jewellery given by the bride’s parents or owned by the bride is included as part of the bridal dowry. Sometimes these are brought over only on the wedding day itself.

Theoretically, the gold jewellery included as part of the bride’s dowry belongs to the groom’s family and may be apportioned according to the parent-in-law’s wishes. Hence it is common that a “sister” of the bride will make sure the groom’s parents are aware of the riches brought over by the bride.

Chinese prefer pure gold (99.9%) or 916 gold (equivalent to 24K gold). Anything below that, such as 18K gold commonly used in fashionable gold jewellery, is not considered “real” gold to chinese.

Some brides will even get gold jewellery sets known as four items of gold 四点金 as bride dowry from their parents although these are normally given by the groom’s parents to brides as betrothal jewellery.

In summary, the chinese dowry includes,

chinese_wedding_tea_ceremony

chinese_wedding_tea_ceremony

Filed Under: Chinese Marriage, Chinese Wedding Custom | Tagged: Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,