Sibu Tales : Some Foochow Wedding Customs

When I was young, I would notice the excitement of young relatives getting all excited about their choice of potential grooms and their subsequent delight in getting their trousseau custom made in the town. 

Al the new clothes for the bride would be nicely folded and put into a suitcase. (Photo from Google)

The parents would then spend money on a tea set for the wedding's tea ceremony, a spittoon filled with peanuts. A sewing basket would also be prepared and filled with colourful threads, especially red thread. All these will have auspicious words paste somewhere for people to see. The red paper was available at Tai Lung General Store, of High Street, Sibu.

A good calligrapher would be engaged to write the auspicious words. There would be such excitement and lots of noise too. The calligrapher would be provided with a bowl of good mee sua and an ang pow for his kind work of good calligraphy.

Those with wealthier parents would be endowed with gold jewellery, but basically they would at least have a bracelet and a gold necklace. This signified the love of the parents for the bride and also as a token for all the housework she had done for the family. Naturally it would only be a token because how much could house work be remunerated? 1000 dollars a month? And for 20 over years?

One of my aunts was most forthcoming about which customs to follow so that the newly weds could have children straightaway. According to her dried lychees and dried longans must be placed under the marriage bed would do the trick.

Dried lychees and dried longans - under the marriage bed - so that the newly weds would have children quickly.

Other gifts would make a long list: mirror, comb,angpows for unmarried siblings and grooms parents, one set of bed sheet, pajamas for the groom, wash or face basin, a metal mug for teeth brushing was most appropriate in the olden days....and even a baby bath pail!!