The Bride never Smiled

It was traditional in the past era for Foochow brides to cry their hearts out on the day they had to leave home for their husbands' home.

Photo from Google showing a bride who does not smile. She is not the bride of my story.

If photos were taken of the bride and groom in those days, these photos would show an unsmiling bride and a nervous looking bride groom.
Brides must cry on the wedding day. She must show that she was sad to leave her family. She was also to know that her next stage of her life was full of responsibilities to her maternal family, to her husband's family and her forthcoming children. She was to be burdened with lots on her shoulders.
And some would even be sold by her husband to settle gambling debts like a commodity if her fate was bad!!

Here is a story of a bride who never smiled on her wedding day.

Early in the morning the family would be busy,slaughtering chickens for breakfast as the groom would come with  the motor launch with his band of brothers and also the musical band if he could afford it. And mother of the bride and the bride would not have much time for final words of advice.

One such bride was a neighbour of a relative. One of the new school teachers in the village was the best man.

It was a match made by the village headman for the bride was a promising tailor but a very obedient young lady and she had not been keen to be married off yet as it was just after the Japanese war. She had wakened up and was already crying.

She was considered a little "old" for marriage as she was then already 24 years old. She had been restrained by the family from marrying because of the Japanese Occupation and she was the only daughter. She had been very close to her mother and elderly grandmother who she was not willing to leave.

She dressed up casually and got into her rented bridal gown and was ready for the exit from the house after she could not even drink a spoon of soup.

The Methodist pastor said the blessings and the bride and groom knelt before her parents for a final blessing. The groom received a ring from the bride's mother and a red packet from the bride's father.

When the bride's mother gave a bracelet to the bride she burst into a loud wail.

Relatives and onlookers remarked how filial she was and how sad she was to leave home for her future home.

She was most unwilling to leave the family.

The villagers all remembered how sad the bride was and how well behaved she was.

The bride went through the real ceremony in Sibu and she was properly married. And she could not do anything about her own fate.

She was an obedient Foochow woman and soon got used to her married life, gave birth to four children and lived QUITE happily ever after.


Note : But truth be told she had caught a glimpse of the best man who was so good looking and she could not stop looking at him. The best man was wearing a good suit and he looked so tall and smart. While the groom looked a little scruffy with his tie a little undone and the suit not so fitting. The best man had just come off the boat from Fuzhou city and was naturally more urbane and educated looking than the sunburnt and worn out looking bride groom.

This story was told to me by a relative who was most sympathetic towards young ladies who had to be married off because they were already slightly older and the family "could not feed her any more".