My Parents' Wedding Day

 

My Seventh Aunt, Tiong Chiew Sieng, can still remember the day she accompanied her eldest brother, Dui Goh (in Foochow) Gong, to fetch his bride down river.

This was her recount, " We left by motor launch at that time called Chiar Rung ngieng, to fetch the lovely bride from Nang Chong. We left Sibu early and the motor launch was slow and the breeze was good. Every one was nervous."

The bride's house was big, and there were really not too many people around. It was 1948 and the economy had not really recovered. The bride's mother, Ching Moo, was ready with a tableful of bowls of soh mien, hard boiled eggs and chicken soup. My brother and I were placed at the head table and we sat down. Every one was nervous waiting to start the early brunch as we had taken about 2 hours to reach Nang Chong and the bride was getting ready. We should be back in Sibu before 12. That was the normal calculation of our travelling time, fetching the bride."

Every one would remember the bridal breakfast where every one would look at the handsome bride groom, a Beijing University Graduate, eldest son of Tiong Kung Ping, a famous Foochow community leader....who chose a village primary school teacher to marry.

It was quite a historical event indeed.

In 1948, that was the event of the year for the Tiong Family.

My mother's view of the wedding/marriage. Mum had always been very honest about life and work. She told us her children, she was actually thinking of being single all her life, to look after her mother, our widowed Ngie Mah(grandmother) and her young siblings as the war taught her about poverty, hunger and suppression. And fear too. All her life she was worried about hunger.

When my father proposed to the elders, after meeting her may be only three times, she was hesitant because he was first of all 16 years older than her at age 40. And she was already considered quite old for a Foochow bride.

Finally she decided that she would accept the proposal because of three reasons. He was good looking, polite and educated.

Well, she liked him and basically that was very important to her.

Her bride's maid was Aunt Chiew, the best man was the late Professor Dr. Chong Chung Hian, my father's first cousin. The flower girls were Aunty Greta, Guei Sieng and Aunty Ik Sing, Addy.

73 years ago.

I hope I become just like this wonderful mother I had for 70 years and ll months 13 days. 9 months in her womb.

Written on my 71 birthday, 17th Sept 2020.