Another marriage "ritual"..........

I'M BACK........after a long whole week of 'break' or 'leave' from my official work!

I just can't imagine the 'war' that i'm soon gonna encounter when i'm back to office on Monday.....must be hundreds of e-mails to clear (inclusive of spams of course).....but first priority is to get the payroll done first for approval......u know how important that is?? tiny bits & pieces like bills & mails to sort would take up my precious time not to mention more important tasks....no choice, one-man-show type + no assistant...............slave lar !!!

Anyway, back to my main topic. Today 20/10(Sat) is the day where one of the important ritual would be performed as part of the chinese marriage ceremony. I have no idea on the official name of the event but managed to do a translation from chinese (Kor Tai Lai) as WEDDING GIFT presentation from the groom's family to the bride's or it can be said to resemble that of the "Rombongan Wang Hantaran" for the malay wedding.

With the variations of clans within the chinese race itself namely Hokkien, Hakka, Teochew, Cantonese & etc etc, there would obviously see differences in each of the clan's procedures of this wedding gift rituals. Among my siblings, we have in-laws that were from the Hakka, Teochew, Cantonese & now my 4th sister's was of Hokkien. I reckon that the procedures were quite strictly followed by the in-laws this time.......every fine steps were done as much as possible according to their Hokkien beliefs !!

I like the black basket in particular.......filled with fruits & biscuits, it looks so authentic! Not forgetting the dragon & phoenix candles in pair......so lovely & meaningful. You will also see the typical "wife" biscuits....hahaha, don't quite like the taste though !!

Did you noticed the green plant? It has a special meaning & brought good fortune according to the Hokkien and apparently according to my sis, it was a "must" thing to accompany the bunch of gifts to the bride's home.........i've never see or heard of this though !!! Then, the Hennessy..... gosh........it just shows the typical strong Hokkien's essence !!!

The groom's parents came from Labis, Johor and arrived at my mom's place about noon, did whatever required, had some brief chats (sharing both their tales of how they each brought up their children, their efforts of providing them education with bloods & sweats & how they wish/hope their life would blossom with happiness, prosperities/wealth & etc etc with the 'marriage'). Prayers were done & they left while our family continue to prepare for the 'BIG' dinner at night where they will be back again with more other family members!!

It was suppose to be a very joyous day or weekend............but unfortunately i was up with something bad at the same time besides being super busy........sigh & sob i will...... yet i'd tried my best to enjoy first & solve the "problems" later..........updates soon!!

............remember the last time when my name was "MISTAKENLY" printed on the wedding menu card of my sister's dinner reception........hahaha, NOW this time, the wedding card has been correctly printed...........no more errors, hehe !!

And the strange thing was there were 2 versions of the cards. The red was obviously demanded by mom (being the superstitious one) while the pink/purplish one for the couples' guests!!