During the Tang Dynasty, there was a young man name Wei Gu. Once he was passing the city of Songcheng, where he saw an old man leaning on his pack reading a book in the moonlight. Being amazed at it, Wei Gu walked up and asked what he was doing. The old man answered, "I am reading a book of marriage listing for who is going to marry whom. In my pack are red cords for tying the feet of husband and wife." When Wei Gu and the old man came together to a marketplace, they saw a blind old woman carrying a three-year-old little girl in her arms. The old man said to Wei Gu," This little girl will be your wife in the future." Wei Gu thought this was too strange to believe and he ordered his servant to stab the girl with his knife.
Fourteen years later, Wang Tai, the governor of Xiangzhou, gave Wei Gu his daughter in marriage. The daughter was a beautiful young woman, but Wei Gu found that there was a scar between her eyebrows. When he asked what had happened, he was told that she had been stabbed by a man in the marketplace fourteen years before.
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A lion and lion band Probably the best known of the Chinese traditions is the Lion and band. Imagine the colour, the spectacle of a real Lion Band with dancing Lion. The Lion brings good luck and also frightens the evil spirits away.
Fireworks (subject to local government provisions). It was believed that the noise from fireworks would frighten the evil spirits away.
Honouring your parents As the couple arrive at the place of marriage, they turn to their parents and bow in respect to them.
Alter to The Ancestors The couple then turn to the alter and pay respects to their ancestors by bowing to them. Of course, if the couple have a Buddhist heritage, then incense and candles can be lit at this stage.
Wine sharing At birth the Gods tie an invisible red silken cord around the ankles of a man & women destined to become husband & wife. As the years pass, the cord becomes shorter & shorter until, finally, they are united; Destiny has its day. In homage to this tradition, the couple share wine from a red cup tied together with a silken red cord.
Cord ritual By wrapping a red cord around the couple, the celebrant symbolically ties the couple's souls together by forming a circle around their hearts, uniting them forever in this life and the next.
