Tao Jones
02-14-2011, 04:46 PM
Culture Corner #8: Love and Marriage
Welcome to the Culture Corner
Welcome back to the Culture Corner with Tao Jones. If you’re new to the Culture Corner, this is a little column that is your guide to the world. It’s great to be a hero, but if you don’t understand what it is you’re trying to save, then it’s a little harder to appreciate it. That’s what I’m here for. Each column, I’m going to take a part of Chinese culture in our games and explain it in a little more depth.
An Especially Appropriate Update
Today is February 14. There are two things going on that make this article especially appropriate. First up, it’s Valentine’s Day. Secondly, Zentia 1.2 just launched, and with it, the marriage system. With it, your characters can now fall in love, become engaged, and get married. What a perfect time. Why should a hero wait until after they’ve saved the world to get married? The fast-paced lifestyle that today’s wandering hero lives just doesn’t allow for that kind of luxury, and life is just so much more fun with a partner.
Once you do get married in Zentia, you probably won’t be seeing any kind of scene you’re familiar with. This is a silly fictionalized version of ancient China, after all. The basic concept is easy enough to understand. A man and a woman get married, people watch them, this is generally understood to be a good thing, yada, yada, yada. Still, there’s a lot more to it than that, and today, we’ll go through some of the key features that set Chinese weddings apart.
http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/8561/traditionalchineseweddi.jpg
You know how Western wedding outfits haven’t changed in a few hundred years? Yeah...
Preparing for the Wedding
Let’s start at the beginning, or arguably, before the beginning, which might not seem logically possible, but here we are. A wedding in any kind of culture requires months of years of preparation, unless you happen to be visiting Las Vegas. Chinese culture is no different. What I am about to describe is how marriages used to be done. Things are different now, though most of these practices survive, either as a ceremonial thing, some attitude still held that manifests itself in some other way, or by just plain existing exactly as it had for the last few thousand years. These are also very general. China is a huge place, and every region has its own customs. Your results may vary.
In older times, the parents of the groom-to-be would ask around or see who they know, and find someone they think would make a good daughter-in-law. After all, parents know best. Once they’ve found someone they think would make a good choice, they go into talks with the prospective bride’s family to see what they think about it. They think about positives and negatives, like if he comes from a rich family, if his family has a good reputation, if he looks particularly ugly, and other factors. If everyone is just fine with this, then they go to get a second opinion from a matchmaker, usually an older woman, well-versed in the arts of negotiation, astrological compatibility (Remember those Zodiac animals I mentioned a few updates back?), and just plain knowing more about how people work and get along.
Assuming every single party involved agrees that this marriage is a good idea, or at least, not terrible enough to completely refuse, the man can, at long last, finally officially propose marriage. He gets down on one knee, and his silhouette offers a diamond ring of questionable origin to her silhouette, in an ancient tradition dating back to at least the 1930s. Oh, wait. It’s not quite that easy or showy. The man and his family instead submit a suitably impressive gift as a bride price, also called a betrothal gift. Included in this collection of goods is a letter officially proposing marriage. Of course, by this point, acceptance is just a formality. Everyone is already okay with it, and it’s been reviewed by a matchmaker as a third party to make sure there isn’t anything they’re forgetting. Once that’s dealt with, the groom’s family sends even more goods, consisting mainly of food and religious items, to the bride’s family. If you’re starting to sense a pattern, good eye. When the time comes for someone to pay the bill for the actual wedding itself, it once again falls upon the groom’s family to deal with the check!
Getting on with it
After all of that contractual negotiation is dealt with, it’s time to plan for the actual wedding. This is very much what you might expect, but one thing that stands out is an emphasis on choosing an auspicious day for the wedding. A book called the tōngshèng (通勝) describes what days are best for all kinds of activities. Although it’s technically a calendar that’s used for fortunetelling and as a general-purpose almanac, most people just use it to figure out a good wedding day. A few general guidelines are to emphasize lucky numbers such as eight (What a coincidence, it just happens to be Culture Corner #8!) and nine, and to avoid the number four. The number four is especially unlucky because it sounds similar to the Chinese word for “death”. Hospitals and hotels will often even omit the number from their floors. Elevators go straight from floor three to floor five. No one wants a number four anywhere in their wedding day, especially literally.
Another thing to remember is that it’s important to have a lot of red. Red is a very lucky color, after all. Red clothes and red decorations are the rule of the day. It’s a lucky color, and it’s associated with prosperity and happiness. It makes perfect sense for it to be the dominant color during a wedding.
The night before the wedding, the bride’s hair is ceremonially combed, styled, and treated for good fortune. When the big day arrives, the groom travels to the bride’s family home, and that’s when a little game starts. The bridesmaids stand in the doorway and don’t let the groom in until he’s proven he’s good enough for the bride. They might ask him questions to make sure he really knows her, or ask him to do push-ups to make sure he’s physically fit. It’s all in good fun, of course. As a show of his wealth, and as a bit of a bribe, he presents the bridesmaids with red envelopes with gifts within. Finally, they allow him to see the bride, who then travels with him and the other wedding attendants over to the groom’s home, where the tea ceremony is conducted.
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/3331/chineseweddingprocessio.jpg
Thankfully, in this modern era, we have cars, making it possible to marry people further and further away without having to worry about the walk.
The Actual Wedding
The tea ceremony is the actual wedding ceremony. Usually, only the immediate family and a select few others are present. The first thing that happens during the tea ceremony is that the bride and groom bow three times, first to the heaven and earth, second to their parents and ancestors, and third to each other.Their parents and in-laws sit in chairs, and the bride and groom kneel to them and serve a special tea with lotus seeds and red dates to their parents and in-laws. The tea and its ingredients represent good relations between the bride and her new family and hopes for their offspring. The parents and in-laws then present red envelopes stuffed with gifts to the couple, then present more to other honored guests, mostly women such as the bridesmaids. This concludes the wedding ceremony.
Wait, what? That’s it? After all that preparatory work? All the negotiations and gifts and letters? Well, yes. For the actual ceremony. The reception afterwards, on the other hand, is a much grander affair. Many guests attend and feast on a huge multi-course meal. Fish is served, since it’s a symbol of a long life, to get the new marriage off to an auspicious start. Men are associated with dragons and women are associated with phoenixes, so similar-looking animals, shrimp and chicken, must be in the feast as well. This banquet serves as a grand thank you celebration for the new happily-married couple, and as a tremendous thank you for all of their friends and family for their support over the years.
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/2965/weddinginvitationcards.jpg
Assuming you sent them an invitation. You aren’t forgetting anyone, are you?
In today’s world, many of these customs survive. Arranged marriages still exist, but they’re rarer, and resemble something more like a series of dates your parents set up until you find someone you like who also happens to like you. The circumstances leading up to a marriage are, for obvious reasons, different, but the ceremonies and celebration are largely unchanged. In every culture around the world, regardless of nationality, culture, or religion, love and marriage exist. So for all you Zentia players out there, have a happy Valentine’s Day, and check out the brand new love and marriage system.
Until next time, take care. 再見!
Discuss the Culture Corner in the Culture Corner General Discussion Thread (http://us.changyou.com/forum/showthread.php?p=42376).
Welcome to the Culture Corner
Welcome back to the Culture Corner with Tao Jones. If you’re new to the Culture Corner, this is a little column that is your guide to the world. It’s great to be a hero, but if you don’t understand what it is you’re trying to save, then it’s a little harder to appreciate it. That’s what I’m here for. Each column, I’m going to take a part of Chinese culture in our games and explain it in a little more depth.
An Especially Appropriate Update
Today is February 14. There are two things going on that make this article especially appropriate. First up, it’s Valentine’s Day. Secondly, Zentia 1.2 just launched, and with it, the marriage system. With it, your characters can now fall in love, become engaged, and get married. What a perfect time. Why should a hero wait until after they’ve saved the world to get married? The fast-paced lifestyle that today’s wandering hero lives just doesn’t allow for that kind of luxury, and life is just so much more fun with a partner.
Once you do get married in Zentia, you probably won’t be seeing any kind of scene you’re familiar with. This is a silly fictionalized version of ancient China, after all. The basic concept is easy enough to understand. A man and a woman get married, people watch them, this is generally understood to be a good thing, yada, yada, yada. Still, there’s a lot more to it than that, and today, we’ll go through some of the key features that set Chinese weddings apart.
http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/8561/traditionalchineseweddi.jpg
You know how Western wedding outfits haven’t changed in a few hundred years? Yeah...
Preparing for the Wedding
Let’s start at the beginning, or arguably, before the beginning, which might not seem logically possible, but here we are. A wedding in any kind of culture requires months of years of preparation, unless you happen to be visiting Las Vegas. Chinese culture is no different. What I am about to describe is how marriages used to be done. Things are different now, though most of these practices survive, either as a ceremonial thing, some attitude still held that manifests itself in some other way, or by just plain existing exactly as it had for the last few thousand years. These are also very general. China is a huge place, and every region has its own customs. Your results may vary.
In older times, the parents of the groom-to-be would ask around or see who they know, and find someone they think would make a good daughter-in-law. After all, parents know best. Once they’ve found someone they think would make a good choice, they go into talks with the prospective bride’s family to see what they think about it. They think about positives and negatives, like if he comes from a rich family, if his family has a good reputation, if he looks particularly ugly, and other factors. If everyone is just fine with this, then they go to get a second opinion from a matchmaker, usually an older woman, well-versed in the arts of negotiation, astrological compatibility (Remember those Zodiac animals I mentioned a few updates back?), and just plain knowing more about how people work and get along.
Assuming every single party involved agrees that this marriage is a good idea, or at least, not terrible enough to completely refuse, the man can, at long last, finally officially propose marriage. He gets down on one knee, and his silhouette offers a diamond ring of questionable origin to her silhouette, in an ancient tradition dating back to at least the 1930s. Oh, wait. It’s not quite that easy or showy. The man and his family instead submit a suitably impressive gift as a bride price, also called a betrothal gift. Included in this collection of goods is a letter officially proposing marriage. Of course, by this point, acceptance is just a formality. Everyone is already okay with it, and it’s been reviewed by a matchmaker as a third party to make sure there isn’t anything they’re forgetting. Once that’s dealt with, the groom’s family sends even more goods, consisting mainly of food and religious items, to the bride’s family. If you’re starting to sense a pattern, good eye. When the time comes for someone to pay the bill for the actual wedding itself, it once again falls upon the groom’s family to deal with the check!
Getting on with it
After all of that contractual negotiation is dealt with, it’s time to plan for the actual wedding. This is very much what you might expect, but one thing that stands out is an emphasis on choosing an auspicious day for the wedding. A book called the tōngshèng (通勝) describes what days are best for all kinds of activities. Although it’s technically a calendar that’s used for fortunetelling and as a general-purpose almanac, most people just use it to figure out a good wedding day. A few general guidelines are to emphasize lucky numbers such as eight (What a coincidence, it just happens to be Culture Corner #8!) and nine, and to avoid the number four. The number four is especially unlucky because it sounds similar to the Chinese word for “death”. Hospitals and hotels will often even omit the number from their floors. Elevators go straight from floor three to floor five. No one wants a number four anywhere in their wedding day, especially literally.
Another thing to remember is that it’s important to have a lot of red. Red is a very lucky color, after all. Red clothes and red decorations are the rule of the day. It’s a lucky color, and it’s associated with prosperity and happiness. It makes perfect sense for it to be the dominant color during a wedding.
The night before the wedding, the bride’s hair is ceremonially combed, styled, and treated for good fortune. When the big day arrives, the groom travels to the bride’s family home, and that’s when a little game starts. The bridesmaids stand in the doorway and don’t let the groom in until he’s proven he’s good enough for the bride. They might ask him questions to make sure he really knows her, or ask him to do push-ups to make sure he’s physically fit. It’s all in good fun, of course. As a show of his wealth, and as a bit of a bribe, he presents the bridesmaids with red envelopes with gifts within. Finally, they allow him to see the bride, who then travels with him and the other wedding attendants over to the groom’s home, where the tea ceremony is conducted.
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/3331/chineseweddingprocessio.jpg
Thankfully, in this modern era, we have cars, making it possible to marry people further and further away without having to worry about the walk.
The Actual Wedding
The tea ceremony is the actual wedding ceremony. Usually, only the immediate family and a select few others are present. The first thing that happens during the tea ceremony is that the bride and groom bow three times, first to the heaven and earth, second to their parents and ancestors, and third to each other.Their parents and in-laws sit in chairs, and the bride and groom kneel to them and serve a special tea with lotus seeds and red dates to their parents and in-laws. The tea and its ingredients represent good relations between the bride and her new family and hopes for their offspring. The parents and in-laws then present red envelopes stuffed with gifts to the couple, then present more to other honored guests, mostly women such as the bridesmaids. This concludes the wedding ceremony.
Wait, what? That’s it? After all that preparatory work? All the negotiations and gifts and letters? Well, yes. For the actual ceremony. The reception afterwards, on the other hand, is a much grander affair. Many guests attend and feast on a huge multi-course meal. Fish is served, since it’s a symbol of a long life, to get the new marriage off to an auspicious start. Men are associated with dragons and women are associated with phoenixes, so similar-looking animals, shrimp and chicken, must be in the feast as well. This banquet serves as a grand thank you celebration for the new happily-married couple, and as a tremendous thank you for all of their friends and family for their support over the years.
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/2965/weddinginvitationcards.jpg
Assuming you sent them an invitation. You aren’t forgetting anyone, are you?
In today’s world, many of these customs survive. Arranged marriages still exist, but they’re rarer, and resemble something more like a series of dates your parents set up until you find someone you like who also happens to like you. The circumstances leading up to a marriage are, for obvious reasons, different, but the ceremonies and celebration are largely unchanged. In every culture around the world, regardless of nationality, culture, or religion, love and marriage exist. So for all you Zentia players out there, have a happy Valentine’s Day, and check out the brand new love and marriage system.
Until next time, take care. 再見!
Discuss the Culture Corner in the Culture Corner General Discussion Thread (http://us.changyou.com/forum/showthread.php?p=42376).