Journey to Peace Village

I was thrilled to go to a wedding last week. My landlady's daughter, Ngoc, got married on Wednesday.

There are some familiar elements to the Vietnamese wedding, such as the wedding cake and a white gown; but many customs are quite different. For one thing,most people get married in Autumn or Winter. There are very few weddings in June or in summer. The wedding is usually paid for mostly by the groom's parents, because the bride comes to live with his family and takes care of his parents in their old age.

The wedding is not necessarily on a Saturday or Sunday. Great care is taken in selecting a "lucky day" as deemed astrologically and numerically. Certain dates such as the 24th and 28th are considered unlucky by default.

Two celebrations take place over two days. One is given by the bride's family and the second is given by the groom's family. Most of the pictures I'm posting are from the reception given by Ngoc and her family. On the second day, the groom comes to the bride's house and asks permission to marry her. Gifts are presented on trays
carried by happily married relatives. The couple then goes to the ancestral altar and asked for the blessings of the ancestors to the marriage. Then the groom and bride depart for their honeymoon after an enthusiastic reception by all.

Labels: culture and society, religion and culture, Viet Nam