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6 Chinese wedding customs, including pouring tea, and things to avoid, such as wearing red
Money, feng shui and lucky food all play a part in Chinese wedding rituals. We share why, and how to make couple’s big day an auspicious one
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A Chinese wedding has many of the trappings of a Western marriage and in addition rituals, traditions and matters of etiquette to follow. In our series on Chinese weddings, we break these down and tell you how to get everything right.
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Chinese weddings are very auspicious events, with plenty of rules that must be followed to bring blessings to the newlyweds and avoid bad luck for them.
Whether you are planning your own wedding or about to attend one, here are six of the most important things to know.
1. Wedding dates
Before any significant wedding planning takes place, an engaged couple should make sure to pick an auspicious wedding date that maximises their luck.
The third, seventh and ninth lunar months are generally considered unlucky in Chinese culture, as each has a festival related to death – Ching Ming Festival (tomb-sweeping day), Hungry Ghost Festival and Chung Yeung Festival (when people visit family graves to honour the deceased), respectively.
It is also important the couple do not attend any funerals in the days leading up to or following their wedding, as this can bring bad luck. Other weddings and baby showers are also to be avoided during this period, to avoid “luck clashing”.
Couples getting married should consult a feng shui master to help determine an auspicious date based on the lunar calendar and Chinese zodiac related to their and their parents’ birth dates.
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