The Procession from the House of the Groom to Oblcin the Bride
2 min readThe“Capping”Ritual
Dressed in a long gown，red shoes and a red silk sash with a silk ball on his shoulder，the groom knelt at the family altar while his father placeda cap decorated with cypress leaves on his head.
The groom bowed first before the tablefs of Heaven and Earth and his ancestors，then to his parents and the assembled family members.His father removed the silk ball from the sash and placed it on top of.the bridal sedan chair.
The Procession from the Groom’s House to Oblcin the Bride
The dim of firecrackers，loud gongs and drums marked the start of theprocession from the groom’s home.The groom led the procession accom panied by a child as an omen of his future sons，and the bridal sedan chair was proceeded by attendants with lanterns and banners，musicians，and a“dancing”lion or unicorn.According to a voriter，“Several decades ago，when there was a wedding in Fujian Province，the groom would to the bride’s house to fetch her，taking with him the bridal chair，which was completely covered with red satin and fresh flowers.He himself made the journey there and back in a blue and yellow teak sedan chair.”On arriving at the bride’s house，the groom’s party was met by the bride’s friends，who would not”surrender”the bride until they were satisfied by red packets of money.This was the occasion of much good-natured haggling before the two parties could reach an agreement.
in some cases，the groom would take dinner with the bride’s family，and receive a pair of chopsticks and two wine goblets wrapped in red pa-
per，symbolic of his receiving the ioy of the family in the person of their daughter.In some regions，he would be offered sweet longon tea，two
hard-boiled eggs in syrup and transparent noodles.Another variation was the groom’s partaking of soup with a soft-boiled egg，the yolk of which hewas expected to break，arguably symbolic of breaking the bride’s ties with her family.
