The marriage of, two separate cultures, and the cultures made it work, because of the love they have, for their, son and daughter, translated…
As the natives bumped into the Hakka culture, in the impact of how varied our cultures are, there were, a ton of funny things that happened, during, our wedding ceremony. There’s the Bunon blood in my husband, his parents were Catholic, and Christian; while I have a-quarter of Sediq, offering to the ancestors with incenses, and three-quarters of Hakka blood from Miaoli. Before we were wed, I’d often heard, that the natives used the cooked hogs as the dowries, and they’d, slice up the pork, and, give the pieces to their, loved ones. As my father asked for the amount of $66,000N.T. for luck, I’d started, worrying if my husband’s side of family will send over sixty-six hogs, but thankfully, my mother-in-law’s side was, more than, willing to, comply to the Hakka rituals and, traditions too!
On that clear and bright morn, I wore my high heels, and, started offering the teas, looking at my own, next-of-kin sitting on my right, and my husband’s families, sitting to the left, I’d thought about, how difficult it must be, for this group of, native elders, who are, dressed in suits and tribal attire, who’d, loved joking with each other by the day, dressed, as if for a concert at the National Concert Hall, and had to follow the flatland culture’s, “stuffing the tea cups with the red envelopes”, it must’ve been, quite, trying for them all.
The rituals went smoothly, until the moment the man’s side of the family was, about to set up the bed, the cameraman looked outside the bedroom and inquired, “where’s the sweet soups?”, “we’d finished it all”, came from the outside, my families were, too shocked, because this feeding the sweet soups to one another, is an important ritual for the newlywed couple, symbolizing how the rituals are, completed to perfection, how the newlywed are going to, live off, happily. And yet, the traditional native rituals didn’t include this particular one, only the prayers. My mother-in-law stated, “as the woman who works for the hotel arrived with the sweet soups, everybody wondered what it was, for, and everybody felt so hungry! Then, we’d, split up the bowls, and, we’d all asked the hotel workers, how come there’s, only, so little, that it wasn’t, even enough for everybody to get an equal taste!” as everybody heard my mother-in-law, each of us, burst out in laughter. This, miniature accidental thing, was truly, unforgettable, and it’d, soothed the angst we all felt, from rushing to finish each and every one of the rituals required.
illustration from online
As we entered into the hall, the original pair of flower boy and girl were assigned, and yet, after the banquets, we’d found, that there’s, the presence, of a third young child who was, a flower boy or flower girl, once more, we’d not known, how to, properly, react. This wedding that seemingly, to have the segments going wrong constantly, because there’s love and tolerance, along with the easy-going natures of the native people, and our, optimism, it’d, eliminated, all possible conflicts. The wedding that day, was like the painting of the Tahitians by Gaugin, with the wildness of life, and the strong colors, mixed into Renoir’s warm and peaceful, “the Ball at the Mill”!
And so, this, is something that’s, unforgettable about your wedding day, with everybody, complying with the two cultures’ rituals, and, there were, the miniscule things that didn’t go, quite right, but, it didn’t matter, what mattered was, how well everybody got along, because of the love for the bride and the groom, and these two families, came together, and, worked through their, cultural, differences, and that, would be, a great beginning, for a, brand new life together, for the, newlyweds.
Life, the Obstacle Course 