இ Hair Combing Ceremony 上頭

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Traditionally an auspicious time will be chosen to perform the Hair Raising Combing Ceremony 上頭 [ shàngtou, pinyin, lit. 'Up Head'], a ritual conducted at the residence of the bride and the groom respectively which is normally scheduled closed to mid-night on the eve of the wedding day. Before the ritual begins, both the bride and groom should bath with water infused with pomelo leaves (Chinese believed that pomelo leaves will cleanse the body and ward off evil spirit) and put on brand new underwear and pajamas. In response to [SK] post Bananaz has commented that its once in a lifetime affair which is sort of mandatory in the past (not too sure about the latest Y Generation) for the newly weds wearing pajamas or pyjamas. The bride will usually dress in pink or red pajama (red is the lucky color for festive occasions, especially for Chinese). The head of both bride and groom will be comb three times by their parents both holding the comb together reciting positive words with auspicious meaning during each stroke.

Video courtesy of www.shaolin.org

Hair Combing Ceremony with the three auspicious strokes as below:

1. 一梳梳到尾 ~ yī shū shū dào wěi (Pinyin) / yat1 so1 so1 dou3 mei5 (Cantonese)
lit. First comb to comb until the end [meaning ever lasting love].

2. 二梳梳到白发齐眉 ~ èr shū shū dào bái fà qí méi (Pinyin) / yi6 so1 so1 dou3 baak6 faat3 chai4 mei4 (Cantonese)
lit. Second comb to comb till until white hair all equal [meaning to bring love and respect till old age].

3. 三梳梳到兒孫满堂 ~ sān shū shū dào ér sūn mǎn táng (Pinyin) / saam1 so1 so1 dou3 ngai4 syun1 mun5 tong5 (Cantonese)
lit. Third comb to wish for lots of children and grandchildren.

This whole Hair Combing Ceremony symbolizes the coming-of-age of the bride and the groom thus claiming them man and woman and no longer boy and girl. This would explain why most Chinese parents only consider their children grown ups when they get married.

Mummythree 林峰山

In almost all Chinese wedding ceremony there is one outstanding and conspicuous figure besides the bride and groom. Guess who? Its none other than the 'wedding organiser' better known as 大妗姐 daai6 kam5 je2 (Cantonese) who would usually the wife of the mother's brother taking up the role back in the ancient days. But as time goes by it became a highly professional job which requires the gift of the gab and well versed with rhyming poems.

All along for many generations the job has been dominated by only women but of late during the last wedding function Bananaz was struck with an overwhelming shocking amazement to discover the 大妗姐 is actually a "He" whom we addressed in Cantonese as 大妗爷 daai6 kam5 ye4 (grandpa wedding organiser). Phew! My goodness it was beyond my wildest dream for men to have a break through into this profession and not only that they are doing pretty well gaining popularity with bookings one year ahead. For those who are planning their wedding soon or curious to know what a man is doing in a woman's world can check this out at Mummythree. Heard his professional fees is not going cheap for he can sing, dance, do magic shows and more like an entertainer. He is positioning himself with his very own trade mark donning his 'uniform' in a typical ancient colorful 大妗姐 attire with head gear and red Chinese wooden clogs. Looks kinda cool.

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