WBSD – Holidays & Celebrations
Welcome to World Blog Surf Day! Today we are blogging about our favorite new holidays and celebrations. One of the things I find interesting about Chinese celebrations, particularly weddings, is the use of noise.
Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom!
Wedding cannons on display – Photo by Simon Lim
I am no longer shocked by the cannon blasts shaking the walls of our fourth floor apartment, setting off all the car alarms in the neighborhood. The sounds I used to associate with war torn Iraq and Afghanistan are our regular Saturday morning alarm clocks. Somewhere in the distance, a rooster crows, as if complaining.
Rat-tat! Tat-tat! Rat-tat-tat!
Firecrackers explode in the street (not my photo, unknown photographer)
In between the cannon blasts, strings of mini-explosives detonate in long bursts. The noise is deafening as is reverberates between the concrete apartment blocks. From my shaking bed I open my eyes, recognize the noises of a Chinese wedding celebration and, checking the time, roll over and go back to sleep. Saturday mornings are prime wedding time. Soon the music will begin – saccharine Chinese pop ballads – and the bride will descend from her parents’ home to a waiting cavalcade of cars decorated in roses and balloons. From there the procession will drive to a restaurant or hotel where the ceremony and banquet take place.
Double Happiness – the symbol of marriage and weddings
I do not love being woken by tremendously loud air cannons, but I can’t be angry when I imagine the happy couple on the street below. Fireworks and loud noises are an essential component of Chinese celebrations and rituals, from weddings to funerals to the annual lunar new year. Anyone who watched the Beijing 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony will recognize how important fireworks are to the Chinese. The firecrackers and air cannons are used to scare away any bad “spirits” who might be lingering close by, waiting to create chaos and ruin the big day. (This is the traditional belief. In reality, hardly anyone still believes in spirits. Noisemakers are part of the culture now, but the significance is now purely ritual and show.) At Chinese weddings, the air cannons also shoot tons of paper confetti and strings into the air, creating a very festive entrance for the bride and groom. The streets of our apartment complex are covered in this confetti for days after the celebrations.
Colored confetti litters the ground
I am writing this on a Friday evening. Somewhere outside my window is a nervous young bride, spending her last night in her parents’ home. She can only wonder what joy tomorrow will bring her. I can only wonder how many cannon blasts will wake me in the morning. I wrote previously about a Chinese “East Meets West” wedding here and Chinese wedding processions here.
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Visit the next participant in World Blog Surf Day – Internation Musing, a cross-cultural blog. If you, unlike me and most China Internet users, have access to Twitter, you can follow World Blog Surf Day updates here. WBSD Twitter reporter Karen (Empty Next Expat) is an American expat blogger last seen in Prague. The Wall Street Journal said, “Her blog makes a fun read for anyone looking for reassurance that change can be a wonderful thing–and also for anyone interested in visiting the Czech Republic.”
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Comments ( 26 )
I like the firecracker shot. What kind of camera/lens are you using?
Oh, and Hello! to you and your DH.[Reply]
T had this to say on
Oct 31 09 at
07:15
That sounds like a very early alarm clock.
I love this surfing and learning about celebrations all around the world.
Happy surfing to you
Ivanhoe´s last blog ..Port of Naples[Reply]
Ivanhoe had this to say on
Oct 31 09 at
11:20
Wow! Sounds scary. Not sure if I’d be able to handle that, but good on you for hanging in there. Thanks!
[Reply]
Sezin had this to say on
Oct 31 09 at
17:12
Hi Global Gal,
What an interesting post! I can’t even imagine being wakened with canon shots and firecrackers! Wow…really sounds like you’ve adapted well to this typical Chinese wedding celebration! Love the photos, too!!Have a great day,
Sher :0)[Reply]
Sher had this to say on
Oct 31 09 at
22:00
Interesting!
We choose the same subject.)
Still blogger banned in China?:(
Kindest
hans
Hans´s last blog ..World Blog Surf Day – Turkey – Married in a Palace.[Reply]
Hans had this to say on
Oct 31 09 at
23:15
What a great entry for WBSD!
Coming from multicultural and multireligious Malaysia, I’ve attended a few Chinese weddings and CNY Lion Dances and know exactly what you’re talking about re firecrackers & noise. Although, for weddings, the noise seems to be mainly from the YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM SEEEEEEEENNNNNNGGGGGGG!
Great to meet you, hope to read more of you and your China experiences
*lynne*
[Reply]
*lynne* had this to say on
Nov 01 09 at
04:09
(correction/clarification: I’ve attended Chinese wedding dinners only, so actually I didn’t know about the use of firecrackers on Saturday mornings.)
[Reply]
*lynne* had this to say on
Nov 01 09 at
04:10
Firecrackers scare me to death – I’m no good with loud noises. As for cannons . . . ! And interesting they get married in the morning. Does the banquet go on all day?
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Judy had this to say on
Nov 01 09 at
08:00
Love that you covered this topic (it may show up in our blog sometime too.. we’ve got lots of videos of Saturday a.m. weddings since a banquet facility opened up across the street from our building!) Brass marching bands have been popular lately @ QD weddings… often with the cannons!
[Reply]
Tai Tai Johnson had this to say on
Nov 01 09 at
16:35
Oh wow, is that every Saturday that you get jolted out of bed? I’m not sure if I could handle that *L*
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mub had this to say on
Nov 01 09 at
22:32
I love that! The idea that when you hear firecrackers someone is getting married. We had similar fireworks on our street in Brooklyn for New Years and July 4th. Noise all night long!
Definitely takes some time to get used to it, but there’s also something really wonderful about the total disruption in celebration.
[Reply]
globalgalNovember 2nd, 2009 at 20:35
Firecrackers are also used for funerals, new business openings, at the birth of children, new year’s, and any other celebration you can imagine! But when we hear them in the morning we know it is a wedding. I guess the noise is a way of shouting from the rooftops “Yeah!”
[Reply]
Leigh had this to say on
Nov 02 09 at
20:32
This is a fabulous World Blog Surf Day post!! I love fire crackers and I’d love to see that explosion of colour. Sometimes I don’t mind getting woken up on a Saturday if I
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EmmNovember 4th, 2009 at 06:04
) My wrist hit enter and my comment posted by mistake!! I was just saying… if I can fall back asleep again.
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Emm had this to say on
Nov 04 09 at
06:03
Great post!
The importance of noisemaking in Chinese celebrations is something I learned the hard way the first time I attended a Chinese New Year’s parade here in Vancouver – now I know to carry earplugs when I go watch the yearly Dragon Dance!
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Emmanuelle Archer had this to say on
Nov 04 09 at
06:12
globalgalOctober 31st, 2009 at 09:22
Hey T! Thanks for commenting because I realized that I forgot to note the firecracker shot is not mine. I tried to find the photographer for credit, but I could not. Post has been updated.
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