Baba And Nyonyan
"A unique culture that combined various customs and traditions in Malacca is known as the Peranakan, Baba-Nyonya or Straits Chinese.
Almost 600 years ago, the Chinese immigrants of Malacca settled in the Malay Peninsular, who intermarried with the Malay population and later spread throughout the country.
Baba (for men) and Nyonya (for women) was a term first used by Malays to differentiate these locally born Chinese from later immigrants. "
One of the event organized are invite me to act as nyonya bridge , i checked the history and i realise that Wedding process + ceremony is around 12 days for Baba And Nyonyan.
This below is a story from a internet.
”The wedding ceremony of the Peranakan is largely based on Chinese tradition, and is one of the most colourful wedding ceremonies in Malaysia and Singapore. The traditional Peranakan wedding is a 12-day affair which is usually carried out in the bride's house, where ceremonies like the Lap Chai(exchange of gifts) and Cheo Thau (coming of age) are carried out.
The Cheo Thau ceremony is one of the most important ceremonies and marks the first occasion when the bride and bridegroom will wear their authentic wedding robes. The actual wedding ceremony will only take place before noon that day, after the Cheo Thau ceremony. This ceremony is one of great fanfare where the bridegroom heads a procession of serunai (a music instrument) musicians, men carrying umbrellas, and lanterns. The whole troop will then proceed to the bride's residence after a series of rituals at his home.'
The finale of the wedding ceremony, would be the "dua belas hari" or Twelfth Day ceremony, where the marriage would be confirmed and approved by proof of the bride's virginity. Firstly, the bride's parents would invite the bridegroom's mother to inspect a handkerchief (known as a Bim Poh) collected from the wedding bed. The handkerchief will be placed on a tray and presented to the bridegroom's mother for inspection, where she would be invited to perform a test by squeezing lime juice on the handkerchief in hope of ascertaining the authencity of the stain. However, the bridegroom's mother would normally refrain from performing the test as it would also demean the bride."
A group of Singapore Students are coming to Melaka, so i had invited to be the Nyonyan bridge, below is my Nyonya Costume .
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| nyonya bride , the accessories is very heavy and a lot . It means the wealth of the bridge side. |
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| nyonya bride and nyonya groom and his assistant. |
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| Nyonya Bride Costume at melaka |
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| nyonya bride and baba groom |
The venue is Hotel Ramada, one of the high class hotel. It is not easy to be the bride , the make up , the costumes, the accesories and....
Let me start the story :
Groom side and bride side never met each other , so the real day ceremony is the first day they met. boy will at home waiting the bride wit his assistant( so call brothers).. when the bride came, she never walk in straight line , they have to walk left and right , right and left before go into groom house ....
Do u know the reason ??? the reason is because in their mind, they think that spirit or devil walk in straight line , so to avoid the devil follow, so the bride has to walk left and right, left and right . Once the bridge reach the groom side, the groom and his brother are extremely excited .... the reason behind is because the first time wet they bridge.... the bridge's face are cover by a clothes.... so the groom will use his fan open the cover . Once they open and realise the bride is a pretty, then they will clap hand and start ceremony... they will use the 3 stick of 香 , to pray 天宫，祖先。。。after that they will bend down and give tea to their parent. both will received a ANG PAU.
After that , they will sit down and the youngter , u come and bend down to take ANG PAU from them. after that the bridge will go back , and they will have another ceremony that hope that can have son soon .
