Chinese Wedding in Mandalay

For some reason, this week was full of Chinese Weddings in Myanmar. It is obviously an auspicious time for a wedding since I know astrologers are always consulted as to the time and place of weddings so if they are all taking place at the same time there is good reason for it. I was fortunate to be able to attend two of them and remembered the second time to take my camera so at least I have a record of it and you can share the experience with me by having a look at the pictures.

Both weddings were actually quite similar. When I say weddings, I really do not mean the solemnization ceremony but rather the celebration and because they were Chinese parties, you can be sure they revolved around food. We are usually seated near the front at a table of honour and I must tell you that out of hundreds of guest, I was the only guy that had a white face. I was taught a few gestures and expressions in Chinese to say congratulations, fabulous party and so on and whenever I spoke I was greeted with enormous smiles, either because they appreciated the fact that I was trying or they thought I was absolutely out of my mind and were merely patronizing an idiot.

Before you knew it, food was served and the party began. Waiters came out by the hundreds caring platters of food and on both nights the order of food remained virtually the same. We began with some pork, fried something or other and something else fried. There is soup and plenty of it, but it is served two or three times throughout the meal with the sour soup served just before the rice. The rice is served last and as a courtesy you turn it away to let the host know you were completely satisfied with the meal and you have no need or ability to fill up with plebian rice. The shark fin soup comes somewhere near the middle between the platters of fried this and fried that. The plates are put in the middle of the table and everyone around the table usually helps themselves, except in my case! Because I am the oldest and a man, I am usually served first by one of the guests at the table. It was either because I was the oldest or they were a little concerned about me messing up the table with my inefficient control of chopsticks!

The one thing I did not like was that we only had a little bowl, not a bad idea in itself, but they never changed the bowl through three soup dishes and about seven other courses. I suppose my stomach did not know the difference but unfortunately I did. What do you do with the bones and other bits and pieces you do not want to eat and you are kept being given food heaped on top of the older food? I considered slipping it under the table, but could not find an appropriate moment to do it with about 250 pairs of eyes on me, the “white ghost.”

What I also found amazing was the complete absence of speeches or ceremony. The wedding party did walk up the aisle with parents, uncles and aunts etc and bowed three times to the invited guests, once thanking them for coming, once wishing them good fortune and once wishing them health. That was the end of the ceremony. When people finished eating (and that usually meant when the most important person is finished eating and stands up), everyone else gets up and leaves. There is no standing around chatting at the door and lollygagging about as my father would say. You come in, pass over you red envelope of money, sit down, eat your meal, drink copious amounts of beer so you can toast your elders, eat a great meal, get up and all leave at the same time. It does make it hell to get out of the parking lot.

How is my work going, you ask? You don’t think eating an enormous meal every night is work? Last night, by the way, after eating this meal I went back to my room and woke up every 30 minutes or so. I realized it was because of some noise coming out of the bathroom and changed rooms around 4 am. At 5 am I changed rooms again because I could not stand the constant drip from the toilet and when I did eventually go back to my room to begin the day at 7 a.m. I could not get in because my room key did not work. Quite a predicament when you are in your birthday suit!!

Today, I gave one teacher workshop where every school in Mandalay was invited to send representatives and to-night, if I can stay awake, I am giving another workshop to our teachers here. I guess I better go and prepare. I only have a few minutes before I am “