6 replies to this topic

[TengAiHui]

BEIJING (Reuters) - August 8 promises to be a lucky day for Liu Chuan who is getting married and has a ticket for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

Liu and his bride will join thousands of Chinese couples queuing at the marriage registry on Friday, an auspicious day for weddings and births because of the number 8, which symbolizes wealth in Chinese.

August 8 is also China's big day, when the Olympic Games open in Beijing. Organizers added an extra eight for good measure by scheduling the opening ceremony for 8 p.m. "Chinese are partial to the number 8, and Friday is three 8s in a row - the eighth day of the eighth month, 2008. Also, we picked it because of the Olympics," said Liu, a Beijing resident. "I got a ticket for the opening ceremony that night, but it was only possible to get one, so I will go to the Bird's Nest (stadium) and my fiancee will watch it on TV at home."

So many couples are planning to tie the knot on August 8 that Beijing's marriage registries set up an online service for couples to file paperwork in advance and speed up the process. An estimated 9,000 couples in Beijing alone will get their marriage certificates that day.

"Whenever you get here, you will have to wait. The bureau opens at 8.30 in the morning and some people will come a lot earlier than that to get in line," said a staff member at the Tongzhou registry, on the outskirts of Beijing, which has booked 500 appointments for Friday.

But despite the flood of weddings, many banquet halls are facing a drought of bookings. Many Chinese get their certificate and hold their banquets on separate days, and August 8 is usually a popular day to hold banquets.

However, most couples will delay the banquet for another day to avoid being upstaged by the opening ceremony, which will feature thousands of performers and extravagant fireworks.

"We thought about holding the banquet that night, but we figured it was inconvenient," Liu said.

"Since it overlapped with the opening ceremony, most guests probably wouldn't have the time or the interest to come to our celebration."

Couples are also worried that transportation could be snarled up on Friday, when about 100 world leaders attend the opening ceremony, said manager Kang of Jinri Jiari Seafood City, where the banquet room is empty on Friday night but fully booked on Saturday and most weekends through October.

link

It sounds like Liu Chuan and his bride will have an amazing day.

*raises a glass of bai jiu* Here's to happiness and wealth on this highly auspicious day to everyone, especially the newlyweds and the Olympians. Gan Bei!

[sg_han]

In Singapore, which is still bonded to its roots and traditions to some extent, not many Chinese couples are rushing to marry on 080808 as it is the period of the Hungry Ghost Festival now.

[General_Zhaoyun]

The Chinese Lunar month of July coincides with the hungry ghost festivals (July 15th). It's best not to get married during this month.

[ShingenT]

yep, not very traditional for chinese folks.

but congratulations to them.

hope they have a great day at the game.

[polar_zen]

The Chinese Lunar month of July coincides with the hungry ghost festivals (July 15th). It's best not to get married during this month.

So do they not care or just not know?

[General_Zhaoyun]

So do they not care or just not know?

Apparently, they don't care . They may call us "superstitious" but I certainly would advise them to be 'safe' rather than be sorry lol

From the religious point of view, during the Hungry ghost festivals, many ghosts will be released from hell. They would be roaming around searching for food or other stuffs. Normally, the chinese would be providing them offerings such as food, fruits to appease these ghosts.

It would not be good to see these ghost 'visiting your marriage ceremony', esp. when they happened to belong to the "Yin" (negative) forces, which can dilute the "Yang" (positive) forces for auspiciousness, making your marriage less fortunate. As a general guide, do not have your marriage set during the month of hungry ghost festivals.

[TengAiHui]

I talked to my students during this past week about Hungry Ghost Festival. Most of them had never heard of it before. By the students that had heard of it, H.G.F. was described as something very similar to Qing Ming (Tomb Sweeping Day).

We also talked about the things mentioned in this thread. They all still seemed to view 08-08-08 as an auspicious day.

Edited by TengAiHui, 13 September 2008 - 09:25 AM.