Sunday, June 30, 2013

Japanese traditional culture ~21~ Yuinou 結納(ゆいのう)

  What tradition do you have in your culture before
get to marry? In Japan, there is a tradition, called Yuinou.
This ceremony is held before you get married.
  The man and woman get together at one place with their
parents. Maybe it will be held at women's house.
Or the bridal company may prepare for the ceremony.
The man gives money to woman's family. It is said that
the amount should be about 3 times of his salary in my area.
  And the other day, woman gives a present for the man.
That's the return by woman. As I introduced here, Japanese
people often exchange gifts in various situations in our
daily life.
  But I guess there are many kinds of customs in Japan.
It would depends on the district where he or she live in.
  This tradition may be held so that the couples would
not divorce easily. This kind of tradition may be lost in some
places in modern age although.

5 comments:

Julie said...

That is very interesting. In America there are sometimes engagement parties where friends and family gather to celebrate the announcement. Usually everyone wishes the couple well and toasts to their health and happiness. Then there are always bridal showers/bachelorette parties and bachelor parties. But everyone does things differently since there are so many different backgrounds.
I think there is a stigma still associated with arranged marriages. Maybe some people would think the yuino practice a little strange and old-fashioned. On another note, are Western style weddings more common than traditional Japanese weddings in Japan??

Unknown said...

Bulgaria from just 20 years ago is very different from what it is now. Back then traditions were followed much closely - also wedding traditions.
When a couple is to be married, the bride is first to be "stolen" from her family: the groom together with his family visits her home (where they are expected anyway :)
There is a party where the father of the bride officially agrees that she will marry into that family. Toasts, celebration and then everybody leaves - together with the bride. So, in a manner of speaking this "party" is more important then the wedding itself.

A little fun fact: usually while that party is going on, one of the relatives of the man goes around the bride's house/garden and finds something to "steal" - usually it is a lifestock, like a chicken.
Later on another party is held in the groom's home and the chicken is cooked and served to the guests. (I have no idea why this tradition exists, but on my sister's wedding they stole a whole goat)


:)

marimari said...

Julie

Actually, I guess western style wedding may be more than Japanese style wedding. But, the tradition Yuinou remains even they have the western style wedding.

marimari said...

Shantal ForSD

Is the word "steal" the exact translation of the tradition?
If so, that's so interesting.
It sounds old fashioned manner.
I think the old tradition characterize each cultures. So,
it sounds interesting for other
cultural people.

Unknown said...

I used the word "steal" because it is a direct translation from the bulgarian word. The thing is: in old days (and I mean very old) it has happened often that the bride was actually literaly stolen - with no regards to her wishes. This does not happen now.

The idea of stealing, though, is still present in some sense: in BG it is considered that the girl's family is loosing a daughter, while the boy's family is gaining a daughter at marriage. The young family moves into the man's house, so in a manner of speaking, they are "stealing" the woman from her family, taking her for themselfs :)