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The Eve Of A Thai Wedding
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The day before a Western wedding is the 'Stag Night' and the 'Hen Night'. In northern Thailand it is not quite the same. As soon as the groom-to-be can be off work, the full-on party begins. It is more sedate with the bride-to-be who spends more time with her parents.
The son will frequently just spend most of his time with his friends, usually sleeping 'under the table', if you know what I mean. The day before the wedding is kept for spending with family for both parties.
The day before the eve of the wedding is also an extraordinary day as the parents of both houses set up their parties with the help of friends and family. This is an all-day event and people drink, sing and even dance as they are making the preparations.
On the eve of the wedding, people, particularly women, will meet at the dwellings of the bride and groom in order to cook. If the wedding is a large one, this can start at 4-5 AM, but it usually begins at 8 AM.
Guests are welcome at any time after this, but non-cooks or non-helpers will usually stay away until at least 9 AM. The laggards might not get there until midday.
The whole day is a party of cooking, eating, dancing and drinking, usually to the accompaniment of live music or a disk jockey. It is not at all unusual to have skimpily-clad dancing girls putting on a show too.
The music will get loud enough to be heard a block or two away and no-one would dare complain about the noise from such a joyous event. However, not everyone is invited to most weddings as they are usually held in the backyard.
Bigger weddings may be held in the Temple. I have never been to a village in Thailand that does not have its own Temple. Some small villages of only 500 inhabitants have two Temples. A Temple used to hold numerous monks, but nowadays 9-12 is normal.
It is quite cheap to hold a wedding or a wedding party in a Temple, but most households do not because Temples are 'open ground' and you may get more 'guests' than you catered for. Gate-crashing is not unusual.
As the evening develops, people will be expected to sing a song and there will be dancing. This will go on until around midnight, which makes it a long day and the wedding day for real begins at around 7 AM the next day.
The parents of the groom are expected to help prepare the food at the bride's home the next morning. This means meeting all the closest friends of the bride's parents and is a good way of bonding. It usually results in both families and all their best friends becoming fairly close for many years to come.
Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many topics, but is now concerned with Khao Phansa - The Candle Festival. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Package Holidays to Thailand.
Article submitted Wednesday, December 28, 2011 & read 8 times.
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