(Baonghean.vn) - Nighttime wedding processions are considered a unique tradition of many Thai communities. The procession takes place at midnight. Previously, people only walked, but nowadays, motorbikes also participate in wedding processions before dawn.
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| About half an hour before the wedding procession, the stilt house of the bride, Ngan Thi Ngoc, in Trung Dinh village, Chi Khe commune, Con Cuong district (Nghe An province) was quite quiet. It was almost midnight, only the elderly members of the bride's extended family were still awake. |
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| The bride, who has just passed her school years, is standing before a crucial moment in her life. In just a few minutes, she will bid farewell to her family to go with her husband to his home. According to community customs, the bride must wear a hat when she goes to her husband's house. |
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| Everyone in the family was busy preparing to send the bride off to her husband's home. |
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| After 12 nights, the bride is escorted out of the house by the groom and the matchmaker. According to Thai custom, parents choose a married couple from their family to be the "matchmaker" for their son. Later, the matchmakers are regarded by the bride and groom as their own parents. |
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The dowry given by the parents to the bride, consisting of blankets, mats, mattresses, and rattan chairs, was transported by motorbike by young men in the groom's wedding procession. Prior to this, the bride herself had also been transported by motorbike. |
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| It took quite a struggle for this young man to maneuver the motorbike carrying the dowry across the small, narrow bridge in the darkness. |
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| The wedding procession arrives at the groom's house at a predetermined time. The time for the procession is chosen by a shaman from the groom's family. Everyone then goes to the house to perform the remaining rituals of the wedding ceremony. |
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The communal meal shared by the bride and groom with the matchmakers and close friends in the wedding procession is called the "red thread tray." This is also the final ritual on the wedding night. |
Huu Vi
