The person who plays the decisive role in Thai marriage

(Baonghean.vn) -After the wedding, Thai people have the custom of repaying the matchmaker, the representative who asks for and marries the groom. It can be said that to this day, matchmakers still play a decisive role in the marriage of young couples.

Despite the cold weather and the busy preparation for the new crop, Mr. Lu Van Can, Lien Dinh village, Chi Khe commune - Con Cuong (Nghe An) still took his son and daughter-in-law to Mr. Lu Han's house - a relative to repay his debt. A few days ago, matchmaker Lu Han had a hard time arranging the wedding for Mr. Lu Van Can's son.

During the soul-calling ceremony held at the matchmaker’s house, the bride and groom’s shirts are placed together on an offering tray for the house spirit to recognize. The Thai believe that the human soul resides in the shirt.

According to Thai custom, when preparing to ask for a wife, a son will ask someone in his family to be his matchmaker. Of course, there is suggestion, even intervention from the parents. The chosen person must be at least the groom’s elder brother and already married because according to custom, there must be a matchmaker. The chosen matchmaker also usually has both a son and a daughter.

After choosing a matchmaker, the groom will bring a bottle of wine to ask them to help with the engagement. If the person accepts the wine, it is considered that they have agreed. On the day of the engagement and wedding, the matchmaker and his wife will lead the groom's family to the bride's house to take care of the procedures. After the wedding, the young couple will consider the matchmaker as their own parents.

The offering tray in the Thai people's soul-calling ceremony is similar to the tray of food in the groom's gratitude ceremony to the matchmakers.

After the wedding, the groom’s family will choose a day to pay their respects to the matchmakers. During the ceremony, the matchmakers will give the bride a gift and accept her as a member of the family and clan. Also during this ceremony, an offering tray is placed on the ancestral altar to “report” on the new family member. After this ceremony, there is a ceremony to call the soul of the young couple.

For Thai couples, matchmakers are still closely attached, especially when there are problems in their married life, the first person to "solve" them is not the biological parents but the matchmakers.

The bride's wrist is tied with a thread during the soul-calling ceremony and from then on is considered a descendant of the matchmaker's family.

The custom of choosing matchmakers is also found in the Mong and Kho Mu communities in Nghe An. The Mong even have two matchmakers who take care of the wedding, like the leader and deputy leader of the group. However, the lifelong bond between the matchmakers and the young couple, like family members, is only found in the Thai people./.

You are