Navneet：中式婚礼

三泰虎博客译文《Navneet：中式婚礼》。Navneet：几天前，项目经理邀请我们参加他的婚礼。中国拥有丰富的文化遗产和悠久的传统。我在网上搜了一下，找到了一些有趣的东西，发现我们的习俗和他们的习俗有很大的相似性。女方父母不会给嫁妆。男方必须承担一切。除非买了房，否则男方连求婚的资格都没有。我们是最后离开的那一群人，21:30分离开的。婚礼持续了近3个小时。没有仪式，啥仪式也没有。

译文来源：三泰虎 http://www.santaihu.com
外文标题：A Chinese Marriage
外文地址：http://creative.sulekha.com/a-chinese-marriage_546609_blog

Some days ago Project Manager of the ship we are building, invited us for his marriage. China has a rich cultural heritage and strong traditions. I searched and found the following pages very interesting and was amused to notice quite some similarities between our customs and theirs.

几天前，项目经理邀请我们参加他的婚礼。中国拥有丰富的文化遗产和悠久的传统。我在网上搜了一下，找到了一些有趣的东西，发现我们的习俗和他们的习俗有很大的相似性。

The Old Customs

The Proposal

The process began with an elaborate marriage proposal and acceptance. This process was placed in the hands of a go-between, who acted as a buffer between the two parties. The important parties in proposal and betrothal negotiations were the parents of the prospective bride and groom, rather than the bride and groom themselves.

“Marriage was for continuing the ancestral line and creating alliances between families –; too important a duty to be left in the rash hands of the young,"

When the boy’s parents identified a likely bride-to-be, they would send the go-between to present gifts to the girl’s parents and to sound out their feelings about the match. If the proposal was well-received, the go-between would obtain the date and hour of the girl’s birth recorded on a formal document.

The groom’s family would place this document on the ancestral altar for three days. If no inauspicious omens, e.g. quarrels between the parents or a loss of property, took place within that time, the parents would give the information to a astrological expert to confirm that the young woman and their son would make a good match. If the boy’s family found the horoscope to be favorable, they gave the boy’s birth date and hour to the go-between to bring to the girl’s family, who would go through the same process.

Only after the outcome was favourable would the two families arrange to meet. Finally face-to-face, each family evaluated the other in terms of appearance, education, character, and social position. If both were satisfied they would proceed to the betrothal.

The Betrothal

First both sets of parents exchanged family credentials as tokens of intention. Then, after extensive bargaining, the two families would arrive at the amount of money and goods that would make up the gift to the girl’s family. After presenting engagement tokens, the go-between would ask the bride’s family to chose among several auspicious dates suggested by the boy’s family and also set a date for presenting betrothal gifts.

【三泰虎注：习俗有很多相似之处，以上暂未翻译】

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution

My purpose of visiting that page was to find how Cultural Revolution had suppressed religion and severed links with culture and traditions. Let’s get back to the topic of marriage.

之所以浏览那个网页，目的是发现如何压迫宗教以及相关的文化和传统。让我们回到婚礼的话题。

女孩穿着一种Sehra（图片来自网络）

As such there is no dowry from the girl's parents. The boy has to bear it all. He propses and unless he has buys a house for the girl..he can't even propose.

女方父母不会给嫁妆。男方必须承担一切。除非买了房，否则男方连求婚的资格都没有。

新人亲自迎接客人

婚礼大厅

正等待新人.....

灯关了

船厂老板上台讲话。在印度，你无法想象Mukesh Ambani 会去参加工厂里一位领班的婚礼

主持人对新郎说着一些话

新郎手捧花束等待新娘

新娘和父亲一起来了

新娘和她父亲

接受新郎的一束花之前，新娘和她父亲拥抱

新娘面对着新郎

新娘接受花，瞧，新郎是一直单膝跪着的

微笑着面对观众

舞台中央

共同点燃蜡烛

新郎在问话

拥抱

接吻

再次面对来宾

两个孩子走向他们。也许是图个吉利吧

向新人表示祝贺

新郎给新娘戴戒指

新娘也给新郎戴上

一起向来宾展示戒指，作为婚姻的证明

烟花想起象征着未来日子红红火火

倒酒，不知道象征什么意思

一个人在吹萨克斯管

The dinner is served unlike in India where the guests make a beeline for a buffet in the adjoining Pandal and worry that it will be over by the time they go there, or there will be no plates or Chicken would have taken a flight and only gravy will be left and whether they will be able to eat enough to justify the "shagun" money ...Prawns here are waiting to be eaten up.

酒席有不一样的地方。在印度，来宾会迅速赴宴，生怕到了后酒席就结束了，或者生怕被吃得连盘子都不剩下了，或者怕鸡肉飞走了，只剩下肉汁，或者怕吃得不够多，对不起送的红包钱........