PETALING JAYA: After a month of silence, wedding bells will be ringing again for Chinese couples seeking to get married.
These lovebirds have avoided the period between Aug 4 and Sept 2, which is the seventh month in the lunar calendar when the Hungry Ghost Festival takes place and seen as an inauspicious time.
“There will now be a rush to proceed with wedding plans from the eighth month of the lunar calendar onwards,” said bride chaperone (or “dai kam jie” in Chinese) Joseph Khor.
This means that restaurants and wedding venues will get busy once more from Tuesday, which is the start of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar.
Khor said dates such as Nov 2, Nov 19, Dec 2 and Dec 26 were popular dates that are always fully booked.
“The eighth lunar month onwards is auspicious as well, especially right after the Mid-Autumn Festival,” he said.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, or the Mooncake Festival, falls on Sept 17.
“This year has been especially popular among the Chinese wanting to tie the knot as it is the Year of the Dragon,” he said.
“Most also avoid Qing Ming (or Tomb Sweeping Day which falls in April). They also avoid the sixth month, because it is half of the year, signifying half a marriage,” said Khor, who is known as JJ Gor.
However, he acknowledged that getting married on such unpopular dates would be more economical as bride chaperones and restaurants have fewer bookings.
According to him, bride chaperones are often women but in recent times, more men (known as “dai kam gor” are taking up the role).
“These men are actually getting more in demand and well-received as a bride’s chaperone,” he said, adding that being well spoken and knowledgeable on wedding traditions were very important.
Thean Hou Temple director Loo Ying Ting said she was expecting the number of wedding registrations to double from September which is the eighth month in the Lunar calendar.
“Usually, we have around 10 couples every weekday and 30 over the weekend,” she said.
The temple is a popular place for couples intending to register their marriages.
She also noted that each year, wedding registrations at the temple would drop significantly during the Hungry Ghost Month.
Pan Malaysia Koo Soo Restaurants and Chefs Association president Wong Teu Hoon said that there had been no wedding dinner reservations during July and August.
“We only hosted dinner events for religious or cultural associations,” he said.
He observed that even some of the non-believers among the Chinese would avoid having weddings in the seventh month.
“After all, it is a once-in-a-lifetime event. People would want choose the date with care.”
Wong said that Chinese restaurants would get busy again starting this month.
“Wedding dinners will resume in September and continue until the end of the year,” he said.
Such dates, he said, were always pre-booked and could be reserved a year in advance.
As for the dinner menu, he said that the shark fin soup remained in demand.
His restaurants still offer the dish in their wedding dinner packages, he said.
“We use the whole shark for cooking, not just the fins,” he said.
