Eric & Ying's Wedding

As many of you know, the main reason for us coming on this adventure was to attend our good friend Eric's wedding (no, it wasn't to skip out on work for 4 months!)

The day began early with a 5:30 a.m. alarm buzzing in our ears. For the occasion, we (Justin, Eric's mom, Eric's uncle and myself) had all purchased traditional Lanna Thai outfits, which are basically linen loose fitting pants and shirt for guys and a patterned wrap skirt and linen wrap shirt for girls.

The ceremony took place at Eric & Ying's house, which apparently is the custom here. We were instructed to go outside onto the street along with Eric and a few other people and escort him (basically be his wedding posse). We were each given a basket to bring to the house as an offering so that they would let us in - we had baskets of oranges. There was a drum ensemble that led the way and announced our arrival as we were heading toward the house. When we arrived, they would not allow Eric into the house until he answered their questions - most of which were in Thai. I'm not exactly sure what was said, something like "Does the girl live in this house?" and "Is the groom handsome?”. After answering and giving his offering of money to the gatekeepers (Ying's family), we were allowed to enter and headed to the front door. We were stopped again by Ying's mother and other older women, and the same process ensued. After this we were allowed to enter.

Ying was seated inside on the floor, and Eric, Eric's mother and Ying's mother joined them. They went through our offerings and then did an exchange of rings.

There was no officiant for the wedding; the ceremony just flowed from one thing to the next. After the rings, they sat on a bench and had all the people from the family, starting with the eldest, come up and tie a piece of white string around each of their wrists, binding them together. As you can imagine, as more and more people do this, they get pretty tied up.

Next, we followed Eric & Ying up to their bedroom and then left them there until they had broken all of the strings with their hands in order to separate themselves. They still have to keep the strings on their wrists for 3 days, however.

They also incorporated a house blessing along with the wedding day. Five monks came into the house and performed chants for about an hour in order to bless the house and the owners. It was a really interesting thing to watch and listen to.

Following the blessing, it was time for eating and drinking. And after the eating and drinking, it was time for more drinking! Who knew the Thais could drink so much - especially at 1:00 in the afternoon.

We had a wonderful time socializing with all of Ying's relatives and talking about our different customs. They know so much about American culture, it is really amazing. We have had several more evenings visiting and having dinner with them, and it has been a great introduction to Thai lifestyles.

The reception will follow this Saturday (tomorrow for us), so that should be fun now that we know each other so well.