Walking Under The Pants!

Our cousin, just 8 years old then told us this interesting story. In December 1958 when our paternal aunt got married, she happened to be the first one in the family to do so but at that time our father, the oldest sibling was still unmarried. There is a Chinese tradition to be followed when such a situation happens. Our mama (grandmother) instructed that the bride and groom walk under the older brother's trousers, literarily. The purpose of this ritual was to show respect to the elder brother.  We checked that the Chinese word for "trousers" sounds like the word for "wealth," so the item is also associated with bringing prosperity. The trousers are typically hung across the main door of the family home and the bride and groom had to walk underneath as they enter the house. In our case it was a pair of pyjamas our paternal aunt and Ah Tio walked under as they entered our Bedok kampong house! Our mother told us it wasn’t a brand-new pair! While we don’t have photos of that ritual, here is a photo of the bride and groom receiving their ‘ang pows’ (red money packet) as blessings from our grandmother (front) on that blessed day, just after that walk!

Dec 1958