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Chapter 54 Custom Custom Culture (7)
Hindu weddings are held under a canopy of brocade or other richly decorated cloth and decorated with flowers.The bride in the red silk sari arrives first, but she has to hide until the groom arrives in white robes accompanied by relatives and friends.When the groom enters the door, the lights will flicker over his head and grains of rice will be sprinkled on his body.This kind of wedding ceremony symbolizes the new couple's good fortune and prosperity, and they will have many children and grandchildren.

In Buddhist wedding ceremonies, the bride and groom drink water from three successively larger bowls to symbolize that they are in the same boat through thick and thin.

In the past, when the bride and groom came out of the church, there was a custom of throwing flower petals on them, and the couple had to walk slowly along a road full of flowers.This lovely custom of tossing flower petals gave way to multicolored shredded paper in the era of mass production.In some countries, throwing rice to the newlyweds symbolizes having many children and grandchildren and a prosperous life.But you have to be careful when throwing rice, because it will hurt people if you throw it too hard.

In 1840, Queen Victoria broke with the royal tradition of wearing a silver wedding dress and chose white at her wedding with Prince Albert.Since then, white wedding dresses have been the go-to gown of choice for brides getting married.

The limousine carrying the newlyweds is often painted with a few words of congratulations with lipstick and shaving foam by excited friends, and hung with balloons, tin cans and old boots.Hanging "old boots" is a very old tradition.A long time ago, when a father gave his daughter to the groom, he also gave the groom a daughter's slipper.Symbolically, this gives the groom a kind of initiative: if his wife upsets him, he can hit her with a slipper.The slipper sits at the head of the bed on the man's sleeping side, reminding his wife who is the head of the family.However, if a woman dominated the home, neighbors would hand over control of the slippers to her, nicknamed "Old Boots."

At a Jewish wedding, the couple performs their ceremony under a chuppah woven of silver or velvet supported by four pillars.This is a re-enactment of the days when the children of Israel lived in tents.This canopy symbolizes the new house, and some people think it means the home built by the couple; its wobble reminds the couple to be aware of their own weakness, to cherish their marriage, and to share joys and sorrows so that they can enjoy a happy marriage for a hundred years.At the wedding, the bride and groom will drink a glass of wine together, which symbolizes that they will share blessings and difficulties together.The groom then throws the glass on the ground and crushes it with his feet.Some say it was a reminder of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, others say it was meant to scare off evil spirits.At this moment, friends should shout muzel tov (good luck) to express their blessings.

Exercise
What customs do you know about weddings?Tell me.

10 Easter Eggs

Most English holidays have a religious origin. Easter is originally the day to commemorate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. But now for most people, Easter is a secular spring holiday, when everyone hopes to enjoy fine weather, when the days are lengthening fast, when Trees are already in bud and leaf, and spring flowers appear, the most welcome of the year—violets, daffodils and narcissi. For children, Easter means more than anything else, Easter eggs or chocolate eggs.
Real, natural eggs, do not belong of course to a single season of the year. They are eaten all the year round, Duck eggs are a rarity in England, and the eggs of smaller birds are rarer still, a luxury for the very rich and privileged). Eggs are everyday food—inexpensive, nutritious, and especially good for breakfast. Their association with spring, when hens begin to lay after the winter, is older than the manufacture of chocolate eggs. In some places, real eggs are used in an Easter game called “egg-rolling”. They are first hardboiled and then given to competitors to roll down a slope. The winner is the person whose egg gets to the bottom first. In some families, the breakfast eggs on Easter Sunday morning are boiled in different pans, each containing a different vegetable dye, so that when they are served the shells are no longer white or pale brown in color, but yellow or pink, blue or green. The dyes do not penetrate the shell of course.
Most British children would be very disappointed if these were the only eggs they had at Easter. Chocolate Easter eggs are displayed in confectioners' shops as soon as Christmas is over. The smallest and simplest are inexpensive enough for children to buy with pocket money. are of two sorts. Very small ones, perhaps a little longer than an inch in length, are coated thinly with chocolate on the outside and filled with a sweet, soft paste, called fondant. They are wrapped in colored foil in a variety of patterns Slightly larger eggs, a little bigger, as a rule, than a duck's egg, are hollow. There is nothing in side at all—just a wrapped chocolate shell. You break the shell and eat the jagged, irregular pieces.
As Easter approaches, more elaborate eggs than these fill the sweet-shop windows. They are designed to be given as presents, and the larger ones are expensive. Manufacturers compete in producing pretty and unusual designs. Chocolate Eggs are often sold in chin a egg -cups or mugs, or baskets, so that here is something to enjoy when the chocolate is eaten and forgotten. They are accompanied by all sorts of small presents designed to appeal to children. They are often decorated with small fluffy chickens, made of wool , and with feet and beaks in card. And in addition to eggs, there are chickens or rabbits molded in chocolate. Lucky children may receive several of these as presents from friends or relations.
Special cardboard boxes are on sale at Easter, made in the shape of eggs, but not made of chocolate and certainly not intended to be eaten. They are just as pretty as any chocolate egg. They are patterned, and are often finished with lace or ribbon and artificial flowers. They are meant to contain any present that the giver thinks the receiver would like. As a rule it is quite a small present—handkerchiefs, perhaps, or a scarf, or a tie. Sometimes a small piece of jewelry will be boxed and wrapped and put inside.
Easter eggs are meant to give enjoyment—and they do. They are pretty and decorative, they signal good wishes and shared happiness in the changing sea sons. Manufacturers seem able to find new variations of color and pattern every year. To my mind though, no springtime pleasure is equal to that of watching a hen hatch her brood of eggs. Weeks pass, when she must be left undisturbed. Then the time comes. Just one egg will crack. and then another of the chicks break the shell from the inside and struggle free of it. The damp feathers that give the newly hatched chicks such a bedraggled appearance soon dry, and within a few minutes, they are stepping out on their delicate red legs, bright-eyed, exquisitely fluffy, and pale yellow. Because of modern methods of egg production this is one pleasure of the early part of the year that is now a rarity, and altogether remote from the experience of most English children.
Vocabulary
lengthening [l? ? kθ? ni? ] v. to extend (the ing form of lengthen), to lengthen, to lengthen
violet["vai?l?t] n. Violet, a shy person;
adj. purple, violet

Rarity ["rε? r? ti] n. Rare, precious, rare, rare (plural number required)
luxury["l?k??ri,"l? g? ? ri] n. luxury, luxury, luxury;
adj. Extravagant

manufacture["m?nju"f? kt? ? ] n. Manufacturing, product;

vt. to manufacture, fabricate;
v. to manufacture

thinly ["θinli] adv. sparsely, thin, thin, thin
Fluffy ["fl? fi] adj. Fluffy, furry, contentless

patterned ["p?t?nd] adj. patterned;

v. Copy, copy, form a pattern (past participle of pattern)
Handkerchiefs ["h?? k?t? ifs;] n. handkerchief (plural of handkerchief)
undisturbed["?ndi"st? :bd] adj. Quiet, calm, undisturbed, poised

faint ["feint] adj. dizzy, weak, fuzzy;
vi. to faint, to become weak;

n. fainting, fainting

Exquisitely [ek"skwizitli] adv. Exquisitely, delicately, sharply

Practice
Is there any difference about Easter between the British children and us?

Translation
Most festivals in Britain have their origins in religion.Easter was originally the day to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus.Now, for most people, Easter is just a secular holiday when people enjoy the good spring.From this day on, the days get longer quickly, the trees are covered with new buds and leaves, and the most popular flowers of the year - violets, primroses, daffodils, etc., are in full bloom.And for kids, there's nothing like an Easter egg or a chocolate egg.

(End of this chapter)