Question about tradition: Have you heard of tuan yuan?

minging

Hi girls, has anyone here incorporated this into their ceremony? My honey and I think this tradition is beautiful and would love to incorporate this into our ceremony. We're just a little unsure about the sipping and crossing arms part. How do you cross arms and exchange glasses? It's a bit confusing to us... we want to honor the tradition properly and don't want to look foolish or spill the wine (I'm very clumsy and it's like we're inviting disaster)...I am waiting for my "Wild Geese and Tea..." book to come back to the library but thought that in the meantime, I'd ask you guys.. thanks for any guidance/experience(s) you can provide. :)Here's a bit of info I found via Google...We also honor the ancient Chinese wedding tradition of tuan yuan [twen yu-wen], or "completing the circle." The wine cups are tied together with a red string. Reminiscent of the weddings of the Sung dynasty, the partners sip the wine, then cross arms to exchange the cups and drink again. The sharing and mingling of the wine symbolizes a harmonious married life. [Drink from the cup, cross arms and drink again.] This cup of wine is symbolic of the cup of life. As you share the cup of wine, you undertake to share all that the future may bring. All the sweetness life's cup may hold for you should be sweeter because you drink it together; whatever drops of bitterness it may contain should be less bitter because you share them.  Two thoughts are suggested by this cup of wine. The first is that wine is a symbol of the sweetness we wish for your life. There will be times when you drink from other cups, from bitter ones; but life offers opportunity to savor the sweetness. The awareness of the possibility of a life filled with true meaning is what we toast: the good that is life. The second is that wine is a symbol of sharing. You have shared many years together, and out of this time has grown the love which brought you to this day. As you continue to share in each other's life, you will, as a symbol of this enduring cooperation, share this cup of wine. As you share this cup of wine, you share all that the future may bring. 

dreamincitrus

Thank you so much for posting this thread. I've been wondering what this was properly called so I could look it up. We're considering doing this. It really caught my attention when I first heard about it.

ring_pop

Are you talking about this: [img]http://i493.photobucket.com/albums/rr293/adriane522/2919_68196632335_508057335_1792996_.jpg[/img]They're not tied together with red string, and there's no big ceremony around it, but I think this is a throwback to that tradition. These days, I think most couples just do it at the reception, around the same time as the cake cutting. It's usually just a quick photo op.

minging

Yep! That's exactly what we're talking about. We want to incorporate it into the ceremony, but are getting pretty mixed up about the whole sipping then crossing arms, swapping glasses and sipping again. We have part of the explaination incorporated into the ceremony so we're going to look pretty dumb if we mess it up. Any one else know more about this tradition? Thanks!

ring_pop

Like I said, it's usually pretty watered down nowadays. I don't even pay much attention because it's just a quick photo op after the couple cuts the cake (at the reception, not the ceremony). I guess they take a sip, link arms, and sip again. I'm not even sure if they exchange cups.