Vintage Hokkien Wedding basket
In Malay language, this basket is known as Bakul Sia and it is commonly used during Baba Nyona and sometimes traditional Chinese wedding. This kind of basket is used by the bridegroom family to carry gifts which includes food and gift in the form of money to the bride family. Back in the past, red packets were not used for passing money during wedding ceremony unlike today.The actions of giving gifts using money is known as Mas Kahwin in Malay.
In return, the bridegroom will usually return a portion of the gifts and this is done by the bridegroom family which signify goodwill.
This basket belongs to my grandmother who got married in 1955. This basket here is very carefully preserved and taken care of. One thing that attracts me the most about this basket is that it is hand painted beautifully and I really admire the art work on this basket.
According to my grandma, the trick to preserve basket like this is to properly wrap in a few layers of black opaque plastic and place some naphthalene balls inside the second opaque plastic wrapping. Basket like this is very rare to come by these days.
My family discontinue the tradition of exchanging these marriage basket in the late 90s as those family members who are born in the 80s decided to follow modern Chinese culture of wedding. This is quite sad to see that the uses of traditional Chinese marriage items during wedding ceremony is disappearing from the world we live in today. All of those items are now found in the museums and it is something in the past that we have forgotten.
In return, the bridegroom will usually return a portion of the gifts and this is done by the bridegroom family which signify goodwill.
This basket belongs to my grandmother who got married in 1955. This basket here is very carefully preserved and taken care of. One thing that attracts me the most about this basket is that it is hand painted beautifully and I really admire the art work on this basket.
According to my grandma, the trick to preserve basket like this is to properly wrap in a few layers of black opaque plastic and place some naphthalene balls inside the second opaque plastic wrapping. Basket like this is very rare to come by these days.
My family discontinue the tradition of exchanging these marriage basket in the late 90s as those family members who are born in the 80s decided to follow modern Chinese culture of wedding. This is quite sad to see that the uses of traditional Chinese marriage items during wedding ceremony is disappearing from the world we live in today. All of those items are now found in the museums and it is something in the past that we have forgotten.
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