08-08-08 China couples love it, but not Singaporeans

08-08-08 China couples love it, but not Singaporeans 

Not many locals rushing to tie the knot on that date, which falls during the Hungry Ghost month, as superstition prevails

By Theresa Tan & Tessa Wong 
WE’RE GOING AHEAD: Chinese couple Zhang Hong Jun and Wang Nan believe the date is auspicious and will be using the occasion to celebrate their wedding and the start of the Olympic Games in China. — ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM
 
AS FAR as auspicious dates go, few can beat Aug 8, 2008.
But there is no rush to get married on that day, compared to previous auspicious dates.

Just 254 couples will be solemnising their marriages next Friday. To be sure, the number is three times higher than that for a normal weekday, but it is well below what other favourite dates have seen.

For example, 777 couples tied the knot on July 7 last year. And Valentine’s Day in 1995 - which coincided with the 15th day of the Chinese New Year - saw 1,082 marriages.

Hotels have reported slow bookings for wedding dinners this Aug 8. But why are couples not rushing to wed on Aug 8, 2008, given the Chinese love for the number eight, which sounds like ‘prosper’ in Mandarin?

It is because the date falls during the Hungry Ghost month, say geomancers and hotels.

Some Chinese believe the Hungry Ghost Festival is an unlucky period to do almost anything, from buying a house to starting a business. It is the time when ghosts are supposedly freed from the netherworld and allowed to roam the earth.

‘They believe that if you have a wedding celebration, all these loitering spirits will attend it,’ said Ms Adelina Pang, chief executive of Adelina Pang Fengshui Consultancy.

The situation in China, however, is the exact opposite. Thousands of lovebirds there are rushing to get married. In Beijing alone, at least 8,000 couples have already booked the date for their marriage registration.

Then there is the mother of all 080808 events - the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing, which will kick off on Aug 8 at 8.08pm.

The Chinese, it seems, do not buy into the superstitions surrounding the Hungry Ghost Festival as strongly as Singaporeans do.

‘People in China just think such beliefs are backward,’ said Mr Du Zhi Qiang, president of the Tian Fu Club, a social group for new immigrants from China.

Take postgraduate Wang Nan, 27. She and her husband-to-be consulted an almanac which gave the date the thumbs-up.

‘It is the start of the Olympics and Aug 8, 2008 is such a memorable date,’ said Miss Wang, who hails from China, but now lives in Singapore.

‘Most of our friends are from China, so we hope to use the occasion to celebrate our wedding and the start of the Olympic Games.’

Miss Wang and her partner, engineer Zhang Hong Jun, 30 - who also hails from China - plan to solemnise their marriage at 8.08pm on that day.

They will set up a TV screen at the Orchard Hotel ballroom - where they are marking the occasion - so their guests can catch the Olympics opening ceremony.

Some Singaporeans are also thumbing their noses at superstition and going ahead with their wedding on that once-in-a-lifetime date.

Music teacher Tay Jun Ngiap, 36, and pharmacist Chan Hsin Chih, 29, decided to overrule protests from older relatives who are worried about ‘uninvited guests’.

‘We are atheists and not very pantang,’ said Mr Tay, using the Malay word for ’superstitious’.

After Aug 8, hotels are circling another date on the calendar this year: Sept 14. This date might not have quite the ring of the former, but it is considered extremely auspicious because it falls on a ‘lucky’ day - the 15th day of the eighth month in the Lunar calendar.

The Fairmont, for example, is fully booked on the date, and will be hosting eight wedding celebrations. The date is so popular that the hotel has had to turn away some couples.
 

Source : Straits Times - 01 Aug 2008

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