Among Macao residents, 97% are from China and 3% are foreigners. In addition to native local residents, residents from all over the mainland also account for a considerable proportion. Among foreigners, there are many other foreigners besides the Portuguese, and this complex demographic composition makes Macao's marriage customs diversified.
In the early years, no matter how rich the Chinese in Macao were, the groom had to hold a "decapitation" ceremony on the eve of marriage. On the wedding day, the man's family usually gets off the sedan chair on time according to the selected time and goes to the woman's house to pick up the bride. The bride wears a bright traditional wedding dress in China, waiting for the arrival of the bride's sedan chair. When the sedan chair returns to the man's house, the groom can't open it until he kicks the door. Then the groom patted the bride's head with a folding fan, indicating that the bride should be "obedient" behind the door.
Macao used to be a fishing village, and fishermen's weddings were usually held on boats, and banquets and dinners lasted for several days. Some people also asked Taoist priests to burn gold and silver paper clothes at the bow, praying for Poseidon's blessing and letting them return to the sea with full loads. Fishermen don't need a big sedan chair to get married, the groom takes the bride by boat, and the bride doesn't need to wear a rockhopper dress. The "bridesmaid" should hold up an umbrella to let the bride "cross" from her own boat to the groom's boat. The bride can't wear shoes, only socks, so as not to "step on" the man's house. The first thing the bride should do after crossing the ferry is to kowtow and offer tea to her elders.
With the development of society, great changes have taken place in the weddings of Macao people. Cars have replaced sedan chairs, and fishing boats are rare. Etiquette should be as simple as possible. Of course, due to some people's deep-rooted traditional ideas, ancient marriage customs can be seen from time to time in Macao.
At present, Western-style church weddings are quite popular among Chinese in Macao, and this kind of Christian wedding is no different from European and American weddings. Some people in China "combine Chinese and Western styles", holding traditional Chinese weddings first, and then holding western-style weddings in the church.
Some native Portuguese also hold two kinds of weddings, but the order is opposite to that of China. They held a western-style wedding first, and then a traditional Chinese wedding. In the morning, they held a western-style wedding in the church, and then went for a ride on the float to Taipa Island and Coloane Island. The groom sent the bride back to her family. After lunch, the bride took off her white wedding dress and put on China's red dress. The groom goes home to have a light meal by himself, and then wears Hanfu to the bride's house to "receive relatives". Then there are many ceremonies, such as worshipping heaven and earth, worshipping the woman's ancestors and so on. After the ceremony, we will take a bus to the restaurant to attend the wedding reception.