|
Double Happiness
A large Chinese character, Double Happiness, on a red piece
of paper or in paper cut is always put where it must strike
the eyes on a young couple's wedding. It has a story behind
it.
In the ancient Tang Dynasty, there was a student who was
on the way to the capital to attend the national final
examination, in which the top learners would be selected as
the ministers in the court. Unfortunately, he fell ill
halfway when he passed through a mountain village. Thanks to
a herbalist doctor and his daughter, he was taken to their
house and treated well. He recovered quickly due to the
father and the daughter's good care. Well, when he had to
leave, he found it hard to say good-bye to the pretty girl,
and so did she. They fell in love. So the girl wrote down
the right hand part of an antithetical couplet for the
student to match:
"Green trees against the sky in the spring rain while the
sky set off the spring trees in the obscuration."
"Well, I can make it though it is not easy. But you'll
have to wait till I have finished the examination." replied
the student. The young girl nodded in significance.
In the examination the young man won the first place, who
was appreciated by the emperor. Also the winners were
interviewed and tested by the emperor. As luck would have
it, he was asked by the emperor to finish a couplet, which
would need a right part as the answer. The emperor wrote:
"Red flowers dot the land in the breeze's chase while the
land colored up in red after the kiss."
The young man realized immediately the right part of the
couplet by the girl was the perfect fit to the emperor's
couplet, so he took the girl's part as the answer without
hesitation. The emperor was delighted to see the matching
half of his couplet was so talent and harmonious that he
authorized the young man's identity as Minister in the court
and allowed him to pay a visit to his hometown first before
holding the post. The young man met the girl happily at home
and told her the emperor's couplet. They soon got married.
For the wedding, the couple DOUBLED the Chinese character,
HAPPY, together, on a red piece of paper and put it on the
wall to express the happiness for the two events. And from
then on, it has been taken on and became a social custom.
 |
