Adults

The worst thing about traditional Chinese wedding customs is no one knows anything about them anymore.

Venusian parents have been anxious to meet the Martian representatives officially. Since they have in fact met previously, I’m not sure what the difference between the official and unofficial meetings is. However, we duly fixed a date for the parents as instructed.

Then the strange thing happened. Martian mother privately asked me what the Venusian side is going to ask of them. And, Venusian parents asked me what everyone should be discussing during the meeting. It finally dawned upon me that nobody knows what should be done, only that canned food and dried seafood should be featured somewhere (I think).

So I suggested that we should just ditch the customs that we have ceased to understand, and instead practise only what we know. But no, no, no. This is sacrilegious. Weddings involve a dreadful number of customary practices that we should respect. Venusian parents are worried that somebody should be doing something at sometime or else there is dereliction of duty somewhere. Only, they don’t know how to fill in the blanks.

Dear me, if even our parents are at a loss, what are we to do? Don’t ask me. A woman is a child until she gets married. So I’ll leave the adults to figure out what they should be doing.