JW owns a Chinese rattan two-tiered tall rectangular basket circa 1900. She wrote me because of my previous article about a Victorian Bride’s Baskets. Her Chinese basket is ALSO a bride’s basket traditionally given in the Guo Da Li pre-wedding processional during the betrothal period. A gift from the groom’s family to the bride’s family, this tradition emerged in the early 1900s. The baskets became a popular export from China to England and the US from 1880-1930s, advertised as tea or sewing baskets from Canton.
In the 19th century the composition of the basket showed the financial status of the groom’s family. The festive delivery of the basket to the bride’s family indicated respect. Don’t confuse wedding baskets with fine Chinese lunch baskets, which usually have a layer of insulation inside. The baskets symbolized the bride’s transition into her new family, as she will soon move into her husband’s family home, serve his parents, honor his ancestors, become a member of his household and his relative’s households, in the patrilinear tradition. The third day after the wedding, the bride and groom return to the bride’s home where she’s treated as a guest, signifying a break with her natal family. Thus the wedding basket festival became a happy-sad event.
One of the Traditional Styles of Wedding Baskets
JW’s basket is hand woven rattan with a bamboo structure and arched handle wrapped with rattan. It’s about eighteen inches high in two parts: each, a rectangular container, with a lid on top. A family of minor means gave this basket. A wealthier family might offer the bride’s family a basket made of Shandong Elm, of a box shape of two squares. Or a bamboo tub shaped basket with a band of auspicious enameled flowers and dragons around the girdle. The finest came with calligraphy of the names of the families and poems for both good wishes and many offspring. The best baskets were completely lacquered (bakul siah) in tones of amber and red, red considered a lucky color.
Baskets contained gifts, but not just any gift. Objects carried in these baskets symbolized the couple’s future lives together. The first category of gifts contained dowry items: food, jewelry, and clothing. A procession complete with music might carry more than one of these baskets. From a family with money, a second basket might contain special objects of red: wine, packets of red containing coconut, or dragon or phoenix shaped candles. Accents of red and gold symbolize wealth, beauty, and good beginnings. The Four Treasures often found their way into these baskets: gold, dried fruit, dried seafood, pig’s feet, abalone for abundance and wealth, fat choy for prosperity and good fortune.
The creators in 1900 might paint a basket like JW’s or accented it with live peony beds and blooms symbolizing fertility and prosperity.
Tradition of Gifting Pre-Wedding Baskets Strong Today
Gift Hampers Hong Kong creates lavish wedding baskets, “Chinese Pre Wedding Hampers” filled with symbolic favors. Any well-wisher may present baskets not specifically from the groom’s family to the bride‘s family.
The correct contents recommended by Gift Hampers Hong Kong for modern-day Wedding Hampers include lucky fruits, such as jujubes for wealth prosperity and fertility, peanuts for health, longevity, life, growth, flourishing love, and mandarin oranges for wealth and prosperity, or longans for good luck, including lotus seeds for prosperity and offspring, and grapes, but only those that contain seeds, as seeds bring prosperity and offspring.
Painted features include dragon and phoenix images for a fruitful and loving marriage, successful endeavors, and offspring. Well-wishers order a four, siz, or eight hamper package for the prewedding Guo Da Li ceremony. The four hamper package includes gourmet delicacies, wine, gifts, fruit and golden coconut. All packages contain Hang Heung, the Chinese Bridal cake. Well-wishers order six or eight hampers of dried seafood and six to eight hampers of dried and fresh fruit. The most expensive series of eight hampers costs $1,800.
JW’s vintage 1900 wedding basket contained simpler contents. Afterwards, the couple kept the basket during their marriage in the home. Today it’s valued at $400.