The symbol known as Double
Happiness, or Double Joy is considered to bring happiness and harmony to the
life of the couple and their family.
Ornamental in design, it consists
of two Chinese characters which are brought together to assume a standard
Chinese character.
The symbol is associated with
celebrations, in particular with the wedding ceremony and wedding gifts given
to the bride and groom. One Chinese couple, whose wedding I conducted, presented
me with my fee in a small red envelope inscribed with the double joy symbol.
The colour of the symbol is most
often red, though in the contemporary wedding a variety of colours are used
including black and gold.
There is a love story attached to
the symbol which, in shorthand goes something like this,
Boy meets girl.
Boy falls in love with girl.Girl is instrumental in helping boy achieve great honours.
Boy marries girl.
On their wedding day, in order to
celebrate both events, the couple doubled the Chinese character for ‘happy’ or ‘joy’,
painting them on a red piece of paper which they pinned to the wall.
And thus arose the custom.
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