This section is the dining area. During festive time or a celebration, the table will be filled with lots of peranakan food. The dinnerware used are very beautiful and precious.
I like the designs on the dinnerware.
Oh did I mention that I love peranakan food - yum yum
Part of our visit involve this little activity where we go round the museum collecting motifs from the stamping stations and stamp onto the card. The motifs are in the shapes of dragons, phoenix, qilin,butterflies,flowers,insects,ang ku kueh or red tortoise shaped cake, etc
The beliefs of these motifs are:
Dragons make sure only good things can happen. Whenever phoenix appears, good news will follow. Wedding beds were decorated with butterflies to make sure the new couple had many children. The qilin brings peace and happiness. Peranakan girls loved the peony and wished to bloom like the king of flowers. Bowls painted with insects will overflow with food just as insects fill the garden in good weather. Ang ku Kueh or the red tortoise shaped cake promises a long life of good fortune. Peranakan Ladies would fasten their blouses with a set of 3 brooches called kerosong.
A short video showing my little niece getting help from her mother to stamp the motifs on her card. I am the one videoing them. The following artefacts are wedding gifts from the bride's family to the bride as part of her wedding dowry. Please visit "That's my World" for other parts of the world.
This section of the museum showcase the wedding custom of the Peranakans. The set of jewellery were wore by the ladies, belts were used to fasten the sarong (a kind of long skirt), the brooches were used to fasten the blouses. Zoom on the gold belt - very beautiful designs on it. The gift of the pig's leg by the bridegroom's family symbolise that the bride was a virgin. For chinese weddings, the whole roast pig will be used. If the bride is not a virgin , they would cut off the ears of the pigs .
A tray of gifts with jewellery and dowry money in the red packet will be given to the bride's family. Normally they will discuss what to give before the actual wedding and negotiations of the amount of dowry money will be discussed first.
Gifts of a pair of candles, liquor and some oranges will be given to the bride's family too for offering to the God.
Gifts of cloth given to the bride, nonyas were expected to be very good in sewing during the olden days.
Gifts will be returned to the bride's family and bead slippers normally sewn by the bride herself.
After receiving from the bridegroom's family the liquor, fruits and candles, the bride's family will return new sets of about the same gifts.
The bride's family will return a portion of the pig's leg to the bridegroom's family.
The bride's family will accept the gifts of jewellery from the bridegroom's family and return some gifts to the bridegroom's family.
There are three levels in the museum. Jewellery belonging to a peranakan lady on loan to the museum. Wedding headdress and jewellery wore by the bride. Wedding baskets and trays used during a wedding. Glided Pagoda Trays - these pagoda trays are used to transport jewellery during a wedding. It is not common cause they normally used by wealthy families. Bakul Siah are wedding baskets used mainly by the wealthy family to deliver wedding gifts from the bridegroom to the bride. Gifts can be silk, beadwork, jewellery and fruits. My mom had one of this basket but is of cheaper quality. It is still in my brother's home and is very old.
