Following my recent theme on Chinese traditions, I decided to write about Yue Lao, the god of marriage. Without him, there wouldn’t be any weddings. According to legend, Yue Lao appears as an old man under the moon. He is often compared to Cupid, but instead of a bow and arrow, he carries a red string. When he ties this red string around a couple, they are destined to fall in love and get married.
In traditional Chinese wedding customs, the bride and groom walk together holding a length of red cloth with a large red ribbon in the middle. This symbolises their union as matched by Yue Lao. However, I don’t think this is commonly practised in Singapore today.
There are many temples and shrines dedicated to Yue Lao, where people pray for a happy marriage. Singles may pray for love, while elderly parents often pray for their unmarried children to find a partner.
In some shrines, Yue Lao is depicted holding the marriage book (姻缘簿) in his left hand and red threads in his right, sometimes alongside a couple. In others, he simply holds a red thread or ribbon. Thanks to my uncle for sharing these photos with me again!
People believe that a relationship breaks down when the red string is broken or when Yue Lao cuts it. For those who struggle to find love, it is said that they have only a very short red string tied around their ankle—too short to connect with another person’s.
If you happen to travel around Asian countries, keep an eye out for Yue Lao in the temples!
thanks for sharing this, wow it looks like it was an amazing day,
what a nice story, and its lovely to find out more about your traditions. Thanks
So interesting reading about wedding traditions. We had a Thai ceremony last – you’ve inspired me to write about it x
What an interesting post. Thank you so much for sharing it 🙂
hi what a lovely post i really enjoyed reading it thank you. i love the idea of a red thread and i had never heard of a god of marriage before i love your belief and tradition x
I haven’t come across your blog before so hello! An interesting post, I’ll definitely be back again x
I think I’m a failed Chinese person as I have never heard of this!! Thanks for posting 🙂
wow so interesting to learn about different traditions! Thanks for sharing!
It’s so great learning about other cultural traditions, I love the idea of the red string. x
Thank you for writing about this – I’ve learnt something – which is always good 🙂
Really interesting. It’s wonderful to hear more about Chinese culture. Thank you for explaining it so beautifully too.
I have learnt something today, thank you. It’s wonderful to know more things like this, you have explained the ceremony well.
How lovely to know a little of the tradition behind the ceremony!
Love learning about different cultures. Always interesting to learn new things about the world. Thank you for sharing.
I love reading your posts – thanks for taking the time to share these things with you x
I’ve really enjoyed these posts, learning about cCinese traditions.
I really love these posts. So much I do not know in this world
I do love these posts of yours, always interesting and it’s great to learn about other cultures. Wish we had some of these traditions! Great post 🙂
I’d never heard of this. Thanks for sharing, it’s great to learn new things about other cultures 🙂
So interesting, thank you. I love learning about different cultures and customs. Also love the idea of parents praying to him for their single children (religions are all pretty similar in many ways!)
He looks so familiar, I’m sure I’ve seen him in a ton of films and things, but never realised the significance 🙂