Photo: Ms. Nguyen Khoa Hoai Huong
With Hue culture, many people do not easily support such a collective wedding. Moreover, in Thua Thien Hue province, the number of laborers from other regions is rather low. The majority of the labor force is local residents, so the task of persuading their relatives has encountered many obstacles due to prejudice against these strange new weddings which stress on being economical, reducing procedures and organizing collectively...
However, through analysis, the organization of collective weddings has many benefits for unionists and workers, so the Standing Committee of the Provincial Labor Federationand the advisory boards, have advocated a collective wedding for union members and laborers in the province.
Certainly, it has not been easy to recruit 21 couples to attend a group wedding?
There is a case where the provincial Labor Federationactivists have convinced a couple but the father of the bride disagreed despite the difficult circumstances of the family, so they had to continue to persuade the father. Once the father had been persuaded, the local union base commented that they were not made aware of anything, and that they could have helped... Officials of the Provincial Labor Federation, especially those in the Women's Committee, must be very determined in the work of raising awareness and explaining in order to recruit the couples.
Could you tell us more about the couples to be selected for this first group wedding?
About 50% of the couples both work as laborers, while the other couples include one laborer whose spouse is employed in another job. The couples have difficult economic situations and have already registered their marriage. It is worth mentioning that there are many couples who have registered marriage for 7-9 years, but cannot afford to hold a wedding. There is even a couple in whichthe wife is a laborer and the husband is a freelance construction worker who had registered their marriage 16 years ago, but because of their circumstances, the wife has never been able to wear a bridal gown. There are also couples who have children together...
Many people are curious about how this wedding will be organized.
According to our plans, at 5p.m. on July 28, at the headquarters of the Provincial Labor Federation (2 Dong Da, Hue city), the brides and grooms will get their makeup done, dress in tradition Vietnamese wedding costumes and step on rickshaws decorated in the color blue to identify the Vietnam Trade Union (even the Rickshaw Unionists will dress in blue). The rickshaws carrying 21 couples will go through some roads in the center of Hue City, Phu Xuan Bridge, Truong Tien Bridge and will stop at the center of the wedding ceremony (the Provincial Labor Culture House, 100 Pham Van Dong, Vy Da Ward). Each couple will have 3 banquet tables to invite relatives and friends.
In addition to supporting 63 banquet tables for the 21 couples, the provincial Labor Federation will give each couple a one-tael pair of gold wedding rings and other expenses such as wedding cake, wedding wine, wedding dress, makeup, and transportation... The provincial Labor Federation will invite businesses to sign a welfare program for the union members. At the same time,the Federation will call for businesses to present wedding gifts to the couples on this occasion ... We estimate that the wedding cost for each couple is about 20 million VND, which is very low compared to a normal wedding today but still full of ceremony and formality.
If successful, will such collective weddings be held annually by the Provincial Labor Confederation?
The organization of collective weddings is aimed at implementing a civilized lifestyle, saving, caring for and protecting legitimate rights and interests of workers and employees. At the same time, it still honors and preserves the traditional wedding ceremony of the Vietnamese people and supports the couples of workers and employees who are members of trade unions living in difficult circumstances. In that sense, if successful and supported by everyone, the provincial Labor Confederation will try to organize it regularly if union members and workers have the demand.
Thank you for the talk.
By Bich Thuy - Hao Vu