Wedding Cakes

Original chinese wedding cakes

Chinese wedding cakes is what you can call original. They are usually red, not only because it is the color of love, but also because it is  the theme of many of  their festivals. There are many symbols that Chinese people use to  indicate love, happiness, prosperity and good luck. On the Chinese  wedding cakes you can easily see the famous Chinese character ‘’double happiness’’, or a pair of a dragon and a phoenix, or  maybe a pair of chickens.

It was during the Han dynasty that the red color has started to be  used in many celebrations and festivals. In fact , the emperor  considered himself the red emperor. And if the emperor’s symbol is the  red color, then it becomes a must to use it in any celebration,  especially the public ones. The wedding cakes became red too, and  since then the tradition remained: red wedding cakes are extremely  popular and requested even nowadays.

Gold and yellow are the colors of joy and good luck and love. Today  You can easily find chinese wedding cakes with these colors  . But this is only the result of many changes during the years. Gold  and yellow were the colors of an other important emperor, who did not  accept to see anyone wearing or using his colors for any event or any  other reason . Only he had the authority to wear gold and yellow. During  the ages, this restriction has dissolved, but you can still notice the  consequences of that emperor’s law: these days there are a lot more  popular the red wedding cakes than the gold and yellow ones. There  are many people who prefer gold and yellow wedding cakes, but  their number could still increase.

Usually on the red wedding cake ( or gold and yellow) it’s  printed the ‘’double happiness’’ character. Why? Because in China the wedding is not only the union of a man and a woman , but also the  union of two families. The concept is of course in everyone’s mind, but  in China it has a lot more importance: family is more important than anything. And it should not be a surprise that this ‘’double happiness’’  symbol appears on the wedding cakes and theme itself.

The pair of the dragon and the phoenix is the symbol of the perfect  couple: the union of the man ( symbolized by the dragon, which is also  an ancient symbol of china) with the woman ( that is symbolized by the   phoenix ). This design is usually printed on golden or yellow  background.

The chicken, surprisingly, is a symbol of good luck. Why ? Generally  because of it’s pronouncing: in fact chicken in chinese is ’’ ji’’,  which is close to the pronouncing  ’’good luck’’.   and so the pair pf  chicken is a traditional way to bless the couple and wish  both of them  good luck in the journey they have just started together.