Chinese-Indonesians revive long-forgotten tradition

Twenty married couples performed the chio thau ceremony on Sunday, the most sacred wedding ritual of Indonesians of Chinese descent who have assimilated with locals — or Peranakan Cina, as they are locally known.

Chio thau, which literally means dressing the bride’s hair, is highly symbolic, philosophical and widely considered to mark the bride and the groom’s transition from adolescence to adulthood. However, the tradition is expensive, which discourages many Chinese-Indonesians from performing it, and thus it has been largely forgotten.

Yoki and Tina should have performed the chio thau ritual when they married three years ago. Yet, the couple decided to postpone the tradition to save money.

“It costs at least Rp 5 million [US$560] for us to perform the chio thau. That’s plenty of money,” Yoki told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a mass chio thau ceremony on Sunday sponsored by a shopping center in West Jakarta to celebrate Cap Go Meh, the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations.

“Performing the chio thau three years after our wedding is not too bad. You can never be too late for this,” he said.

Another couple participating in the ritual, Kim Kie and Ye Ri, have been married for more than 10 years. “I feel glad that I have performed the sacred ceremony,” said Ye Ri, the wife.

Ye Ri said that she had always wanted to perform the chio thau ceremony. “I feel a bit nervous about the ceremony because it is a once-in-a-lifetime event,” she said.

Chio thau must be led by the Sang Ke Em (mistress of the ceremony). Rina, a Sang Ke Em, said that the specially designed clothes for the bride and groom, the headdresses, and the paraphenilia symbolizing certain Chinese principles were what made chio thau a costly ritual.

“The whole chio thau ceremony is designed to bless the couple and to pray for their bright future. The ritual symbolizes the values of honor, wisdom, faithfulness and piety,” she said.

Even though chio thau is only performed by Indonesians of Chinese descent, the ritual is a mix of Chinese culture and the cultures of other ethnic groups, especially the Betawi community, which is native to Jakarta.

Chio thau starts with the mistress of the ceremony, the bride and her mother sitting facing a gantang
(a wooden rice container). The groom also performs a similar ritual, but elsewhere.

The gantang is filled with rice and symbolic items, including the Laqjit/Tong shu (Chinese almanac), mirrors, combs, scissors, scales, a wooden ruler, a sword made of Chinese coins, an oil lamp, five multi-colored silk threads, and a paper umbrella.

The mistress of the ceremony adorns the bride with a headdress and decorates the bride’s hair with elaborate silver flowers, similar to the Betawi tradition. The chio thau preparation is complete after the mistress of ceremony applies the bride’s make-up.

Mal Ciputra general manager Ferry Irianto, whose company sponsored the ceremony, said that the chio thau had been slowly forgotten by the Chinese-Indonesian community due to the economic burden it entailed.

“This is a valuable and unique tradition that deserves to be appreciated and continued. When the community itself finds difficulties in sustaining the tradition, others should help them uphold it,” he said. (lfr)