Last Saturday, during my book presentation I spoke about this unusual, unbelievable incredible custom, marrying a rooster.
I wrote in my From China to Borneo to Beyond, my dad whilst still a baby was betrothed a another baby girl.
Dad came to Borneo, and the girl remained in her home in China.
World War 2 came, and Dad was forced to marry to avoid being conscripted into the Japanese Army. Likewise Mum was forced to marry to avoid being caught to become a Japanese Comfort woman.
Because the Confucius customs permitted multiple wives, a wedding ceremony was performed in China. A rooster acted as a proxy for Dad, and I had a mum in China, The poor girl, married to a rooster. We often joked, what did they do to the rooster?
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