Korean Wedding Ducks

I know you're probably wondering what ducks have to do with pregnancy and rest assured they have nothing to do with it. I meant to post this before I turned my blog into a pregnancy one but I think you will find it interesting anyway. As you already know from my previous entry, I was proposed to in a Penis Park. After trying to figure out the best way to keep our wedding simple at the same time as coordinating 3 countries (I'm from Canada, he's from Australia, we now live in Korea), we settled on getting married at our local "gu" office (Korean equivalent of city hall). When I heard about the Korean wedding duck tradition, I had to participate.

Korean Wedding Ducks are traditionally used in a Korean wedding ceremony. One duck represents the bride and the other duck represents the groom (our ducks are actually two different sizes which I thought was very cute since my husband is over a foot taller than me). The ducks symbolize peace, togetherness and children. Ducks mate for life which is why they are chosen for this. The ducks are given to the couple covered in colourful silk up to their necks, then upon the actual marriage they are unwrapped. The mother of the groom is suppose to throw one of the ducks at the bride who will try to catch it in the apron of her hanbok (traditional Korean dress). If she catches it, the first born will be a boy. If she misses, the first born will be a girl.

Upon our marriage my mother-in-law was in Australia but insisted that she will throw a duck at me when we celebrate with them next month. Unfortunately for this part of the tradition, I'm already pregnant and even though I don't know what it is yet, the sex has already been figured out. I guess we can still have a laugh (more for my mother-in-law) as she flings a wooden duck at me.

My favourite bit of the tradition is that the ducks have to stay in the couple's home always and are positioned beak to beak. When the couple argue, the ducks are suppose to be placed tail to tail. This reminds the couple of their union and not to fight. At first I thought it would be funny mid argument to stomp over to the ducks and turn them around. But my poor husband is scared to death of this happening that if we ever have a little tiff and I threaten to turn them around, he actually checks on them later.

So ladies, keep this in mind - the ducks have power!

Our Korean Wedding Ducks - before

Our Korean Wedding Ducks - after