The Golden Ceremony: Weddings in Asia

The East-West Center is presenting a exhibition that will showcase Eastern and Western culture through Weddings.

Weddings are the pinnacle of celebration, festivity, and happiness throughout Asia. People place a huge emphasis on the rituals, processions, feasts, and gatherings associated with these felicitous events in the human life cycle. More than an event uniting two individuals, weddings are a social enactment reifying community, family, and continuity. Imbued with both spiritual and practical implications, the wedding events are central to the social fabric and insure the couple’s fertility.

This exhibition was created in honor of the East-West Center’s golden 50th anniversary celebration. Likewise, many of the weddings found in Asia are festooned with golden textiles, jewelry, and accoutrements. In order to underscore the symbolic union of East and West, we have chosen to showcase photographs that depict Asian weddings with participants from both Eastern and Western cultures.