The Red Thread
"An invisible red thread connects those destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance," the saying goes. "The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break."
After much searching and researching - The mystery of The Red Thread is solved! The Red Thread is, as has widely been accepted here in the Chinese Adoption Community, a symbol of the inevitability that two souls, who are destined to be together, will overcome any obstacles or challenges in the quest to be together. Certainly, it is easy to see how waiting parents would be attracted to this as a symbol of the twisting turning paths toward our children born in a far-away land.
As with all myths, legends or folklore there is an element of truth and/or history involved.
In this case, Red symbolizes good fortune and luck hence, a bride was traditionally dressed in Red on such an auspicious occasion as her wedding day. While the ceremony itself is simple, the festivities, planning, and precise schedule of events is complex and heavily invested in symbolism. At the precise moment that a man and woman are bound in marriage they drink wine from goblets that are literally tied together with Red Thread. If the parents and the astrologers have done their job, the married pair will find happiness in completing their destined match.
Today wedding customs all over China are modernizing and westernizing such that the current ceremony would be unrecognizable to the ancestors.