The Nightmare of the Wedding Industrial Complex

The nightmare scenario for the Wedding Industrial Complex is a culture that avoids getting married during an entire year because of its bad luck:

With just hours to go before the Lunar New Year, dozens of Asian New Yorkers raced to the altar yesterday to head off a marriage potentially jinxed by bad fortune.

“Next year is bad luck,” explained Wilson Chau of Flushing, whose son Jason wed Camille Lee at the Municipal Building yesterday afternoon. “The Chinese don’t like next year,” he said, referring to the new year that began today.

This year in the Chinese 12-year calendar cycle is considered a less than auspicious one for nuptials because there’s no first day of spring, said William Dao, museum associate at the Museum of Chinese in the Americas, which is in Chinatown.

Known as Lap Chun, the first day of Chinese spring fell on Feb. 4, which means last year, the Year of the Monkey, saw two first days of spring. This year – the Year of the Rooster – has none.

This so-called lunar leap year happens about once every three years and is considered a bad time for weddings, Dao said.

Brides are more likely to be widowed, for instance, and couples may not be as successful as those who time their weddings more carefully.

“It stems from tradition,” Dao said.

The last few weeks have brought a flood of Asian New Yorkers getting quickie marriages to please their traditional – and more superstitious – parents back in their homelands.

According to City Clerk Victor Robles, 1,947 Asian couples applied for marriage licenses between Jan. 1 and Monday. That’s a 552 increase over the same period last year.

Among the couples who descended on the Manhattan city clerk’s office to beat the bad-luck clock were Noviyana Bong and Yauman Kirana, both 22, who are ethnic Chinese from Indonesia and live in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

On Sunday, both of their parents called them to demand they get married before today – or face waiting another year to exchange vows.

“I just follow my parents,” Bong said.