Visited Ford Factory – the historical building that witnessed the surrender of British colonists to Japanese invaders during World War II.
Refurbished to document the Japanese Occupation, this latest ‘museum’ is open for free visits till 16 February 2006.
Much has been said on the atrocities of the war, but what is arguably more valuable is the portrayal of everyday life during the occupation.
Here I’ve elected to feature the wedding gown, which is exhibited amongst other day-to-day items. The gown is notable for its simplicity, which is reflective of thrift exercised to cope with a general shortage of and inflationary pressures on prices of daily necessities and resources. The bride-to-be also noted the austerity of the wedding proceedings despite her hefty outlay of S$40,000. What is interesting to note is despite the difficulties in putting together a wedding during the occupation, women (and men) persisted in adhering – as far as their resources would permit – to their traditional rituals. Now considering the percentage of post-modern women (and men) who prefer to skip the customary or even getting their marriages/unions legally registered at all in this time of abundance, I really wonder whether liberation from colonial rule – as a nation and individuals – has rendered traditions obsolete.
Seriously, getting married on paper is a matter of pragmatism rather than tradition. The traditional aspects would be inviting your whole gin-gang for your wedding dinner and taking sepia-toned photos for posterity. It would be interesting though to study if post-colonial rule has really influenced people’s notions of adhering to customs or maybe we are simply just getting lazy!
Comment by wc — January 4, 2007 @ 4:03 am
oh yeah, I’m definitely one of those who’s getting lazy haha…
Comment by fujinitsuki — January 5, 2007 @ 7:21 am