71. The winter is always far more popular for marriages than summer, and during the winter months, especially in the month preceding Chinese New Year, the parties have to book well ahead if they wish to get married on a particular day, which is often the case because some days are regarded as being much more lucky than others. The previous year's record of 1,392 marriages registered in one month (January 1961), was twice exceeded during the year-in December 1961 and January 1962, in which latter month a new monthly record of 1,579 was established. The rush to get married before Chinese New Year was this year said to be accentuated by the belief that the lunar year commencing 5th February 1962 would not be a good one for marriages, this being a 'blind' year, that is to say a lunar year in which there is no first day of Spring, the first day of Spring in 1962 occurring before 5th February 1962 and the first day of Spring in 1963 occurring in the next lunar year. However that may be, the special arrangements made to cope with the rush to get married were so successful that unlike the previous year it was not necessary to extend the hours of marriage beyond 5 p.m.
72. Table XIX, introduced for the first time into this series of Reports, shows the ages or age groups of the husbands and wives married during the year as stated in the marriage certificates. This shows that 128 of the husbands and 1,676 of the wives were under 21 at the time of their marriage, and therefore required the consent of their parents or guardian or (in 23 cases) of the Registrar as laid down in Sections 15 and 16 of the Ordinance. In the case of wives the 20-25 age group was by far the most popular for marriage, almost half the year's marriages taking place with brides in this group; in the case of husbands, ages in the 26-30 group were commonest.
73. Section 39(2) of the Ordinance provides that the parties to a customary marriage may, if they so desire and provided they have not living any other undivorced spouse, contract with each other a marriage under the Ordinance, and that this shall not be deemed to prejudice the previous customary marriage. More and more people who have been married by customary marriage are availing themselves of this provision in order to get an official marriage certificate, and during the year no less than 950 marriages took place between parties already married by customary ceremonies of one kind or another. 46 of these marriages were performed at licensed places of worship, the remainder at the Registries.
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