Everyday Life
Can a married woman worship her husband's ancestors before visiting her birth family on the second day of Lunar New Year?
English translation draft · Based on the Chinese article. This is not a word-for-word translation approved by Master Shengyuan.
Before visiting your birth family on the second day of Lunar New Year, you can first worship your husband's ancestors according to the family's usual arrangements. For example, changing the tea offerings and worshipping the ancestors in the morning before leaving seems perfectly normal to me. There is no need to assume doing this on the second day is wrong.
Some say that the second day is for returning to your birth family and worshipping its ancestors, and that remaining only with your husband's family to worship seems disrespectful to your own. From the husband's family's perspective, however, they may feel a daughter-in-law should worship their ancestors after marrying into the family. If both become rigid rules, she is put in a difficult position where everything seems wrong.
Worshipping first when you return to your birth family and then eating with them is one way to express respect. Understand what each side cares about and discuss arrangements with your family. These matters can be considered together within daily life. You do not need to keep guessing whether you have broken a taboo.