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Wedding Customs and Traditions
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| The Bridal Party | Weddings started, not as a religious service, but one strictly of folk festival. As religion became organized, the union of people was deemed a rite of the church, where to many the holy blessings made the service more meaningful and complete.
The most popular form of obtaining a wife in the ancient times was marriage by capture. The young man in search for a wife would bring some of his male friends with him to insure a successful kidnapping. The young girl would surround herself with her female friends, to protect herself from being captured. Today, these friends are the bridal attendants.
A special friend in the ancient times, would stay with the young maiden and protect her day and night. This special privilege is now given as the duties of planning the wedding, showers and parties.
A special friend of the young man would be chosen to act as a go-between and arranger between the bride's family and himself. He would also handle all the financial arrangements concerning the marriage. Today, we know this chosen friend as the best man. | | The Engagement Ring | | As civilization changed the marriage by capture to the early business arrangement, an engagement ring was presented as a sign of commitment to the purchase of a bride. Today, the engagement ring still signifies commitment and consent between the couple. | | The Wedding Gown | | The wedding gown came about when the new American rich were trying to show off their new-found wealth by extravagant display of abundance. Before this time, wedding dresses were any and every color. They were made with the idea that they would be worn as a special dress by the new bride for all future parties and social functions. | | The Bridal Veil and Headpiece | A bridal veil is descendant from two sources. A woman's face that was covered by a veil meant that she was spoken for. A veil was used to disguise the bride so that she would not be recognized by the evil spirits and harm the couple.
The idea of the headpiece came to fashion when the Princess Eugenie was married to Napoleon and wore a diamond tiara.
A young bride always wore her hair long and loose as a sign of her youth and innocence. | | The Wedding Ring | The wedding ring in ancient times indicated a rope tied to the woman to subdue her. The left hand was chosen because it is supposed to be weaker than the right, a further sign of submission.
In the 19th century, a more romantic reason for wearing the wedding ring on the left hand was that the forth finger on the left hand supposedly had a vein that lead to the heart. The circular shape, of course, represented eternity and consistent love. At the end of the century new American wealth introduced the double ring ceremony to add more splendor to the wedding service and indicating consistant love between both partners. | | Throwing of Rice | | Throwing of seed-bearing plants and grains at the newly married couple was done as a sign of wishing them fertility and fruitfulness. In America, rice is thrown, in France they throw wheat and in Greece they throw nuts and dates. | | The Honeymoon | In ancient times the wedding night consisted of public participation where the male attendants helped the bride and groom undress and the young men would fight over the bridal garters as a wedding momento. The garters were then worn by the groomsmen in their hatbands as you would a feather as a sign of winning the garters.
After the bride and groom were undressed, they would sit in bed and the groomsmen and bridesmaids would toss the stockings that the bride and groom had just removed at the the married couple as they sat in bed. The person that tossed the stockings that landed on the bride or groom would be the next to marry. The bride would also toss her bouquet to all the single girls and the one who was lucky and caught it was to be the next to marry. |
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