Most of us in the United States are familiar with a long list of wedding traditions, from throwing the bouquet to cutting the cake to showering the new couple with rice as they make their getaway. To us, it seems a wedding is hardly a wedding unless these traditions are observed. It should come as no surprise, however, that other nations and cultures have their own unique wedding customs, just as revered and cherished as our own.
We’re dusting off the atlas to compile for you this international tour of wedding traditions around the globe. Perhaps your wedding is going to be held outside the United States. Or you might be considering a "getaway wedding" -- just the two of you (and maybe a few loved ones) flying off to parts unknown for the ceremony. Or perhaps you’d like to include another culture’s wedding traditions to celebrate your ethnic or cultural heritage. Whatever the reason, including these traditions in your ceremony can add the personal touch that will make your wedding truly unique.
A F R I C A,
and African-American Traditions
Forget Beethoven and the string quartet: traditional African weddings are accompanied by the resonant sounds of drums and instruments like the African korea, similar to a guitar. The music also often includes chants and movement, such as traditional West-African dances that symbolically celebrate the union of husband and wife, and their two families. There is also the libation ceremony, in which holy water is poured onto the floor as prayers to the family ancestors are recited and the guests respond by shouting "Aye," which is Swahili for "So it shall be." Evil spirits that might intrude on the ceremony are kept at bay by the burning of incense.
In Kenya, artists paint the bride’s hands and nails with an intricate henna (a blackish-red dye) design; the stain endures for one year, an outward emblem of her newlywed status.
Africans forcibly relocated to the United States as slaves faced challenges on every front -- including the right to celebrate their wedding rituals. Thus, in the United States, African-Americans covertly initiated the tradition of the bride and groom jumping over a broom as the expression of their union. In her book "Jumping the Broom," author Harriette Cole further explains the origin and significance of this ritual. "The broom itself held spiritual significance for many African peoples, representing the beginning of homemaking for a couple. For the Kgatla people of southern Africa, it was customary, for example, on the day after the wedding for the bride to help the other women in the family to sweep the courtyard clean, thereby symbolizing her willingness and obligation to assist in housework at her in-laws’ residence until the couple moved to their own home." This poignantly beautiful ritual is still celebrated by many African-American couples as a part of the marriage ceremony.
B U L G A R I A
In Bulgaria, the tradition is to throw, not rice or birdseed, but figs at the bride and groom as they make their getaway!
C H I N A
During the wedding ceremony, the bride and groom drink wine and honey from goblets tied together with red string -- the red color signifying love and joy.
F R A N C E
In France, the new husband and wife drink a toast from a two-handled cup -- a coupe de marriage -- at their reception.
G E R M A N Y
Germany’s wedding traditions include the very colorful Polterabend ritual. Friends of the bride come to her front door the evening before the wedding and smash plates and dishes on her doorstep! The broken pieces are thought to bring good luck to the bride. (With friends like that, she could probably use some luck!) Despite the mess, it is still considered a benevolent gesture, and traditionally the bride invites the plate smashers in for a glass of wine or some cake to thank them.
The next day, during the ceremony, the bride carries salt and bread in her pocket to bless the union with plenty, which, if nothing else, leads one to wonder: do German wedding dresses have pockets? The groom carries grain, for wealth and good fortune. Guests lay fresh fir branches along the path that the bride and groom walk as they exit the ceremony, in the wish that their way be paved with hope, luck, and fertility. In return, the guests are given handkerchiefs so that they can wrap up leftover food to take home.
G R E E C E
The Greeks have a number of charming wedding traditions. The bride and groom are serenaded with traditional songs as they get dressed for the wedding, and the groom gives the bride her bouquet at the beginning of the ceremony. Historically, the function of wedding attendants is to scare off evil spirits. In Greece, this takes the form of the attendants wearing a traditional charm representing an eye that protects the couple from bad luck.
Greek wedding receptions are filled with dancing, including a variation on the "money dance" in which guests dance with both the bride and the groom and pin money on their clothes. And, at the wedding in some rural parts of Greece, the couple’s wedding bed is prepared with a baby rolling ceremony in which babies are gently rolled on the mattress to bring fertility to the union.
H U N G A R Y
In Hungary, an entire village will participate in a wedding procession, going to the bride’s home and then escorting her to the groom’s house or the church. The Hungarians also have their version of the money dance: the bride places her shoes in the middle of the dance floor and those who would pay for a chance to dance with her place their money there.
I N D I A
To ward off evil, a male family member, usually the groom’s brother, spreads flower petals over the couple at the end of the ceremony.
J A P A N
In Japan, the bride and groom take nine sips of sake (rice wine); tradition states that after the first sip they are officially husband and wife.
M E X I C O
A romantic tradition from Mexico: before the couple begins their first dance as husband and wife, guests form a heart-shaped ring around them.
N A T I V E A M E R I C A N
T R A D I T I O N S
Among the Navajo, the traditional bride’s dress includes four colors, each representing a direction of the compass: black for the north, blue for the south, orange for the west, and white for the east. During the ceremony the couple would face east, in the direction from which the sun rises, to represent their new beginning.
P O L A N D
In traditional villages, friends and neighbors weave a wreath of rosemary leaves for the bride’s hair, symbolizing remembrance. The Polish version of the money dance has guests pin money on the bride to buy a dance. In another cash-friendly Polish tradition, the bride and groom stand in the middle of a circle made by the guests. The groom takes off the bride’s veil and the guests throw in money in lieu of the gifts they might otherwise have purchased.
P O R T U G A L
In the Portuguese variation of the money dance, the bride’s shoe is passed around and her dance partners make their contributions.
P U E R T O R I C O
Puerto Rican tradition includes the placement of a doll at the newlyweds’ table, as a symbol of fertility.
S C O T L A N D
It is a Scottish tradition for the groom to symbolically welcome the bride into his family or clan by draping a shawl or sash in his clan’s tartan, fastened with a silver pin of traditional Scottish design, over her shoulders just after they have exchanged vows.
S P A I N
While red is a symbolic color in Chinese wedding, orange is the color of great meaning in Spanish weddings. It is a tradition for a Spanish bride to carry a bouquet that includes orange blossoms, or to wear some in her hair. Although explanations of the origin of this tradition vary, it is thought that the flowers of the orange blossom tree, because it is an evergreen, represent everlasting love. Orange blossoms are also said to represent chastity and purity.
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