Ancient Rome
Weddings in Ancient Rome were celebrated noisily and cheerfully. Girls were married off at the age of 14, but there were cases of earlier marriages at the age of 12-13. It was not easy for the ancient Romans to choose a wedding day, since many days were considered unfavorable. Weddings were usually celebrated in the middle or end of June, promising a happy life for the new family.
After the engagement, the bride put the ring on the finger of her left hand. On the same day, a marriage contract was drawn up. After this, the celebration of the wedding itself began. On the night before the wedding, the bride brought all her children's toys to the home altar and said goodbye to them; this ritual symbolized her entry into adult married life. When the wedding day arrived, the bride dressed up in white and red clothes and waited for the groom to arrive.
After the priest clarified whether the wedding day was successful, the marriage contract was signed and the newlyweds took each other’s hands to pray together to the gods. After the ceremony, guests and the newlyweds celebrated the wedding at the bride's house. And only then did the newly made husband and wife go to the house of the head of the family. The groom carried the bride over the threshold of his house in his arms. At this point the wedding celebration ended and family life began.
Wedding traditions of the peoples of the world
01 February 2012
Each of us has been to at least one wedding in our lives, so we have an idea of the usual set of wedding rituals that are popular in our country. However, if you dig a little deeper, you can find and apply (for example, at your own wedding) some outlandish way to diversify the celebration. There are as many traditions as there are countries, and every nation carefully preserves them, passing them on from generation to generation. Let's find out what's so interesting happens at their national wedding ceremonies. So:
In England, the wedding ceremony takes place in a church. The bride and her father walk down the aisle to the altar, where the groom is waiting for her, and a little girl walks in front of them, scattering flowers along the way so that the bride's life will be happy and filled with flowers. For good luck, brides sew some kind of amulet, for example, a small silver horseshoe, to the hem of their dress.
In France, newlyweds at a reception in their honor must drink wine from a goblet with two handles, which is called a coupe de marriage
There is a tradition in Bulgaria: when the bride and groom leave the holiday, instead of rice or wheat, they are showered with figs.
In Hungary, the entire village participates in the wedding procession. The groom gives the bride a bag of coins, and the bride gives the groom three or seven (both numbers are considered lucky) handkerchiefs. The Hungarians have a “money dance”: the bride puts her shoes in the middle of the room, and those who would like to dance with her must put a few coins in the shoes.
In Germany, on the evening before the wedding, the bride's friends come to the door of her house and break dishes and plates on the threshold as a sign of good luck. The next day during the ceremony, the bride puts bread and salt in her pocket, symbolizing abundance. The groom brings grain, which signifies wealth and good fortune. Guests lay fresh branches on the path along which the bride and groom will walk after the ceremony, so that the path of the newlyweds is paved with good luck, hope and wealth. For this, guests are given handkerchiefs so that they can wrap the food left over from the holiday in them.
Traditional African and African-American weddings are accompanied by the sounds of drums and national instruments. To publicly express their love for each other, young people jumped over a broom, which symbolized the beginning of married life. Many African Americans still practice this age-old custom during weddings. The bride wears shell beads as a symbol of purity and purity.
In Greece, while the bride and groom are dressing for their wedding, special songs are sung in their honor. The groom's godfather is the guest of honor who crowns the couple and leads them around the altar three times. On her wedding day, the bride puts a piece of sugar in her glove so that love will always be sweet. Friends and girlfriends dress in special clothes with the image of an eye, which protects the young couple from failure.
In India, marriage depends entirely on the decision of the groom's parents. They look for a suitable bride for their son and negotiate with her parents about a future marriage. Little depends on the girl: in the end, her parents can simply order her to marry even an unfamiliar young man, and she is obliged to obey. This is why Indian marriage is called “arranged marriage”. After an agreement between the parents, two meetings of the newlyweds are organized, called “ashir-vad” - “blessing” - first in the bride’s house and then in the groom’s house. At the same time, young people receive gifts from parents and relatives, and also give gifts to each other. On the wedding day, the bride and groom are not allowed to eat anything until the wedding ceremony begins. After the wedding ceremony is over, one of the male family members must shower the bride and groom with flower petals. This ritual symbolizes the protection of the young from evil spirits.
There are two wedding celebrations in Vietnam, one hosted by the groom's parents and the other by the bride.
In Bali, wedding customs are perhaps the strangest. During the celebrations, rituals of offerings to evil spirits are carried out so that they do not calm down and do not cause harm during the ceremony. One of these rituals is sawing off part of the teeth of young people without any anesthesia. It symbolizes that people do not belong to the world of evil spirits bearing fangs. Only women sit at the wedding table, because... the men, who had been preparing food for the feast all night, rest at this time.
In Kenya, the bride's hands and nails are painted with ritual patterns of black and red; the paint lasts for a whole year, symbolizing the woman’s new status.
In Italy, silk ribbons are tied in front of the doors of the church where the wedding takes place, which symbolizes the unbreakable bonds of marriage.
On the Caribbean islands of Barbados, Grenada and Santa Lucia, a huge “black” cake with dried fruits and rum is baked for weddings. The recipe, passed down from mother to daughter, includes flour, dark brown sugar, butter, eggs, cherries, raisins, prunes and currants. Dried fruits are soaked in rum and kept in a clay jug from two weeks to six months.
In Korea, the bride and groom wear traditional wedding dresses. For two thousand years, a wedding custom in Korea has been for newlyweds to wear hanbok, a traditional Korean costume with bright colors and simple lines. Ducks are always present at wedding ceremonies because ducks are faithful to each other throughout their lives. In the old days, geese were used instead of ducks.
In Scotland, all men invited to a wedding ceremony wear traditional Scottish Highlander attire: kilts made of tartan wool, jackets and long socks.
A Chinese bride receives small boxes of gold jewelry as a gift from her relatives. In China, the color of love and joy is red, so everything is usually red: the bride's dress, candles, gift boxes and envelopes with money. During the wedding ceremony, the bride and groom drink wine and honey from cups tied together with red braid.
In Japan, on the wedding day, the bride and her family go to visit the groom. Traditionally, the bride wears a triangular scarf on her head to hide the “horns of jealousy” that every woman is said to have. The bride and groom drink nine sips of sake (rice vodka) and according to tradition, after the first sip they become official husband and wife.
There are many other funny and incomprehensible marriage rituals and wedding traditions. But the main motive for marriage should always be love. A wedding is the most important and responsible decision in life, which you can diversify with any customs and rituals, and the wedding photographer from the Bright Frame studio will be very happy to help you capture this wonderful day.
Ancient Rus'
After Christianity became the official religion in Kievan Rus, the formation of a traditional wedding ceremony began.
Since it was not possible to completely eradicate paganism, a symbiosis of Christianity and pagan rituals resulted. After the 16th century, a clear ritual, wedding dresses, attributes and folklore developed, which have survived to this day. And the main innovation was the mandatory church consecration of marriage.
K. Makovsky. Down the aisle. Source: wikipedia.org
The ceremony took place in the evening, for which they put on the best dress and all the jewelry that was available. In the front door they prepared a table at which they awaited the arrival of the groom. Then the mother-in-law combed her hair and braided two braids, which symbolized a woman in marriage. After the blessings, the newlyweds went to the wedding; according to the rules, the groom had to arrive first. Only after the wedding could the couple kiss. When leaving, the newlyweds were showered with hops and flax seeds, with wishes of happiness. Afterwards, everyone headed to the husband’s house, where the celebration itself took place.
The ceremony itself was divided into several stages: pre-wedding customs (dating, bride viewing, maiden fortune-telling); pre-wedding customs (matchmaking, bridesmaids, collusion, bachelorette party, groom's gatherings), wedding rituals (bride ransom, wedding train, wedding, wedding feast) and post-wedding rituals (second day, visits).
Ancient Greece
The wedding rites of Ancient Greece differed from those of ancient Rome primarily in that the word of the bride had practically no significance in the choice of the groom, who was chosen by the bride's father. A girl was married off at the age of 15 to a groom who was about 30 years old or a little older, since this was the age that men considered the best and most mature.
As in Ancient Rome, in Greece the bride said goodbye to her toys, after which she took a bath. On the wedding day, the bride was dressed in white robes. Then the bride waited for the groom, who was supposed to come for her in a chariot and take her to his home. The wedding procession accompanied the newlyweds all the way to the groom's house. The groom introduced the bride to his mother and carried the girl over the threshold, after which the newlyweds ate a specially prepared wedding dish.
Wedding rituals of that time required that the newlyweds be showered with fruits for a well-fed and prosperous family life. The bride and groom went to the bedroom. The next morning, the bride's family came to the groom's house, and a family wedding celebration was organized, at which the newlyweds received gifts from relatives and friends.
Russian wedding
The most intensely dramatic ceremony of a bachelorette party is saying goodbye to the “red beauty”. For the last time, the girl's hair was braided into one braid. And the next day after the wedding in the church, the matchmaker already braided two braids (a symbol of marriage) and put on a young women’s headdress - a warrior or kika.
The bachelor party is a rather late tradition. The ancient Russian groom went to the bathhouse alone, and custom ordered him, on the contrary, to remain silent. But gradually the bachelor party also became a tradition.
Wedding stage
- Wedding day
- Wedding fees
In Rus', in the old days, a custom was observed - on the wedding day, the groom sent the bride, through a matchmaker or his aunt, a “groom’s box”, which contained a veil, wax flowers, wedding candles, wedding rings, a set of combs, perfume, needles, pins, etc. After the box was brought, the bride began to be dressed for the crown. The bride was dressed and combed by the groom, and the bridesmaids helped her. In noble families, a hairdresser was invited specifically for this purpose. There was a traditional custom according to which the bride’s shoes were put on by the “wedding boy” (her younger brother or another close relative). In merchant families, gold was placed in the bride's shoe. In rich families, the wedding boy not only put on the shoes of the bride who was about to attend the wedding, but also gave her gloves and a veil on a silver tray, accompanied her to the wedding carriage, carried her train, etc. By the time the groom arrived, the bride, as a rule, was already dressed in her wedding attire. In the groom's house, their own rituals were going on: in the morning, the mother combed her son's curls - after all, he, too, was saying goodbye to his bachelorhood. To protect the guy from the evil eye, the godmother sometimes cut out a tuft of hair from his head in a cross shape and set the cut areas on fire. They dressed the groom, like the bride, in everything new - a shirt embroidered by the bride, a belt woven by her. When dressing the groom for the wedding, the traditional role of the uncle (on the maternal side) was preserved. The uncle put a coin in the groom's right shoe or boot. The so-called ritual of the five devices was widespread. This ceremony was performed separately both in the groom's house and in the bride's house. Only five people took part in it: mother, father, groom (bride), matchmaker or aunt, best man (friend). About an hour before leaving for the wedding, the table was set for five places. The parents blessed the groom (bride) with the icon, then the usual ceremony took place: everyone walked around the table, after which they began a light snack.
- 2 Wedding train and bride ransom
On the eve of the wedding, his guests gathered for the groom, as well as for the bride, her guests, who were supposed to form a train, both of them feasted.
The wedding train departed for the bride from the groom's house. After the general prayer, there was a ritual of blessing the groom to go after the bride and then to the crown. A friend, sometimes a matchmaker, called everyone present, starting with the parents, by their first and patronymic names. The groom bowed to each person blessing three times and thanked him. The departure of the train was accompanied by rituals pursuing a magical goal - to protect oneself from evil spirits and ensure the birth of children in a new family. Those leaving drank home-made beer or wine, and they were showered with hops and oats. The friend with the icon walked around the wedding train and sprinkled people and horses with holy water. After completing the required rituals, the train went to the bride.
At the entrance to the village (if the groom was from another) and on the way to the bride’s house, the villagers blocked the road for the wedding train and demanded a ransom. My friend always paid. It was widely used to block the street in the groom's path with a log laid on special trestles. At the log there is a heroic outpost: the bride’s younger brother with his friends and relatives of the bride. The Bogatyrskaya outpost did not allow the wedding procession to pass through, forcing the groom and his groomsmen to show their brave prowess, for example, sawing through a log in ten minutes. Jokes rained down, laughter was heard: “Look, it seems like the groom has taken an ax in his hands for the first time, holding the edge, chopping with an axe.” When the log was sawn, they did not skimp on praise, bringing water to wash and a towel to dry off. The road was cleared, and the groom's train rushed further to the bride's house, where new obstacles awaited him.
When the groom arrived at his destination, the gates and doors to the house were already closed by the bride's relatives and neighbors. In many traditions, the bride's matchmaker would chalk the road in front of the house before the wedding train arrived. The groom and his groomsmen had to knock for a long time. When the groom and groomsmen found themselves in the yard, it was always full of children, and they all had to be given a ransom - sweets. And then the bride’s older brother or one of the relatives of a “respectable” age stood in the way. He asked the groom riddles. If earlier the strength and generosity of the groom were tested, now - mental abilities. Usually no more than three riddles were asked. The groom's friend helped him guess. If both experienced difficulties, kind people were always there and suggested the answer. The groom triumphantly climbed onto the porch and entered the house. Now it was necessary to present gifts to all the bridesmaids. He usually dealt with this easily. But the bride still had to be found. In front of the groom, girls sat on a bench, covered with large identical scarves. Which one is the bride? I had to guess and not be embarrassed. There were cases when the groom lifted his scarf, thinking that underneath it was his betrothed, but it turned out to be a wrinkled old woman. Therefore, the groom walked along the row, taking a closer look at everything - height, shape of shoulders, shoes on his feet...
When all the obstacles were behind, it was supposed to seat the groom at the table under the icon in the princely place. The groom had to buy it from the man or boy who was sitting next to the bride. The latter, having received a few coins, gave up his place, and the groom sat next to the bride on the same pillow as her. The hosts invited guests to the table.
Before leaving for the crown of the newlyweds
The girl’s parents blessed her with the icon and bread. Her father put her right hand in the groom’s hand with the words: “Sing, feed, put on shoes, dress, send her to work and don’t give offense!” The bride, leaving home, wailed, even if she liked the marriage. “You’ll cry at the post if you don’t cry at the table,” said the proverb.
- Wedding
Weddings among the Slavs in the pre-Christian period were usually held either in spring or autumn against the backdrop of nature. The bride and groom, accompanied by young people, walked to a meadow or forest clearing. There they were dressed in lush wreaths of flowers, danced around a birch tree decorated with ribbons, sang ritual songs and played funny games.
The wedding ceremony itself consisted in the fact that the bride and groom were led around an oak tree, spruce tree or spreading bush, as evidenced by the proverb that has survived to this day: “one gets engaged, gets married around a broom bush.”
With the advent of Christianity, folk weddings were replaced by church weddings - a marriage ceremony according to the rite of the Orthodox Church. The wedding always took place in the temple. A wedding cannot take place during fasting, on the eve of fasting days and some religious holidays. The wedding ceremony consists of the betrothal and the wedding itself. During the betrothal, the priest, while performing the established prayers, asks the newlyweds about their voluntary consent to marry and puts on consecrated rings for them. During the wedding, the church choir sings, the priest blesses the common cup, and then the newlyweds drink wine diluted with water from it three times. The sacred shroud and crowns are placed on the heads of the bride and groom, the priest joins their hands and circles the lectern three times, then the young people exchange wedding rings.
While the wedding was underway, the wedding train (already single) was decorated with ribbons, flowers and bells.
The wedding train, ringing bells and strewing the pavement with petals, first passed through the central streets, then circled the city, and only after that headed to the house where a ball or party with a wedding table was to take place.
Ancient China
In those days, a Chinese man could have as many women as he wanted and could afford. Situations where the young concubine was a teenager, while the husband was an ancient old man, were in the order of things.
Poor families often sold their young daughters to rich families in order to get some money and also to get rid of the useless women in the family.
Marriages arranged by parents were also common. The young people got married because their parents decided so. Sometimes young people saw each other for the first time at their own wedding. Arranged marriages were also common: the wedding was organized even before the birth of the children with the consent of the parents on both sides.
Modern China
Today, Chinese young people choose and marry those they love. However, in order to show your respect for the parents of the other party, official permission from the parents for the wedding must be obtained in advance.
One of the wedding customs is preparing a dowry. The bride's family buys various things that will be useful to the new family. The wedding should be held on a day that symbolizes goodness and good energy.
Wedding. Source: wikipedia.org
— The groom arrives at the house of the bride’s parents and greets his future relatives. The couple then heads to the house of the groom's parents, where the newlyweds greet his parents together.
— At the banquet, the newlyweds must drink half a glass of wine from a glass tied with a ribbon. Then the newlyweds change hands and drink the other half of the wine.
According to modern Chinese traditions, young people choose each other out of love.
- In some provinces of China, fish is served at the banquet table, which should not be eaten entirely - this symbolizes a good beginning and end to marriage.
— After the banquet, the friends of the newlyweds continue the night with games and dancing.
What are the wedding customs for the parents of the bride and groom?
As already mentioned, parents can stage a slingshot at a wedding, but there are a number of other unifying ceremonies. The first thing the bride's parents should do is give their blessing for the marriage . To do this, the father leads the bride to the groom standing at the altar, and dances with her at the banquet.
Parents at the wedding
Classic wedding traditions for the groom's parents include him dancing with his mother and godmother. It's a good idea to style these dances in one or more of the following ways:
- slideshow of children's photographs;
- sparklers;
- candles;
- confetti.
The ceremony of marrying families is usually called the ceremony of the family hearth , although all guests can participate in it
For this purpose, candles are distributed to all married people so that everyone can convey a piece of their family hearth and warmth to the newlyweds. Newlyweds blow out the lights and make wishes in honor of the family's first birthday.
The parents are the last to present the candles; they are, as it were, presenting the family hearth for the wedding. For a long time, only the mother of the bride participated in the ceremony. She passed a coal from her stove to her daughter so that she could cook dinner for the first time in her new home. In modern times, the groom’s mother also joins in on this.
Lighting up the family hearth
Parents' participation at their son's wedding mainly occurs in the banquet part of the event. In addition to the usual toasts with stories from life, they can sing , thereby fitting into the framework of a European wedding.
Why do they shout “Bitter” at a wedding? In this way, parents and guests express sadness over the passing of a bachelor. According to Russian traditions, invitees must meet the bride at the home of the bride or groom, and not at the restaurant. Each family decides how to see the newlyweds out of their parents’ house in their own way. You can listen to wedding signs, or you can simply wish the newlyweds a good journey in their new family life from the bottom of their hearts.
Parents escort the bride and groom
When wondering who should pay for a wedding according to tradition, it is necessary to turn to the Slavic rule about dowries. Since the parents agreed on the wedding themselves, they paid for the celebration. Depending on the value of the bride's property, the groom's parents were charged a fee. Today, in this matter, everything is individual.
England
In England, many rituals associated with entering the church have survived to this day. The bride and groom, for example, had to jump over a bench placed across the entrance to the church, which signified overcoming obstacles in family life.
There is a legend that in the mid-19th century, at one of the weddings in Leicestershire, the bride's brother, when returning home from church, threw a huge old shoe onto the road from the wedding carriage. The bridesmaids, in elegant dresses, rushed onto the dusty road and it was the one who first grabbed the shoe who soon got married.
Japan
Previously, in Japanese family relationships, love played the last role. Marriage, depending on the era and the head of the government, was a way to maintain social status and prolong the family line, and in the times of the samurai, a means for creating military and clan alliances.
The Japanese organize weddings in special centers where Buddhist, Shinto or Christian customs are combined. The wedding itself is an expensive pleasure. For example, a bride’s outfit is a real work of art, since gold and silver thread is used in sewing, and gold and silver powder is used when dyeing fabric.
Wedding. Source: wikipedia.org
It is customary to have a wedding in the summer; this is an ancient tradition that has survived to this day. Therefore, all modern calendars are full of happy dates for marriage.
USA
In the USA, a wedding is a business. Future newlyweds practically do not prepare for the wedding celebration on their own, and all pre-wedding matters are taken care of by employees of wedding agencies. After a young man proposes to his girlfriend, an engagement ceremony is held, at which it is customary to give a diamond ring. Only after this the couple in love officially becomes the bride and groom. Between engagement and wedding usually takes from six months to 2 years. During this time, preparations for the wedding take place.
Six months before the wedding, the bride and groom begin sending out invitations to the celebration. Invitations in the USA are very different from Russian ones. Firstly, usually the young people themselves come up with their design - it’s not just a postcard indicating the date and place, but a whole package of messages. The time and place of the celebration, the possibility of renting a hotel, as well as a list of desired gifts are indicated here. In addition, an additional envelope and a card are included in the envelope, which must be returned before the specified time, indicating whether the invited guest will be at the wedding or not.
Wedding. Source: wikipedia.org
A month before the celebration, the bride and groom have a bachelor party and a bachelorette party, respectively. The bride's friends come to the bachelorette party with gifts. This is a long tradition, dating back to the first settlers.
Great Russian Weddings:
Essay
Wedding ceremonies and customs
Demin Alexander 10 "B"
It seems that there is not a single more solemn feast in the world that can be compared with a wedding ceremony. Each nation has its own views and customs on the marriage ceremony. But both young men and women in our Rus' (from the common people), despite all the simplicity of their simple way of life, understand what an eternal connection means - bestowed by a crown: a connection with an unrecognized person, often completed by a crown - inextricably the end of one or the other's life. All girls understand this before marriage, but they count on marriage like a lottery, which is known to be not always reliable.
In different countries of northern Russia, wedding ceremonies are very diverse and numerous, to the point that they generally present extremely vivid pictures, and, moreover, very diverse in their characteristics. Here the most complete ethnographic picture with its beliefs and rituals is presented, and most importantly, here the symbol and allegory of rituals are reflected that are already lost in the folk sense and exist only by execution, as customs.
The custom of kidnapping girls: This custom, according to Nestor, existed among the Russian Slavs, for example: among the Radomichs, Vitechs, Severians there were games between villages, that is, between fields, and not between villages; here, during games, songs and dances, men chose brides for themselves and took them to their homes.
Headdress of the newlywed: It is known that in Russia, the newlyweds put a kokoshnik, kokuy or kika on their head, unravel the braid in two, with well-known songs. This custom, apparently, was adopted from the Tatars. Among the Germans, it was customary for the newlywed not to let her hair down, but to tie it on her head and cover it with a cap. For Russians, the veil represents, and still does, a symbol of bashfulness and modesty. From this we can conclude that all our ancient rituals, partly disappeared, partly existing today, do not have the full character of news or originality, but rather borrowing through influence from other peoples.
Voiced Wedding Lamentations: There is a superstition that the bride should cry on her bachelorette party and before the wedding, based on old sayings. In some areas, to this day, there are lamentations like this, for example, in Verkhovozhsky Posad, a bride, covered with a veil, sits on an elevated place among her maiden friends with a skillful lamentation and begins to lament, that is, say in a melodious voice decent words or greetings to her father and mother, brothers , sisters and all relatives, says goodbye to her home and, if she is extradited to a foreign land, then to her friends.
Wedding signs and precautions: Weddings, as you know, most often take place either on Christmastide or near Semik.
At least this is how Krasnaya Gorka in the spring and the Christmas holidays are explained. It should be noted that all wedding ceremonies were, and are still accompanied by, various kinds of precautions against a dashing eye, or a dashing person. Tags: Wedding ceremonies and customs Abstract Tourism
