Wedding Traditions
The Wedding
The wedding is one of life's unchanged rites of passage. Nearly all of the customs we observe today are merely echoes of the past.
Up to and during the Middle Ages, weddings were considered family/community affairs. The only thing needed to create a marriage was for both partners to state their consent to take one another as spouses. No witnesses, no clergy.
During the Medieval period, the wedding ceremony moved from the bride's house to the church for vows and Mass followed by a musical feast.
The Wedding Party
During the "marriage by capture" era, close friends of the groom-to-be assisted him when he kidnapped the bride from her family. Bridesmaids and maids of honor became more common when weddings were planned assisting the bride with the flowers, and decorating for the wedding feast.
Bridesmaids and ushers dressed similarly to the bride and groom so if evil spirits or jealous suitors attempted to harm the newlyweds, they would be confused as to which two people were the bride and groom.
The Rings
In Medieval times, the groom would pay for the bride's hand in marriage with precious stones as a symbol of his intent to marry. Today they come on an engagement ring. Wedding bands were first made of grass which gave way to leather, then stone, then metal, and finally to gold and silver symbolizing the love and bond between husband and wife
Wedding Flowers
Before the use of flowers in the bridal bouquet, women carried aromatic bunches of garlic, herbs, and grains to drive evil spirits away. Over time, these were replaced with flowers, symbolizing fertility and everlasting love.
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.
This good luck saying dates back to Victorian times. Something old represents the link with the bride's family and the past. Something new represents good fortune and success in the bride's new life. Something borrowed is to remind the bride that friends and family will be there for her when help is needed. Something blue is the symbol of faithfulness and loyalty.
The Wedding Cake
Originally, the cake was not eaten by but thrown at the bride! It developed as one of the many fertility traditions surrounding a wedding. Early Roman bakers changed the "throw it" to the "eat it" tradition creating small, sweet cakes that were eaten while the service was in progress. In the 1660's a French chef came up with the idea for the iced, multi-tiered wedding cake.
Shoes Tied to Car Bumper Brides' shoes once were considered to be symbols of authority and possession and taken from her when she was led to the wedding place, and given to the groom by her father, affecting the transfer of his authority to her husband and as a sign that the husband now had possession of her.
Horn Honking
This tradition had its beginnings in the days when brides traveled in open carriages. They were an easy target for evil spirits, so defenders would use bells and firecrackers to scare them away.
Honeymoons
In ancient times, the Teutonic people began the practice of the honeymoon. Teutonic weddings were only held under the full moon. After the wedding, the bride and groom would drink honey wine for one full moon cycle (thirty days). This "moon" (i.e., "month") became known as the "honey moon."
