The wedding dress
The saying 'white and radiante is the bride' were not used a couple of decades ago because the european women used to use red dresses and even black dresses to get married, ofcourse today we use white wich is associated with purenes and virginity and was put into style in 1840 by queen victoria who used this color to get married.
Somethig old, Something new, Something lent and Something Blue
this old tradition has been kept till today. the old simbolises the connection the bride has with the past, Somehting new the new life the couple are going to start
Something lent was the belief that you could attract happynes with something lent by a friend that was happy and something blue its origing comes from the dark ages in an age of great supersticion.
Today almos all of the traditions are used however many have lost its simbolism.
Wedding Rings
Traditional symbol of the illimited or eternity. The ritual of the rings in weddings was taken from the pagan ritual of the Romans and it refers to fidelity.
The giving away of the bride
in the middle ages the daughters were considered "the property" of their fathers. when a daughter was going to get married the father in essese gave away the property, to the husband. Today the act of giving away the daughter in the altar simbolisas the blessing of the father.
Throwing rice
New tradition imported from Asia. Rice is considered symbol of fertility in the weddings the guests throw rice at the couple in hopes that they will be blessed with many children.
The veil of the bride
Originaly menat the taking away of the old life, Virginity, Inocence, virtue of the bride. the simbolism of the veil has been lost, but the veil still remains. In some cultures from the orient the veil is used to hide the face of a bride that has never seen the husband.
The bride on the left hand of the husband
there was a time not to long a go when a woman needed the permision of her father or brother to get married and sometimes a man would fall in love with a woman and they would elope or he would take her.
To defend himself from beign attacked the man neede to take out as fast as posibble from his right side his pistol, and that is why he would have the bride on his left.
The Witneses
The Romans were the firs to introduce the concept of witneses to weddings, they were given the task to validate the wedding and there were only two who had a social responsablility to the state.
The church adopted the system but left open the amount of witneses. now the best mand and woman have a moral responsability.
Pearls
Pearls in any of the jewlry that she wears is considered bad luck because they simbolise tears, so if a bride uses pearls it means that she will be disgraced in her matrimony.
the throwing of the flowers
In France a custom happende where the guests would run after the bride and take her bouquet of flowers, so as to avoid this gross display the brides started to throw the flowers, as time went by this tradition was added to the ceremony.
The Honey Moon.
In antuquety, it was the druids who started the practice of the Honey moon, The wedding of the druids were only celebrated on a full moon and after the wedding the couple would drink honey liquor for 30 days, thus the days after the wedding would be know as the honey moon.
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