Wedding Rituals From Around the World

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Wedding traditions in Armenia focus strongly on symbolism and beautiful ritual. While modern Western civilizations like brides to wear a tried and true white dress to symbolize the purity of the bride, Armenian brides prefer to wear a red silk dress or gown on her wedding day. Again going against Western standards, the bride’s headpiece of far more unique than a simple shimmering tiara. The headpiece is usually constructed from cardboard or some other sturdy but shapeable material to resemble a set of wings, flowing from her head atop of her styled hair. The wing shapes are even covered with white feathers once the configuration is complete. After the ceremony itself, the releasing of a pair of doves to symbolize happiness and love is very favored. The bride and groom enter the reception to great fanfare as the wedding party (both bridesmaids and groomsmen) line up with each other and hold tall floral arrangements aloft to create a type of arch of beautiful flowers and favored people that the couple walks though. To signify wealth for the couple, guests at the wedding throw coins at the bride during the reception as well.

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The South American country of Venezuela has its own special wedding traditions. Family is a very important in these bonding ceremonies as it is believed that the bride and groom are being united in addition to the families forming deep ties themselves through the union. The groom must ask the permission of his beloved’s father before proposing to her if he is to have the blessing of her family. The couple usually will have two ceremonies for a complete wedding—a civil ceremony and a religious ceremony. Generally, the civil ceremony will take place first at roughly two weeks before the religious one. A party feast and reception follows both of the ceremonies, but the religious wedding seems to be bigger in terms of the celebrations. During the ceremony itself, to show the strong bonds being formed by the families in addition to the bride and groom, the families of the couple with exchange thirteen gold coins called arras as a way to symbolize good fortune and prosperity to both of the families through the union of the bride and groom. The coins may also be exchanged by the couple themselves during the ceremony. For good luck during the final reception though, the newlyweds will sneak away without saying goodbye to their guests as a way to bless their union.

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Marriage is a very serious endeavor in Iceland. Long engagements of three to four years are considered to be normal as the couple is not rushed into the union. Modern Icelanders have adopted the Western wedding traditions, but the traditional rituals can still be seen by some couples who wish to honor their heritage. A unique ritual is the announcement of the couple’s engagement three times—once at the groom’s church, once at the bride’s, and then once at the church in which they were to be married. Toastmasters were vital to these elaborate wedding ceremonies though as the wedding festivities would usually begin a day before the actual ceremony with feasting, drinking, and plenty of toasts representative of blessings, poems, and stories of the couple.

If you liked these interesting and unusual wedding rituals of different cultures and nations from around the world, you’ll probably like reading on Insane Marriage Rituals From Around the World on Weird Worm.

Author: Brooke Windsor — Copyrighted © roadtickle.com