Wedding Customs from Around the World
Wedding
traditions and customs vary from one country to another, but
each one is special and celebrates the marriage bond of the
newly weds.
Belgium
Wearing
White, Giving Flowers, and Throwing
Rice
In my country, the bride always, or almost always, wears a
white dress. The man comes to the house of the bride and
give her her bouquet of flowers (also in white or other
light colors). They go to the church and the man is inside
when the father of the bride brings her to her future
husband. And at the end, when they come out, the family
throws rice on them.
Jolien Debonne from Belgium
Brazil
Important
Details of the Wedding
Ceremony
A wedding ceremony in Brazil has many important details. For
example, the bridegroom can't see the bride wearing her
wedding dress before the ceremony. The bride has to use
something old, something new, and something that is
borrowed. One more detail is that the rings should be
engraved: the name of the bridegroom on the bride's ring and
vice-versa.
María
Celina Brandao
How
to Cause a Rainy Wedding
Day
If a future bride eats directly from the pot, it will rain
on her wedding day.
Renata
Pauperio
China
Exchanging
Handkerchiefs and Wishing Each Other Good
Luck
In China, every new couple needs to go to a park to have a
video made before the evening party starts. If a new couple
meets in a park, the bride and bridegroom should exchange a
new handkerchief and wish each other good luck. It has to be
red and have a picture of mandarin ducks. Because ducks
always stay together, it means they will stay together. We
have this custom so they share happiness and congratulate
each other. Traditionally, the more happiness you share, the
more good luck you get. So, don't forget to prepare these
handkerchiefs by hand when you are going to get married.
Conghong
Lu
One
of the Interesting Things in a Chinese Wedding
Ceremony
In traditional Chinese wedding ceremony, a couple always has
jokes played on them by their friends or guests. For
example, during the ceremony an apple is hung with a thread
before the couple. Then people who attend their wedding ask
the bride and groom to bite the apple at the same time in
order to show they love each other. However, at the moment
their lips touch it, one of their friends suddenly pulls it
away and the couple's lips meet and they have a big kiss
instead of biting the apple before them. Interestingly, this
action or behavior always causes a loud laugh.
Cheng
Limin
Colombia
The
Candle Ceremony
There
is a traditional custom in Colombian Christian weddings.
After the ring ceremony, the groom and the bride each has to
light a candle. This custom has a special meaning. Each
lighted candle represents the life of each one. After that,
they light another candle together and put out the first
candle of each one, leaving only the one that they lit as a
couple. This bright candle means that now they are the same
body and they are going to share every moment of their
lives.
María
Lopez
The
Candle Ceremony
In a Christian ceremony in Colombia there is the "candle
ceremony" after the ring ceremony where the groom has to
light the candle on his left and the bride lights the candle
on her right. When they both have their candles lit, they
put them together and light the candle in the middle. Then
they have to put out their own candles and this means they
become just one body for the rest of their
lives.
Jimena
Baquero
Eastern
Europe
Asking
the Girl's Father for
Permission
In my country, the engagement is an event previous to the
wedding. One month before the wedding, the groom asks the
girl's father for permission to take the girl out of her
family house. He goes to her house early in the morning with
a band, if he can afford the expense. All the neighbors come
to see the new bride and to tell her something nice.
Stoyan
Grigorou
El
Salvador
Escorting
the Bride to the Church
All the wedding ceremonies around the world try to express
different things through different ceremonies. For some
reason, in some places in El Salvador, when a wedding is
celebrated, the wedding ceremony service starts without the
bride. The groom and all the people who have been invited to
the ceremony are waiting for her during the
service.
When the
wedding ceremony service starts, a group of seven men goes
to the bride's home. The bride and her family are waiting
for seven white cars which escort the bride's car until they
arrive at the church. Finally, the bride enters the church
and then the nuptial song starts playing.
Walter
E. Hernández
Germany
Polterabend--the
Evening with Lots of Broken
Porcelain
Some days before the wedding, friends and relatives bring
old porcelain and kitchenware to throw on the ground in
front of bride and groom. This is supposed to grant them a
happy, lucky life; that's why this evening event is called
Polterabend--the evening with lots of broken
porcelain. The German proverb--Scherben bringen
Glück--which can be translated as "Broken crockery
brings you luck." is derived from this custom. The
Polterabend often develops into an informal and
casual party.
Ulrike
Gahn
India
A
Marriage of Two Families, Not Just Two
People
In the Sikh faith (East Indian) some weddings are arranged
and others are love marriages. When a couple are to be wed
it is considered a marriage of two families not just two
people. The bride traditionally wears red (white signifies
death in our culture) and the groom wears a traditional
cream colored long coat called an etchkin with a red
turban. The father of the bride joins the bride to the groom
by handing her one end of a cloth that is held by the groom.
The groom leads the bride 4 times around our holy book with
the help of the bride's brothers and cousins. After the
fourth round the couple are considered married. Priests give
blessings and advise the couple on how to live and love in
their new lives together. The couple are two bodies with one
soul...
Nicky
Dale
Indonesia
Receiving
a Holy Shower
In Java, the bride and the groom mustn’t meet each
other on this day because that would bring them bad luck. In
this photo, I was receiving a holy shower with water and
flowers from my mother.
Kartika
Sinclair
Iran
Tradition
of the "Grinding Girl"
In my country Iran, there are very many different traditions
associated with marriage which should be very strictly
observed, otherwise bad luck is sure to ensue soon. For
instance, on the night before the marriage ceremony, three
or four unmarried girls hold a clean white cloth on the
heads of the bride and bridegroom while they are sitting on
a sofa or on the ground. Then one of the girls start to
grind two big nuggets of sugar together. As she does that,
she asks God to repel all evil spirits from the life of the
newly married couple. Before this, the families of the girl
and the boy should make sure that the "Grinding Girl" is
very trustworthy and decent. This will also provides the
young unmarried girls with the chance to get married in the
coming years!
Mahmood
Azizi
Japan
A
Wine Ceremony Symbolizes
Dedication
A Shinto wedding has a typical ceremony. A couple drinks
Japanese rice wine in front of a priest. First, the bride
drinks the wine from a small cup. Next, the bride passes the
cup to the groom and he also drinks the wine from the cup.
They try to drink wine three times. This ceremony means that
they promise to be dedicated each other.
Maki
Kubo
Korea
Tossing
the Bridal Bouquet and Giving nuts and
Jujube
Many young people get married western style in Korea. That
is, women wear a short dress, and men wear a new western
suit. The bride throws her wedding bouquet back over her
shoulder, and the girl who catches it is the one who is
going to get married next.
After the wedding ceremony is finished, the bride and
bridegroom change into Korean traditional clothes and bow to
their parents and elder relatives. Then, the parents and
older relatives give them many nuts, Jujube, and some
money. Nuts and Jujube mean they will have children,
and they wish the bride and bridegroom a happy marriage.
Kim
Young Lee
They'll
Have Daughters and Sons
If a bridegroom smiles a lot in a wedding, he will get a
daughter as a first child. If a bride takes some nuts, she
will get a lot of sons. (Traditionally, the parents of a
bridegroom throw nuts and plums to a bride after a wedding.
At that time, a bride takes nuts or plums in her shirt.)
Minjung
Song
Mexico
A
Bouquet for the Virgin Mary
In Mexico at a Catholic wedding ceremony, the bride offers
her bouquet to the Virgin Mary and leaves it at the foot of
the statue in order to thank her and ask her for a good life
and for her blessing. This is a solemn moment at the end of
the ceremony. After that, she meets her groom and they
receive the priest's blessing and that means the ceremony is
finished.
Miriam
Mostkoff
Nepal
A
Pinch of Red-Coloured Powder on the Bride's
Forehead
One of the important events in our traditional wedding is
that the groom puts a pinch of red-coloured powder on the
bride's forehead. This symbolizes that they are now husband
and wife. This red color on the woman's forehead
differentiates whether she is married or not.
Milan
Gurong
Saudi
Arabia
Good
Luck for the Bride
In Saudi Arabia, when men and women want to get married,
they prefer to buy new clothes and throw out old ones. They
say this is a new life, so the couple need new
clothes.
On the wedding night, the man dresses in white clothes and a long cover called a Bisht, and the woman dresses in white. At the end of the wedding, the man goes with his father and relatives to his marriage room and sits to drink some coffee for a few minutes. Then they leave.
Then the
woman comes with her mother and relatives and do the same
thing. This removes the stress of the man and the woman, so
they are together to start a new life. The morning after the
wedding, the man gives a gift to his wife.
Abdullah
Al-Subaiei
The
Cutting of the Cake
When the bride and groom start walking to the wedding cake,
all the wedding guests move out of the way and look in
anticipation at the bride and groom. Then the groom holds
the bride's hand carefully and together they hold the knife.
After they cut a small piece of the cake, the groom holds
the piece of cake and the bride eats a bit of it. After that
the bride holds that piece of cake and lets the groom bite
another bit of the piece. Then the attendants start cheering
and clapping for them. The cutting of the cake symbolizes
that the couple have started taking care of each other and
looking after each other.
Sulaiman
Alquraishi
Who
Took the Bridegroom?
In my country (Saudi Arabia), after the wedding ceremony,
the religious man says that the bride and the bridegroom are
man and wife. Then the bridegroom goes to a party hall--a
special hall for weddings--near his house. His friends
follow him in their cars and honk their horns and flash
their lights, so the people know that there is a wedding
party.
Our special thing is the food. At the party, they cook special, traditional food--rice and a whole sheep on a big plate--and they cook 8-15 plates because usually there are a lot of people at the party.
After
dinner, the bridegroom goes out from the back door and takes
his wife to start their honeymoon, but sometimes--or
usually--his friends will play big jokes on him. For
example, they may take him before he leaves with his wife to
have a picnic in a place he cannot get back from (the
desert) for about 2-3 days to make him late for his
honeymoon.
Mazen
Al-Qarawi
Spain
Take
Note if You're Getting Married in Spain
- If a
groom's friend cuts a piece of the groom's tie, he'll get
married soon.
- If the bride wears something blue, she'll have a happy
marriage.
- If the groom sees the bride's dress, she'll have bad luck
during the ceremony.
Carmen
Caffarena
Taiwan
The
Groom Has to Promise to Take Care of the
Bride
One the morning of the wedding day, the very first thing
that happens is for the groom to pick the bride up from her
house. Before the groom sees the bride, he has to kneel down
in front of the bride's parents and promise them that he
will take good care of their daughter. After that the groom
is allowed to take the bride to the car which is waiting
outside the house. Then the whole day ceremony will
begin.
Stanley
Chen
Tests
and Games for the
Bridegroom
In Taiwan, a bridesmaid and best man are not necessary in a
traditional wedding because usually the parents will play
these roles. The bride and bridegroom can not see each other
the day before the wedding. Friends will design some games
or tests and the bridegroom has to pass them before he can
take his wife to get married. For example, friends will ask
the groom about the bride's private things. If he answers
correctly, he can go on to the next game, but if he doesn't
pass the game, he has to give money to everyone and then he
can go to the next step of the game playing. Those friends
want to teach the groom it is not so easy for a man to get
married to a beautiful woman.
Wan-Pei Chang (Vania)
Turkey
I
Can't Read Your Name, So You're
Next!
In Turkey, when a girl gets married, all her female friends
write their names inside her bridal shoes. After the wedding
ceremony, if someone's name has been rubbed off and can not
be read anymore, it means this person is going to get
married next.
Arzu
Cimitay
Wedding
Superstitions in Turkey
- If you
get married between two annual religious festivals that are
two months apart, you might be unlucky.
-If you write the name of one of your friends under the sole
of your shoes in your wedding ceremony, and it is erased,
he/she will wed in a short period of time.
- If you catch a candy which is thrown by the bride, you
will wed in a short period of time.
Turhan
Ece
Venezuela
Promises
to Love and Take Care of Each
Other
The most important and unforgettable event of someone's life
is marriage. In Venezuela, the groom has to promise his
bride to love her his whole life and to take her
forever.
The bride
also has to repeat the same commandments. It is popular for
the couple to sing the promises to each other. This moment
is really beautiful. In addition, the couple receives a list
of commandments.
Sonia
Dale
Add
a wedding custom from your country.
Click
here to send us
a description of a traditional wedding custom in your
country. Don't forget to include your name and your
country.
Return
to:
Wedding
Celebrations
| Wedding
Page
| It's
International
| Home
Page
TOPICS Online Magazine - ©1997-2005 - topics_mag@lycos.com