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Beliefs and Superstitions
With their roots deep in mythology, symbolism, and folklore, the following traditions are archaic but charming. Many couples like to retain links with the past. It is a good idea to explain what you are
doing, perhaps in a note appended to the order of service.
The Engagement Ring, giving and receiving of, was a Roman tradition where a man gave his beloved something valuable as a sign of his desire to marry her. If she accepted his gift, it signified
their pledge to be married and was a legally binding transaction, signifying that a girl was no longer available.
An engagement ring containing your birthstone is said to bring you luck. There is no denying that diamonds are classic, beautiful, and hard wearing, and have a wider significance. They were once believed
to have protective properties: the light reflected from the bright stones was thought to ward off evil spirits jealous of the couple's happiness. Their brightness is a symbol of purity, sincerity, and
fidelity, and as one of the hardest substances in the world.
www.DiamondRing.com
The Wedding Ring dates back to 17th century BC Egypt where wedding rings had a supernatural significance, a never-ending band signified eternal love.
The significance of wearing the ring on the third finger of the left hand is the early belief that a vein from that finger leads directly to the heart.
The Irish Claddagh ring is used as a friendship ring, an engagement ring, or a wedding ring. It was designed by a Galway jeweler in the 16th century. A heart
to symbolize love surrounded by clasped hands for friendship and a crown to symbolize eternity.
The Russian wedding ring is a combination of three linked rings, each of a different color gold and believed to represent the Holy Trinity. Elizabethans wore a version of this called the Gimmal Ring.
The Victorian wedding ring was in the shape of a pansy or the forget-me-not in turquoise and diamonds. The Victorians used combinations of stones to send secret messages.
Other antique styles of rings include French love knots, clinging ivy, or Celtic knots and scrolls. There is still a sense of magic and superstition bound up with
the wedding ring - a symbol of unity, signifying that wherever you go alone; you will come back to each other again.
The Blessing of the Rings signified the wholeness in the state of marriage in which nothing is missing and everything is possible. The blessing honors the
coming around of the cycle of life; from sickness to health, from want to plenty, from despair to joy, from failure to possibility, from loneliness to love.
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue; this Victorian rhyme symbolizes the bride's desires for her new life. "Something
Old", is usually given to the bride by her mother or grandmother as a piece of jewelry or other heirloom. It symbolizes the love and joy the bride hopes to
bring to her new home. "Something New", is usually an accessory or the wedding dress itself worn on the wedding day. It symbolizes the success she
hopes for her and her new husband's life together. "Something Borrowed" is lent to the bride by a close friend or relative, and refers to the friendships she hopes
to carry with her in her new life. "Something Blue" may be a garter or ribbon. Since blue is the color of fidelity, it symbolizes the bride's commitment to her new relationship.
The White Gown was introduced by the Victorians (1800's) as the color of virginal purity and innocence and has been the fashion trend ever since. The
lucky color for a bride's gown has constantly changed since the Middle Ages (500 AD - 1350) when red was worn in Europe. Irish brides considered blue
to be very lucky and green unlucky as it was thought to be a temptation to the fairies to steal the bride away.
The superstition that the groom must never see his future wife in her gown before the ceremony, originated in the belief that marriage marks a break
between an old life and a new one and that the two should never overlap. If the groom did see the bride in her dress, the wedding was generally postponed for a year.
The Veil was originally worn to protect the bride from the glances of jealous suitors. In America the veil became popular when Nelly Curtis married
President George Washington's aid, Major Lawrence Lewis. Apparently he became so enamoured of her after catching sight of her through a lace curtain that she decided to wear a veil on her wedding day.
www.weddingveil.com/veils/index.html
Flowers have always played an important role in special events. The ancient
Greeks and Romans carried herbs and flowers to ward off disease and promote fertility. The festivals of Greece and Rome teemed with flowers. Floralia or May
Day honored the deity Flora, patroness of fertility and flowers. When a girl was old enough to marry, she wore flowers and ribbons twined in her hair.
Medieval weddings, than as now, called for lavish floral displays. Most important was the bride's crown of flowers, which, with wedding ring and
brooch, was a symbol marking the transition from bride to wife. The bride would be prepared for her wedding day by her ladies, who crowned her with
flowers, especially rosemary, that ancient symbol of loving remembrance.
Never had flowers been more incorporated than in the Victorian era. It was an age of flowers when the queen who gave it her name was married in 1840. Her
wedding dress was embroidered with the plants of her realm: the Tudor rose of England, the leek of Wales, the shamrock of Ireland, the thistle of Scotland.
Men wore rosebuds tucked in their buttonholes. Women wore flowers in their hair and tied them to their wrists or pinned them to their collars. They carried
them neatly bunched and tied with ribbons inserted in a posy holder.
Fashions changed as the century drew to a close. When the future Queen Mary was a bride in 1873, she carried a "shower bouquet" better known today as the
cascading bouquet, indicating the shape of things to come. By the late 1880's loose bunches of one or two kinds of long-stemmed flowers better known as
presentation bouquets usually monochromatic, matching the wearer's dress was carried.
The Language of Flowers first appeared in print in 1440 in the Oxford English Dictionary as a "tuzzy mussy", a bunch or spray of flowers, nosegay, or
garland of flowers. It incorporated the western tradition of floral symbolism that filtered down from antiquity, with contributions from mythology, religion, and medicine.
A Flower for the Mothers is a lovely Belgian custom that joins the families together. As the bride walks up the aisle, she stops and hands her mother a
flower and they embrace. During the recessional, the couple walks to the groom's mother and the bride gives her mother-in-law a second flower and they also embrace.
The Flower-Strewn Path is a lovely tradition, which started in England. A bride and her bridesmaids would walk to the church on a path strewn with
flowers. It symbolized the wish that the bride's path through life be like "a bed of roses" a life of ease and grace. Also, the extravagance of "wasting" the flowers
by walking on them symbolizes the wish that life may be so full and easy that the bride and groom may pass through it as if tiptoeing on flowers.
The Kiss traditionally seals the promise. One salutes and claims whomever he or she kisses, so the kiss is more than a delightful public display of the physical
affections that complement the marriage; it is the way in which the groom claims the bride as his forevermore and the bride claims the groom as forever hers.
The Unity Candle is an especially lovely tradition. The parents or parent of the bride and of the groom, light separate candles. The bride and groom, use the
flame from these candles to light a single large candle. This gesture symbolizes the couple's individuality, offered by each, for the beginning of a union.
Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace is a tradition granting the community the right of to disapprove the union.
Tossing the Bouquet& Garter is believed to bring good luck. Whoever catches the bouquet is thought to be lucky and is supposed to be the next
woman to get married. The garter is removed by the groom from the bride's let during the reception and tossed to the single men. Whoever catches the garter is believed to be the next to wed.
The White Swan dates from the early 15th century and was a symbol of allegiance to the House of Lancaster, one of the English ruling families.
Table Favors. Almonds were originally an Italian custom. Five sugar coated almonds represented the bitter and sweet sides of a marriage and were
presented to the guests. The five almonds stand for health, wealth, long life, fertility and happiness. Other favors could include boxes of chocolates or thank-you scrolls tied with a ribbon.
The Cake has been part of weddings since Roman times when sweet cakes were believed to bring fertility, abundance and happiness. In ancient Rome,
loaves of wheat bread were broken over the bride's head while guests collected the crumbs believed to bring them good luck.
Rice Throwing was regarded in the Orient as a fertility symbol and was tossed at the couple as they departed together as man and wife.
The Honeymoon was thought to originate from the days when couples married under a full moon and drank honeyed wine for thirty days, or until the
moon waned. Another tradition was that the couple went into hiding after the ceremony in case the bride's family tried to claim her back.
Carrying the Bride over the Threshold is an old Roman custom. The threshold was considered the domain of evil spirits who wanted to whisk the
virgin bride away. The groom would carry his bride over the threshold to keep the spirits at bay.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Freeman, John Crosby - "Victorian Entertaining", Courage Books, 1993
Kingma, Daphne Rose - "Weddings from the Heart, Contemporary and Traditional Ceremonies…", Conari Press/Publishers Group West, 1991
Lluch, Eliazbeth and Alex ' "The Indispensable Groom's Guide", Wedding Solutions, 1997
Macdonald, Jane Ross - "Alternative Weddings, An Essential Guide…", Taylor Publishing Company, 1997
McGuire, Kim - "The Irish Wedding Book", Wolfhound Press, 1994
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