Wedding traditions and customs

Wedding

A wedding is the ceremony where people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of wedding vows by the couple, presentation of a gift (offering, ring(s), symbolic item, flowers, money), and a public proclamation of marriage by an authority figure or leader. Special wedding garments are often worn, and the ceremony is sometimes followed by a wedding reception. Music, poetry, prayers or readings from religious texts or literature are also commonly incorporated into the ceremony. The wedding ceremony is often followed by a drinks reception then a wedding breakfast, in which the rituals may include speeches from the groom, best man, father of the bride and possibly the bride, the newlyweds first dance as a couple, and the cutting of an elegant wedding cake.

Marriage in France

To be legally recognized, a marriage in France must take place at a Town Hall (Mairie). The Town Hall must be either the Town Hall where one of the applicants was born, or the Town Hall of the district where one of the applicants is currently registered as a resident.

Once the completed dossier is delivered to the Mairie (Town Hall), there is normally a waiting period of 28 days before the marriage can take place.

Same Sex Marriage in France

Same-sex marriage has been legal in France since 18 May 2013. It is the thirteenth country worldwide to allow same-sex couples to marry.

French Wedding curiosities

The White wedding dress: Now a symbol of purity, was introduced by Ann of Brittany who wore a white wedding gown for her third marriage to Louis XII of France in 1527.

The Wedding procession, still practiced in small villages today, is a traditional French custom where the groom calls on his future bride’s home on the morning of their wedding. The groom escorts her to the wedding chapel in a procession, headed by musicians, followed behind by the bride with her father, guests and the groom with his mother at the end of line.

In Southern parts of France, wedding guests toss dragées (a French delicacy of almonds covered with chocolate) and coins at children waiting on the doorsteps of the church. The dragées are a symbol of happiness and festivity.

In small villages rice and wheat are showered over the bride and groom when they come out of the church. The rice is a symbol of abundance and prosperity, while the wheat is a symbol of fertility for the newly from couple.

The old custom of using fragrant flowers to decorate the church goes back to the times when flowers were believed to guard the couple from evil spirits. Flowers also served to refresh and perfume the air. At a traditional French wedding reception, the newly formed couple toast each other from an engraved, two-handled cup which is known as the coupe de mariage, usually a precious family heirloom passed down from generation to generation.

The wedding cake is not always a cake in France. There are some couples who keep up tradition and choose to have a croquembouche instead of a wedding cake. This tasty desert is a pyramid of crème-filled pastry puffs that are drizzled with a caramel glaze. The croquembouche originated as a tradition during the middle ages when wedding guests would bring small cakes and stack them in a pile in the centre of a table. The pile had to be as high as possible and the bride and groom had to kiss over the cake without knocking them over. The actual croquembuche was invented during the 17th century by piling small puff pastries one on top of the other and ‘gluing” them with caramel to form a piece montée.

Traditionally in small villages the guests carry out a “wedding night prank” to interrupt the newly married couple. This is called Le Charivari, and it is usually carried out on widows or widowers who are getting remarried or when the groom comes from a different village. Once interrupted, by a crowd clanging pots and pans, the bride and groom are expected to come out and offer treats and refreshments to the crowd.

Marriage in Japan

Japanese wedding customs fall into two categories: traditional Shinto ceremonies, and modern Western-style weddings. In either case, the couple must first be legally married by filing for marriage at their local government office, and the official documentation must be produced in order for the ceremony to be held. Traditionally, marriages were categorized into two types according to the method of finding a partner—miai, meaning arranged or resulting from an arranged introduction, and ren'ai, in which the principals met and decided to marry on their own—although the distinction has grown less meaningful over postwar decades as the proportion of miai matches has dwindled.

The Japanese bride-to-be may be painted pure white from head to toe, visibly declaring her maiden status to the Gods. Two choices of headgear exist. One, the watabōshi, is a white hood; the other, called the tsunokakushi, serves to hide the bride's 'horns of jealousy.' It also symbolizes the bride's intention to become a gentle and obedient wife.

Contemporary Japanese weddings are celebrated in a great variety of ways. Many contain traditional Japanese and Western elements side by side.

Traditionally, the religious wedding ceremony is held in Shinto style at a shrine. Nowadays, this shrine may be located inside the hotel where the festivities take place. A Shinto priest conducts the ceremony, which is visited by only the close family members of the couple.

In the ceremony, the couple is purified, drinks sake, and the groom reads the words of commitment. At the end of the ceremony, symbolic offerings are given to the kami. The couple is dressed in traditional kimono.

After the ceremony, the couple welcomes all the guests, and the reception party is held. Usually the party is visited by about 20 to 200 guests among whom are relatives, friends, co-workers and bosses of the bride and groom. The party normally starts with the introductions of the bride and groom.

Afterwards, a meal is held and several guests make contributions such as speeches, songs and the like. During the whole celebrations, the groom and especially the bride may change their dresses several times. At the very end of the party, the couple will make a speech to all the guests and thank everybody.

During recent decades, Japanese couples have introduced many Western elements to Japanese weddings. Many brides chose to wear white, Christian style dresses, and some religious ceremonies are even held completely in Christian style at a Christian church even though the couple may not be Christian. The ritual of cake cutting, the exchange of rings and honeymoons are a few other very common adopted elements.

  Wedding tradition in Azerbaijan

Ancient Azerbaijani weddings reflect cycles of traditions, lasting for a long period of time, and need significant material costs. The wedding itself consists of three levels: pre-wedding period (matchmaking, engagement, contracting a marriage), wedding and after wedding period.

Matchmaking More respected, elder relatives of the groom take part in the “main” matchmaking ceremony. Being refused is considered a blow to the prestige of the matchmakers. 

Engagement Throwing a red scarf round a bride's shoulders is an attribute of engagement in Azerbaijan Matchmaking follows engagement traditions. After the father decides to give his daughter for marriage, the groom entertains his new relatives with tea and sweeties in the bride’s house. In 1908, the engagement process of Shahsevens, an ethnic group of Azerbaijanis, was described as follows

Wedding A ceremony for decorating the house (“ev bezemek”) is held a few days before the wedding. The ceremony concludes that same day when the bride’s dowry is brought to the groom’s house. After the wedding A ceremony called “uze chixdi”, symbolizing the end of “absence” period, is held a few days after the wedding.

Wedding in America

In America there is a tradition to carry out bridal shower to a wedding during which future bride of the girlfriend is given gifts.

During wedding ceremony the bride can have an unlimited number of bridesmaids, and all of them often come in identical dresses.

Wedding oaths the groom with the bride often write in advance, and then read them at a ceremony.

In America there are signs concerning a month when it is better to celebrate a wedding. At us the most widespread "If to marry in May - all life you will toil", and in English there are signs for every month:

Married when the year is new, he’ll be loving, kind and true;

When February birds do mate, you wed nor dread your fate;

If you wed when March winds blow, joy and sorrow both you’ll know;

Marry in April when you can, joy for Maiden and for Man;

Marry in the month of May, and you’ll surely rue the day;

Marry when June roses grow, over land and sea you will go;

Those who in July do wed, must labor for their daily bred;

Whoever wed in August be, many a change is sure to see;

Marry in September’s shrine, your living will be rich and fine;

If in October you do marry, love will come but riches tarry;

If you wed in bleak November, only joys will come, remember;

When December snows fall fast, marry and true love will last".

If a wedding traditional, often participants of a ceremony come in a certain order. At first the best man, accompany and seat mothers, grandmothers and grandfathers of newlyweds, then in their maintenance bridesmaids come. Further goes responsible for rings - ringbearer with flower girl which bears a bridal bouquet. Also the bride who is conducted to an altar by her father concludes a procession.

Russian wedding

A traditional Russian wedding lasts for at least two days and some weddings last as long as a week. Throughout the celebration there is dancing, singing, long toasts, and a lot of food and drinks. The best man and maid of honor are called witnesses, svideteli in Russian. The ceremony and the ring exchange takes place on the first day of the wedding. Russian weddings have adopted some of western traditions, including bridesmaids and others.

Traditional ceremony In the next step, the bride and groom have an optional traditional ceremony in a church. In Russian this is called the venchanie. The wedding ceremony takes place in a church and is divided into two parts: the Betrothal and the Crowning. The service traditionally takes place in the morning, after the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, during which the wedding rings were blessed by being placed on the Holy Table (altar). Betrothal While the betrothal used to be blessed at the beginning of the engagement, it is now commonly done at the same ceremony as the wedding itself.

The bride and groom stand inside the entrance of the church and the priest blesses them and gives them lighted candles which they will hold throughout the ceremony. The deacon leads an ektenia (litany) with special petitions for the couple. The priest then says two brief prayers for the couple and the rings are blessed and placed on the couple's right hand. The priest then says a prayer blessing the couple's betrothal which mentions instances in the Bible where rings are used and relates those instances to the betrothal.