Saturday, June 27, 2020

Here Comes the Bride: Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Wedding Customs


As it is “wedding season” here in the United States it seems fitting to address this topic.  Weddings and marriages are a cross-cultural phenomenon that occurs almost universally, but the specific wedding customs practiced around the globe do vary.  This blog post will explore some of these wedding customs, some of which are unique and others are shared among various cultural groups both regionally and worldwide.

Ransoms at the Wedding

Various cultural groups capture and hold either the bride or an aspect of the wedding paraphernalia for ransom.  It is customary to “ransom the bride” in Chinese and various Eastern European cultures.  In these situations either the bridesmaids or the bride’s family will keep the groom from seeing and marrying his bride until he passes a series of tests.  These can be answering a series of questions or riddles or performing silly tasks, like goofily dancing.  Ultimately, the purpose of this ritual is to determine the groom’s desire and commitment to be married.  In Pakistan and India, the groom’s shoes are held for ransom, which is done out of good fun.

Warding Off Evil Spirits

Newlyweds are considered at great risk for misfortune as their blissful day can come under scrutiny by malevolent spirits.  Various wedding rituals have been put in place to distract or deter such supernatural mischief.  In Norway a bride wears a crown with hanging charms, and as the charms make noise it is believed that it is enough to scare away evil spirits.  Jewish grooms smash a glass under their foot, which is met with cheers of “Mazel tov!” (good luck) by the wedding guests.  Balancing bread covered in honey on their shoulders and eating a spoonful of honey is considered the most effective way of warding off evil spirits among Armenian newlyweds, while German guests smash ceramic dishes to scare them away.  Among the Masaai the bride’s father will spit on her as she leaves with her husband.  This act is meant to represent some doubt in the marriage so as not to tempt fate and guarantee its failure.  Lastly, among the Irish it is believed that if both of the bride’s feet leave the floor while she dances she will be taken away by evil fairies.

Promoting Happiness and Fertility

Marriage is typically the most common socially acceptable means for having children.  Therefore it should come to no surprise that there are a series of rites and rituals performed before, during, and after the wedding to ensure the newlyweds have many children.  In America it is customary to throw rice (although it is better to throw bird seed) at newly weds as they leave their wedding ceremony.  Among the Czech it is customary to put a baby into the marriage bed.  This is meant to encourage fertility between the newlyweds.  They are also showered with rice, lentils, or peas on their wedding day as an additional means of ensuring their reproductive success.

Predicting the Next to Get Married

If you have been to an American wedding then you are most likely familiar with the tossing of the wedding bouquet or the bride’s garter.  The individual who catches either of these items is believed to be the next one to marry.  While this is the standard among various Western cultures it is not in Peru.  Instead they practice the “pulling of the cake” ceremony.  The wedding cake is baked with various charms attached to string inside of it.  One of the charms is a replica of a wedding ring.  When it comes to eating the cake the wedding guests select a string and pull the charm out of the cake.  Whomever finds the wedding ring is the next one to be married.

To all those getting married this year or in the future we wish you many blessings and years of happiness.

Works Cited

Buckley, Erica. "A Cross-Cultural Study of Weddings throughMedia and Ritual: Analyzing Indian and NorthAmerican Weddings." McNair Scholars Journal (2006): 13-28. Document.
Lewak, Doree. "Different Rules for Different Cultures: Be Prepared." New York Times 8 December 2008. Electronic.
Mattia, Nancy and Andrea Park. "47 Fascinating Wedding Traditions From Around the World." Brides 18 February 2019. Electronic.
Pappas, Stephanie. "10 Wedding Traditions from Around the World." 1 November 2011. Livescience. Electronic. 20 May 2020.




7 comments:

Unknown said...

What interesting information. I am familiar with most of the practices in the Western culture, however my familiarity stops there. Reading about how different cultures celebrate weddings and practice rituals is very interesting. I believe the one I found most interesting was the father of the bride spitting on her as she leaves.
In our family, we create a bouquet for the wedding rehearsal out of the bows and ribbons from the gifts received at the wedding shower. When the bride opens her gifts, we tell her that the number of ribbons and bows that she breaks is the number of children that she will have.

Lindsay SA 201-99

Ammie Davis SA said...

I wasn't aware of some of these traditions. I don't think I've ever heard of spitting being a wedding tradition and I'm not too fond of being spit on, especially on one of the biggest days of my life. Spitting aside, I do understand the importance of cultural customs, they often serve as a identifier of where you come from and your beliefs. A tradition that was passed down from my ancestors is jumping the broom to consummate marriage and years later we adopted the electric slide as a mandatory reception dance.

Anonymous said...

Woah!! I would ave never thought that people get spit on , on one of the biggest day of there lives. I couldn't see my self being spit on but I definitely would wan to be a witness to that like wow you really just did that. In my family we jump the broom and we also do certain dances .

Joi-Olivia Russell SA201-99

Keith said...

love how they talk about different marriage culture and Pakistan takes the grooms shoes before the weeding

Anonymous said...

I didn't know some cultures believed in evil spirits during marriage and did things to prevent that from happening. Americans just read from the bible and trust in God.
-Simone Jordan

Jesse Logan said...

Within all the cultural rituals of marriage. Honestly which culture do you believe have the highest success rate with marriages. Meaning no divorces less disagreements with the idea that this isn’t working.

-Jesse Logan

Alexa Holzschuh said...

I love weddings so I found this post very interesting! I’ve never heard of warding away evil spirits on your wedding day but I thought it was unique. I wonder why Americans do not do anything to ward off evil such as eating honey or smashing a glass.
-Alexa Holzschuh