A wedding is not just a holiday for family and friends, which is accompanied by plentiful food, alcoholic libations and groovy dances. Such unique traditions are normally accepted in countries and even promise young people happiness, wealth, a good life.
Consider 10 peculiar wedding ceremonies, which at least surprise our person, and sometimes terrify him.
10. Kenya - spitting
We begin the review with the state of the African continent, which is famous for a very unusual and repulsive wedding tradition. Among the people of Kenya, when a husband and wife leave their father’s house, then dad says goodbye with all his heart spits on his daughter’s chest and head. Thus, he gives her his paternal blessing for a happy family life. In our country, such behavior would be considered a real insult - it would be a hearth not to communicate with relatives for years. And the Masai tribe spits - a symbol of prosperity and good luck.
9. Greece - crevati
We turn to a more relaxed and interesting tradition. In Greece, a couple of days before the wedding, relatives and friends get together and prepare a family nest for future spouses. Experienced married women fill the marriage bed and give the groom the opportunity to assess the quality of the work done. After covering the beds with matrimonial sheets, they put money on top, which will ensure prosperity and success for the couple. Also, grains of rice are thrown onto the bed, which symbolize "rooting" and bless the young for the speedy procreation. At the end, a child is rolled on the bed - a boy or a girl, depending on the gender of the first-born desired by the couple. After the marriage, the spouses have the right to reunite in the pre-made bed.
8. Scotland - throwing mud
And again, the resonating tradition in the review is that in Scotland the venerable bride is customarily stolen, and then polluted by all possible means. On the eve of the holiday, people “luckily” throw sour milk, corpses of fish, tar, rotten food, feathers, eggs, garbage and even animal excrement into it, pouring it with unpleasant liquids. Everything else the girl is waiting for execution - she is tied to a tree, and friends arrange a series of trials. After that, a carefree night of fun like our "bachelorette party" is laid. There is a belief in the country that the more severe trials a future wife will endure, the more stable a married life will be to troubles. It is also a way to prove to the groom's family that the girl is ready for the hardships of family life.
7. Germany - broken dishes
Beating utensils compared to previous traditions is just an easy prank. Guests at a classic German wedding present porcelain dishes as a gift, after which they solemnly break it at the height of the celebration. It is generally believed that such an act will allow you to drive away evil spirits from the young, make their marriage more reliable and stronger. Still not to be tempered, because it is the young ones who will have to remove all the broken dishes, working side by side for the benefit of future prosperity. Also polterabend (the name of the tradition) is sometimes held during a party on the eve of a responsible day. When breaking dishes, guests wish the young people good luck and resistance to the difficulties of living together.
6. France - food in a night pot
And again, add peppercorns to our review. A long-standing French tradition invites newlyweds to dine out of a night pot on their wedding day (by modern standards, from a toilet). At the end of the wedding ceremony and celebration, guests collect the remains of the feast, mix and send to the toilet, forcing the unhappy newly-made spouses to absorb this contents. And if in ancient times one had to drink ordinary, not quite pure water from improvised dishes, now the bride and groom are pitied, offering to feast on chocolate or drink sparkling wine. But still, it’s unpleasant to eat brown substance from the urinal, agree. It is believed that with such a specific method, the young are gaining strength for the upcoming wedding night.
5. Romania - dancing cooks
To amuse the reader, we offer a more pleasant ceremony. In Romania, after the marriage in the city hall or the weddings of the newly-married spouses, they are taken to a restaurant where they will have a "chicken dance". The newlyweds receive all the guests and begin to waltz, after which the restaurant chefs perform their signature dance. Fried and beautifully decorated chicken comes in as a mandatory attribute for the room. The groom’s witness must agree with the cooks on the price of the holiday chicken and redeem it.
4. Korea - beating the feet of the groom
The following tradition again, unfortunately, involves violence. This time the bridegroom has to endure torment - in Korea, at the end of the crucial day, his legs are beaten with a cane or a large rotted fish carcass. This peculiar method is used to test the persistence of the character of the newly made husband, his ability to show willpower and spirit, the ability not to disappoint his wife on the family bed. At the same time, the Korean groom should not wash his feet on the eve of the execution. The procedure continues, usually for 10-20 minutes. It is interesting, because with unwashed feet, smelling of the "aroma" of rotten fish, the husband goes straight to the marriage bed.
3. Ireland - the first dance
In amazing Ireland, people still fear the evil sorceresses. During the first dance of the newly made spouses, the bride’s shoes should not remain in the air for a second. The girl literally shuffles her shoes on the floor, worrying that the evil fairies who are present at the ceremony can steal her.
2. Macedonia - needlewoman riding a horse
And here is the sensible tradition, which tests the suitability of the future wife for marriage. The bride sews herself a wedding outfit on her own, as well as prepares and studies the scenario of the wedding day, and additionally masters the skill of riding. She needs the latter in order to, like a real "knight", win her future husband. She rides a horse to the groom's house and must jump to the ground through the wattle fence so as not to hurt the stirrups or bridles.
1. India - breaking the curse
The wedding ceremony in India is saturated with rituals and traditions, so much so that you can devote a separate article to it. But today we are considering a strange belief. The people believe that if a girl was born on the day of the rapprochement of Saturn and Mars (astrological combination "manglik"), then she is cursed from birth and promises her future husband an early death. But the cunning sages came up with a way out - first, they give the girl to marry a banana tree and cut it down, making what was intended. Thus, the girl is cleansed of the curse and can marry a chosen one.
Such funny and sometimes cruel and disgusting rituals are accepted in some peoples of the planet. Therefore, we will not complain when the host invites the groom to wash his mother’s feet with vodka - this is a small test possible!