Wedding Traditions with Creepy Origins
There are many superstitions and traditions around the happiest day of you life. Nowadays with more themed and gothic weddings, most couples make their own luck and own traditions. However, for the more conventional weddings, there are many traditions and superstitions that are surprisingly creepy, even if some of the traditions aren't followed anymore.
Ward Off The Trolls
In Norway, trolls are quite benevolent beings that are shy, like cake and are nice to people who are nice to them. In some places, trolls are not so nice. Evil beings fond of carrying off human women, it was best to try to keep them at bay, especially during a wedding. In Ancient Swedish tradition, brides would sew garlic, rosemary and cloves into their dresses in the hope the smell would keep away trolls. I'm pretty sure that would keep a few guests away too.
Never Wear Green
As most brides these days wear white, this isn't as prevalent as it was, however, many people are careful to wear nothing green when they marry, such as emeralds. Some people say it's unlucky regardless of how many weddings you have. As you're only meant to wear white at your first wedding, some people opt for green at a subsequent wedding Like many superstitions, people follow it without knowing it's origins. As brides used to wear their best dress to their wedding, white dresses only available to the rich, she had to take care her best dress was not green. The reason being that green is a fairy colour. In a time when fairies were terrifying creatures that could bring misfortune and even switch out your child for a changeling, you wouldn't want to offend them by wearing their colour to your wedding.
Exit The church First = Die First
In North Carolina, USA in 1964, the order of the wedding also foretold the order of death. Other things also foretold death. If it rained on your wedding day the groom would die first also snow on the bride meant she would be a widow. Whomever left the altar first, exited the church first, sat at the reception first and/or stepped over the threshold of the new home first would be the first to die. A 50/50 chance either way, it is easy to see how these superstition may have had real results.
Bridesmaids
The brides best friends and female relatives often make up an important part of the wedding party. A bridesmaid's job, especially chief bridesmaid and maid of honour, is to look after the bride; hence bride's maids. As the title suggests, it's supposed to be unmarried women. A way to honour and include your friends in your special day perhaps but it has a sinister origin. Bridesmaids are there to confuse evil spirits, rival lovers or even potential kidnappers about which one is the bride. Bridesmaids used to wear the same or a similar dress to the bride to confuse these would be wedding crashers. Of course this probably worked better before we could all afford white. Pretty obvious who the bride is now, I'm pretty sure the spirits would work it out.
Bad Luck To See The Bride Before The Wedding
Probably an easy one to guess, this goes back to days of arranged marriages. If a groom saw his bride before the wedding and didn't like the look of her, he could refuse to go through with the wedding. If he did not see the bride until after he could no longer back out, as they would have been joined by God, they could not be separated.
Wearing a Veil
A veil was a symbol of the girl's virginity and worn to protect her modesty. Seeing the bride could get the young men's blood pumping. Concealing her from potentially lustful eyes was a must. The veil also hid her from evil spirits and the groom's eyes. Again ensuring an arranged marriage would go ahead.
Throwing the Bouquet Is A Distraction
A bride was lucky, she had found herself a husband. As such, wedding guests used to try and grab some of that luck for themselves by tearing her dress. Brides would throw her bouquet as a distraction, having the guests tear at the flowers instead of her. These days, the single ladies wait for the bride to throw her bouquet but originally, she threw it almost instantly after vows for fear her dress would be a victim otherwise.
Throwing of the Garter
While the bride throws her bouquet to the ladies, the one who catches it supposed to be the next one to marry, the groom throws the men his bride's garter. Seen as a modern tradition it is actually pretty old. In medieval times the bedding ceremony was a big part of the wedding. Possibly to make the marriage valid as soon as possible, the couple would consummate their marriage right after the vows. In a lot of cases, witnesses would even watch to ensure it actually happened and the couple didn't lie. The groom would remove his wife's underthings and toss them to the crowd as both proof and celebration of the marriage being consummated. Not something that would necessarily go down well these days!
Honeymoon
A period supposed to last a month (hence moon) and a pleasant one, some believe it originally came from marriage by abduction. The groom would hide his kidnapped bride until the family stopped looking, or the poor girl fell pregnant, whichever happened first. Probably a lot longer than even the month long honeymoon, not quite as pleasant an event. As marriage by abduction was common, women were their father's property and an angry family could get violent. It led to another tradition.
Best Man
Whomever you choose, best friend, brother etc the best man used to be the best fighter. He would be around to help the groom in a fight with the abducted bride's family and also stop the girl from escaping. A best man was basically your back up. Now he just has the job of organising the bachelor party/stag night.
Carrying over the threshold
A tradition even unconventional couples keep as it is good luck, it has a few origins, First of all we have, again, protection from evil spirits or spells placed to harm the bride. Next is a superstition, if a bride trips while entering her new home it's unlucky, so the groom carrying her makes sure it won't happen. There's also the kidnapping history and the bride's reluctance to leave home, childhood and her virginity. As the bride was not allowed to be happy about leaving her father's home or losing her virginity, being carried over the threshold was the groom forcing her to do so. Not quite as romantic when looked at in that light.
So there you have it, the dark side to traditional weddings. Of course there's the darkness everyone can guess, the father giving the bride away, the business transaction it used to be, but here a few you may not have known. I only hope that if you're not married yet I haven't just kind of ruined the magic...yeah...sorry.
