Wedding Customs And Traditions Essay Research Paper

Wedding Customs And Traditions Essay, Research Paper

Different cultures, different customs very different traditions. That s the way of weddings. Every religion, region and country has different wedding traditions. There are close similarities, yet they are still very different.

I am most familiar with the traditional Catholic wedding but there are many other ways of celebrating such a joyous occasion. In thirteenth century Scotland, the announcement of intended marriages was a process of banns of marriage. Although this has recently been outdated, it leaves its influence on announcing marriages. After announcing the marriage proposal there is a fourteen-day waiting period before any arrangements are made for the couple.

Like bridal showers held before a traditional Catholic wedding, a show of presents is held for the bride to be. Instead of wrapped gifts bidding the bride good luck, all gifts are unwrapped and displayed as necessary. A simple card or the guest who brought the gift accompanies these gifts. After this show of presents, the bride is dressed up in traditionally a long dress and train made from any fabric. She is then escorted around town with guests making loud noises announcing the wedding to be. The bride to be carries a baby doll, plastic potty filled with salt and other small items. All these things are believed to bring good luck for the bride including prosperity and fertility.

Like a bachelor party for a Catholic wedding, the groom to be in a Scottish wedding is dressed up similarly to the bride to be and escorted around town with his friends. There, they may find a bar and partake in excessive drinking. Harmless practical jokes are traditionally pulled on the groom, including being stripped (partially or totally) of his clothes and dropped outside his home. Creeling the bridegroom is also practiced. A large basket is filled with stones and placed on the back of the groom. He is to walk around town with this until his bride to be frees him with a kiss.

Tossing of the bouquet is done at a Catholic wedding reception after the wedding ceremony. The belief is that the one who catches it will be the next one married. On the eve of her wedding, Scottish brides feet are placed in a tub of hot water and washed by the crowd of people around her. The one who finds a married women s wedding band in the tub is believed to be the next one married.

On her processional to the church, the first person to meet the bride outside is to join the processional and accompany the bride to the church before they can proceed with their own business. Outside the church doors a priest joins the couple together in marriage and later the couple proceeds into the church for a lengthy mass traditionally spoken in Latin.

As a Catholic reception the newly wed bride and groom are introduced together for the first time and take their places on the dance floor and begin the dancing. Other guests join them. Instead of throwing rice grains the groomsmen toss low valued coins to the ground indicating future prosperity for the couple. Upon being carried into her new home, a bannocks oatcake is broken over the brides head and passed around to everyone. Completion of this traditional wedding includes the priest blessing the newlyweds, their home and the marriage bed.

A Jewish wedding is less elaborate. A Jewish wedding begins with the signing of a marriage contract called a ketubbah . The ceremony can take place anytime thereafter, no waiting period. The ceremony is usually performed under a huppah , a wedding altar. Under this altar is a small table with a bottle of wine. This is broken by the groom to seal the end of the ceremony reminding how fragile life is.

In a traditional Catholic wedding, the bride is escorted down the aisle by her father, but in a Jewish wedding the bride and groom are escorted by their parents. After a short reciting of wedding vows, the groom gives a plain uncut gold band to his bride resembling true value and purity. Instead of the left hand ring finger that most people are used to seeing, the ring is placed on the bride s right index finger. The wedding party then proceeds down the aisle and later joins guests for a feast and dancing. Plain and simple.

In some cultures wedding ceremonies are carried out for more than one day of celebration. A Chinese ceremony can take up to 3-4 years. The process begins with an elaborate marriage proposal and acceptance. This is often the job of a go-between .

After the boys parents have chosen a bride for their son, it is up to the go-between to present gifts to the bride to be and her parents to try and win them over. If accepted, the brides parents then release the girls birthday. This document is taken to the ancestral altar of the boys family and left there for three days. If no bad omens occur from this, the boy s parents give the go-between the boys birthday for the brides family to go through the same process. As long as both outcomes are favorable, the families then will meet for the first time, evaluating each other on appearance, character and social position. When both families accept each other, they will exchange tokens of intention. It is then up to the girls family to choose the date of the wedding ceremony and date of gift exchange.

The boy s family traditionally present gifts of money, tea, bridal cakes, sugar, wine a