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Wedding Customs from Around the World

Wedding traditions and customs vary from one country to another, but each one is
special and celebrates the marriage bond of the newly weds.

Belgium

Wearing White, Giving Flowers, and Throwing Rice


In my country, the bride always, or almost always, wears a white dress. The man
comes to the house of the bride and give her her bouquet of flowers (also in white
or other light colors). They go to the church and the man is inside when the father
of the bride brings her to her future husband. And at the end, when they come out,
the family throws rice on them.
Jolien Debonne from Belgium

Brazil

Important Details of the Wedding Ceremony


A wedding ceremony in Brazil has many important details. For example, the
bridegroom can't see the bride wearing her wedding dress before the ceremony.
The bride has to use something old, something new, and something that is
borrowed. One more detail is that the rings should be engraved: the name of the
bridegroom on the bride's ring and vice-versa.
Mara Celina Brandao

How to Cause a Rainy Wedding Day


If a future bride eats directly from the pot, it will rain on her wedding day.
Renata Pauperio

China

Exchanging Handkerchiefs and Wishing Each Other Good Luck


In China, every new couple needs to go to a park to have a video made before the
evening party starts. If a new couple meets in a park, the bride and bridegroom
should exchange a new handkerchief and wish each other good luck. It has to be
red and have a picture of mandarin ducks. Because ducks always stay together, it
means they will stay together. We have this custom so they share happiness and
congratulate each other. Traditionally, the more happiness you share, the more
good luck you get. So, don't forget to prepare these handkerchiefs by hand when
you are going to get married.
Conghong Lu

One of the Interesting Things in a Chinese Wedding Ceremony


In traditional Chinese wedding ceremony, a couple always has jokes played on them
by their friends or guests. For example, during the ceremony an apple is hung with
a thread before the couple. Then people who attend their wedding ask the bride
and groom to bite the apple at the same time in order to show they love each other.
However, at the moment their lips touch it, one of their friends suddenly pulls it
away and the couple's lips meet and they have a big kiss instead of biting the apple
before them. Interestingly, this action or behavior always causes a loud laugh.
Cheng Limin

Colombia

The Candle Ceremony

There is a traditional custom in Colombian Christian weddings. After


the ring ceremony, the groom and the bride each has to light a
candle. This custom has a special meaning. Each lighted candle
represents the life of each one. After that, they light another candle
together and put out the first candle of each one, leaving only the one
that they lit as a couple. This bright candle means that now they are
the same body and they are going to share every moment of their
lives.
Mara Lopez

The Candle Ceremony


In a Christian ceremony in Colombia there is the "candle ceremony" after the ring
ceremony where the groom has to light the candle on his left and the bride lights
the candle on her right. When they both have their candles lit, they put them
together and light the candle in the middle. Then they have to put out their own
candles and this means they become just one body for the rest of their lives.
Jimena Baquero

Eastern Europe

Asking the Girl's Father for Permission


In my country, the engagement is an event previous to the wedding. One month
before the wedding, the groom asks the girl's father for permission to take the girl
out of her family house. He goes to her house early in the morning with a band, if
he can afford the expense. All the neighbors come to see the new bride and to tell
her something nice.
Stoyan Grigorou

El Salvador

Escorting the Bride to the Church


All the wedding ceremonies around the world try to express different things through
different ceremonies. For some reason, in some places in El Salvador, when a
wedding is celebrated, the wedding ceremony service starts without the bride. The
groom and all the people who have been invited to the ceremony are waiting for
her during the service.

When the wedding ceremony service starts, a group of seven men goes to the
bride's home. The bride and her family are waiting for seven white cars which
escort the bride's car until they arrive at the church. Finally, the bride enters the
church and then the nuptial song starts playing.
Walter E. Hernndez

Germany

Polterabend--the Evening with Lots of Broken Porcelain


Some days before the wedding, friends and relatives bring old porcelain and
kitchenware to throw on the ground in front of bride and groom. This is supposed to
grant them a happy, lucky life; that's why this evening event is called Polterabend--
the evening with lots of broken porcelain. The German proverb--Scherben bringen
Glck--which can be translated as "Broken crockery brings you luck." is derived
from this custom. The Polterabend often develops into an informal and casual party.
Ulrike Gahn

India

A Marriage of Two Families, Not Just Two People


In the Sikh faith (East Indian) some weddings are arranged and others are love
marriages. When a couple are to be wed it is considered a marriage of two families
not just two people. The bride traditionally wears red (white signifies death in our
culture) and the groom wears a traditional cream colored long coat called an
etchkin with a red turban. The father of the bride joins the bride to the groom by
handing her one end of a cloth that is held by the groom. The groom leads the
bride 4 times around our holy book with the help of the bride's brothers and
cousins. After the fourth round the couple are considered married. Priests give
blessings and advise the couple on how to live and love in their
new lives together. The couple are two bodies with one soul...

Nicky Dale

Indonesia

Receiving a Holy Shower


In Java, the bride and the groom mustnt meet each other on
this day because that would bring them bad luck. In this photo,
I was receiving a holy shower with water and flowers from my
mother.
Kartika Sinclair

Iran

Tradition of the "Grinding Girl"


In my country Iran, there are very many different traditions associated with
marriage which should be very strictly observed, otherwise bad luck is sure to
ensue soon. For instance, on the night before the marriage ceremony, three or four
unmarried girls hold a clean white cloth on the heads of the bride and bridegroom
while they are sitting on a sofa or on the ground. Then one of the girls start to grind
two big nuggets of sugar together. As she does that, she asks God to repel all evil
spirits from the life of the newly married couple. Before this, the families of the girl
and the boy should make sure that the "Grinding Girl" is very trustworthy and
decent. This will also provides the young unmarried girls with the chance to get
married in the coming years!
Mahmood Azizi

Japan

A Wine Ceremony Symbolizes Dedication


A Shinto wedding has a typical ceremony. A couple drinks Japanese rice wine in
front of a priest. First, the bride drinks the wine from a small cup. Next, the bride
passes the cup to the groom and he also drinks the wine from the cup. They try to
drink wine three times. This ceremony means that they promise to be dedicated
each other.
Maki Kubo

Korea

Tossing the Bridal Bouquet and Giving nuts and Jujube


Many young people get married western style in Korea. That is, women wear a
short dress, and men wear a new western suit. The bride throws her wedding
bouquet back over her shoulder, and the girl who catches it is the one who is going
to get married next.

After the wedding ceremony is finished, the bride and bridegroom change into
Korean traditional clothes and bow to their parents and elder relatives. Then, the
parents and older relatives give them many nuts, Jujube, and some money. Nuts
and Jujube mean they will have children, and they wish the bride and bridegroom a
happy marriage.
Kim Young Lee

They'll Have Daughters and Sons


If a bridegroom smiles a lot in a wedding, he will get a daughter as a first child. If a
bride takes some nuts, she will get a lot of sons. (Traditionally, the parents of a
bridegroom throw nuts and plums to a bride after a wedding. At that time, a bride
takes nuts or plums in her shirt.)
Minjung Song

Mexico

A Bouquet for the Virgin Mary


In Mexico at a Catholic wedding ceremony, the bride offers her bouquet to the
Virgin Mary and leaves it at the foot of the statue in order to thank her and ask her
for a good life and for her blessing. This is a solemn moment at the end of the
ceremony. After that, she meets her groom and they receive the priest's blessing
and that means the ceremony is finished.
Miriam Mostkoff
Nepal

A Pinch of Red-Coloured Powder on the Bride's Forehead


One of the important events in our traditional wedding is that the groom puts a
pinch of red-coloured powder on the bride's forehead. This symbolizes that they are
now husband and wife. This red color on the woman's forehead differentiates
whether she is married or not.
Milan Gurong

Saudi Arabia

Good Luck for the Bride


In Saudi Arabia, when men and women want to get married, they prefer to buy new
clothes and throw out old ones. They say this is a new life, so the couple need new
clothes.

On the wedding night, the man dresses in white clothes and a long cover called a
Bisht, and the woman dresses in white. At the end of the wedding, the man goes
with his father and relatives to his marriage room and sits to drink some coffee for
a few minutes. Then they leave.

Then the woman comes with her mother and relatives and do the same thing. This
removes the stress of the man and the woman, so they are together to start a new
life. The morning after the wedding, the man gives a gift to his wife.
Abdullah Al-Subaiei

The Cutting of the Cake


When the bride and groom start walking to the wedding cake, all the wedding
guests move out of the way and look in anticipation at the bride and groom. Then
the groom holds the bride's hand carefully and together they hold the knife. After
they cut a small piece of the cake, the groom holds the piece of cake and the bride
eats a bit of it. After that the bride holds that piece of cake and lets the groom bite
another bit of the piece. Then the attendants start cheering and clapping for them.
The cutting of the cake symbolizes that the couple have started taking care of each
other and looking after each other.
Sulaiman Alquraishi

Who Took the Bridegroom?


In my country (Saudi Arabia), after the wedding ceremony, the religious man says
that the bride and the bridegroom are man and wife. Then the bridegroom goes to
a party hall--a special hall for weddings--near his house. His friends follow him in
their cars and honk their horns and flash their lights, so the people know that there
is a wedding party.

Our special thing is the food. At the party, they cook special, traditional food--rice
and a whole sheep on a big plate--and they cook 8-15 plates because usually there
are a lot of people at the party.

After dinner, the bridegroom goes out from the back door and takes his wife to start
their honeymoon, but sometimes--or usually--his friends will play big jokes on him.
For example, they may take him before he leaves with his wife to have a picnic in a
place he cannot get back from (the desert) for about 2-3 days to make him late for
his honeymoon.
Mazen Al-Qarawi

Spain

Take Note if You're Getting Married in Spain

- If a groom's friend cuts a piece of the groom's tie, he'll get married soon.
- If the bride wears something blue, she'll have a happy marriage.
- If the groom sees the bride's dress, she'll have bad luck during the ceremony.
Carmen Caffarena

Taiwan

The Groom Has to Promise to Take Care of the Bride


One the morning of the wedding day, the very first thing that happens is for the
groom to pick the bride up from her house. Before the groom sees the bride, he has
to kneel down in front of the bride's parents and promise them that he will take
good care of their daughter. After that the groom is allowed to take the bride to the
car which is waiting outside the house. Then the whole day ceremony will begin.
Stanley Chen

Tests and Games for the Bridegroom


In Taiwan, a bridesmaid and best man are not necessary in a traditional wedding
because usually the parents will play these roles. The bride and bridegroom can not
see each other the day before the wedding. Friends will design some games or tests
and the bridegroom has to pass them before he can take his wife to get married.
For example, friends will ask the groom about the bride's private things. If he
answers correctly, he can go on to the next game, but if he doesn't pass the game,
he has to give money to everyone and then he can go to the next step of the game
playing. Those friends want to teach the groom it is not so easy for a man to get
married to a beautiful woman.
Wan-Pei Chang (Vania)

Turkey

I Can't Read Your Name, So You're Next!


In Turkey, when a girl gets married, all her female friends write their names inside
her bridal shoes. After the wedding ceremony, if someone's name has been rubbed
off and can not be read anymore, it means this person is going to get married next.
Arzu Cimitay

Wedding Superstitions in Turkey

- If you get married between two annual religious festivals that are two months
apart, you might be unlucky.
-If you write the name of one of your friends under the sole of your shoes in your
wedding ceremony, and it is erased, he/she will wed in a short period of time.
- If you catch a candy which is thrown by the bride, you will wed in a short period
of time.
Turhan Ece
Venezuela

Promises to Love and Take Care of Each Other


The most important and unforgettable event of someone's life is marriage. In
Venezuela, the groom has to promise his bride to love her his whole life and to take
her forever.

The bride also has to repeat the same commandments. It is popular for the couple
to sing the promises to each other. This moment is really beautiful. In addition, the
couple receives a list of commandments.
Sonia Dale

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