Wedding Traditions from Around the World

Wedding Traditions

from Around the World

Ava Laboy Capo

AuthorHouse™ LLC

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© 2013 Ava Laboy Capo. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse    11/13/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4918-2668-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-3545-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013920717

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Contents

Albania

Algeria

Argentina

Australia

Austria

Bangladesh

Belgium

Belize

Bermuda

Brazil

Bulgaria

Cambodia

Canada

Chile

China

Colombia

Costa Rica

Croatia

Cuba

Czech Republic

Denmark

Egypt

El Salvador

Ethiopia

Fiji

Finland

France

Germany

Great Britain

Wales

Greece

Guatemala

Hispanic /Latino Wedding Traditions

Holland

Honduras

Hungary

Iceland

India

Indonesia

Iran

Iraq

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Japan

Jewish

Kenya

Mexico

Morocco

Native American

Netherlands

New Zealand

Nicaragua

Nigeria

Norway

Panama

Persian

Peru

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Puerto Rico

Qatar

Romania

Russia

Samoa

Saudi Arabia

Oman

Palestine

Scotland

Serbia

South Africa

South Korea

Spain

Sudan

Sweden

Switzerland

Thailand

Tunisia

Turkey

United States of America

Venezuela

Vietnam

West Indies

Yemen

Wedding traditions, Ceremony, and Customs from around the world

Diversity is all around us, celebrate, embrace, and represent your culture on your special day. Incorporate rituals, ceremonies, and traditions, there are many ways to honor and incorporate your ancestry during wedding ceremony and celebration.

Introducing aspects of your culture in your wedding ceremony/reception is a way of celebrating your heritage and ancestry and a sense of pride comes along with it.

Albania

Albanian Traditions

In Albania, the bringing together of a bride and a groom is generally done by the parents, a matchmaker or a liaison. There is a weeklong celebration that takes place that leads up to the actual ceremony. The celebration is also known as jav’ e nuses. As a sign of the engagement, the bride is given a gold coin. The bride-to-be is provided with presents, along with kufetas, or sugar covered almonds. A dowry is paid for by the groom’s family to pay homage to the parents of the bride. As friends, relatives and others visit the bride and the groom, they are fed buke meqiqra, which is bread made from chickpea. A member of the groom’s family will go to the parents of the bride and will formally ask for them to attend all the celebrations. The selected member brings with them a token of the invite, which will consist of a cake or other sweets, money, wine and flowers.

On the wedding day, the bride’s parents will give her wine, while the rest of the family showers her with cash. The bride’s shoes are brought by the best man (vellum). The shoes are filled with candied almonds and rice. The vellam will also toss coins in the air for the guests to go amuck gathering up the money. There was only one traditional bride-groom dance, but that is also changing

The wedding usually starts on a Thursday, includes viewing of the girl’s dowry. If you are on the bride’s side (especially a woman) you go and view the finery that is displayed. It was the tradition for the bride sowed and embroidered all her dowry. In nowadays it is mostly bought at the finest stores that the family can afford. The dowry would consists of gifts to the groom’s family, such as nightgowns, lingerie, linens and bedcovers, jewelry and anything else the bride will need to start her life in her new home. The custom comes from earlier times when the dowry was all that the bride was allowed in her husband’s house and her wealth was displayed in golden coins necklaces and belts.

The brides make-up preparations begin on Thursday, some families schedule visits for the less important or the less known guests and neighbors at this time.

Bride is given delights, and sweet sherry for a woman, or raki/hard liquor for a man. Do not refuse it even if you hate alcohol or are a diabetic it will insult the families.

It is customary to leave some money at the tray or on the coffee table (usually around $10-$20 or the Albanian equivalent) instead of wedding presents. Only very close members of the family give presents to the couple. All the money gifts are registered carefully and given to the bride and the groom to start them in their new life.

On Friday guests continue to visit for bride viewing and to wish good luck and give their congratulations at her home.

The bride is all in white and expected to greet each and every guest on the living room or in the women’s room. In some weddings the men stay in a different room. The bride may stand the whole time, while the women around her sing. It is customary for the bride to be very serious not smile or laugh.

Friday is also the night of the cocktail party or dinner for the closest social circle of the couple. It is more informal and the bride can choose to wear white or other colors as she wishes.

Saturday, continues to be a visit day, but most importantly it is the bride’s wedding dinner party. All her friends and relatives get together and the groom’s party joins the fun around midnight. The groom’s party must not be an even number it needs to be an odd number.

The father of the bride and the father of the groom will toast the party and it is advisable to raise the glass and take a sip of whatever you are drinking. Toasting with water is inappropriate. Guests can leave the wedding after 12 at midnight but it is considered offensive to leave before. Same applies for the groom’s wedding dinner party.

Sunday late morning or noon, the groom and his party come by cab/limo/carriage to pick up the bride. Rice and sugar is thrown when the bride leaves her father’s house. The cars have to drive at least half of the city and cannot go back by the same route. The bride and groom take romantic pictures by the lake or a park or whatever view the photographer has chosen. Some couples will also include the church and or mosque or civil ceremony into Sunday morning tradition.

They are brought to the groom’s home where people are waiting to visit with and congratulate with the new couple. This would be at the groom’s father home, regardless if the young couple have a place of their own.

Sunday night is the groom’s dinner party. The bride’s close family come around 12. The first toast is to be done by the groom’s father, then it would be the bride’s father or oldest male relative. The bride’s party number should also be an odd number however they must have two more than the groom’s party from the previous night. Customarily a white bachelor’s handkerchief is doused with alcohol and burned during the traditional Napoleon Dance. The handkerchief should be cotton since it burns so easily. Stay away from polyester or rayon as they smell horribly and do not burn steadily. The handkerchief should be aflame while the groom dances with it and it is not a good sign when it stops burning midway.

Usually the young couple goes to honeymoon immediately after.

Nowadays, it is not very often that people do separate wedding dinner parties. Usually they combine the two parties on a Saturday. More couples also prefer to hire a DJ and sometimes a Classical Singer or orchestra. They have also incorporated a Master of the ceremonies and a slide show telling the story of their love, as well as bride’s maids and groom’s men. The bride changes dresses at least twice, into more informal and comfortable outfits as the party goes on.

If you have missed visiting the couple during the wedding days, or have not received an invitation, you can go the month after and leave some money on the table or tray as a congratulatory gift. If the couple has moved into a new place, you ought to bring a housewarming gift as well.

What has been listed above is the general proceedings. Each region has its own folk customs and traditions that sometimes are observed, like the bride entering on her right foot at the groom’s house for the first time, or dipping two fingers in honey and smearing some on the outer door. Some regions stage a fake fight between the bride and groom’s parties.

Be prepared to drink eat and be merry for a really long time, because the tradition demands it.

Algeria

Algerian Traditions

The very first thing in the itinerary is to select a date to visit the mosque so as to begin the engagement.

A great deal of preparation goes into effect from the time of engagement. The family begins the purchasing of the clothing, household items, wool and gold. This is referred to as shoura. Husband and wife to be are to make mutual decisions and have equal claims in the marriage.

Weeks before the actual wedding women begin gathering at the bride’s house to prepare desserts such as makroud and baklava. The wedding menu includes couscous, meat and vegetables, the larger the meal, the more generous the family is said to be.

Following the wedding celebration, the bride is driven to the groom’s home. Bride will be wearing a beautifully intricate wedding dress, make-up, excessive jewelry, and henna designs painted on bride’s hands and feet. The bride is then seated on a decorated chair in his house. All the guests dance and join in as they prepare to say farewell. The husband and wife groom with then approaches his bride and walk they walk out as husband and wife, surrounded by cheering family members and friends.

Algerian wedding customs may vary slightly depending how orthodox the family is and if the people follow other religions. Algerian weddings are an explosion of emotion and color.

The true wedding celebration then begins with guests partaking of the wedding meal served buffet style. They are joined by the happy newlyweds and their families. The feast may go on for hours or in some cases for days.

The bride is surrounded by those who wish well happily in shouting manner. During this she is never alone, she has her own entourage. No one is to leave the celebration until the bride and groom go off to nearby accommodations and consummate their marriage.

Argentina

Argentinean Traditions

Argentina is highly influenced by European customs and traditions. Argentine weddings reflect the cultural heritage of the bride and groom, and the mix is often rich in a melting-pot country with a broad diversity. Most Argentines have more or less distant Spanish ancestry. However, many descend from Italians, and there are also smaller communities of Jews, Arabs, Armenians, Ukrainians, Greeks and others who are keen to show their roots in their marriages. In modern-day Argentina this often results in mix-and-match weddings.

"Weddings are the social introduction of the new couple. Although the parties have a wedding identity and clear characteristics linked to that kind of event, customs are to identify the family of the bride and the family of the groom and or the couple.

Small touches in the food and the music remind the guests of the often diverse family make-up, and some traditions put down roots beyond specific communities. For example, it is usual in Argentine weddings to alternate food and music, with each course followed by a spell on the dance floor.

Weddings with Catholic roots generally featured the food first, and then a long dance, rather than the stop—and-go variant that is common nowadays.

A tango sometimes replaces the traditional waltz, ranches replace urban halls for the reception, and the menu is taken over by empanadas (small meat pies), choripanes (sausages on bread) and other common elements of the typical asado or roast.

Argentine weddings change whether they are held in the capital or in the provinces across a vast country; all parties share a vocation for variety and a will to impress.

Argentine weddings are characteristically long and fun. Parties last eight or nine hours. Those that start with lunch end at sundown, and those that are held at night end with breakfast.

In Argentina the custom is that the father escorts the bride to the wedding venue. On the other hand the mother of the groom accompanies her to the wedding venue. Before the marriage the couple usually wears rings on the right hand. But after marriage is completed the rings are worn on the left hand. Throughout the wedding ceremony it is a custom in Argentina that the father of the bride and the mother of the groom should stand next to them. However, as par tradition, Bridesmaid or the best man is not usually part of Weddings in Argentina the couples’ parents are usually an important part of the ceremony.

The bride in Argentinean wedding wears beautiful white dresses. On this special day it is customary to wear something blue. Usually the bride wears the white dress with a traditional blue petticoat underneath.

Bridesmaids, a maid of honor, or a best man have never been part of a traditional wedding in Argentina. The mother of the groom’s and the father of the bride escort the couple getting married down the church aisle and stand beside them through the wedding ceremony. It is an wedding tradition for Argentinean for the couple to exchange wedding rings at the engagement, not during the marriage vows.

Australia

Australian Tradition

Australian wedding fashions have changed over the years, however the white wedding dress is still traditionally worn by brides, a custom which dates back many centuries. It is also a tradition to give a bible as a wedding gift. The bible is kept as a precious souvenir for future generations. The traditions in the western world are all present in Australia the having a wedding cake at the reception, the exchange of rings and gathering of friends and family. Australian weddings often bring together extended family members. A couple’s marriage will provide a wonderful opportunity for everyone to celebrate the start of their new life together.

There are many interesting and colorful wedding customs observed in different ethnic and religious groups in Australia. Such as stamping on a drinking glass (Jewish), linking ribbon coronets worn by bride and groom (Greek), the groom arriving at the wedding on horseback (Indian), and sugared almonds being given to wedding guests (Greek, Italian and many other ethnic groups).

An Australian wedding ceremony is usually followed by a reception, a feast, party for the newlyweds and their friends and families. They are held at a reception center or other public facility hired for such special events. Wedding receptions can also take place in the home of the bride or groom.

The reception includes music, dancing, food and drinking. Speeches and toasts by the father of the bride, best man and the groom. It is the duty of the best man to read any telegrams, letters cards