Marriages around the world

Marriage is one of the most important events in the life of two loving people and it doesn’t matter where the ceremony takes place or what nationality a bride and a groom are. Every country has its own traditions and customs of wedding. Some of them can seem very extraordinary or even crazy.

Traditionally in Britain a bride is escorted to the altar by her father, and then he entrusts his daughter to his son-in-law. The clergyman joins them in matrimony after which the newlyweds are pelted with the confetti. It is an old custom which symbolizes the wish of good luck. On the day of wedding the bride should wear something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.

A Swedish bride puts a silver coin from her father and a gold coin from her mother in each shoe to ensure that she'll never do without.

A Finnish bride traditionally went door-to-door collecting gifts in a pillowcase, accompanied by an older married man who represented long marriage.

Moroccan women take a milk bath to purify themselves before their wedding ceremony.

What are the peculiar traditions of wedding in India? The father of the bride meets the groom as the guest of honour. The bride gives her second part a traditional beverage of sour milk, honey and butter. Groom’s brother or another male relative pelts the newlyweds with petals of flowers to drive away evil spirits. The Hindu wear a wedding ring on the thumb.

There are special wedding customs in Asian countries too. In Vietnam the newlyweds usually have two wedding ceremonies: the first is organized by groom’s parents and the second – by bride’s parents. During the Chinese wedding the bride and groom drink wine and honey from the bowls, bound together with red tape, because red colour symbolizes love and happiness.

Russian wedding customs. The morning of this event begins with the ransom of a bride – it’s avery old tradition. The groom with his friends tries to do all the tasks, prepared by bride’s relatives. After the ceremony the newlyweds and the guests go to visit famous sights of the city. At the cafe or restaurant they are met with the round loaf with salt and the one who will bite the largest piece will be the head of the family. Another interesting custom is to say “Bitter! " What is the meaning of this expression? Long ago when the bride came up to the guest with the tray, he or she put money on the tray and took the glass of vodka, drank it and said “Bitter! ”, confirming that there were spirits.

No matter how different the wedding ceremonies are, the main aim of this event is to secure love, “to hold from this day forth, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health”, because it’s very important to love, trust and understand each other.