Uses, customs, rituals are an integral part of every marriage and anywhere in the world. So, when in Rome, use what you got.

When in Rome, use what you got

For example, in Italy, it would be unthinkable to see a black-tunic bride during the celebration of a church wedding. But it represented the utmost elegance and style for longobard brides, while the richest Byzantines were wearing precious red silk dresses with embroideries in gold and hard stones. And if the red, during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance was considered propitious for births, it is still today the color of Indian and Chinese brides. For the inhabitants of that immense country that is China, in fact, white is the color used for funerals. In Japan, bride and groom change clothing three times, according to a complicated ritual that at least one of the dresses must be a kimono, rarely white, most often pink or red gold and often reddish, often flamboyant floral fantasies, sometimes laminated.

Regarding the ceremony, the one according to the orthodox rite raises the theatrical representation. Each gesture is repeated three times, almost a dance that is divided into two fundamental moments, engagement and coronation. The engagement sees future spouses blessed three times by the priest at the entrance to the church. After giving both of them a lit candle, the celebrant will accompany them to the altar by giving them the two rings, gold for him and silver for her. After drawing three crosses on each of the future spouses, the faiths will be exchanged three times between the two engaged. The coronation, instead, takes place alongside the “tetrapodion”, a small cupboard on which a cup of wine and two crowns stand on the head of the bride’s shoulders from the priest. At the end of a ritual dance around the cupboard that the spouses dance with crossed hands and bound by a ribbon symbolizing their union, the priest takes the crown first to the groom, then to the bride and invites them to kiss between the party of the present.

Muslim marriage, on the other hand, reaches the culmination of the suggestion on the night of the wedding party. At the groom’s home, the bride is lifted off the veil covering her face and offered milk and dates to be consumed together. At the base of the ceremony in Buddhist practice there is an ancient rite, to drink three different cups, three times each and every three meanings of the past, present and future.

Turning the attention in Europe, in Lapland and in Norway, marriage is celebrated with bridal dresses that wear traditional clothes. Even in Peru is wearing the local dress, the poncho.
Peruvian Indians take part in the cost of celebrations pinning banknotes on the traditional dresses of spouses. But the Indians unite to the Catholic faith the memory of ancient pre-Columbian customs that the marriage will be successful if offered to the spirits of coca leaves, a plant considered sacred.

Thinking about orange blossom, also our regional traditions can be of help. Great moves in Florence on the night of St. John on June 24th. The ladies in wedding odor must select three beans, respectively one completely peeled, one peeled in half, the other with the whole peel. After wrapping each one in a handkerchief, they have to put them under the pillow. The next morning, on awakening, they randomly pick up a handkerchief and find out what the bean has happened: the amount of peel will be directly proportional to the wealth of the future groom. Along with the beans, it settles in Piedmont. This time the beans are two, of different color and are put in the dough of a focaccia, to be consumed on the day of Epiphany. The two beans symbolize the king and the queen, and the diners who find them during the lunch of the Befana in their own little slice of focaccia stand up and, kissing, swear by eternal love and happiness. In Carnia, in Friuli, the “rat” of the bride happens during the convocation, which is literally kidnapped by young people invited to the party and hidden in a friend’s house or in a local village. The poor groom, assisted by the witnesses, begins to roam bar in bars to find her beautiful and is forced to pay for drinking to all the fans present in the premises where he seeks the “nuvicce”, his future bride.

(Photo pixabay.com)

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