Shedding Light on Some Wedding Traditions
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Have you ever wondered why a bride must wear a veil on her way to the groom? How about why a groom must not see the bride the night before they’re wed? People follow the traditions and customs associated with weddings for they imbue a wedding with significance. But wouldn’t it be interesting to know how some wedding traditions came about?
The wedding ring
The wedding ring is a central part of the ritual and without it a wedding ceremony would never seem complete. A ring is circular (hope you noticed that) and ancient people believed that circles have magical powers to repel evil.
Why then is a wedding ring worn at the third finger of the left hand? It is believed that the third finger of each hand has a vein directly connected to the heart. Since the left hand is closer to the heart than the right, the left third finger became the favored place for the wedding ring. The wedding ring, therefore, stands for a circle that protects the heart and the person wearing it from evil.
From a more practical standpoint, the wedding ring is a valuable token from the groom to his bride. That’s why wedding rings are made of precious metals.
The veil
The tradition of a bride wearing a veil stems from the days when marriages were commonly arranged for convenience. Those days, a veil hides the bride’s appearance from her groom and this comes in handy for particularly plain or unattractive brides. Similarly, the custom of the bride and the groom not being allowed to see each other the night before the wedding was enforced to prevent them from laying eyes on each other before they were married. These practices prevent them from backing out of the arrangement if they do not like what they see.
The wedding cake
Ancient Romans baked a special loaf of barley when a couple was to be wed. The groom would eat some of this bread and the rest would be broken over his bride’s head. The breaking of the bread symbolizes the loss of the bride’s virginity. The fact that the groom does the breaking and does it over his bride’s head symbolizes the man’s power over his bride.
The wedding cake has evolved a lot from its humble origins, and it won’t do at all to break the wedding cake over the bride’s head unless the groom has an obviously malicious intent.
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