Curious about getting married in other countries? You know the crying bride, human carpet and letting a hen set the wedding date? Ever heard of these bizarre wedding rituals in other countries? New? Then read on quickly.
Of course, we are all familiar with the Western rituals associated with marriage. Usually a wedding is preceded by a bachelor party. At least, that's a Dutch thing that every bride and groom actually look forward to. The wedding itself is broadly the same for everyone:to the town hall for the formalities, possibly blessing in a church, reception and then on honeymoon. Yet ordinary Western weddings are also full of symbolism and rituals. However, all this is nothing compared to the bizarre wedding rituals in other countries below.
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Let me state first that I do not want to offend anyone with this article. Different countries, different cultures, different rituals. I know that better than anyone, since I have lived in different countries. I mainly use the word bizarre to indicate that some wedding rituals may come across as extraordinary to us as Westerners. It is therefore absolutely not my intention to insult someone who has a different view or way of life.
This is a wedding ritual in Scotland. While most brides prepare and perform all kinds of beauty rituals to be their most beautiful on the big day, the brides in Scotland undergo the opposite. They are literally daubed.
A few days before the planned wedding, the bride-to-be is unpleasantly surprised by her friends. She is treated like a piece of garbage:rotten eggs are thrown on the bride-to-be. So are all kinds of sauces, rotten fish, feathers, and anything that the bride's friends think could seriously tarnish the bride. As if this were not enough, the bride is then tied to a branch or something similar and taken through all the public pubs and shops.
The thinking behind it is that it is a good preparation for all the humiliations and difficulties that await the newlyweds in their lives. Incidentally, this tradition is also gradually spreading to the groom, so that in many cases both the bride and the groom are daubed.
Of course everyone at the wedding sheds a tear, especially the bride and (clean) mother. Yet in China, among the Tujia tribe, there is a very bizarre marriage ritual going on. This wedding ritual starts a month before the wedding:the bride will cry for an hour.
Ten days later, the bride-to-be is joined by her mother, who joins in the weeping. Finally, other women join in to cry together. This wedding ritual is meant to test the intelligence of the bride-to-be. In addition, it is an important part to see how good the bride-to-be is at singing the so-called 'cry songs'.
The women born in India, of which Mars and Saturn are under the seventh house of their natal chart (the life of Hindus is determined and "read" by astrology), are regarded as cursed. These women would cause the death of their husbands if they did not adhere to a strict marriage ritual. These women must first marry a tree or a silver/gold idol. The marriage is soon summoned again. If the woman then marries the groom, the tree or idol must be destroyed.
This marriage ritual will be familiar to many. In Germany, crockery and glass are smashed by the wedding guests. The intention is then that the newlyweds will clean up the mess together. The idea behind this is that it strengthens the bond between the new spouses. At the same time, it is also a warning that they must continue to work together under all difficult circumstances.
You can also find this tradition in Greece:Greeks throw the plates on the floor at a wedding, because this is said to bring good luck.
Cupid has shot his arrow in the heart and now the happy couple has promised each other eternal fidelity. However, that does not happen before the groom has shot with a real bow and arrow. A bizarre wedding ritual that surpasses the previously described ritual from Scotland.
In the Yugur tradition (a small ethnic minority in China), the groom shoots three arrows at the bride. Fortunately, the arrows are blunt and unpointed! The arrows are returned to the groom after shooting, who then breaks the arrows. The bow is also broken. This marriage ritual guarantees a lifetime of love for each other. So romance a la Cupid…
A very bizarre wedding ritual can be found in the Tidong community in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia. There, both the bride and groom as a newly married couple are not allowed to use the toilet for 3 days. Do they do that? Then this does not bode well and they will have bad luck.
The bad luck can cause a divorce, stillbirths or infertility. The family must ensure that this does not happen by keeping the couple indoors. To ensure that the couple does not have to go to the toilet, they are only given minimal amounts of food and drink. A very wry and sober start to a marriage.
Why should you determine your wedding date yourself? Let it do a chicken! At least that is what happens among the Daurin population who live in the Heilongjiang province, the Chinese interior in Mongolia. The wedding date is determined by a hen.
This goes like this:The couple-to-be slaughters a chicken and inspects the liver. A good liver means they can get married, a bad liver means that a new chicken has to be slaughtered… The Party of the Animals would have put an end to that in the Netherlands long ago.
The Marquesas Islands (Marquis Archipelago), the 14 islands of French Polynesia, have another bizarre wedding ritual. In this wedding ritual, after the wedding ceremony, the bride's relatives lie on the floor with their faces down. They form a long human carpet for the new couple. The couple leaves the reception by walking on the human carpet.
Following the aforementioned rituals in which the bride is blackened or shot at with a bow and arrow, now a variant in which the bald bride is spit. Among the Masai tribe in Kenya, the bride's head is shaved and rubbed with lamb oil and fat! After this, her father spits on her head and breasts. This ritual is meant so that the bride will receive good luck and prosperity in her life. She is also not allowed to look back when she is on her way home with her new husband, otherwise the bride will turn into a stone.
In the Netherlands, many people voluntarily choose to get married only as soon as children are born. This is in stark contrast to the fact that in some countries it is illegal to marry until children have been born.
In southern Sudan, in Neur, a marriage is not officially confirmed until the woman has given birth to two children, preferably sons. The woman continues to live in the parental home until the birth of the first child. Only after her second delivery is she allowed to move into her husband's house. If she fails to have children, the 'marriage' will be dissolved.
Speaking of bizarre:in Java you have to pay the fees for ratifying a marriage at a marriage bureau in rat tails. If you're not able to give 25 rat tails to the officer on duty, you're out of luck. Incidentally, a divorce is even 'more expensive':you have to bring 40 rat tails with you.
In the West, every bride wants to be as slim as possible for the big day. Many women follow all kinds of diets and programs to cope with the wedding dress in a size smaller. However, that is not the case everywhere. In some places they don't like slim women.
In Mauritius, the thicker, the more beautiful. The result:young girls from the age of 5 are literally fattened up with milk, couscous, butter, dried fruit and any food that is rich in calories. If things don't go fast enough, the girls are sent to a special farm where they get extra food. The hidden meaning? Being fat is a sign of prosperity and health! So fat girls get a (rich) man faster.
There is a good chance that you have raised your eyebrow every now and then when reading the above wedding rituals. Not surprising, these are completely different rituals than the ones we know. Still, I can recommend it to everyone to experience a wedding where things go differently than you are used to. In the end, everyone marries in their own way. Of course you can follow 'rules', but if you want to change clothes 3x or give a wedding where everyone has to dress up, then that is your right. Or maybe you have your own traditions.
Which ritual described above do you find really bizarre or too crazy for words?
