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TRADITIONS, TWISTS, AND TRENDS: Weddings then and now By Rebecca Cuthbert
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n a world with constant Wi-Fi access and drive-thru everything, one might assume the days of formal, lavish wedding celebrations are history, but that’s not the case! Classic wedding traditions are alive, if adapted, and exist happily alongside the most cutting-edge nuptial trends. Look closely at almost any aspect of a modern wedding, and its grinning ancestor will look right back.
Traditional tableaux
Ancient civilizations were under ever-changing rule and religion. Nomadic peoples meandered through territories not yet claimed, looking for places to call home. Alliances were made and deals struck, and through all of it, cultures merged and adapted. Because of this, it’s hard to know just where some wedding traditions started. A few well-known practices are claimed by more than one culture, and may have sprouted in different parts of the globe for different reasons. Regardless of their roots—or because they run so deep—many old-world traditions found their way into contemporary wedding ceremonies. In several different cultures, the act of proposing began with an eye toward practicality. Healthy, young people wanted to marry and have children to help carry on family names and enterprises, like farms and skilled trades. In the pre-bridal shower days, a bride often offered a dowry to help establish a home—linens, housewares, furniture, and money. It certainly helped if the families of the bride and groom blessed the marriage, and this is where we get the practice of fathers walking daughters down the aisle. This is a symbolic approval on behalf of the bride’s parents, a show of trust to all present that the groom will give their daughter a good life. One recently wed Buffalo bride, Maegan (Kivler)
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October 2015
www.buffalospree.com
Bishoff, says she and husband, Jason, were excited to incorporate their culture’s traditions into their September wedding: “Being that Jason and I are extremely German (me 100 percent and him ninety), we wanted to honor as many German wedding traditions as possible, but many of them are [popular in] America already.” For starters, Jason asked Maegan’s father for permission to propose, and Maegan’s father walked her down the aisle to give her away. “That moment between my father and [me] was vital,” she says. “He has always been a protector, the rule maker, and the man who made sure my life stayed on track, so the symbolism of him ‘giving me away’ to do all these things on my own and with my husband was important.” Bridesmaids accompanying the bride to the altar dates back to ancient Rome, though other cultures claim this tradition as well. When this all started, bridesmaids wore the same outfit as the bride—no colorful tea-length dresses— because people feared that brides were particularly attractive to evil spirits, and bridesmaids could “confuse” these malignant entities. Bridal bouquets also had practical protective origins. Long before brides carried fragrant flowers to help complement their beauty, bouquets were made of strong-smelling herbs and other plants, like dill and garlic that allegedly kept misfortune at bay. Flowers were added to wedding bouquets later, and here is where we get the term “nosegay,” since sweet-smelling flowers make noses happy. In part, spring weddings became popular because “wedding decorations” were blooming all around. The brides from days of old weren’t safe from evil spirits post-ceremony, either. Of particular vulnerability were the soles of their feet—apparently evil spirits’ favorite way