Wedding Myths and Symbols
Posted for Chris Hawkins on 3 November, 2008 under the category: Basingstoke Weddings
Superstitious or not, there is a lot of tradition in weddings, in this article we delve into the myths and legends surrounding your big day. Of course you can ignore all of the old ways and start your own, but for people who want to find the reason behind silver coins, white dresses and why you shouldn’t wear pearls, read on…
Choosing the day of the wedding can affect the marriage so the rhyme tells,
Monday for health,
Tuesday for wealth,
Wednesday’s the best of all.
Thursday brings crosses,
And Friday losses,
But Saturday – no luck at all.
Time wise, the couple should exchange vows as the clock’s minute hand is “ascending towards heaven” (i.e. upwards).
The bride should not make her own dress as for every stitch of the wedding dress the bride sews herself, she’ll shed one tear during her marriage.
Then the colour, considering the white dress itself has only really been the done thing for a hundred or so years, its odd that this myth is so often heard
Married in White
You have chosen right.
Married in Blue
Your lover is true.
Married in Pink
Your fortunes will sink.
Married in Green
You will not long be seen.
Married in Red
You’ll wish you were dead.
Married in Yellow
Ashamed of the fellow.
Married in Brown
You’ll live out of town.
Married in Grey
You’ll live far away.
Married in Black
You’ll wish you were back.
A bride should throw away every pin when removing her dress and veil, or she will be unlucky.
Signing your new name prior to the wedding is bad luck ladies. Its seen as tempting fate and one should never sign your married name until after the event
On the day itself, there are many things to remember if your courting good luck on your wedding day.
The most famous saying dates back to Victorian times and the full version is ‘something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a silver sixpence in her shoe:
Something old, represents the link with the bride’s family and the past. A common solution many bride’s choose is to wear a piece of family jewellery or their mother’s or grandmother’s wedding dress.
Something new, is for good fortune and success in the bride’s new life. The wedding dress is often chosen as the new item.
Something borrowed, is to remind the bride that friends and family will be there for her when help is needed. The borrowed object might be something such as a lace handkerchief or an item of jewellery.
Something blue, symbolises faithfulness and loyalty and dates back to biblical times when blue represented purity. Frequently the bride’s garter is the blue item.
And lastly the “silver sixpence in her shoe” is to wish the bride wealth, both financial and happiness. You can still find Silver sixpences for a few pounds, but modern brides have resorted to penny’s and don’t seem to have fallen foul yet. With modern shoes its getting harder to put a coin into them in a way that stops them falling out seconds afterwards, you could always try a little tape!
On the way to the church, it is fortunate for a bride to meet a lamb, a dove, a spider, or a black cat on her way to church: but a pig or funeral are bad omens, and country brides fear the crowing of a cock after dawn of the wedding day. Not sure how many pigs one would see in Basingstoke, but I guess its best to be prepared.
It is good luck for the groom not to see the dress before the wedding day. It will bring more luck if he does not glance at the dress as the bride walks down the aisle. Bit tricky this one as the dress traditionally is big and white, good luck chaps!
It is seen as fortunate, if on the journey to the church the bride sees a policeman, clergyman, doctor or a blind man. The groom should give a coin to the first person he sees on his journey to the church for good luck.
Jewellery as expected has a number of myths linked to it. To some, pearls represent future tears and are a bad sign. However, to others, the wearing of pearls takes the place of the bride’s real tears, thus she’ll have a happy, tear-free wedded life.
The wedding veil is thought to hide the bride’s beauty and wards off evil spirits. Another explanation is that during the times of arranged marriages the bride’s face would be covered until the groom had committed to the marriage.
During the ceremony the bride stands on the left of the groom to allow his sword arm to be free ready to fight off other men who may want her as their bride.
Then there is the rings, much can be written about them, but for now there is a contradictory wedding myth. The positive myth is that dropping the wedding ring during the ceremony shakes out the evil spirits. The negative aspect, is that whoever drops the ring is said to be the first to die.
Confetti has replaced rice or grain in modern times, the rice was thrown at the bride and groom to encourage fertility. I assume the rice was uncooked.
The throwing of the wedding bouquet was introduced from North America and it is said that who ever catches the bouquet will be next to be married.
Wedding gifts are bought by the guests have replaced the custom of bringing fruits that used to encourage fertility.
The tradition of giving guests something to remember the day by in the form of favours has been around for hundreds of years. Today, the tradition has evolved to giving each guest five sugar coated almonds to symbolise health, wealth, fertility, happiness and long-life.
Carrying the bride over the threshold protects her from any evil spirits that may be lurking in the new home.
If a bride wishes to be the dominating influence in her married life, she must be the first to buy something after the marriage. The best way to ensure this is to buy a pin from the chief bridesmaid when changing into her travelling costume, Sorry grooms we don’t think a round of drinks counts!
Which ever tradition or myth you choose to follow on your special day, from all of us here at BasingstokeWeddings.com, good luck for the day and the rest of your married life!
» Filed Under Basingstoke Weddings
4 Responses to “Wedding Myths and Symbols”
Leave a Reply
© 2012 Basingstoke Weddings, all rights reserved.
April 22nd, 2009 at 7:08 am
The topic is quite trendy in the net at the moment. What do you pay the most attention to when choosing what to write ?
April 22nd, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Ted
Thanks for the comment, most of the articles on this site are written by the members, this article was by myself and the items in it were inspired by several things. My own wedding, family history / folk-law and general interest. When I was getting married I knew a few of the old ways and ideas and was interested in trying to find out a little about them to decide if I wanted to incorporate them into our wedding day. As with most things a little reading around can unearth some amazing things about the history of ideas. All very interesting, and with much scope for future research and articles.
December 6th, 2011 at 11:56 am
[...] http://basingstokeweddings.com/2008/11/wedding-myths-and-symbols/ [...]
December 13th, 2011 at 11:52 am
[...] http://basingstokeweddings.com/2008/11/wedding-myths-and-symbols/ [...]