Sunday, December 19, 2010

Wedding customs and traditions

Long time never update Pangeelapong, probably due to previous assignment rush and now exam is just around the corner.

This morning I read newspaper and I came across this interesting article about some "weird" wedding customs and traditions around the world. So I thought of sharing them here. :)


Ancient Bulgaria
Nowadays when we talk about wedding, all the couples will find ways to make themselves look more "presentable"; dress nicely, properly groomed and so on. Even if they are born imperfect, they'll put on thick make ups to cover up the defects. However, this does not happen to the Ancient Bulgarian, especially in this area called Kyustendil. Not only they don't bother dressing up nicely, the bride has to make herself look as ugly as and as horrible as possible!

For example, the bride will paint her face black, wear a pair of elven ears, put on unfitted clothes and so on. Besides, she also has to act retarded during the wedding dinner. Examples of retarded actions such as, throwing dung at the guests, dance with animal's bone and etc.

With all these, only the wedding ceremony considered complete. According to their belief, dressing up nicely during wedding will bring jealousy in other people. And Jealousy is like a devil, which will bring bad luck to the couple.


Ancient England
Until 1753, before they amended the wedding's law, there were no diamond rings, no gowns, no wedding certificate and no wedding dinner. There was only a simple wedding ceremony where the couple has to sweep and clean the house under the supervision of local official. It was a way to teach the newly-wed how to do house chores.


Ancient Sparta
On the wedding day, the bride had to dress up like a man! She had to put on mustache, wear man's clothings and shoes. Then she will wait alone in a dark room. At night the groom will appear and "sweep" her away. Only then, she will remove her mustache, man's clothings and dress up as a girl. The reason they practiced this was because, there was one period when homosexuality was a general trend for the Spartans. Therefore, heterosexual partners did not dare to announce their loves and that was why the bride had to dress up like a man....


Ancient France
When talk about the France, everyone will probably think that they sure gonna be damn romantic, but they were actually not that romantic. Think about the wedding ceremony nowadays, for the chinese, we will normally have buffet at the groom's house the night before wedding, then we will have wedding dinner the next day. All these are served with delicious foods.

However, for the ancient France, especially in this area called La Soupe, the bride and the groom have to eat rubbish, as in real rubbish. On the wedding day, they have to sweep their room and the rubbish collected will be made into food. (I still cannot believe that) The most gross thing was, according to the legend, they have to ingest dirty water from the toilet bowl. =.= However, they said the guests were served with proper meal.

How you want your wedding to be?