According to the Irish tradition, December 28th is the one day that no one should get married on. December 28th, or Innocent’s day is apart of the many recognized occasions during the Christmas season. The origination of the this day comes from the bible story of the holy family fleeing in Egypt because King Harold wanted to kill baby Jesus. He ordered all male children under 2 years old slaughtered. An angel came down from heaven and told the Holy family of this and they escaped to Egypt the night before. Innocents day mourns the act of cruelty. It is not necessarily a celebration, but the Irish take notice of this day for its bad luck. Anything that is done on this day is bound to be doomed so many people refuse to do business on this day, and if a couple were to get married on this day, their marriage would be doomed from the start. Katie Kilhullen? November 23, 2008, at 11:29 PM
I found this website that I thought might be helpful for anyone doing this topic. There are plenty of superstitions on your wedding day. I wonder how it veries from culture to culture. I hope this website is useful. http://weddings.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Wedding_Superstitions Katie Niederpruem? November 23, 2008, at 09:10 PM
One of my fellow peers expressed earlier on that it is fascinating to see how weddings from all over differ from each other. I would have to agree. Let us look at the African American weddings versus Somaliland weddings. Somalia is located in Africa and African Americans are of course of the African decent. As I have posted on the Somaliland aspect of engagement, allow me to do the same with African Americans. In regards to the engagement stage of African Americans, generally speaking, the engagement lasts for at least a year. Monique Sayles, my colleague who I have interviewed for this topic indicated that there is a twelve month wedding checklist that the couple abides by so that everything can be taken care of before the actual wedding date. This is where the couple decides who they wish to invite to their wedding, the location, and the price they are willing to pay for the wedding, the decorations, and many other things. Rather than being engaged for a mere two days and then marrying shortly thereafter like those of Somalia. This is a wonderful example of cultures evolving and forming anew.Calleather Felder? November 23, 2008, at 02:45 PM
My initial post about my choice of fieldwork project topic included a list of people that I intended to interview for added information on certain lineages. I have since then updated my list and I have interviewed my grandmother Veronica James-Downer. My grandmother has replaced Kaymeshia Knight because I found it rather difficult to contact her. Thus, instead of focusing on wedding customs from those of St. Vincent, I became more concentrated on Jamaican wedding traditions. Interestingly enough, I discovered that the central dessert in weddings generally is the wedding cake. My informant specified that there is more than one wedding cake in Jamaican weddings. Firstly, the main cake is roughly about four layers depending on how extravagant the couple wishes the cake to be. Next, there are six smaller cakes surrounding the larger bridal cake. The cake batter is black and some may recognize the cake as being referred to as black cake or rum cake. Dark nuts such as raisins, dates, walnuts, currants along with candied fruits give the cake its color. The cake is associated with rum because the fruits and nuts are soaked in rum and wine for a week or two in advance. The cake is then covered in white frosting because the color of the icing represents good fate. Calleather Felder? November 23, 2008, at 02:16 PM _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
While doing research on wedding customs of various ethnic backgrounds, I came across some interesting information and I’d like to share my findings with anyone interested. First, I will begin with my interview with one of my listed informants, Ayan Alinur who’s from Somalia. When a woman becomes engaged, her family hosts an engagement party .Keep in mind that the day someone from Somalia becomes engaged, they will be married within the next few days .After the engagement party, the bride is not allowed to exit her home for an entire day because she is getting prepared for her wedding. During this preparation, she is being decorated from head to toe in Henna which was described as a washable tattoo that remains on the skin for roughly two months. The wedding itself is reserved for women only with the exception of the groom. During this time, all women are permitted to reveal their hair except for those who are already married. Those who cannot show their hair are required to wear their hair in a scarf tied in a bun fashion. The women wear a dress called Diri. This is of any color they choose and it equates to gowns that Americans wear at their weddings, such as bridesmaids’ dresses. The groom on the other hand, wears a regular black tuxedo. The wedding ceremony is video recorded so that the father is able to watch his daughter get married because he is not authorized to attend the wedding.Calleather Felder? November 23, 2008, at 02:01 PM _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I thought this information would be helpful to include in a wedding customs paper. In the Mexican wedding traditions, it’s a custom to have multiple godparents. The godparents would be responsible for different details in the wedding for example, there would be a godparent for the invitations who would be in charge of buying and ordering the invitations for the guest. A godparent for the cake who is responsible for the cake of the wedding. This is done mostly to help for the cost of the overall wedding, family members and friends pitch in for the wedding cost by dividing the expenses of the wedding. If you would like to know more my buffalo state email is sancj07. Jackeline Sanchez? November 23, 2008, at 02:35 AM
I did some research on wedding customs and superstitions. Flowers have always been a big feature at Weddings. The Groom is supposed to wear a flower that appears in the Bridal Bouquet in his button-hole. This stems from the Medieval tradition of a Knight wearing his Lady’s colours, as a declaration of his love. Each flower has its own meaning and can display a special message. Orange Blossom, for instance, signifies chastity, purity and loveliness, while red chrysanthemum means “I love you.” Also, weddings have historically taken place in higher numbers during the month of June than any other month of the year. This ties into the old belief that it was lucky to be married on the day of the full moon. A wedding on the June day of a full moon was considered to be the most prosperous and long lasting union of all. These go together with the belief that a wedding on a bright, sunny day, which June is well known for, foretold good luck for the bride and groom, compared to being married on a rainy day, which foretold bad luck and a short marriage. Matthew Stork? November 23, 2008, at 08:50 PM
In Cambodian customs, whenever someone get married they are supposed to change into as many wedding outfit as possible. This represent how much wealth and offering you can give to the bride’s family. The wedding outfit is a mix of formal (western style outfit) to more traditional (Royal garments) outfits. Every 30 minutes to an hour depending on how many outfit you can afford, you with come out with your partner in a completely different outfit during the intermission of the music. And only the immediate family can take photos with them, however, guests are welcome to take pictures of them. Kim C Suy? November 19, 2008, at 06:13 PM
Through doing research for my fieldwork project on wedding customs and superstitions, I came across information about a tradition in New Orleans of bridesmaids doing a “ribbon pull” out of the wedding cake. From doing my own interview, I have yet to meet anyone that practices this tradition, and few that have heard of it. There is a great article that describes this custom and all that it entails, written by Marcia Gaudet entitled “Ribbon Pulls in Wedding Cakes: Tracing a New Orleans Tradition.” The cake has ribbons coming out from all angles, with a charm attached to the end of each ribbon. In traditional American weddings, all of the single females gather around and try to catch the bouquet as the bride throws it. The person who catches the bouquet is said to be the next person to get married. However, in this New Orleans tradition, each single lady gathers around the cake, grabs a ribbon, and then they all pull the ribbons out together. Each charm has a different meaning. If someone gets the “ring” they are said to be the next lady to get married. However, there are charms such as horseshoes and clovers for good luck or hearts for finding “true love”. The fleur-de-lis symbol that seams to surround the city of New Orleans is a charm that means that “love will bloom” in your life. On the other hand, there are also charms that women most likely don’t want to receive. If you pull the thimble or button, this means you’ll be an old maid. In traditional English weddings, it is good luck for the bride to wear a sixpence in her shoe. However, if a bridesmaid pulls a penny from a cake in New Orleans, this is supposed to show that she will be very poor. This is a very unique tradition that brides of New Orleans partake in. Most typical American weddings do not have unique features like this included in their reception ceremonies. Angela Schultz? November 17, 2008, at 09:03 PM
An interesting wedding tradition is the Pig Trough Dance. In this tradition it is considered bad luck if a younger sibling marries before the older. In an effort to “deflect” or rid the bad luck (though I fail to see the logic) the older sibling must dance in a pig trough. I did a brief search on this tradition and several websites attribute this tradition to German farming communities. However, one site lists it as a Native American wedding tradition as indicated by the St. Regis Mohawk Indian Reservation. There are several wedding traditions from various cultures at one particular site which is http://www.worldweddingtraditions.com. In a periodical published in 1976 there is mention of the Pig Trough dance at a wedding in a list of expressions which can be found at http://thelibrary.org/lochist/periodicals/bittersweet/wi76c.htm. Furthermore, I came up with a site that had a pair of pig trough stockings which were given to a couple after the older sister used them to dance in the pig trough at a wedding. Information on the stockings and this custom can be found at http://www.victori.com/quick_topics.html along with a picture of the pig trough stockings from 1829. Christine Patrice Gebera? October 30, 2008, at 10:17 PM
I was just doing some research and I found a website that lists good and bad omens on the wedding day as well as what the wedding cake means and gifts at the bridal shower. Interesting enough, the first present that the bride opens at the shower should be the first one that she uses. I’ve never heard of this before. Which is what I like this topic so much there are so many things that I’ll be able to tell to my sister and things that she has never heard of before!Also I can get different ideas to run by her to see if she’s willing to participate! The website is… http://www.corsinet.com/trivia/scary3.html Leanne Lewandowski? October 16, 2008, at 02:37 PM
What I find interesting about weddings is how they are done differently across the U.S. I have a cousin that got married in San Diego, one in Virgina, and another right here in Buffalo. I’ve been to all three and just to see how getting married can be done so differently. At the reception in San Diego, they had a basket and in order to dance with the bride you had to put money in the basket, just another little way for them to get money. In Virgina, at the rehersal dinner, they had a grooms cake which was a cake dedicated to the groom. On the cake it had an illustration of the groom and different acomplishments he had made decorated on it. My cousin that got married in Buffalo didn’t have any of this. Which I found to be interesting because he was the best man of the wedding in San Diego. To me it’s very interesting to see what different people and families do at weddings. Leanne Lewandowski? October 16, 2008, at 02:06 PM
For my field work project I wanted to do supersitions but I was told to narrow it down, since my sister is getting married next year I thought this was the perfect idea. Leanne Lewandowski? October 16, 2008, at 01:58 PMLeanne Lewandowski
I was searching on the internet for wedding superstitions and came across a wedding magazine’s website. The site has a few pages worth of superstitions that bride’s have sent in from all across the United States. The site is http://www.blissweddings.com/library/superstitions2.asp. This site had many that I have never even heard of before. The same website has pages for wedding traditions. There are pages for ethnic traditions and religious traditions. The link is http://www.blissweddings.com/library/traditions.asp. I hope this helps. Rachel Hahn? October 16, 2008, at 12:06 PM
I started doing some research for my fieldwork project on wedding superstitions and came across an interesting article on www.snopes.com. The article discussed the superstitions and lore that surround the wedding gown.
As anyone who follows wedding trends and styles from season to season, it is well known that the traditional white wedding dress is not the first choice of brides these days. While ivory gowns are very popular, more and more gowns have had bits of color, such as black, red or pink, to make the gown that much more unique. However, while I thought these were just trends, this article expresses the superstitions involved with each color choice of a wedding gown. There are actually gown colors that are considered to bring good or bad luck to the marriage. As the article states, white, blue, silver and pink are considered the luckiest colors, with blue bringing the most luck. Perhaps that has something to do with the reason bride’s need “something blue” on their wedding day. The unlucky colors include black, green, yellow and purple. If a bride wears black on her wedding day, there is a superstition that she will be a young widow.
Furthermore, the article attempts to put to rest the so-called myth that brides wear white as a symbol of their purity. The writer says that white was the color of joy and was worn to show the brides happiness rather than purity.
The article also shares a poem that is used to express the superstitions regarding gown colors:
“Married in white, You have chosen all right.
Married in green, Ashamed to be seen.
Married in red, You will wish yourself dead.
Married in blue, You will always be true.
Married in yellow, Ashamed of your fellow.
Married in black, You will wish yourself back.
Married in pink, Of you he’ll think.”
This article was very interesting and clearly shows that there is much more behind choosing the color of your wedding gown than just choosing what is in style. http://www.snopes.com/weddings/customs/dress.asp Angela Schultz? October 15, 2008, at 08:49 PM
I recently was watching a television show on TLC called ‘Say Yes to the Dress.’ This show is all about women buying the perfect wedding dress for their special day. While watching the show I noticed that many brides went with female family members or friends to help them pick out their dress. However, during one episode I saw a woman bring the man she was soon to marry. I found this rather strange because I grew up with the superstition that it was bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her wedding dress before the wedding. I know my family strongly follows that rule but obviously not all people fall into such rituals. It was interesting to see the difference in beliefs about who a bride wants as help when picking out her dress. Stephanie Held? October 15, 2008, at 03:50 PM
For my fieldwork project I will being discussing the customs and beliefs associated with contemporary weddings from my friends and relatives who have recently participated in weddings or will be participating in a wedding or their own. For my analytical essay I will compare my fieldwork to articles in peer-reviewed journals about contemporary weddings.Kristina Zygmunt? October 15, 2008, at 01:36 PM
This is very delayed but nesicary, my Fieldwork Project description. I would like to interview Catholic families, who I can discuss at least two weddings (Parents’ and Children’s Catholic weddings) and what they know of wedding from the generations before them (Grandparents, Great Grandparents and so on) I have two families in mind, my own and the Waddington’s. I can talk to Father Paul of the St. Stevens Catholic Church on Grand Island and a Wedding Planer if needed as well. Diane Meyer? October 15, 2008, at 11:14 AM
I am going to carryout a group interview with the Waddington family. This interview will consist of Mr. and Mrs. Waddington their son and there daughter-in-law. On a Firday (to be anounced), we will all sit talking around dinner , wine and snacks. I am very nervous that I will complete the interview and realize that id did some major things wrong. Before going through with this interview I will read our fieldwork textbook again and do more readings on catholic wedding folklore. I hope to figure out the equipment loan service and barrow a tape recorded. I think a tape recorder is very important to this interview.Diane Meyer? October 14, 2008, at 10:14 AM
I am conducting my fieldwork project on the folklore of wedding customs and superstitions. I am trying to focus as much as possible on the superstitions side of things. I’m not sure anyone in my family knows why they participate in certain superstitions when someone gets married, but we certainly focus on them. For my sisters wedding, we made absolutely sure that the groom did not see even a glimpse of her before she walked down the aisle. We had certain scheduled times for my sister and the groom to show up, so that we could monitor when and where they would each be to ensure he did not see her. Furthermore, a larger factor in the deciding on which church of have the ceremony in was that the church needed large doors that separate the sanctuary from the foyer, so that the doors could be closed and then opened right before my sister walked down the aisle. We exhausted quite a bit of effort to make sure the groom did not see the bride before the ceremony.
Also, as the maid of honor, I remember running around days before the wedding to make sure my sister had “something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.” The day of the wedding we had left what she planned on using as her something borrowed behind, and I had to send my boyfriend back to get it; because her wedding could not go on until she had that.
On the customs side of this project, my family is your typical Christian and/or Catholic mix of wedding customs. However, my sister’s friend was just married this past weekend. The bride and groom, rather than lighting the unity candle, poured two vials of sand into one vase. They wrote prayers down on a paper to each other, and used this as the funnel to pour the sand into the single vase. I’ve never heard of using sand, but thought it was very unique and clever. If anyone has any unique wedding superstitions and/or customers, I would greatly appreciate hearing about them. Angela Schultz? October 13, 2008, at 09:04 PM
I am replying to Dylan McGill’s post where he/she mentioned that during weddings, their family pin’s money to the bride’s wedding dress. After reading my peer’s post, I decided to further investigate this custom. As it turns out, this is also a Hungarian wedding tradition but the act is not done to grant wishes of good fortune, but is committed to pay for a dance with the new bride. Apparently, it is customary for the bride to dance for money and male guests then approach her and either pin money to her dress or drop money in her shoes that are in the center of the floor. It is said that the guests are expected to disburse a substantial amount of money within this process because the money will be used for the new married couple’s honeymoon and their purchase of a home. Perhaps this is the origins of your family’s tradition, but as time passed, it has been modified. As we all learned in class, folklore is recreated each time it is performed. If you would like an added awareness on this topic, here is the link where I have gotten a bit of information from. http://www.worldweddingtraditions.com/locations/east_europe_traditions/hungarian_traditions.html Calleather Felder? October 13, 2008, at 08:07 PM
I have chosen wedding customs for my fieldwork project. I am going to research different wedding customs based on religion and ethnicity. My proposed informants are Amanda Merlin, Marty Lynch, Phyllis Pawlowski, Sharon Mccann, and others I will find while doing my research. Amanda Merlin is from an Irish family; however she married into a Jewish family. They had a traditional Jewish wedding with a Beatles theme which I actually attended this summer. Therefore I have both her experience and my own to research from. Marty lynch is Irish American and had a traditional Irish Catholic wedding. Phyllis Pawlowski is a Polish American. She had a traditional Polish wedding. She actually did not wear a white dress on her wedding day because she had been living with her boyfriend before marriage and her mother would not allow her to wear a white dress. Sharon Mccann is Taiwanese. I met her last year while living in Taiwan. She married a friend of mine who is Irish. They had a traditional Chinese wedding. It will be very interesting to learn about the Chinese customs. I will also gather more information from various journals, books, papers, and videos to help with my research.Katie Flanigan? October 13, 2008, at 04:42 PM
I found this really cool website that I think someone could use if they are doing this topic. It has a bunch of different folklore that goes as far back as the Medieval times in England. It also discusses this folklore about potpourri. I have attached the link to the website and hopes that this helps. http://www.weddingflowersandmore.com/wedding-folklore.htm Katie Niederpruem? October 12, 2008, at 07:41 PM
There is a Polish wedding tradition that I actually participated in when my sister got married, it’s called oczepiny. The bride and groom sit in chairs in the middle of the dance floor with the bridal party surrounding them, the groom wears the hat and the bride wears a veil. It is a way for them to show alliegience to each other. The people attending the reception then gather around the couple and sing a song of good tidings to the newly married couple. This isn’t always how this tradirtion is carried out, but it is the way we did it at my sister’s wedding.
Caitlin Glinski? October 12, 2008, at 02:13 PM
I was just recently married this past July, and I did not realize the extent of wedding folklore that exists. There’s some formal examples, like the something old something new thing, but I was actually told by my dad and brother “Don’t get involved in the wedding. It will be bad for the rest of your marriage.” I’ve never heard this one before, and don’t know if it’s just my dad’s and brother’s laziness kicking in, but it seemed pretty standard. I did, however, ignore it and was an equal participant in the planning.
Another real easy one to find is that it’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding. This one I also ignored to help my wife pick out her gown. But our parents were VERY adament about it.
Another easy one is the throwing of the bouquet.
I think the one that I was least prepared for was the tapping of the glass. Whenever anyone in the room started to tap on their glass, my wife and I had to kiss. I had NEVER heard of this previous to the night of the wedding, but everyone in the room knew about it. And well. They definately overused their privlages.
There’s also a look at the traditional roles of players in the wedding. The maid of honor planned the shower, best man planned the bachelor party, both gave speeches.
I hope some of this helps you find material.
John Harris? October 09, 2008, at 02:27 PM
The chapter on religious folklore in our textbook is very helpful. I didn’t realize that it might be a little difficult to separate folklore from religious ceremonies. After reading the chapter on religion I went online for some, so called “inspiration,” because I still could not think of any specific folklore items. I looked under “wedding folklore” and I found 3 helpful cites for ideas on what is wedding folklore.Diane Meyer? October 07, 2008, at 06:30 PM [http://www.chicagomarriage.com/wedding_traditions.htm] [http://www.weddingflowersandmore.com/wedding-folklore.htm] [http://www.themarryingguy.com/TraditionsA.html]
a ha!!!! I found one more site specific to Catholic weddings [http://www.catholicbrides.com/cathinfo_details.php?ID=22]
Good evening everyone! I’ve haven’t been to many weddings, but one i went had a certain custom. My cousin in South Carolina got married about 4 or 5 years. During the reception, I noticed that people were going up to my cousin’s bride and putting money on her wedding dress. Later on, I asked my father why they were doing that and he told me that it was a custom in our family. The guests of the wedding would give the bride and groom presents and also put money on the bride as a sign of good luck. My father never really told me how the custom started but said it has been happening for many years. I thought that this custom would be interesting for the people doing this topic. Enjoy! Dylan McGill? October 07, 2008, at 09:56 PM
Hello everyone, I randomly came across a small site that has five or six wedding customs and superstitions. Whether you are doing this topic or not, you should check out this site real quick. The site consists of the wedding ring custom, why there are groomsmen in a wedding, the reason for the honeymoon, and a few others. Mathew Stork? October 06, 2008, at 11:53 AM
I have selected wedding customs as my fieldwork project topic. Initially, I chose to focus primarily on wedding customs in African American families but since then, I realized that I could learn more by researching wedding customs within varied ethnic backgrounds. Therefore, my proposed informants are Ayan Alinur , Annami Born, Kaymeshia Knights, Monique Sayles, and others that I have yet to find. Ayan Alinur is of Somalia inheritance and she has indicated that their wedding customs are extremely different from those of the American culture, which is to be expected. Annami Born is Polish American, and although she was born in America, she travels to and from the Czech Republic occasionally to attend weddings. Kaymeshia Knights is from St. Vincent and Monique Sayles is African American. I am confident that this roster will better equip me to understand different wedding traditions. I also think that it would be interesting to unveil wedding customs on someone of the Indian heritage. I have a friend who fits the description and as a result, she might become the next informant added to the list. Should this be the case, I will post an update on the class Wiki. In addition, I will gather information from various scholarly journals, books, and media that can better prepare me to complete my fieldwork project paper.Calleather Felder? September 23, 2008, at 12:29 PM
The first thing I thought of when I choose this subject was:
Something old, something new something borrowed, something blue and a silver sixpence in her shoe.
These are all things that a woman has on her during the wedding. It is some if not all Catholic. Blue it traditionally seen worn by Mary. This has both literal and figurative meaning, and give us evidence of it’s origins to. A sixpence is a coin that was minted in Britain from 1551 to 1967. There is a lot more to find about this poem, a great place to start is:http://ask.yahoo.com/20031027.html Diane Meyer? September 30, 2008, at 02:03 PM
You should use standard capitalization when posting to the wiki. There are also five spelling errors in your post. Lydia Fish October 01, 2008, at 09:38 AM
When I was in high school I had to go to a few weddings here and there because my cousins were getting married. One custom I learned about was why the two families sat on different sides of the church. In the olden days fathers would give their daughter away to help bring peace in a time of war. They would have to sit on different sides of the church to keep everyone safe and so there was no blood shed.
Nicole Sabuda? September 29, 2008, at 12:50 AM
In Japan, people choose Japanese traditional style wedding or western style wedding. If they choose Japanese style, wedding ceremony would take place at shrine. The bride wear white kimono, and the bridegroom wear black hakama (long pleated culotte-like Japanese trousers). On the other hand, western style wedding ceremony hold at chapel. The bride wear white dress and bridegroom wear black or white tuxedo. We don’t have bridesmaid and bestman. ~Mariko Masubuchi?
