Wedding and Marriage rituals
A wedding is a one-day celebration that marks the commencement of a long-term commitment which is known as a marriage. Rituals are specific practices or observations that are of significance to a particular group of people. Several wedding and marriage rituals connote blessings and confer success to the male and female involved. Mainly, marriage rituals focus on the reproductive potential of the husband and wife. Wedding rituals, on the other hand, mark the union of a man and a woman and vary in different cultures. However, there exist similarities in across cultures like the vow scripts of unconditional love. Wedding and marriage rituals are the quintessence of cultural inclinations for purity, respect, fertility and commitment.
One of the most common wedding rituals is the bridal dress. The design and significance of the dress vary in different cultures. For instance, for Christians, the bride wears a white or cream gown symbolizing purity adopted from European societies. Besides that, in subsequent marriages, the bride wore a dress with a different colour to indicate that she is not a virgin. Additionally, the bride also wore a veil, a ritual that cuts across Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Hindus (Burch, 2019). The cover signifies innocence, and in some cultures, it serves as a gift-wrapped surprise. The veil in a Hispanic community connotes the hymen, which is symbolic for purity and only the bride’s husband can lift it. The use of white for the bridal dress does not apply to Hindus as white associates with funerals. They are encouraged to wear vibrant colours like red.
The cake is another important ritual at weddings. The cake flavours are specifically crucial in particular cultures. For instance, a fruit cake symbolizes fertility and prosperity. The bride and groom share the cake with family and friends a ritual that connotes increased productivity and success. In earlier times, cakes signified wealth due to the high cost of cake ingredients. Presently, floral decorations on a cake indicate fertility in nature. The icing in most cakes are white connoting purity and virgin status of the bride. In Japan, the cake symbolized reproduction and productivity, and its emphasis happens in the cake cutting ceremony. There are other symbols of fertility, like in Armenia, the wedding couple jump over fire three times and in Russia, a baby doll attached to the front of the couple’s car symbolizes future children. Fertility is among the most emphasized rituals in most cultures, as it implies continuity and advancement.
Bride price and dowry serve as an essential wedding ritual among most cultures. Christian and Muslim men pay the dowry for their brides while for Hindu the bride pays the dowry to the groom’s family. Dowry is in the form of money, goods, cattle or labour, paid before or after the wedding. The importance of dowry is to ensure the bride’s livelihood in the event of being widowed or divorced. In most cultures, the dowry payment is not to the family but the bride. The ultimate dowry price results from several negotiations between the family of a potential bride and groom who commit to marriage (Burch, 2019). In some cultures, in the event of a divorce, which results from the wife’s fault, the family repays the husband the bride price. Among Hindus, dowry entails clothes for the bride, groom and her in-laws, furniture, jewellery, utensils, electronic gadgets and other items for their new home. For Muslims, dowry is livestock, ivory or gold jewellery and cash. The significance of dowry is to seal the marriage and ensure longevity.
Bridal seclusion is among the most practised wedding rituals. It entails the hiding of the bride from the groom or other men mostly before the wedding. Hindus, particularly Rajputs of Punjab, are fond of this ritual (Durrani & Khan, 2014). They isolate the bride from males, even her male relatives, something that shows respect. In addition to that, the bride should cover her face under a dupatta and only stays in the company of women. During the wedding preparations, she remains quiet in her room to imply that she is silent and shy. The primary significance of seclusion is to prevent sexual activities and to pry the eyes of single men. For Christians, the ritual is only practised the morning before the wedding. Besides seclusion, purification of the bride is also a common practice specifically among the Hindus. It entails bathing rituals to purify the bride. Muslims perform the purification ritual by applying henna on the bride and covering her in linen overnight. For the groom, the practice entails bathing, shaving and feeding on a lot of proteins.
The marriage rituals differ among different cultures and focus on the reproductive aspect. Marriage as a union targets growth and multiply. The societal transition of the bride to a wife particularly marked by rituals in some cultures. For instance, in Turkey, married women dress in a much simpler style than unmarried women. A familiar ritual for marriage across the globe is the weeing ring. A wedding ring worn by both the husband and wife is a symbol of commitment that both receive on the wedding day (Hersch, 2010). However, the ring ritual does not apply for every culture, for instance for Muslims it is not permissible to wear a gold ring to signify marriage however if the bride asks for a ring the groom provides it. In addition to that, it is not paramount for the wife to wear the ring as an emotional or religious indication or even a connotation of commitment. For Christians, wedding rings serve as an indication of marital status.
Wedding and marriage rituals appear paramount in certain cultures and religions as they are of essential significance. Most rituals focus on bridal purity and innocence. The main aim of wedding rituals is to confer blessings and convey the value of marriage. The ceremony carries immense significance for a couple and their family as well as their impending future. Rituals that signify purity are multiple, including the bride dress, with purity embedded in the dress colour, the cake-cream, the veil worn by the bride as well as seclusion of the bride. Fertility is another emphasized ritual as it notes that marriage is a reproductive contract and a wedding serves as a reproductive ritual. The concept of fertility lodges in several observations like the wedding cake, and floral cake decorations. Over the year, dowry has received numerous criticism but serves as a significant ritual in most cultures that caters for the wife or even the family. The wedding ring is a ritual that symbolizes love and commitment. Every ritual is an embodiment of values esteemed in different cultures.
References
Burch, R. L. (2019). The Wedding as a Reproductive Ritual. Review of General Psychology, 23(3), 382-398.
Durrani, A., & Khan, R. N. A. (2014). Women roles in weddings ethnography of wedding rituals among Rajput in Punjab Pakistan. EthnoAnthropoZoom/ЕтноАнтропоЗум, (11), 95-123.
Hersch, K. K. (2010). The Roman wedding: ritual and meaning in antiquity. Cambridge University Press.