Historical Wedding Traditions

On Monday, one of my coworkers announced her engagement and plans to marry in May of this year. So, when I was watching Good Things Utah and they were sharing some historical information on wedding traditions I perked right up. (Thank goodness for a DVR so I could rewind several times as I was laughing a bit.)

"The role of the Best Man derived from the help needed in abducting a future bride back in 200AD. If the potential brides were scarce in his own village a man would look for one in a nearby village, preferably one who was momentarily beyond the protection of the village. To execute the abduction he looked for a "wing man" or the best man for the job. Hence the title, best man."

So basically, the guy wants a wife, the local girls "just aren't that into him". So, he and his best man head to a nearby community looking for a gal that's out picking berries on her own and grab her. I'm sure it took two of them to fight with the struggling girl and get her back to their village. How romantic!

This guy needed several "wing men" and some anonymity as well.

"The best man had other associated duties such as staying by the bride grooms side in case the brides family came looking for her."

If the in-laws come calling the bridegroom and the best man are ready for a fight. Nice! I would have to say this would be the definition of "in-law problems".

"The abduction itself is the source of the custom of carrying the bride over the threshold."

Well, if you've abducted a girl and possibly even bound and gagged her, I would sure hope the least you could do was carry her over the threshold. It would be barbaric to expect her to hop into her new home with her feet tied together and all.

Also, the reason brides carry flowers is because of the mostly non-existant personal hygene habits. The flowers were to cover the stench, so to speak. Um, don't you think he's gonna notice the aroma once you throw the bouquet? Well, I guess by then it's too late, beause you're aleady married. Or, maybe back then they didn't throw the bouguet, but stuffed it into the armpits of their wedding attire to help keep the dream alive.

All this discussion about men abducting unwilling brides has made me want to pull out our well-worn copy of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Really. Should I be worried that this has been one of my daughters favorite movies since she was quite small? I'm definately not going to tell her boyfriend that it's one of her favorites or encourage him to watch it. The last thing I need is for him to learn how romantic it is for men to kidnap women in the night and haul them up to their large family cabin in the mountains. I must leave this boy in the dark about such romance for a few more years. There may come a time in the future when I WANT her to leave, but that time is not yet here.

Do you have any Historical Wedding Traditions that are still present today that you'd like to share?