When you think of a wedding, you probably imagine the bride in a white dress, friends and family gathered together or maybe even the church ceremony. This however doesn’t hold true for some cultures that have a different set of traditions to deal with…
In Scotland there’s a tradition to capture the bride and/or groom days or weeks before the wedding and then dump countless things on them. We are not talking about nice things like confetti, no it wouldn’t be something as simple as that. We are talking about spoiled food, rotten fish, curdled milk, garbage, etc. The dirtier the better! Once the deed is done, the victim is then paraded around the city then taken out for a night of drinks. The belief is that if the person can withstand the embarrassment of being covered in filth and showed around the community, they can cope with anything in marriage.
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Many countries believe in curses and have countless ways to rid themselves and their family of these curses. In certain areas of India, a specific curse is removed through a wedding, but not just any wedding. Someone who is born in a certain astrological period is called “Manglik”. These women are thought to be so cursed, that if they get married they will cause their husband to die early. So what logical thing do they do first? To remove the curse, the woman is forced to marry a tree. Once the nuptials are over, the tree is cut down and destroyed and the curse is considered gone.
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While some traditions are just weird, others like this one are actually painful. In Korea, once the wedding is over, the tradition is that the groom’s feet be beaten with a fish or a cane. The socks of the groom are removed and the legs are tied together while the friends just go at it. This is to ensure that he won’t disappoint his new wife during their first night together as a married couple
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In Indonesia, once the wedding ceremony is over and the newly married couple take of to enjoy the honeymoon, that’s where the real challenge begins. The family keeps watch over the couple to make sure that they don’t use the bathroom for 3 days. It’s actually said to bring good luck to the couple and ensure they will have a long and happy marriage with many children.
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This is another instance of a tradition that takes place before the wedding itself. In order to set a wedding day, a couple in China must hold a knife together and cut a baby chicken. Upon doing so, the couple must inspect the chicken’s liver. If it’s healthy, then they can set a wedding date. If it is not they must continue killing chicken until they find a suitable one, otherwise no wedding date can be planned.
Just imagine a game of “Capture the flag”. Two teams doing whatever they can to grab on a piece of cloth keeping it away from their opponent. This is pretty much what this tradition is all about. In India, right before the groom arrives at the altar, he removes his shoes and upon doing so the chaos begins. The bride’s family rushes over to try to take the shoes while the groom’s family tries to protect them. If the bride’s family is successful, the groom must pay to get them back.
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In the Yugur culture, the groom shoots his bride with three arrows. Yes, arrows! But don’t need to worry because these arrows don’t have arrow heads on them, so they aren’t exactly deadly. However, they are very painful nonetheless. Once the arrows are shot, the groom picks them back up and breaks each one of them. This is regarded as a gesture of love and that he will take care of his future wife for the rest of his life.
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In some villages in Africa, once the wedding ceremony is over and the honeymoon begins, so do the “lessons”. Once the newly wed start their….fun, they are not alone. Usually the village elder lies under the bed after instructing the new bride on how to satisfy her husband. The reason she stays in the room it’s in case there are any complications and her support is needed again. She’s strictly there for instructing the new couple on how to have sex.
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In China, a month before the wedding, the bride is required to cry at least an hour a day everyday. After ten days, the mother is to start crying. Ten days after that, the grandmother joins in the tears. By the end of the month, every female in the family ends up crying. As every lady is crying in different tones, it’s considered to be an expression of happiness with tears of joy.
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In France, there’s a tradition for the bride’s family to gather leftovers (food, drinks, anything edible) and put it all in a toilet replica. This includes basically whatever the party guests find absolutely disgusting. After that’s done, they bring the toilet into the room of the newlyweds and will not leave until the couple eats or drinks everything there’s inside it.
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This seems like such a good idea, will have to take a look at it!