Unusual Wedding Traditions from Around the World
November 18, 2014A white dress, bouquet, tiered cake and friends – these are the images that come to mind when we think of weddings. But while weddings themselves are a universal tradition, the images we often think of are not. Every culture has its own way of celebrating this special day.
At Azure Water, we create private label bottled water that can be customized for any wedding tradition. Take a look at some of the most interesting and unusual wedding traditions we’ve found from around the world.
Korean Falaka Ceremony
Korean wedding ceremonies are all about tradition, albeit, some of these traditions seem quite strange. If the groom smiles frequently throughout the wedding, it is believed that his first child will be a girl. How will the couple get a boy then? After the ceremony, the groom’s parents will throw nuts and plums to the bride. If the bride catches many nuts, she will also have many sons. But the strangest tradition happens on the wedding night, when the groom’s friends tie up his feet and beat the soles with a dried fish! The purpose of this tradition, known as Falaka, is to test the groom’s strength and character.
Scottish Blackening of the Bride
In Scotland, a type of hazing is performed on the bride and it is possibly one of the foulest wedding traditions. The blackening of the bride is a ritual in which family and friends of the husband and wife-to-be cover the bride in some of the most unpleasant things imaginable. Think curdled milk, rotten eggs, moldy food and even tar and feathers. All this is done while the bride is being tied to a tree. It is believed that if the bride can undergo this type of torture, then she can definitely survive marriage. At the end of the ceremony the bride is taken out for a much deserved night of partying.
Central China Tuija Tradition
The Tuija population in central China is about 8 million strong, and they have a very unusual wedding tradition. About one month before the wedding, the bride is expected to cry for an hour a day. Ten days later, the bride’s mother joins her and ten days after that, her grandmother, aunts and sisters join in on the hour-long daily weep. Despite how it may seem, this is meant to be a happy tradition. The bride cries in different tones, which sounds like a song. These tears of joy are meant to give the couple a long and happy married life.
German Polterabend
German brides ought to hide any porcelain objects they’d like to keep, lest they be broken during the German wedding tradition known as Polterabend. Traditionally, the day of the wedding, guests would enter the bride’s home and break any porcelain object they can find. Once the porcelain was broken and the guests left, the couple would clean up the mess together. This symbolizes how difficult marriage can be and how the couple must learn to work together. Luckily, these days, the mess is usually kept outside and guests bring their own porcelain to break.
Sweden Kissing Tradition
This wedding tradition is short and sweet. If the bride leaves the room, all the female guests are allowed to kiss the groom. The same goes for the male guests and the bride if the groom leaves the room. The bride and groom must remember to stick together!
No matter how bizarre or unusual a wedding tradition may seem, they all come down to the same thing – paying tribute to their culture’s history. At Azure Water, we provide custom label bottled water that can be used in just about any ceremony. Give us a call or send a request through our contact form with what you’d like on your custom labels, and we’ll have them ready for your special day. You can also find us on any of our social channels.