Common Wedding Superstitions
Whether a person believes in superstitions or not it seems at least on their wedding day they are not willing to take the risk of inviting something bad to happen. Their special day is supposed to be perfect in every way and while superstitions may not be foremost in the minds of the soon-to-be wed couple it may be surprising to know that many people will do their best to avoid doing anything wrong.
The most familiar superstition is the one where the groom is not supposed to see his bride on their wedding day until the moment she begins to walk down the aisle. It is considered very bad luck for the groom to lay eyes on his wife-to-be prior to the ceremony, though the original idea behind this comes from when marriages were arranged. It is thought that should the couple lay eyes on each other before the ceremony they may be tempted to call the wedding off.
While rain on a wedding day is usually seen as being the makings of a disaster, particularly for those ceremonies that are planned to be conducted outdoors, rain is actually a good superstition as it is believed to be a sign of fertility and cleansing. It may not happen as often today, but it wasn’t that many decades ago, that firstborn children arrived 9 months after the ceremony whether it rained or not.
The giving of knives as wedding gifts is supposedly responsible for bringing about the future breakup of the newly married couple therefore to receive them is considered very bad luck. If the couple have put knives on their wedding gift registry the way to avoid any negative vibes from them is to give the giver a coin to turn the gift into a purchase.
The carrying of the bride across the threshold is thought to date back as far as Medieval Europe, when people believed that evil spirits were able to enter the bride through the soles of her feet. In order to avoid this happening, the bride would be swept up into the arms of her new husband and carried over the threshold before being set back on her feet. Even though it may have its roots in superstition this ritual is also very romantic.
You would think that the last thing an excited bride would do on her wedding day and yet this is seen as a good thing. The thought is that when a bride sheds tears before getting married there is less likelihood of tears being shed during her years of marriage. The practical side of this is that the bride has no desire to walk up the aisle with puffy eyes.
The ringing of bells is an Irish tradition that has been adopted by many brides of other nationalities, as it is said that ringing bells ward off evil spirits. In Irish history guests would ring actual bells but this is a ritual that has been replaced today with the wearing of bells on a bracelet, or little silver bells included in the bride’s bouquet.
From the moment a young girl first thinks she is in love it is quite typical for her to romanticize by signing her name as if she is married to the boy of her dreams. Writing her married name before the wedding ceremony is considered to be extremely bad luck to the point where the wedding will not take place, so this little habit should be saved until after the ‘I Do’s’ have been said.
Superstitious or not, some wedding ‘rituals’ can be fun to honor. Not many seem to have any purpose today but it cannot hurt to follow the superstition ‘rules’.
