something old, something new

Why are there so many June weddings?  Back in the Roman days, a wedding in the month named for Jun, the goddess of marriage, was most auspicious.  But there was also a practical side: A June wedding would ensure the bride could still work during the harvest and, unless another baby was coming along, would be totally ready for the next year's harvest as well.  The pre-harvest wedding was popular in many areas throughout the world.

A bride tripping while entering her new home was viewed as a very bad omen and was a welcome invitation for evil spirits to enter her body.  Apparently, the groom was somehow not prone to tripping, so he carried her over the threshold.

The bouquet? The flowers included spices and herbs that warded off those pesky evil spirits, as did the wedding bells.  The spices and herbs represented fertility, as did the rice thrown after the wedding ceremony.

The ancient Egyptians believed that an important vein ran from the fourth finger on the left hand to the heart, so that became the ring finger.  The circle of the ring itself symbolizes eternity and eternal love while gold represents purity.

In ancient Babylonia, the bride's father would supply his new son-in-law with all the beer - which in those days was made with honey - that he could drink for one month, one moon.  Our modern version of the honeymoon sounds like much more fun.

Something old represented the past, the bride's former life.  Something new represented the new life she was welcoming.  Something borrowed represented remembering to ask for the help that everyone needs in life.  Something blue represented the moon, which was thought to protect women, and symbolized faithfulness.

Those are the origins of some traditions as a new couple ties the knot.  That term has many potential origins including a reference to the marriage bed (which was made of robe) or knots being an important part of weddings in many cultures.  In our jargon, the term most likely comes from the Middle English cnotte, "the bond of wedlock."

-Taken from the June issue of Science of Mind magazine.