There are all kinds of unique wedding traditions across the world, some of them rather strange. We compiled a list of the eight oddest we have come across.
Banging on the wedding night in France
This may not be the kind of banging you would expect on the wedding night. Family and friends gather outside the house of newlyweds to bang on pots and pans. The couple then also serves their guests drinks and snacks. This age-old French tradition is known as Charivari.
Fat arms in Mauritania
In Mauritania, brides work towards becoming chubbier in preparation for their weddings, as it is believed to be a good luck charm in their tradition.
The groom is beat with fish in Korea
South Koreans believe that in order to make the groom ready for the first night of the marriage, his feet should be beaten by dead fish and bamboo sticks.
Scotland’s “Blackening Ritual”
This age-old tradition involves family and friends showering the couple with all sorts of disgusting things and then tie them to a tree. This is done to help the bride and groom prepare them for anything life throws their way.
Crying for a month before the wedding
Chinese brides have to cry every day for an hour for the entire month leading up to their wedding. For the Tujia people in China, crying ushers in a good wedding or life event.
Stealing brides
In some small villages in Germany, grooms aren’t guaranteed that their brides will make it to the altar on time, or at all. Kidnapping the bride is an old custom, beloved by pranksters, and carried out by friends of the betrothed-to-be. The locals might provide clues for the groom as to where his bride is, provided they are invited to the wedding. If they do not receive an invite, however, custom demands that the brideless groom pick up the bar tab – for the entire pub.
Carrying coins in shoes
In Sweden, brides are decked out from head to toe in tradition. They often wear crowns made of myrtle flowers, which symbolise virginity, marital fidelity, and good luck on their heads. In their shoes, they tuck one coin each – a silver coin in the left shoe from their father, and gold one in the right from their mom. The coins symbolise hope for the couple’s marital prosperity.
Pin the cash on the bride
Weddings in Cuba are nonreligious civil ceremonies. Even so, they are often extravagant affairs, earmarked by interesting customs such as the “money dance”.
Meant to help fill the newlywed’s coffers, this tradition is also tons of fun for guests. After the formal ceremony’s pomp and circumstance is over, male wedding guests who wish to dance with the bride must first pin money to her dress.
Picture: Pixabay
