Beginning of the article Wedding traditions.
Let's continue our consideration of wedding traditions and wedding ceremonies as an excursion into the history of Ukraine.
And although a wedding photographer had not yet been invented to capture this beautiful event, we should know where all modern wedding traditions came from and why we do this or that action at a wedding.
The most intriguing matchmaking custom of the past was the matchmaking of a girl to a guy. Here he could not run away anywhere, because pumpkins were not given to girls - this was considered a great sin. Mostly deceived girls proposed, which was their salvation. I think that if such an opportunity were given now, women's duels would begin to happen, because there could be several "deceived" by one guy.
Also, the wedding tradition of those times implied the cancellation of the death sentence for the condemned man if the girl said that he should marry her, although it also happened that the condemned man, having seen his savior, demanded the immediate execution of the sentence: "If you lead such a bride down the aisle, it would be better to die on the gallows!"
In principle, it was not so easy to find a life partner in those days. Sometimes the suitors would do anything - even steal their chosen one, which obliged the kidnapper to marry (of course, with the consent of the girl). Well, here you could set your sights on a rich beauty, because there were only two requirements: to remain undetected for a day and persuade the girl to become your wife. If the girl did not agree - do not cut off the head of the kidnapper.
So, let's return to those who successfully betrothed. The next stage in observing wedding traditions and rituals was the bride show and engagement. At the bride show, the groom's entire family would get acquainted with the bride's relatives. They would all look at the girl together, find out about her housekeeping skills and her dowry.
The engagement consisted of a traditional ritual of tying hands over bread or grain and exchanging wedding rings. From that moment, according to the customs of a Ukrainian wedding, the groom could spend the night with the bride, because this ritual had legal force and served as a mini wedding. Here you can see an analogy with a modern wedding - the same wedding rings and wedding loaf - which are now one of the main attributes of a city wedding.
Preparations for the main celebration, according to the wedding customs and traditions of that time, began with collecting flowers for weaving wreaths and wedding bouquets separately for the bride and groom. Observing wedding signs - the guy would start collecting flowers with the words: "This one is for the bride, and this one is for the groom." Bread was laid on the place where the flowers were cut, which symbolized fertility and prosperity. Hence, in modern wedding ceremonies, the bride's bouquet and veil are like a modified wreath.
Guests had to be invited to the wedding personally, and therefore the bride and her friends went to relatives and neighbors, went into the house and handed over a baked bun in the shape of a pine cone. Now, during preparation for the wedding, we limit ourselves to wedding cards