Some may think that the idea of marriage today is spooky enough but historically marriage and specifically weddings have had quite a few strange traditions. From tearing up the bride’s gown to hiding from the devil, here is the spooky history of weddings.
Bridesmaids
Today there are many reasons a bride chooses her bridesmaids. Maybe they are a relative or a childhood friend. Maybe they have always been there to hold her hair back when she’s had a rough night. Whatever the reason may be, deception and the devil are typically not involved. That’s the case today anyways, in ancient Rome bridesmaids served as a ruse for potential threats. If brides were traveling to their groom they carried with them their dowry. A dowry is basically money, livestock, goods etc. that are sold along with the bride. (Not a very feminist concept but as a girl who will one day marry another girl, I’d be thrilled if she came with a goat.) Bandits would often rob these bridal parties and bridesmaids would make it confusing for them to know who the actual bride was. If the bride made it safely to the wedding the bridesmaids would then serve as a decoy to evil spirits. Bridesmaids tried their best to resemble the bride so that if someone were to get possessed, it has less chance of being the bride.
Best Man
Nowadays the worst thing a best man will do is hire a stripper for the bachelor party. As grimy as that is, he could do a lot worse. According to CNN “The original duty of a “Best Man” was to serve as an armed backup for the groom in case he had to resort to kidnapping his intended bride away from disapproving parents. The “best” part of that title refers to his skill with a sword, should the need arise.” So even if your fiance’s buddy is an idiot, at least he isn’t an armed idiot trying to fight your father.
Retrieving the Garter
The worst part of every wedding is when the couple makes their sex life very public with the whole “retrieve the garter” event. Like, there are children here? Also, weren’t we just in a church? Anyways, the roots of this strange practice does not make it any better. Back in medieval times wedding guests wanted proof that the couple got it on after the wedding. For many people, this meant getting a front row seat and literally watching it go down. The witnesses would take the garter as proof that the couple had done the deed.
Throwing the Bouquet
The female counterpart to the garter toss is throwing the bouquet. This fun tradition couldn’t possibly have a darker origin, it was just invented so that the DJ could play Single Ladies by Beyonce. Right? Wrong. It all started with guests harassing the bride. It was seen as good luck to get pieces of the bride’s dress and bouquet. So to avoid getting attacked Day of the Dead style, the bride would throw her bouquet and run in the opposite direction. That way she could relax with her groom and the guests who wanted to watch them consummate their marriage in peace.
Honeymoons
Before the invention of fruity drinks with little umbrellas, honeymoons were a little different. According to The New York Post “At their wedding, couples were presented with a “moon” (or roughly one month’s) worth of mead, which was an alcoholic honey wine, to drink together. Mead was believed to be an aphrodisiac, so couples were expected to binge on wine for 30 days to get drunk enough to establish sexual intimacy.” While that sounds like a month long hangover and a viscous UTI, it is better than the alternative. Sometimes honeymoons were simply hiding away a bride that had been kidnapped by her groom. The idea was to wait out the family until they stopped looking or until the bride got pregnant. Personally, a Disney cruise sounds more up my alley.