DEBOLINA ROY
Many people used Germany to experience the pre-wedding Polterabend celebration for couples, during which guests smash porcelain dishes to create good fortune and eliminate evil spirits. After the marriage, the newlyweds together cut a log in half, symbolically representing both cooperation as a team and their ability to face challenges throughout the rest of their lives. Many couples remember this as one of the most unique wedding traditions.
Japan is the home of the traditional Japanese wedding San-San-Kudo Sake ceremony; the bride and groom each take three sips from three sake cups, which are progressively larger in size, to symbolize the family's union and the success of their marriage. In Japanese tradition, the number three is also associated with harmony or balance.
Among the Maasai people in Kenya, when a father prepares to send his daughter off to marry her husband, he bestows upon her a blessing by gently spitting on her head and chest. While this may be surprising to outside observers, to the Maasai, it is a special way to demonstrate their blessings and to provide spiritual protection for the newlywed bride as she embarks on life with her husband. This is one of East Africa’s most extraordinary and unique wedding traditions.
The Tujia people, a minority in China, practice a ritual known as Zuo Tang prior to the wedding. The bride will weep every day leading up to her wedding in honour of her family's love, and also express her sadness for leaving her family behind. Even though the emotions expressed at this time are bittersweet, this ceremony is an emotional expression among the different ethnic wedding traditions of China.
Mexico's El Lazo Ceremony is a tradition that is frequently performed at Weddings in Mexico. This ceremony includes a decorative or holy rosary that is placed on the bride and groom in the shape of the number eight after they exchange vows. The 8 shape (or figure eight) signifies the couple’s deep commitment to each other; oneness or unity of two.
Money Dancing (in Nigeria and other countries) is a lively aspect of the wedding celebration in every part of Nigeria. While dancing, family and friends give the couple many dollars and/or pin them on their clothing (“Money Dance”), which shows their support, love and encouragement for the couple's prosperity.
The “Blacken the Bride and Groom” tradition is performed for the Bride and Groom in some parts of Scotland. This fun, humorous custom involves family and friends throwing food, feathers, tar, and other substances on the couple, while parading them around town, as a way to prepare the couple for the good and the bad that are part of a marriage.