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Many of the customs for weddings come from very old traditions. One of these traditions is the wedding veil. The ancient Greeks and Romans placed the veil over the woman’s face so that she would be protected from the evil eye of a jealous rival suitor.
One example of marraige customs is the giving out of piece of the wedding cake to guests. This originated in Rome where it was the custom to break bread over the head of the bride to secure prosperity. At that time, the guests would take away a piece of the broken bread with them.
The customer of throwing rice onto the bride and groom originated in Greece with the fertility rite of throwing sweetmeats over the couple. It was also supposed to bestow prosperity on the newlyweds. The wedding ring actually came from the ancient Egyptians. Originally the ring was placed on the 3rd finger of the bride’s hand because the belief back then was there this finger contained a vein which lead directly to the heart.
In olden times if a woman was having difficulty selecting a husband from several suitors, she could write the suitors names on individual onions and then put the onions in a cool, dark storeroom. It was believed that the first onion to grow sprouts would show which was the best man to choose as a husband.
In the Middle Ages, one Valentine's Day custom was for young men and women to draw names from a bowl to see who their valentine would be. They would then wear these names on their sleeves for one week. So this is where the saying “To wear your heart on your sleeve” comes from, and now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling.
During Anglo-Saxon times, brides were often kidnapped before a wedding and fights were common. It made sense then that a bride should stand to the groom’s left at a wedding so that his sword hand would be free. That’s also why the best man usually stood with the groom as the village’s best warrior might be required to help the groom defend the bride.
If you’re a single person in Paris, then there’s a supermarket especially for you. With almost 1 million singles in Paris and realising how many of their own shoppers were unattached, Lafayette Gourmet began catering for singles in September 2003. Special purple shopping baskets adorned with a cartoon of a kissing couple were organised. The supermarket even offered a glass of champagne and a free photo if the singles managed to find someone while shopping there. They also arranged for a special checkout reserved for singles where they could chat while waiting in line. I’ve heard of shopping for one, but never shopping for one’s partner!
In medieval times on valentine’s day, choosing a sweetheart was very much the luck of the draw. As a girl’s name was drawn, it was placed with a boy’s name drawn at the same time and they were then paired off for the entire year. This was fine if you were placed with someone you liked, but what if he or she was the village buffoon?