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I read somewhere recently
about the wedding tradition of the groom lifting the wedding veil
all the way up before kissing the bride. You won't believe the
reason for this. Back in the old days when marriages were arranged
by the couple's parents, the bride and groom often met for the very
first time at the wedding. The reason why the groom lifted the
wedding veil all the way up was to make sure that no one switched
the bride for someone else!
I thought it would make a great story if it was true, so I did my
research but could not find anything to verify it. So I dropped it,
but while doing my research I found some interesting stories about
other wedding traditions. Surprisingly, many of the wedding
traditions that we have today began as superstitions hundreds of
years ago.
While this column is about the little-known stories behind
well-known inventions, you could say that a tradition is an
invention, because someone started -- or invented -- the tradition
like an inventor invents a new product.
But first, I'd like to throw in a quick Andy Rooney-type of rant:
It seems like there are plenty of wedding magazines for women, such
as Modern Bride, Bride Weekly, Bride Monthly, Bride Illustrated,
Brides ‘R' Us, etc., etc. But there are no wedding magazines for
men. Why is there no magazine called Modern Groom?
Answer: Because men would never read it.
Back to our story...
How did the tradition of the bride wearing a veil get started?
There are many different theories behind this one, and some of
them began so long ago that there aren't written records for them.
One theory, though, fits into the concept of arranged marriages
mentioned earlier.
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Since many a groom would see his bride for the first time at the
altar, a bridal veil hid her face so that the groom could not change
his mind until it was too late. This could be the reason why it's
considered bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other on the
wedding day before the ceremony itself.
The Bible says that Jacob married the wrong woman -- Leah and not
Rachel -- when his soon-to-be father-in-law switched Jacob's
intended bride with her sister. This was possible because her face
was covered with a veil. (Jacob married Rachel later.)
Another bridal tradition is the dowry, which is still used in
some African nations. For example, some brides cost their fathers as
many as 50 cows, while other brides cost only 20 cows.
There are a few other traditions that have interesting origins.
For example, before the fifth century, the index finger was the ring
finger. Later, for some reason, people believed that the third
finger contained the "vein of love" that led directly to the heart,
so the ring finger was changed.
Why do brides have bridesmaids? The ancient Egyptians believed
that evil spirits would interfere with the wedding. The bridesmaids
were there to dress up like the bride in order to confuse the evil
spirits.
The bride would carry herbs and flowers because their scents were
also believed to ward away the evil spirits. The herbs and flowers
were eventually replaced by the bouquet of flowers.
Well, sadly, we are out of space. If you've learned anything at
all from this column, I hope it is that you never let anyone switch
the bride with her sister. It may end up costing you 30 cows!
[Paul Niemann]
Paul Niemann may be reached at
niemann7@aol.com. More information about Invention Mysteries is
available at
http://www.inventionmysteries.com/.
Copyright Paul Niemann 2005
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