Wedding ceremonies are rightfully considered the national treasure of every nation, because they most fully reflect their mentality. England is no exception. Thanks to cinema, English wedding traditions are now widely known throughout the world. But not all the nuances can be seen in the movies. So that you can get into the spirit of the wedding celebration of conservative Englishmen, www.svadebka.ws has prepared for you an overview of how a wedding takes place in England.
Bride's outfit at a wedding in English style
Interestingly, according to tradition, brides in England used to wear a blue dress to a wedding. It was he who was associated with the purity, tenderness and innocence of the girl. But after Queen Victoria got married in a white wedding dress, fashion changed dramatically, although brides still wear blue dresses to Irish-style weddings.
Previously, white gloves were an invariable addition to an English-style wedding dress, but today they are rarely worn for celebrations. The veil is not as popular as it used to be, although English wedding traditions and customs say that it protects the bride from evil spirits.
Interestingly, according to tradition, the bride must have the following 4 things with her on her wedding day:
- something old - like a connection with your roots and past,
- something new - for a successful start to a new chapter in life,
- something blue - as a symbol of the bride’s purity,
- something borrowed from a woman whose marriage is successful (mother, sister, friend) - so that the marriage is happy.
Also in England, there is a wedding tradition of wearing a horseshoe bracelet to the ceremony to attract happiness and good luck to the family. But modern brides more often put a horseshoe on a ribbon and tie it to a bouquet.
Wedding customs and traditions of the British
Bibliographic description:
Filimonova, V.V. Wedding customs and traditions of the English / V.V. Filimonova, S.V. Syreskina. — Text: immediate // Philology and linguistics. — 2021. — No. 2 (4). — P. 36-39. — URL: https://moluch.ru/th/6/archive/33/926/ (access date: 08/22/2021).
Nowadays, young couples planning to get married sometimes don’t even think about what wedding customs and traditions have accompanied the wedding from time immemorial. Numerous rituals associated with courtship and marriage have always been very beautiful and romantic. Many of them go back to rituals that existed in ancient times. They were developed over centuries and were intended to make the newlyweds’ union strong and happy.
Keywords: wedding, events, outfits, ceremony.
What is a wedding? A wedding is always a bright and memorable event for life, the beginning of a new stage in the life of every person. That's why there are so many wedding traditions that can have different meanings in different countries. Everyone decides for themselves to believe or not to believe in traditions. We often see how at weddings it is customary to sprinkle the newlyweds with rice, coins, petals, and so on. This custom is followed so that the marriage union is strong and happy. Some newlyweds planted some kind of tree near the house, for example, a cherry tree. It was believed that their union would be strong and last as long as this tree lived. Of course, it is impossible to follow all existing wedding traditions. How happy they will be in marriage depends, most likely, not on observing traditions, but on what efforts the bride and groom put into it in order to preserve the spark of love between them, fidelity and respect for many years of their lives.
The British are the same people who sacredly observe all their traditions. In England, change always comes more slowly than in other countries. The most difficult thing for the British is to choose the day and month of the wedding, even for those who are not organizing the wedding, but simply want to register their relationship. May is generally considered a month of bad luck for the British. The week after Trinity Day was considered the most favorable for weddings. Wednesday was called the most successful day of the week for marriage. If we go back a few centuries to a county in Wales, there used to be unusual matchmaking traditions: a girl and a boy were tied together with a special rope, tied in a knot, and then they went to bed. If the “tied”, as they were called, did not want to get married, then at night they untied the knot, and if the knot remained untied, then from that night they were considered the bride and groom.
According to old customs, the bride should have something new, something old, something borrowed and something blue. It was believed that the new wedding gift to the newlyweds would bring happiness and prosperity to the future family. The old one is a stocking lifter, it was given to a bride who is happily married and thus passes on her happiness to her new family. The loan must be a valuable item that was taken or borrowed from the bride's family. After her own wedding, the bride must return this item so as not to frighten off her luck. An old tradition that has survived to this day is that the bride puts a coin in her shoe for the welfare of the new family.
People often went to church accompanied by musicians who played violins, cellos, and sang songs. Polyphonic wedding songs were sung, which are still preserved. The wedding had to take place, as a rule, within three months after the announcement in the church, everything was decorated with white flowers and blue ornaments. After the wedding ceremonies, the newlyweds solemnly descended the steps of the altar, accompanied by their parents, close relatives, bridesmaids, and best men. The wedding usually took place between 8 am and 12 noon. Civil marriage took place from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The marriage registration had to take place within 21 days after the notification was received.
The wedding had almost completely disappeared in England in the mid-19th century. Throughout the 19th century, the generally accepted color for brides was white wedding dresses. The material chosen was dense: velvet, satin and others. Since the 20s of the 19th century, men wore frock coats with long tails and a short waist, pale blue, black stockings and patent leather shoes for wedding ceremonies. It should be noted that among the British, blue is the color of lovers, the color of hope.
In England, a belief arose that on St. Valentine's Day (February 13-14), the patron saint of all lovers in the world, people chose their marriage partners. On this day, the girl, having met her first man, believed that he would be her husband. On the eve of the holiday, young men sent valentine gifts to the girls, along with poems. The symbol of happiness that has survived to this day is boots. So in 1860, at one wedding, the bride’s brother, while walking to the church for the ceremony, threw an old shoe on the road. And the bridesmaids, not sparing their outfits, rushed after him onto the dusty road. The one who grabs the shoe first will be the first to get married.
Thus, many wedding customs and traditions that have been preserved from time immemorial have survived to this day. Each family decides whether to observe traditions or simply forget them.
Literature:
- https://www.sait-o-svadbe.ru/tradition/england/england.php
- https://thebester.ru/blog/poznavatelno/9976.html
- https://prazdnodar.ru/2011/07/svadebnye-tradicii-anglii/
Key terms
(automatically generated)
: England, century, day, bride, bridesmaid, wedding, tradition.
Dresses of the groom and guests
There is no such list of requirements for the groom’s appearance. It looks great with a standard black or gray business suit. A tailcoat or tuxedo is worn only for particularly lavish ceremonies.
No traditional wedding in England is complete without a whole retinue of bridesmaids and groomsmen. It used to be that there should be six girlfriends, but these days there can be any number of them. They all always wear dresses of the same color chosen by the bride, and sometimes of the same style.
The groom's friends are usually chosen in the same number as the bride's girlfriends. They wear ties and vests in the same color as their bridesmaids' dresses. According to English wedding traditions, one main friend (best man) is chosen, who pays the church and keeps the rings, as well as a bridesmaid, who helps the bride during the wedding, including holding the bouquet.
Features of the English wedding ceremony
You can register a marriage in England in special offices (something like our registry office), but most couples still prefer to follow traditions and customs, so they hold an English wedding in a church. Although, recently, outdoor ceremonies have also become popular, especially if the bride and groom want to organize a themed wedding, which is also not alien to conservative Englishmen.
On the wedding day, the newlyweds are separated, because seeing the bride before the ceremony is a bad omen. The groom arrives first and waits for the bride at the altar. The bride arrives at the ceremony site and everything begins. During her procession to the altar, arm in arm with her father or other close male relative, live music is always played, and girls walk ahead and scatter rose petals so that her path to family life is prosperous. Not a single ceremony is complete without a touching reading of the vows of fidelity, which the newlyweds write for each other in advance.
After the ceremony, the newlyweds are showered with colored rice and confetti for good luck. The newlyweds approach the car. Shoes may be tied to its bumper - this is a tribute to old traditions when newlyweds, when driving away, would throw an old shoe out of the window. And whoever catches it will be happy all year.
Other interesting English traditions and customs
The UK is one of the few countries with an active monarchy that has very old roots, so it is understandable that people around the world are interested in English traditions and customs associated with the life of the Queen and her family.
Ceremonies, official receptions, weddings and birthdays of members of the royal family - all this attracts attention
In recent years, the British, and indeed all those interested, have had the opportunity to observe how marriage customs are observed at the English court, because both of Elizabeth II’s grandchildren, William and Harry, got married. Traditionally, this event is widely publicized so that all fans of the monarchy can see that the members of the royal family are ordinary people, albeit those with power.
An equally spectacular tradition that attracts a lot of tourists is the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. The ceremony has been observed without deviation since the 15th century, during the reign of the Tudors. Even the uniform of the guards does not change. The custom of raising the banner on the queen's birthday also remains unchanged, this majestic ceremony is performed with the participation of 100 soldiers and an orchestra.
One of the most important English traditions is sport. Since childhood, little British people have maintained an interest in national sports - polo, rugby, golf, cricket, horse racing. Football and tennis are no less important for the British. At the same time, the sport is truly mass-scale. On weekends, not only stadiums and special grounds, but also ordinary lawns in parks are filled with people spending their time very actively.
Spectator sports are very popular among English fans. Famous football clubs have armies of fans who accompany their favorite team and national team at all championships. The famous Wimbledon tournament and the Boat Race are all English sporting traditions that are many years old.
However, the British like to relax not only on the sports ground. In Britain, pubs are very popular, which have long ceased to be purely drinking establishments where a woman or child could not appear. Today it is a place where you meet friends and colleagues, celebrate a promotion, or watch your favorite team play.
Alcohol is served in pubs, of course, and English ale is worth the taste. But the main thing here is still communication, jokes and even dancing together. The English traditions of folk dancing are quite relevant today, and a sincerely merry company can once and for all dispel the myth of British stiffness and restraint.
Another custom typical of English pubs is playing darts. Throwing darts at a target is so popular that competing with the inhabitants of the British Isles is a futile exercise, they devote too much time to it.
The Englishmen rush home from the pub. Of course, today much in their daily lives changes, but some traditions are quite tenacious. For example, it is customary here to give names to your houses. Buildings that, in addition to the official address, display a sign with a proper name are a common occurrence. The names of plants, animals and birds, the names of fairy-tale characters and real historical heroes are used. In this case, the imagination of the owners of the house is not limited by anything, so every Englishman can afford to live in a “Rose cottage” or “April cottage”.
Of course, these are not all English traditions and customs that are supported and observed in Britain. By studying the language, everyone will be able to learn more about the peculiarities of life in this amazing country, which has had such a strong influence on the entire world culture.
English breakfast
This is what the British call a wedding banquet. This is due to the fact that previously, according to the law, the wedding ceremony had to be held in the church strictly from eight in the morning to noon. Therefore, the newlyweds and guests actually went to breakfast afterward. By the way, noon is still considered the most favorable time for marriage.
A wedding breakfast in England always begins with a toast from the best man, followed by several other key moments of the traditional celebration:
- first dance of the young
- dance of the bride with her father and the groom with her mother,
- bouquet throwing,
- cutting the cake.
Wedding traditions in England do not include the garter toss; this is an American custom. There are usually no competitions held at the celebration, only toasts and dancing to the music and songs of the invited musical group.
The newlyweds cut the cake together. At an English wedding it has always been customary to have two cakes: one for the bride, the other for the groom. These used to be marzipan and nut pies, but today they are more standard sponge cakes. The top of one of the cakes must be frozen and stored until the first anniversary or the birth of a child. And then it is eaten together with close friends.
From the banquet the newlyweds set off on their honeymoon. They can even do it in the middle of the celebration, which is completely normal for a European style wedding. But Slavic guests would not appreciate such an act.
Legendary tea party
Traditional English tea drinking is known in all corners of the globe. Complement your holiday in English garden style with a classic English tea ceremony. Mandatory components are an elegant tea set, excellent English aftermoon tea and, of course, milk! To enhance the effect, you can invite a real butler who will help your guests enjoy the delicious taste of tea in English. Another way to introduce friends and relatives to the traditions of good old England is to decorate a candy bar in the style of an English tea party.
Photo by wedding photographer Maxim Orlov
Complement your sweet table with a traditional English dessert - crispy crumble with cherries or plums. It is recommended to serve this sweet dessert in individual mini-portions.
