The wedding tradition of breaking dishes has been found among many nations since ancient times. And, despite some cultural differences, the essence of this ancient custom is the same for everyone - for good luck.
Why did our great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers break glasses at weddings?
Initially, in Russian villages, on the morning after the wedding, relatives of the newlyweds beat clay pots. The broken pot symbolized that the bride had lost her chastity. And the more shards, the more happiness, children and wealth are measured out to the young family.
Over time, this ritual has turned into a beautiful tradition where the bride and groom break the glasses from which they took their first sip after marriage. It has long been believed that when wedding glasses break, the sound of broken glass drives away evil spirits and brings happiness to the house. Crystal glasses are most suitable for this ritual, since the ringing sound of crystal has magical properties. And its ability to break into many small fragments is a good sign and a beautiful shot in wedding photography and videography.
There are two ways to break glasses:
- Swing and hit the ground. The fragments will fly in all directions and this is not entirely safe.
- Wrap it in a nice cloth or napkin and kick it. Then the fragments will not fly apart.
As a sign that the couple will go through all the sorrows, adversities and difficulties together, both newlyweds break glasses.
But wedding glasses are not only a beautiful tradition, but also a symbol of the spiritual and physical union of a couple. In order to preserve this symbol for many years, glasses for newlyweds are bought in duplicate.
About tradition
Why break glasses on the day of celebration? Many peoples have a belief that broken dishes are good luck . At the same time, they justified the breaking of fragile objects in different ways.
The ancient Greeks believed: if everything seems to be very good, you should expect trouble - after all, the gods are envious of other people's happiness. By breaking a valuable object and being upset at its loss, they thereby averted the wrath of the gods and preserved their happiness.
For Jews, expensive dishes broken during the holiday are a reminder of the once destroyed Jerusalem temple .
The essence of the custom is that even in moments of greatest joy, a true Jew must remember this greatest sorrow in the history of the people. This is interesting : How to choose a towel for a wedding ?
(link) And among the Slavic peoples there was a custom of breaking clay pots at weddings , thereby symbolizing the transition of the bride from the status of an unmarried girl “to a wife.” A broken pot represents the newlywed’s chastity given to her husband.
At the same time, they beat the pots with the saying: “How many pieces, so many sons.” This was a kind of fortune-telling wish for the birth of a large number of sons (daughters, as always, were not taken into account).
In modern wedding traditions, broken glasses are an attempt to ward off evil and failure.
By breaking fragile vessels, the newlyweds seem to be telling fate - not everything is so perfect here, there is nothing to envy, no need to harm. For many, breaking wine glasses is also a rejection of their previous carefree single life.
Just as cracked crystal cannot be glued back together without leaving a trace, newlyweds cannot return to a life unencumbered by marital responsibilities.
Breaking glasses at a wedding: why did the ancients break dishes?
For a young bride in an ancient Russian village, an unbroken clay pot did not bode well - this custom was so trusted that it is unlikely that she would later have to convince guests that she was chaste. In addition, this is also an indicator of future happiness in the family and the long years the newlyweds will live together. And the greater the number of pieces the pot was broken into, the greater the happiness was considered.
In England, there was a similar custom - during the wedding ceremony, the groom was given a dish on which small pieces of the wedding cake lay. The groom had to throw this dish over his bride's head straight onto the road. But English brides were luckier - if the dish was not broken, then the groom’s friend simply “finished off” it. And only then, by the number of fragments, they judged how happy the young people’s lives would be.
When do glasses break?
Traditionally, wine glasses/glasses are broken after the newlyweds have drained them at some ceremonial moment of the wedding. It could be:
- the first toast in the registry office after marriage;
- meeting newlyweds with bread and salt by parents;
- the first toast at a banquet or, on the contrary, farewell to guests.
In any case, the husband and wife first drink their glasses to the bottom, then throw them on the ground . Of course, it is better to make sure that the “landing” place is hard and the glasses break - after all, crystal that does not break is considered a very bad omen.
Followers of traditions believe that in this case the marriage will be fragile, unsuccessful, and childless.
Advice! Before meeting newlyweds, hold glasses of champagne in your hands and not on a tray. Guests will pass around you and someone may accidentally hit the tray, causing the glasses to break. Finding new ones won't be so easy.
Breaking glasses nowadays
Nowadays, breaking a glass at a wedding is considered something like parting with single life and the beginning of family life. To drink a glass to the bottom means to end a free life, and, moreover, it is better to end where this very free life was located - with a glass, so glasses break.
And there is another belief about glasses - they are considered something of a scapegoat, that is, spoiling glasses means ruining the first and last thing, both at the wedding ceremony and in general in married life.
In addition, by deliberately breaking dishes at a wedding, they tried to avoid the consequences of suddenly breaking dishes, that is, to save the lives of the newlyweds from all conceivable quarrels.
In the case when the glass, having fallen, remains intact, the groom must step on it. It is better for the bride not to do this - the thin sole of her shoe may not withstand such a test.
How to perform the ceremony?
There can be two scenarios :
- The newlyweds simultaneously throw their glasses to the ground so that they break . Over which shoulder do they throw? This can be done with your right hand over your left shoulder, back . If such an action is planned, make sure that no one is standing behind you. You should not disrupt the celebration by calling an ambulance to the victims. Counting the fragments and cleaning the area (who needs pieces of glass or crystal on the area in front of the registry office or in the restaurant hall?) are easier if the glasses are thrown to the ground in special bags made of elegant thin fabric. You can easily purchase them in souvenir shops, wedding salons along with wine glasses, sew them and decorate them yourself.
- If you plan to not only break the glasses by throwing them behind your back, but also trample them with your feet, you need to choose the most fragile models made of thin glass and take care of high-quality shoes that protect your feet well . High-quality crystal wine glasses or models made of thick glass cannot be easily broken; considerable effort will have to be made, so usually the groom takes on this task . Thus, he shows exactly how he will deal with all the difficulties of married life. Bags are inappropriate here - guests should see exactly how the glass breaks. In a public place, you will have to carefully remove the fragments after the ceremony.
Important : if you plan to break the glasses several times or just feel sorry for the expensive and elegant items purchased specifically for the wedding, it is better to additionally buy glasses specifically “for the fight ,” simpler and thinner.
Methods for breaking glasses
- The traditional option is to drink wedding champagne from glasses tied with ribbon after eating bread and salt from your parents’ hands at the brotherhood and then throw them together behind your back onto the asphalt. With a high degree of probability, wedding wine glasses will break the first time, but the fragments will have to be removed for safety reasons.
- In order not to injure any of the guests and not to injure themselves, modern newlyweds prefer a less spectacular, but safer option of breaking glasses wrapped in fabric - the fragments remain in the bag, and they can be crushed more forcefully with the heel of the shoe for good luck.
What types of glasses are there?
A pair of wine glasses that are broken for good luck can be of a simple shape and without elaborate decorations. For guests on a walk, they use simple glasses from the mass market. The second pair, which is kept as a keepsake, is purchased with hand painting, flowers, ribbons, rhinestones, fancy patterns and swirls. Crystal glasses are purchased for the bride and groom. Among the wedding paraphernalia, you can buy glasses from mass production or from an exclusive collection.
It is very important that the glasses are beautiful and unique.
Craftsmen who manually decorate elegant champagne flutes offer several types of decor:
- Spot painting. A glass made using this technique looks elegant and elegant. They use products made from the finest glass. The surface is covered with fine powder. The pattern contains floral splashes that shimmer in the light.
- Decoration with crystals and Swarovski rhinestones. Glasses inlaid with stones will not go unnoticed by invited guests. They will become the main focus at the wedding banquet. Bright shine gives an ordinary wedding a unique chic and emphasizes the luxury of the special day. Crystals and rhinestones of various colors are used for inlay. The shade of the decor should be combined with the main palette of wedding accessories.
- Polymer clay. Real story paintings are made from this material. Often a romantic or spring motif is used. Wedding glasses are decorated with bouquets of flowers. Volumetric decor looks stylish at modern weddings.
- Stained glass painting. Glasses made using this technique are among the original attributes. Nothing can highlight the beauty of wine glasses more than a translucent bright pattern. The thinnest glass transmits a scattering of multi-colored reflections, which every now and then “light up” from sunlight.
- Matting. An unusual design technique in which transparent glass is shrouded in white frost. They use a translucent and deep application technique. For added effect, use a glitter coating.
- "Crystal" gel. Wine glasses with a relief texture are considered one of the best of their kind. On their surface you can see flowers, the initials of the young people and various patterns.
Tips for choosing wedding glasses
When ordering glasses for a wedding, consider the following qualities:
- aesthetics;
- practicality;
- quality;
- Ease of use.
You can decorate glasses beautifully without special knowledge in this matter.
Important! Choose wine glasses that match the theme of the wedding and its main color scheme.
Related customs
Not only breaking glasses is traditional for our compatriots. Since on the wedding day we become as superstitious as possible (some of us), we perform all sorts of rituals and signs designed to strengthen the future marriage, even if they contradict each other. This also applies to traditions with glasses.
For example, there is a sign of tying young glasses with ribbon (this happens mainly after the first toast). This gesture personifies the union of the souls of the spouses and the inviolability of their marriage.
There is also a belief that it is necessary to preserve the glasses of the newlyweds from the festive wedding table as a relic in order to celebrate each anniversary by drinking champagne from these glasses. Thus, intact, carefully stored wedding glasses are a symbol of a carefully guarded home.
By the way, the tradition of breaking glasses itself has many related signs. For example:
- the more fragments, the more happiness;
- The smaller the fragments, the greater the likelihood of the birth of a first-born son in a couple.
