No matter the country and the cultural background people come from, what most cultures have in common is marriage. People get married all over the world, and every country has its own wedding ceremonies and customs followed by the couples, their families and their wedding guests. Since there is such a wide variety of wedding customs in the world, there are also many of them which can be perceived as unusual, crazy or even disgusting. In this article, we bring you some of the most unusual wedding customs from all corners of the globe.
Whale’s tooth for the father-in-law – in Fiji, men are required to ask a woman’s hand from her father before the marriage. In order to do so, they are required to present the future father-in-law with an unusual gift – a whale’s tooth.
The blackening of the bride – there is a quite nasty wedding tradition in Scotland, intended to put the happy couple on a sort of a test. Food trash, including even fish and rotten eggs, is splashed all over the couple. The belief says that, if they can withstand this process, then they will withstand anything in the marriage.
The wall of bridesmaids – in some parts of China, before the groom is allowed to get his bride, there is one obstacle for him to beat. Bridesmaids form a “wall” and do their best to prevent the groom from getting the bride, while he is supposed to outsmart them and pass the wall. This ceremony serves as a symbolic test for the groom to show how strong his love is.
Marrying a tree – in some parts of India, if a bride is born during a certain astrological period, she is considered to be cursed. The curse is broken before the wedding by marrying the girl to a tree first, and the tree is then cut down and destroyed. After the curse is broken, she is allowed to marry her groom.
A different kissing ceremony – while many wedding traditions in the world involve kisses between a bride and a groom, in Sweden this tradition takes a twist. At Swedish weddings, if the bride leaves the room during the reception, all the female guests are allowed to kiss the groom. The same goes for the men kissing the bride in case the groom leaves the reception.
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