Wedding traditions from the Celtic Nations

They come under six different headings; Celtic and traditional times of year to get married, Celtic knotwork meanings, Flowers and herbs, Traditions, Superstitions, Traditions to find your future spouse.

Celtic and traditional times of year to get married

Imbolc - celebrated on or around February 1, also known as Oimelc, St. Brigid's Day or Candlemas. This mid-winter feast day symbolises the first stirring of the earth from its icy sleep.

Beltane - one of four celtic fire festivals is a celebration of the return of life and fertility to the world, which takes place on May 1st.

Lughnassah (pronounced loo-nahs-ah) - celebrated on August 1 it is the feast of the god Lugh and it coincides with the beginning of the harvest

With the onset of Christianity, two of the most popular dates to get married were Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Tuesday) because you wished not to get married before Lent, or Easter Monday after lent is over. This means the guests who originally fasted from alcohol or rich foods could fully partake in the celebrations!

Celtic knotwork

The meaning of celtic symbols may be confusing. The Celts did not keep records of what the symbols meant so today's meanings were probably created recently. The meanings would change depending on the favourite Gods, the tribe and the time. Therefore, you are advised that if a particular design touches you, you should use it as your own giving it your own private meaning.

Most celtic designs today are taken from the Illuminated manuscripts from the likes of 'The Book of Kells' and they have both religious and secular meanings.

The Celts created their designs using one or several unbroken lines. The more these lines interlaced each other, the higher they would protect against evil. The unbroken lines symbolising infinity.

The most common symbol is the Triquetra, which is a three-pronged knot and symbolises every living thing's three distinct yet interlocked levels - physical, mental and spiritual. With Christianity, the triquetra was later used to represent the Trinity.

Flowers and herbs

Ancient brides wore herbs and not flowers in their bouquets as they felt herbs had the power to cast off evil spirits. If a bride carried sage (the herb of wisdom) she became wise, if she carried dill (the herb of lust) she became lusty. Rosemary ensured the powers of remembrance.

Brides also used to carry marigolds that had been dipped in rosewater. They later ate them as they were supposed to be aphrodisiacs.

Later flowers replaced herbs and carried meanings of their own. Orange blossom means happiness and fertility, ivy means fidelity, lilies mean purity. Wheat was also used in the bouquet to symbolise fertility not only in family matters but also with crops. Usually the flowers were later dried and hung in the bride's new home to preserve their meanings.

Most brides wore their hair loose, which symbolised virginity, (married woman wore their hair up and mostly covered). They would have worn a wreath of flowers, or had a few single flowers and precious stones scattered in their hair.

Traditions

Roman brides covered themselves from head to toe in their veils!

In ancient Scotland, the wedding ceremony consisted of the couple having one hand bound by muslin to the hand of their betrothed and, in the presence of a priest, reciting the words 'you and no other' - thus the ceremony was completed and they were considered wed.

The wedding ring comes from the early Egyptians who believed that the circle was the symbol of eternity - a sign that life happiness and love have no beginning and no end. A wedding ring was placed on the third finger of the left hand because it was believed that a vein ran directly from that finger to the heart.

Most of today's rings are gold but late in the seventeenth century grooms made rings for their brides, 'made of a small twig of osier handsomely plaited' and it was blessed 'with two crosses and a short prayer'. The ring was taken off by a bridesmaid and tied on one of the strings of the bride's purse, which hung at her girdle, and it was worn there until it was either broken or lost.

Some brides were married by having the loop of the door key to the new home, slipped onto her finger.

The white wedding dress was made popular by Anne of Brittany in 1499. Before that, a woman wore her best dress. In Roman times, blue and not white represented purity.

In Mediaeval times, green symbolised youth and fertility and red represented lust.

A Norman custom during the feasting is for the bride and groom to drink wine from a two-handled cup to denote 'togetherness'. This is sometimes reinacted in Scotland using the 'quaich'.

In Ireland in old days, young men carried torches of bogwood to light the bride on her journey to her new home. Based on this tradition, some brides today, are led up the aisle by their attendants carrying large lighted candles, which are consequently placed around the altar to light up the bride and groom throughout the ceremony. The Celts also used lighted rush candles before a ceremony to symbolise the new life of brightness preparing for the bridal couple.

The garter toss is one of the oldest surviving wedding traditions. Back in mediaeval times, it was customary for friends, relatives and guests to accompany the bride and groom to the marriage bed. As time went on this became rowdier and rowdier to the point that some guests were all too eager to help the bride out of her wedding clothes. To forestall such impropriety, the garters were quickly removed and thrown to the mob as a distraction. Many brides would give out small coloured ribbons called 'favours' to guests as an attempt to avoid being turned upside down by guests eager for their garter. As society changed, it became inappropriate to throw part of your underwear and so the bouquet was substituted.

A bell used to be given to the bride as one of her wedding presents from her parents with the intention to use it to call time out during any of her future marital arguments.

In days gone by, the bride's father would hand over one of the bride's shoes to the groom to symbolise the handing over of his authority to the husband. The husband then tapped her on the head to show his new role as master!

Superstitions

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a silver sixpence in your shoe. Something old was for continuity; very often this was a veil, your mother's wedding gown or an antique lace handkerchief. Something new was to symbolise optimism and hope. Something borrowed should be happiness shared from a happily married couple, and traditionally was something that a happily married woman wore on her wedding day. She would lend this to the new bride in the hope of continuing this fortune .The custom of wearing something blue comes from Israel in biblical times when the wearing of a blue ribbon symbolised her fidelity. The coin in her shoe was said to bring wealth.

It was believed that the bride and groom were susceptible to being stolen by the fairies, or concerned by evil spirits. To prevent this, in Mediaeval times the bridesmaids and groomsmen were dressed similar to the bride and groom and danced together to mislead any unwelcome spirits. Today though,

instead of the fairies stealing the bride and groom, many pranks are played at receptions where guests would 'kidnap' the bride or the groom from the reception and sometimes leave them moneyless, clothesless and as far away as possible from the reception!

It is believed to be good luck to have your birthstone in your engagement ring, even if that stone is otherwise thought to be an unlucky gem

It is lucky to tear your wedding dress accidentally on your wedding day!

It is good luck if a happily married woman puts the veil on you, but it is bad luck to put the veil on yourself.

It is lucky to be awakened by birds singing on your wedding morning.

If you look at the sun when you leave for your wedding, your children will be beautiful.

Sometimes charms would be used to counter marriage vows. Sometimes a jilted former sweetheart of the groom might answer 'I do not' under her breath when the bride agreed to take the groom as her husband and other important questions in the ceremony, each time putting a knot in a handkerchief. The 'charm' was said to fall on the husband. If the charm was ever discovered, the girl was compelled, often at knifepoint, to undo each knot and untie her words.

The groom tosses coins to the children as the couple leave the church (this 'scramble' attracts children from all over) to help ensure prosperity.

The horseshoe is said to be lucky if presented to the bride by a child, but it must be given open side up!

It is said to be lucky if the last stitch of the wedding dress is finished on the morning of the wedding.

Traditions to find your future spouse

A still popular tradition in finding out if a person of the opposite sex is interested in you is to remove the petals of a daisy one by one while reciting 'He loves me, he loves me not'

Harvest knots (made from plaited straw) were exchanged between young men and women as symbols of romantic attachment. Sometimes a harvest knot was worked for a girl with the ears of corn still in place, as a symbol of fertility.

Bridesmaids used to keep their slice of wedding cake and sleep with it under their pillows in hopes of dreaming of their future husbands.

Another method used in the 1800s but an inadvisable one, of seeing a future spouse was by finding a point in a stream where three townlands met and at midnight washing a shirt or chemise three times - each time saying," I wash my shirt of all this dirt in the name of Hanna MacDowell, I wash my shirt of all this dirt in the name of Hanna MacDowell ". Then, when the person looked up they would see their future spouse standing beside them. 'Hanna MacDowell' is an anglicization of the words 'ainm an diabhail' - in the devil's name! So it usually carried dire consequences.