Love, Weddings,Cultures & Traditions Part 1

Photo Credit: The Chocolate Bride

Each culture has has its own traditions and special ways of celebrating, honoring and combining of two lives many of these traditions have been passed down for many generations.....With a new wedding season approaching I wanted to share of few of these traditions with my readers.

1. African American : Jumping the Broom was a wedding custom used by enslaved African Americans in America in remembrance of the way weddings were ritualized in Africa; it tied them to the homeland they would no longer see and to the culture that they had been torn from. Jumping the Broom is done either at the ceremony or at the reception. The broom itself symbolized the force that would sweep away their former single lives, problems, and concerns. Stepping over the broom represents the bride and groom entering into the adventure of a lifetime as husband and wife prepared to begin a family...
2. Amish: Couples do not mail their wedding invitations instead they hand deliver them to their neighbors and friends. Amish weddings takes place midweek after the harvesting season so that all can attend The Amish wedding is simple and lovely good wishes and farm cooking are the order for the day.
3. Hawaiian: The brides attire is a long white formalized version of the customary muumuu,called holoku. The haku lei a woven garland of flowers adorns her hair and she carries a bouquet of white orchid sprays, the grooms attire is along-sleeved white shirt and white pants with a red or colored sash tied around his waist, a ceremonial lei of maile or ilima flowers are draped around his neck. The couple exchanges wedding bands bearing their names and the inscription, kuuipo meaning sweetheart. The wedding feast is a luau with traditional Hawaiian foods.
4. Jewish: In traditional Jewish Ceremonies the bride and groom stand beneath the chuppah (wedding arch or canopy) often adorned with flower. They sip wine during readings by various guests. The wine is poured into a new glass both the bride and groom drink from it, the groom then places the glass into a cloth on the ground and breaks the glass with his foot which symbolizes the Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem that is meant to underscore the fragility of love .
5. The Shared Cup: In may traditions both religious and secular the bride and groom Share a Cup of wine during their wedding ceremony . In Chinese tradition , the couple drink wine and honey from goblets tied with a red string. In Japan couples who wed in the Shinto tradition take nine sips of sake, as well as their parents to symbolize the new bonds of family. 

 Stay tuned for part 2 Love,Weddings, Cultures and  Traditions.