Oh man. If you want really depressing insight into the origin of wedding traditions, read this article.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Wedding Traditions
Oh man. If you want really depressing insight into the origin of wedding traditions, read this article.
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6 comments:
Creepy...yet funny!
I really hate the "tradition" of wearing a veil. That just screams oppression to me. I know it's bitter, but every time I see a bride in a veil, I feel sorry for her.
Even though these traditions are antiquated and based on beliefs that women are nothing more that property to be bought and sold for their services, I think, for some people, they fill a need in our society for a connection to the past.
In an increasingly secular society, many have broken the oppressive bonds of social order via religion; however, we have yet to replace those traditions with a meaningful connection to our history as humans, which is the side of "tradition" for which many people still yearn.
Kudos to everyone who has tossed out the traditional wedding model and replaced it with something meaningful and representative of themselves and their beliefs. But kudos also to those who, after examining their social, familial or religious traditions, chose to keep many of them because of what it means to THEM.
Either way, the search for a personal connection to the meaning of marriage throughout our collective history is a noble path. And (if I may grab my soapbox for a moment) I think that kind of self-reflection makes for a more conscious marriage in general.
A lot of these seem to be incorrect. Jewish brides have been wearing white long before the Queen. Grooms used to wear white, too. A couple would wear their Kittel to their wedding, as it was usually the cleanest peace of clothing they had. A Kittel is also a burial shroud.
I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of these were made up.
I've been researching wedding traditions and there's no two places (online, at least) giving the same explaination for the same tradition. While the Mental Floss article may not be correct, I think it does raise the question of thinking through what one 'does' at their wedding rather than just signing on because it's tradition.
Wow, this is pretty bad. First, this article is based upon some pretty bogus research, and so I won't even address the numerous inaccuracies it contains. But my big issue is the tone. Could it be more condescending to people in the past? Do people really believe that no father ever loved his daughter, or no husband ever loved his wife, or no woman ever exercised any sort of power in her personal relationships, until the twentieth century? History is rife with examples of all of the above, however much such behaviors might not have complied with the norms or legal codes of the time. Societies should not be judged exclusively by their excesses and restrictions, particularly from a macro level; individual agency matters too.
I'm sorry, but that kind of historical bullshit really ticks me off.
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