Marriage customs in medieval times

It's interesting:
"Linda and I first met about 18 months ago, when it quickly became clear to me that here was a woman of many attributes - beauty, brains, wisdom and, fortunately for Paul, a disarming love for dumb animals."

Marriage in medieval times was characterized by arranged courtship, in most cases with fathers and royalty making the decisions. Similar to today, medieval marriages took place in churches and used rings to symbolize the relationship between the man and the woman. There are some notable differences, though, including special blessings and celebratory traditions that don't exist today.

1. Blessing of the Bed

   • The bed is still recognized today as an important symbol in marriage -- typically embodied in the idea of the honeymoon.

     The modern tradition of garter throwing evolved from the communal "blessing of the bed" of medieval times. Both as a sign of relinquishment of virginity and as a community acceptance of the marriage, the family and friends would accompany the bride and groom to their sleeping chambers in order to bless the bed in which the marriage was to be consummated. This ceremony became so intense over time that garters were thrown to the crowd in order to stall and distract them from prematurely and embarrassingly forcing a consummation.

   Dress

   • White is an important color in marriage today -- blue was the important color of marriage in medieval times.

     As opposed to the white dresses of today, blue dresses in medieval times stood for purity and various other qualities intrinsic to a "good" bride. Bride's maids wore similar dresses to represent the celebration and joy of the ceremony, and grooms sometimes wore blue bands to symbolize the same virtues as the brides. Depending on the region and the social class of those involved, the dress ranged from plain to opulent, but always symbolized some desirable virtue of the bride and groom.

   Ceremony

   • Many ceremonial traditions, including the exchanging of rings, were relatively the same in medieval times as they are now.

     Before entrance into the church, the groom stood on the right side of the door, and the bride on the left, in order to celebrate the Christian creation story of Adam and Eve. During the actual ceremony, the priest read the vows out loud, asking both the bride and groom to take each other in the everlasting covenant, at which point the bride's father handed his daughter over to the groom. The rings were then exchanged, the newlywed husband and wife knelt at the altar and the priest gave a final blessing and prayer.

   Arrangement

   • Like the pieces in a chess game, marriages were arranged for economic and relational strategy between regions.

     Arrangement of marriages was usually done by fathers and members of royalty for economic and diplomatic reasons. In some cases, the brides and grooms didn't even know each other before knowing that they were to be married. Divorce and separation were extremely rare, if not non-existent. The arrangement was symbolized through the custom of betrothal, which sometimes included a pre-exchange of rings and a ceremonial kiss from groom to bride in order to make official the upcoming marriage.

Source: www.ehow.com

Tags: medieval times, bride groom, color marriage, customs medieval, customs medieval times