Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-03-16
Why Modern
Weddings Are
Old Stuff

III
dressed In shmmering white satin and wearing
] orangeb edecked veil floats down the church aisle
the of her proud father Preceding her brides
maids in rainbow hues and small cherb who scaters
petals the brides path while the bridegroom and
his best man wait anxiously at the altar.
Why does she wear a white and why does her
father give her in marriage? Why the bridesmaids
flower girl the best the ring for the fourth finger?
Each part of the modern wedding had its origin
way blackstone in the early dawn Of mankind.
Wedding from the primitive word wed"
which meant the money horses cattle that the prospec
tive bridegroom gave TO the brides father security
'Trousseau" comes from the early word
small bundle" goes back days Of
marriage by purchase This bundle, dowry, to
compensate the in degree for the purchase
price of his bride The of the hope chest
If the looked the dowry and found it unsats
factory he could refuse through with the
The conventional wedding white because white
has stood for purity the earliest days The veil
many traditions Among the Egyptians the Hndus, the
Arabs and many other peoples the not allowed
to see the face of his bride until the wedding day The
veil Of todays bride is caught with blossoms This
too is early custom 1t believed that the golden
apple which Juno to Jupiter their wedding day
reality orange. Anyway the modern bride
orange blossoms her wedding veil.
When the brides father graciously gives her in
rage. he is barking back to the days Of marriage by
purchase After the prospective groom had paid the price
and not before-the father led out the girl and turned
her to him.
The custom Of best goes back to the days of
rage by capture When went out TO capture
bride he took along his best man" best friend This
friend had to be strong warrior because
his duty hold back the brides force and
them out necessary while the carried her kicking
and screamingunless dubbed into unconsciousnessto
place of safety
The bridesmaids are the outgrowth of much later
custom After marriage by capture abolished, It
the style among tribes pretend that the
bride being carried off against her will She would
kick and the bridegroom bore her away
her girl friends would after them, beating the bride
groom with sticks pretending try to her
At ancient weddings two small girls carrying sheaves
of wheat other grain preceded the bride to the
Grain symbolized good luck and frtfuness and
todays fower-gr with her petals.
The origin of the wedding ring is unknown Among
primitive tribes the would cord and
bind it around the waist of the girl of his choice In
others women letters around wrists ankles.
dcang that they had been captured by certain
and belonged to him exclusively The wedding ring is
perhaps hangover of Of these customs In ancient
times circle represented eternityno beginning end
That was perhaps the reason for adopting the circle
as the symbol of marriage-impying that IT will last
through eternity
The wedding ring has been various fingers.
many years the fourth finger Of the left hand
been preferred because Of old Greek sentiment which
says that certain blood vessel from this finger
directly to the heart.
Feastng has always been an important part Of the
wedding ceremony Among ancient tribes
and eating together signihed they married
The wedding cake is always an important part of the
wedding feast The English wedding cake of early times
small spiced buns. The guests would make a huge
pyramid of these buns in the middle of the table and force
bride groom try and kiss them II they
succeeded it meant lifelong prosperity At wedding
French became greatly rrated because the small
buns kept falling off the top he solved that difficulty
the next wedding by producing large pyramid
shaped cake.
When bride of today starts her to change
travelling attire she losses her bouquet from the head
of stairs the bridesmaids scramble wildly It.
France. in the Fourteenth Century the bridesmaids
and guests scrambled for the brides garter instead
AS the nevlyeds dash franteally for their automobile
the wedding guests shower them with rice old
The casting Of shoe in early times sgnifed that
property passed from person another
bride had handed by her father
kin. her husband. Honeymoons originated back in the
days Of marriage by capture when the groom took his
captured bride into hiding until her people became
cilod Of gave up the search