It is customary in an American wedding for the bride & groom to hop in to a get away automobile with tin cans attached to the rear of the automobile, off to their secret honeymoon, immediately after the marriage. Did you know that this rooted from escaping a Celtic wedding night custom? Weddings are occasions of lasting traditions & rituals.
All over the world, different beliefs, culture & history have affected this memorable event. It is common knowledge that wedding ceremonies are different all over the world, but did you know that the diversity extends even on the marriage night? Read this to know the fascinating activities that couples, families & friends do before letting the newlyweds reach a night of wedding bliss!
In Gaelic cultures, it was a custom for relatives & friends of the couple to mess with the couples wedding night. In the olden days, when couples spend their wedding night in a barn, girl friends of the bride would dress her for bed & ask each of the male guests to kiss her lovely night. The friends would do other things to prevent the groom from seeing her new spouse. Even if the couple finally comes together, they would disturb the union by making noise outside the barn & even peek in to the couple, while drinking the night away.
The couple waits for everyone to get drunk to finally leave them alone. This sort of joke is something that newly weds require to get away from, thus, they keep their honeymoon location a secret & speed away after the marriage. More Celtic wedding night ritual come from Scotland: sleeping in the barn on the first night, sprinkling water on the marriage bed for luck & staying for a week with the parents of the bride before moving in to the home of the newlyweds. The Germans & the Italian do a similar custom of disturbing the marriage night, called Chiverie, known in the US as Shivaree.
They make noise outside the place where the couple spends their first night together. Some even play around with the room where they will stay, like put lots of balloons, spread food all over the bed, & hide alarm clock all over the place, for fun. The Romans believed that it was bad fortune when the bride stumbles when entering the newlywed home for the first time. Thus, after the wedding, male friends of the couple would over her over the doorstep. At present, the groom is expected to do the job himself.
