Greek Wedding Traditions

When we live with people who believe in the same religion who share same traditions, we don’t get a chance to learn or see the culture of others. The people, who travel a lot either due to business, or for the sake of traveling, get a chance to see the customs of the other regions of the world. Nowadays, media both print and the electronic media has made it easy to see how others live, what language do they speak, what do they wear and how do they celebrate their various occasions. The facility of internet has also made it convenient for us to find out about the cultures of other regions of the world.

Here we will talk about the ancient and modern Greek Wedding Traditions that how do Greeks celebrate their wedding ceremony.

There are no specific laws of age in Greece to marry but the average age different between the husband and the wife used to be fifteen years. The ancient Greek bride used to wear a tradition veil in yellow or red colors, which represented fire. These color were chosen in order to protect the bride from the evil spirits. In the ancient Greek wedding there was a tradition that a Greek bride may carry a lump of sugar on her wedding day to ensure she has a sweet life, or she might also carry ivy as a symbol of endless love. The celebration of the formal engagement is also an important part of the traditional Greek orthodox marriage. According to the Greek wedding tradition the groom asks the bride’s father for his daughter’s hand on the day of the wedding ceremony. Later the groom’s bestman accompany the couple to the church to be married. The bestman and the priest both are the in charge of the Greek wedding ceremony. There are other responsibilities of the bestman too, like he place gold crown or wreathes made of orange blossoms on the heads of the bride and the groom. The bride and the groom are honored as a king and a queen for the rest of their wedding day. Like other cultures the Greek traditional wedding is usually a huge party that can last through night. The famous circle dance, feasting and drinking are also the part of the Greek wedding ceremony. There is a trend of throwing money on the musicians. In the Greek wedding ceremony the dishes are smashed on the floor for good luck. The wedding reception favors are also distributed among the guests called koufeta, which are candy-roasted almonds.

The traditional meal of the Greek wedding ceremony is a Sourdough Bread which is the most important ingredient of the Greek weddings, the favors are hidden them for the invitees to discover. There are many sites on the web that provide various Greek Wedding Songs by various famous vocalists. Also check out the types of the Greek Wedding Flowers on the web that are used in the Greek weddings.