Marriage Superstitions in Scotland. From one of a series of articles on Scottish Superstitions, by Edgar L. Wakeman, printed in the " Boston Transcript," July 25, 1891, we extract the following passage:
"In the matter of courtships and weddings, Scottish people preserve an extraordinary number of peculiar customs and fanciful superstitions. It is deemed unlucky to alter the first width of an engagement ring. Many troths have been broken as a result. The giving of brooches and pins by lovers is full of ill consequences. No young man or woman, in the tender relation, will take a pin from the other without returning the same after use. Pins, needles, etc., are all emblematic of the cessation of friendship and affection. It is very fortunate for the bride to wear some borrowed article of apparel at her wedding. If swine cross the path of the bridal party before it, it is an omen of the direst import; but if they should cross its path behind the party, it would be a happy augury. A wedding after sunset entails on the bride a joyless life, the loss of children, and an early grave. In the south of Scotland a rainy day for a marriage is an unlucky one. The bride is then called " a greetin' bride ; " whereas, " Blest is the bride that the sun shines on." To " rub shoulders " with the bride is a sign of speedy marriage; the first among the unmarried female friends who succeeds in doing it will be the first to wed; and I have myself witnessed scrambles on the part of buxom Scotch lasses for precedence, quite closely approaching fisticuffs. As a newly married wife first enters her new home, some elderly person must throw a cake of shortbread into the door before her. One securing a piece of cheese cut with the bride's own hand, before she has left the wedding feast, is certain to be shortly happily married. And it is everywhere in Scotland as inauspicious for the bride's mother to be present at a wedding as it is unfortunate in our country to have the same individual arrive, to remain, at any subsequent period."
"In the matter of courtships and weddings, Scottish people preserve an extraordinary number of peculiar customs and fanciful superstitions. It is deemed unlucky to alter the first width of an engagement ring. Many troths have been broken as a result. The giving of brooches and pins by lovers is full of ill consequences. No young man or woman, in the tender relation, will take a pin from the other without returning the same after use. Pins, needles, etc., are all emblematic of the cessation of friendship and affection. It is very fortunate for the bride to wear some borrowed article of apparel at her wedding. If swine cross the path of the bridal party before it, it is an omen of the direst import; but if they should cross its path behind the party, it would be a happy augury. A wedding after sunset entails on the bride a joyless life, the loss of children, and an early grave. In the south of Scotland a rainy day for a marriage is an unlucky one. The bride is then called " a greetin' bride ; " whereas, " Blest is the bride that the sun shines on." To " rub shoulders " with the bride is a sign of speedy marriage; the first among the unmarried female friends who succeeds in doing it will be the first to wed; and I have myself witnessed scrambles on the part of buxom Scotch lasses for precedence, quite closely approaching fisticuffs. As a newly married wife first enters her new home, some elderly person must throw a cake of shortbread into the door before her. One securing a piece of cheese cut with the bride's own hand, before she has left the wedding feast, is certain to be shortly happily married. And it is everywhere in Scotland as inauspicious for the bride's mother to be present at a wedding as it is unfortunate in our country to have the same individual arrive, to remain, at any subsequent period."
Scottish Wedding Traditions:
- Traditional Ceilidh Dancing at a Scottish Wedding
- The traditional Scottish Wedding
- Wedding in North Berwick
- Clan Kilts Catwalk - The Scottish Wedding Show
No comments:
Post a Comment