Every little girl imagines herself in a beautiful white dress near the handsome fiancé. Wedding is one of the most important day in a woman’s life. The preparation to this wonderful day usually takes several months, because everything should be perfect. In addition, as it is known there are many wedding traditions in Ukraine.
Wedding customs and traditions in Ukraine
- Official engagement or svatannya. It is the first wedding ritual, which is the beginning of an amazing event. According to this ritual relatives of the groom (svaty) come to the bride’s house and have the official conversation with her relatives about the marriage. The goal of this dialogue is not to get the pumpkin (garbuz), which symbolizes the refusal.
- Old, new, borrowed and blue. It is quite new wedding tradition in Ukraine, but many brides follow this tradition. It is not the secret that the bride should wear something old, for example the family jewels; borrow something from her friend, it could be the bracelet or earrings; buy something new, except the wedding dress and wear something blue, for example garter.
- Buyout of the bride. It is the funniest wedding tradition in Ukraine. It takes place in the very beginning of wedding ceremony. The relatives and friends understand that they cannot give away a marvelous bride without any payment and start the bidding, during which the groom should demonstrate his generosity. Of course, the bidding has a laughing manner and the amount of money can be quite symbolic. Besides money, the groom with his relatives and friends should do some challenges to conquer the bride. For example, the groom should say the compliment to his lovely bride with his every step to her door.
- The veil and combing. The veil is the symbol of innocence. That is why it often covers the face of the bride to underline her purity. Nowadays many brides wear the veil in beauty salon, because they want it to be in harmony with their hairstyle. However, some time ago there was a very interesting wedding tradition in Ukraine connected with the veil. According to which, the bride goes out of the house, the groom puts her in the arm chair with soft cushion. She pretends that she does not want to sit in it, but at the third time, she accept the suggestion. The parents and close relatives come to her one by one. They comb her hair for the last time to the sounds of wedding songs. It symbolizes that the bride leaves her native house. After that, the bridesmaid wear the veil on the bride’s head.
- Rushnyk is the obligatory thing for the wedding ceremony. It is an embroidered towel, which can easily be bought in any store nowadays, although few decades ago a fiancée embroidered it by herself. There should be no black color on rushnyk, as it is believed that it will help the married couple to be happy.
- Karavay is often presented on a wedding ceremony. The parents meet the newlyweds after the official marriage holding karavay with the salt on rushnyk. It symbolizes wealth, prosperity and fertility. Wedding karavay is decorated in a special way – it has two rings, which are the symbols of eternal love and fidelity. The groom and the bride should feed one another with the piece of karavay. They believe that if you bite bigger piece, you will be the leader of the family. Each piece should be put into salt.
- Bouquet and garter. Throwing of the bouquet is one of the most popular wedding tradition in Ukraine. At the end of the wedding single female guests stand together and the bride throws the bouquet over her head. Lady who catches the flowers will be the next bride. The groom do the same with the garter to the male quests.
- After wedding, the groom should carry the bride in his arms into the house. It is believed that it will save her from bad destiny and family problems.
There are so many wedding traditions in Ukraine, because marriage is an extremely responsible step. Every Ukrainian woman dreams to get married once and for the whole life. That is why all members of both families always try to do the best to remember this day forever!