String Quartet in Raleigh NC: Take a Look at a Few Older Wedding Customs and Traditions!

Our Raleigh wedding DJ thought today would be a good day to research a few old wedding customs and traditions from ancient times. In our last post, we talked about why the month of June is a popular month for weddings. It sparked our interest so we dug more into the history of weddings!

  • Ancient Greeks used pig entrails to determine the luckiest day to marry.
  • The Japanese traditionally looked to an ancient astrological calendar for propitious days.
  • In early U.S. history, Wednesday was the luckiest day for weddings. Friday was avoided as the “hangman’s day.”
  • Sunday used to be a popular wedding day; it was the one day most people were free from work. Puritans in the seventeenth century put a stop to this, believing it was improper to be festive on the Sabbath. Today, Saturdays are busiest, despite this old rhyme: Monday for health, Tuesday for wealth, Wednesday best of all, Thursday for losses, Friday for crosses, Saturday for no luck at all.
  • June is still the most popular month to marry, followed by August, July, May, and September. The goddess Juno was the protector of women in all aspects of life, but especially in marriage and childbearing, so a wedding in Juno’s month was considered most auspicious.
  • The idea of June weddings also comes from the Celtic calendar. On the Cross-Quarter Day of Beltane, or May Day (May 1), young couples would pair off to court for 3 months and then be wed on the next Cross-Quarter Day (Lammas Day, August 1). Youths being impatient, the waiting period was shortened to mid-June, and the popularity of June weddings was ensured.
  • Rice is the latest in a long list of fertility symbols that have been thrown at newlyweds. Over the centuries, guests have tossed cakes, grain, fruit, sweetmeats, and biscuits.
  • Being given away is a tradition that evolved from the days when men bought brides from fathers or, even worse, captured them.
  • The original purpose of the bridesmaid and the best man was to aid in the capture of the bride, get her to church on time and keep any hostile family members away!

Wow! Seems like wedding traditions, though derived from old customs and traditions have changed quite a bit! Our Raleigh wedding DJ hopes you enjoyed this bit of wedding trivia from the days of old! It’s nice to see where some of our traditions came from.

String Quartet in Raleigh NC | Save the Date Music

If you’re ready to start planning your wedding day, be sure to contact Save the Date Music soon! We can get you set up with an appointment to talk with the best string quartet in Raleigh NC!