Added: 01/13/2006 |
Antique weddingThe average difference between husband and wife was fifteen years. A girl married at the age of fifteen, because it was presumed to guarantee virginity. Men married at thirty, because that was the usual age when they finished their military service.
One of the pre-wedding ceremonies was the feast. At the feast men and women sat at different tables. It was held at the bride’s father home the day before the wedding took place. After the feast the bride-to-be made childhood sacrifices, as she would no longer be a child.
Another pre-wedding ceremony was the bath. This event took place on the morning of the wedding day. Water for the bath would be acquired from a special fountain called Callirhoe. A double handled, painted vase was used for the purpose. This ritual bath was only for the bride. After the bath the bride put on the veil, which symbolized her virginity and was not removed until she was handed over to the groom.
The actual wedding started with the Betrothal. This was an oral petition that literally means “the giving of a pledge into the hand”. It was a pact between the suitor and the father of the bride.
Later in the evening would be the unveiling of the bride.
The day after the wedding was the day of the banquet, held at the groom’s home.
Another important part of the Antique wedding ceremony was the journey home. The departure was very painful to the bride. In fact, it was more physically painful because the groom grabbed the bride’s wrists while she said her farewells. This was the time when the father “gave” his daughter to the husband.
A child was chosen to escort the bride. He represented prosperity and good luck for the couple, and symbolized their future child.
When the couple reached the groom’s house, a paean cry arose, celebrating the successful end of the voyage. The groom then lifted the bride from the chariot, and his mother welcomed her daughter-in-law at her new home. The bride was then received with a ritual kataxusmata, a sequence of rites performed to guarantee the future prosperity and fertility of the union and to establish the bride in her new home. The bride would eat a quince and burn the chariot axle, thereby precluding a journey back to her parents’ home. Then the bride would be welcomed to the Hearth, and, finally, she received tragmata, dried dates, nuts and figs, thus completing the ritual of breaking the links with her old household.
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