10 strange wedding traditions around the world

Wedding’s are synonymous with joy, laughter and a sense of new beginnings. Being an Indian, we are notorious for our “Big fat Weddings”. No stone is left unturned and it is celebrated as a festival of two souls coming together and taking a vow to bear the other for the rest of their lives. Now, a wedding can either be traditional or even casual or a private affair with just the family. Any which ways, there would be at least one weird tradition that takes place during the course of the wedding that would make us go “OK!!!” That being said, let us now  inspect  variety of the weirdest wedding traditions followed not just in India but throughout the earth.

#1- India: Mother of the Bride and Groom don’t attend their child’s wedding:

I cannot fathom the thought of my mother not being present on one of the most precious days of my life, but apparently this is a tradition followed in some Bengali weddings. Reason? Belief is that, the mother would have a harmful or an evil effect on the married life of their beloved child! I’m going to leave it at that for the readers to judge how weird a tradition that is.

#2- India: Getting married to a tree/dog:

There is a superstitious belief in India that if the bride has a manglik dosha (deficiency), then she has to marry a tree (peepal) or a dog. This is done so that groom overcomes the dosha and leads a healthy life post marriage. Belief is that if the bride has this dosha and marries the groom directly then he would die. That is a scary thought now.

#3- India: Approval of Fish:

In a traditional Manipuri wedding, the bride and the groom release a fish each into a pond and wait for them to move together. This is considered as a good sign.

#4- India: Pay the thief:

In some traditions (I say some as I have seen this at both a muslim and a Hindu wedding!), while the groom’s feet is being washed by his in-laws, the sister-in-law will try to steal his footwear. If successful, the groom has to strike up a bargain and get them back.

#5- India: Kashi Yatra:

Being a brahmin myself, I went through this ‘uninterested’ phase in my wedding. The groom pretends to be disinterested in the wedding and packs his belongings and sets off to Kashi. The funny part here is the bride’s father has to run behind him and convince him not to go on this so called ‘trip’ and perform some rituals to change his mind.

#6- Scotland: Bathing the bride with love!

In the land of the Vikings, there is a strange tradition that is followed. The family of the bride show their love for the to be bride by tying her up and giving her a bath with every gross item they can find in the pantry from flour, sauces to minced meat and fishes. After this the bride has to go for a night out with her friends. Now you may wonder why she has to go through this humiliation. The belief is that if she can handle this humiliation, she can handle anything marriage can throw at her.

#7- China: Let’s shoot the wife

JCalm down guys!!! I don’t mean it literally. This weird tradition is followed in China where the groom shoots 3 arrows without a head. Yeah it is harmless. After shooting her three times the groom has to pick up the arrows and break them in half. This symbolises their love for each other is forever.

#8- Mauritius: Chubby is sexy

The moment a wedding is set, the bride especially (some cases the groom too) go through an ardous diet to look their perfect best on their D-Day. But in Mauritius, the bride is sent to “fat camps” to do the opposite. The chubbier the bride the better. It is a sign of wealth and as an added bonus men consider chubby to be sexy!

#9- Kenya: Spitting on the Bride

In the Maasai culture, weddings aren’t exactly a celebration of love. On the wedding day the Maasai woman (bride) will have her head shaved and rubbed with lamb fat and oil, the father then proceeds to bless the couple by spitting on his daughter’s head and breasts permanent luck and fortune.

#10- South Korea: Beating the groom’s feat

This is definitely an odd one!!! On the day of the wedding, the guests all tie up the groom’s feet and beat them up with dried fish/sticks. This weird tradition according to the South Koreans is performed so that the groom performs on his wedding night. Talk about having a foot fetish.