Latvian folklore is rich in wedding rituals , which played a big role in ancient Latvian weddings or weddings . Even nowadays there are still a few, who with joy and honor integrate into their wedding the rituals of connecting the future life path of a woman and a man, or Latvian wedding traditions. We collect the most important of them!

Bridal bath ritual

Wedding rituals begin even before the wedding itself, thus preparing for such a serious step - the joining of two families in one. One of the most beautiful Latvian pre-wedding rituals is the bride's bath ritual. We perceive the sauna as such not only as a sanatorium for physical but also spiritual purification. This is exactly the meaning of the bride's pre-wedding bath - to cleanse oneself of everything superfluous and mentally prepare for the transition to the role of a wife.

Stealing the bride

Once upon a time, brides were stolen not from the groom, as is customary in the symbolic tradition, - but on the contrary - he stole them himself the groom and his attendants. It is one of the oldest ways of acquiring a bride. Bride scouts at her father's homestead came after dark, when the bride went to sleep, for example, and the thieves were less likely to be noticed by the bride's father and brothers. The stolen bride tried to indicate the way to the suitors, or her brothers, in which direction she was taken, throwing her on the road garlands, flowers or garters.

Bride redemption or bet

This tradition also originates from an ancient way of obtaining a bride, but is younger than the stealing ritual. Groom with on the betrothal day, the attendants come to the bride's father's house to redeem the betrothed girl, thus symbolizing the lost work forces in the bride's home. The more beautiful and hardworking the bride, the higher the ransom should be. The bride hides and does not come out, but in her place, the groom is initially offered an old wife, a very young girl, and only then shows the bride herself.

When the bet is concluded, the boy and girl present each other with the prepared gifts, feast and visit. Before leaving the riding bride decorates the bow of the groom's horse for the whole village to announce that the boy's proposal has been accepted.

Alignment

Alignment is nothing but joining in marriage ties, joining in lifestyle, standing next to each other. Today, the alignment ritual has become a wedding ceremony where we are pronounced husband and wife.

People grow in their consciousness, change and transform. This is natural and as it should be.

But this means that after ten years, each of the couple is also a different person than those who once got married. Also the ancient Latvians were aware of this, so they repeated the alignment ritual every ten years. It's like a moment to would look back on the time we experienced together. It is not for nothing that wedding decades are becoming an increasingly popular trend these days grand celebration, simulating a wedding in its own way.

Shuffle

Michoshan is usually performed around the time of darkness, lighting candles and thus creating a special atmosphere. Ritual symbolizes the transformation from daughter and boyfriend to married people. During the ritual, the young daughters cry, giving up their sister and a friend to a group of wives. The ritual includes both a special dance and a song and a symbolic exchange of a crown for an aubi to the new wife and the giving of a hat and pipe to the new husband.

Sleeping

After the marriage ceremony, the young couple was laid to rest in a barn, performing rituals of protection, blessing and fertility. granaries for all this fumigated with juniper, placed a candle, bread and beer, and placed objects under the pillows, depending on for the expected offspring, to give birth to boys - an ax, and daughters - a stove or a weeding wheel.

Author of the article: IEVA KRASTIņA

Photo: REINIS MELIORANSKIS , ĐIRTS RĢELIS , INTA LANKOVSKA, SANDIS LAZDA

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