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Something Borrowed - Something Blue
Wearing white on your wedding day, tossing the boquet and garter, and even going on a honeymoon have their roots in ancient beliefs. Listed are some of the whys behind the marriage ceremony.
The ancient Romans chose white as their color of celebration more than 2,000 years ago. It may be difficult for you to believe, but this was not always the color of choice for weddings. It wasn't until the Victorian Era (1837-1901) when Queen Victoria wore white on her wedding day, as she married her beloved Albert, that the white wedding gown became the rage of fashion. In those days, white meant purity and virginity, but today it is the color of joy and celebration. This means that a bride may wear white whether it's her first wedding or her seventh.
Brides originally wore veils to stave off evil spirits. This veil was often red (symbolizing defiance against evil) or yellow, (representing Hymen, the God of Marriage). Martha Washington's daughter is said to have been the first bride to wear a white lace veil, covering her head and face for her ceremony. It was at that time that her father, George Washington, lifted her veil, while placing her hand into her beloved's hand, symbolizing the family giving permission for her to become married to her chosen husband, breaking her virginity. His daughter's fiancee had commented on her beauty as she peered at him through a white lace curtain, and she went with the idea, as has millions of other brides.
The circular shape of a 14k or 18k gold wedding ring symbolizes a never-ending love of the nuptial partnership. Gold represents an enduring beauty, passion, purity and strength which are all appropriate marriage sentiments. Why is the ring worn on the third finger of the left hand for both the bride and the groom? The ancient Egyptians believed that the vein in that finger ran directly to the heart. As for the diamond engagement ring, we can thank the King of Germany for that one. In 1477 he offered his beloved a diamond ring, placed on the third finger of the left hand as a sign of betrothal. This was the first recorded engagement ring.
The tradition of the bride wearing something old (for continuity), new (optimism for the future), borrowed (borrowed happiness) and blue (fidelity, good fortune and love) on her wedding day stems from an old English rhyme and was incorporated into the ceremony during the Victorian Era.
Eons ago getting married was a lot tougher than it is today. In Egyptian and Greek times, the groom had to steal the bride from her family and dash her off to the altar. This was the process, the elopement, even if the families, and more importantly the bride, agreed to the marriage. Initially, only the groom had any kind of attendants. Their job was to defend him against anyone who might try to steal his bride from him. In later years, believed to be taken from a tradition in Japan, the bride chose female escorts, bridesmaids, who would protect her and her dowry against suitors and robbers while she was on her journey to meet the groom. The maid-of-honor was the attendant who actually helped the bride to dress for the wedding, and was the bride's personal attendant.
In some places, notably France, Spain, Ireland and England, in rural villages, the bride and her attendants still walk to the ceremony together. Depending on how far from your ceremony site where you live, you can still do this today.
In the early days of arranged marriages, the bride and groom never saw each other at all before the wedding. This time could range from the twenty-four hours before the ceremony, up to one week or one month. Even after couples were already acquainted before they had actually married, it was considered bad luck for the groom to glimpse the bride pre-ceremony. She would not then be pure and new. Nor was the bride to look at herself. It was believed that if she saw her reflection in a mirror, a part of her essence would be left behind the looking glass. (Can you imagine any bride today getting dressed without a mirror? Impossible!)
In the 1999 traditions, many couples still uphold the not seeing each other tradition. Others will throw caution to the wind and spend time alone together, pre-ceremony, to calm their nerves and enjoy the excitement together.
Early Roman brides carried bunches of herbs. most often rosemary. to symbolize fidelity and fertility and to scare off evil spirits. The Greeks carried ivy, symbolizing and endless love. The Victorians were fascinated with the meaning of different blooms and popularized the White Wedding Rose which symbolizes the flower of God and represents a universal, everlasting love.
Bride to the Groom's Left
In the days of marriage by capture, the groom had to constantly defend himself against rival suitors, even when the couple were already at the altar saying their vows! Therefore, the groom needed his right hand, his sword hand, free to fight. The bride stood at his left, safe from any random sword swish. (By the way, this is a Christian custom. In a Jewish wedding the bride stands on the groom's right side.)
The Kiss
In ancient Rome, a kiss would seal a contract. So your swak at the altar, in a way, represents a legal binding. (The belief we like better, which is so much more romantic, is that a kiss after the vows represents a soul exchange and coming together in oneness.)
The bride originally tossed her boquet to a friend as she left the festivities to keep that person safe, warding off those evil spirits, and to offer her luck. Getting lucky in those days for a woman meant getting married. This tradition grew into the belief that a single woman catching the bride's bouquet would be married next.
The origins of the garter toss were humorous. Guests would literally rip off pieces of the bride's gown for luck. In order to defend herself and to protect her garments, she would take off the garter on each leg and throw them into the crowd. Traditionally in 1999, the groom throws the garter to the single men, signifying who would be the next one to marry.
Medieval newlyweds would spend a month alone together, enjoying mead, a fermented honey drink, until the moon waned. Honey is the symbol of fertility, health, and a long life. Hence came the term Honeymoon. In modern times, couples rarely get to spend a month alone together after the wedding.
The groom traditionally lifts the bride over the threshold of their new home, or wedding night hotel room. Hopefully he will not pull out his back in doing so! This ancient belief is that any evil spirits lurking of the floor boards will not be able to get to her. Roman brides would allow themselves to be dragged over the threshold to demonstrate their reluctance to leave their father's home.
Numerology is the concept that all of life, known and
unknown, is shaped by vibration and a specific creative
moment of universal energy. As this energy moves and
flows, it takes the shape of the wind, the sun, the
ocean, the dove and all physical embodiments. From this
flow and the energies describing it, you can interpret
a life direction for your own individuality. You can
see your purpose, your goals and your obligations. Your
name and your date of birth represents a chemical
formula which directs your Karmic Pathway and reveals
your chosen purpose as you travel in this lifetime.
With every intake of breath you, too, belong to the
Cosmic Universe and the Heavenly Spheres. To understand your birth numerology Click Here. These universal energies also affect your marriage, and the wedding day is as important as the decision to marry, the engagement ring, and the actual wedding vows.
So, one of the most important decisions regarding your wedding is the day and hour chosen to be married. Are you in it for love? Is your partner your soul-mate? We often can find our motives for marriage hidden carefully within our definition of LOVE. Let's see what the ancients tell us about the subjet of wedded bliss.
The date chosen for the wedding may determine the course your life together - as a couple - will take. The number of that day provides a key to the reasons we marry, and will open a doorway to help us understand how to obtain the happiness we seek as we begin to share our life, in every possible way, with our beloved.
To determine the Numerology Number of your Wedding Day,
Wedding Numerology can supply the clues to what the special meaning of your wedding day holds for you, your partner, and your future together.
Now you are ready to read the numerlogical forecast of your personal wedding day, which may reveal to you a new and unusual, but quite accurate, view of your marriage relationship.
There is a strong desire within both of you for the marriage to succeed, even if there have been past failures. You both have tested each other quite thoroughly before the engagement was announced. You know each other's likes and dislikes very well, and that has been important, but remember that from this day forward you need to allow for the inevitability of change.
Flexibility and Understanding is the Number ONE's Wedding Day Key to Success!
The comforts of home will be stressed in a Number TWO marriage. You may have your apartment or home already set up, with one of you living in it, before the actual wedding. The number TWO wedding day is ruled by the Moon. which represents womanhood and secrets, and the desire for a family may be a strong reason for this marriage. Also, the desire for a mate who can love the children of a previous marriage, and be someone who can be an understanding step-parent to them, may be a motive for a Number TWO wedding day.
If a pregnancy or these previous children are the only reason for the marriage, you may wish to reconsider your decision to marry.
Be Safe and be Sure is the Number TWO's Wedding Day Key to Success!
A Number THREE wedding day is ruled by Jupiter, so there may be many children born to this couple, as well as the possibility of multiple births, or extended family members living wth you part of the time.
Be frugel and be willing to expand your housing and thinking is the Number THREE's Wedding Day Key to Success.
A touch of fate may have brought you and your beloved together. Somehow one partner fulfills the emotional needs of the other. Something thought missing in life is now found! A desire for security is another motivating factor with this marriage date. A Number FOUR wedding day creates a marriage where it will be very important to put down some roots, carry on the family name, and build a future. This is a Saturn ruled marriage and the couple will almost always choose to live near their parents or near the town where the bride grew up.
Oneness, watchfullness with money, an open heart and joy are the Number FOUR's Wedding Day Key to Success.
There will be quite a lot of traveling after this wedding, and each child born to the Number FIVE marriage may be born in a different location. The Number FIVE marriage is ruled by Mercury and signifies that possibly one mate will have to work to put the other one through college, law school or medical school. In retirement this couple will remain active, with an interest in young people, to maintain a healthy outlook.
Travel, change, surprises and devotion to children and grand-children are the Number FIVE's Wedding Day Key to Success.
Every effort will be made to patch up any quarrels, and the Number SIX marriage, as a Venus ruled date, will be a good one for reconciliations. This also is a date of the couple's responsibility for an ailing parent in old age, as well as inheritance for maintaing one of the parent's home.
Keeping an idealistic viewpoint and nurturing the love between you is the Number SIX's Wedding Day Key to Success!
This could be the wedding day of a mixed-race marriage, a catholic-protestant wedding, people of the same sex or people of completely different backgrounds tying the knot.
Freedom, flexibility, and sudden changes are the Number SEVEN's Wedding Day Key to Success.
The Number EIGHT wedding day is ruled by MARS, and represents an excellent possibility for this couple to thrive in a business together as well as become a strong personal team. This may also be he marriage where one partner has to sacrifice for the other's career, with each partner admiring the courage of the other.
Meeting challenges, occupation first, financial success, and servititude are the Number EIGHT's Wedding Day Key to Success.
This is a marriage where there was a struggle to come together either caused by distance or by the strong objections of both families. It could be a marriage of different religions, where both choose to follow their religion of childhood, and may take a lot of working out. Also, one part of the duo may be quite wealthy while the other barely makes it financially, or each may be separated by a great age difference. Whatever the reasons for the objections to this wedding, both partners will find strength and solace with each other as they become of one house and hearth. If sacrifices have to be made of this union, and they usually do, they will be made with great love and devotion.
Forever darling, loyalty, and an inner knowing of oneness are the Number NINE's Wedding Day Key to Success.
To Order a Soul-Mate Relationship Chart your Personal Year Numerology - Month by Month - or Click HERE! Guestbook
All Text Copyright 1999 by Elizabeth Joyce; Visions Of Reality
World Wide Web services provided by TAG Online
Simply add the month, day, and year you will be, or have already been, married.
Married: June 12, 1999 = 6 + 3 + 1 continue to reduce
9 + 1 = 10 Your Marriage Vibration Number
and Your Future Marriage
A number ONE wedding day is ruled by the Sun. This day will place importance on what your disposition was together as a couple, as well as individually, prior to the marriage. The courtship was unforgettable, and perhaps a bit longer than most, and how you and your beloved met is quite a romantic story. Much like the hand of Fate. Choosing a Number ONE wedding day indicates that you are a very affectionate and loving couple. It shows a maturity with the marriage, and an ability to work through disagreements and upsets in a respectful manner. This loving couple is seeking total oneness with each other.
If you choose a Number TWO wedding day to be married, you will want either a very private or extremely public wedding. This is the number for eloping, and the Number TWO wedding day may need to be a marriage in secret. Your mother's advice will either be strongly accepted or rejected when making the wedding plans. There is no in-between. Emotional maturity of one of this couple may be lacking, but maturity is a valuable asset to the success of this union. Don't be surprised if everyone sheds a tear or two on this wedding day, for the ceremony will certanily have a sentimental quality.
If you weren't joking when you said you'd marry only for the money, then you might find a Number THREE day an excellent choice for boosting your financial security through the luck of this partnership. You both may be overly concerned with what family and friends are thinking of your union, and also that your wedding has to be the biggest and the best! If you two expect too much, than this day sould start off as a great big disappointment, with perhaps even a downpour of rain.
If you both have been discussing and agreeing on all of the responsibilities of what marriage brings, and have carefully weighed the pros and cons of married life, perhaps you will choose a Number FOUR day to be married. The significance of a Number FOUR wedding date is faithfullnes until death do you part. This is a couple who can work together and accomplish goals that would otherwise seem impossible, such as running a business successfully together, or expanding housing, having multiple property units as real-estate holdings, a single bank account and every project is one of togetherness. Whatever it is, from buying a home to having your children, will be carefully timed and planned.
If you have chosen a Number FIVE as your wedding day, you may be putting the emphasis on how well you and your beloved communicate with each other. This will be an active marriage, and will need to fight monotony and boredom, so it will be wise to have some individual interests as well as ones shared. This is a marriage where each of you will need your space, your own workplace, and lots of alone time.
The blessings of Venus with all of her Love and Devotion fall on the Number SIX wedding day. Love, affection, peace and happiness are the favors Venus may bestow. This does not mean that there is no challenge or that you are under some kind of magical charm. Responsibility, trust and caring are a must for maintaining this wonderful beginning. This couple will be willing to work hard and long hours together, with lots of time for discussion and planning things out,because the marriage will become the upmost of importance in both lives.
Watch out if you have chosen the Number SEVEN wedding date! Change, upsets, or a relocation of the reception hall may be in order. Though the Number SEVEN day represents upsets with plans, it may also represent being resuced at the very last minute. Rule by Uranus, the Number SEVEN wedding day can represent lost plane tickets, accidents, a gown that doesn't fit or the maid-of-honor showing up after the ceremony. Uranus also represents a fast and furious courtship, waking up in the morning and finding yourself married to a stranger, being stood-up at the alter, as well as this partnership being an unwise decision. If there is happiness and love with this union, then perhaps one of the parent's does not accept your intended as the proper mate, putting pressure and guilt on everyone.
Wow! Baby! When choosing the Number EIGHT for your wedding day, you want to be compatible in every way with your partner, and sex will be a very important aspect to this relationship. This is the couple who, one enchanted evening, exchanged glances to each other across that crowded room and knew right away that they were meant for each other. Then they spent the next several weeks in bed, woke up one day, went to the Justice of the Peace, and were married. They will tell you that they felt married before the second glance on the first night they met. Once locked, they are inseparable!
A Number NINE wedding day may indeed be one of secret. Another date of possible elopement, because the Number NINE wedding day is ruled by Neptune. The faith you were brough up in may be a very important factor to consider before this marriage takes place. This will be a very spiritual event, following all of the wedding rules of whatever faith is followed. One of this couple may practice medicine or perhaps, may be handicapped. There is an overshadow of the Divine with this union, whether the couple being married are aware of it or not.
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