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Parent Category: Europe

The ritual of engagement in Slovakia is interesting because some of the traditions have survived since the Middle Ages. Today, the engagement and wedding ceremonies are not that important and rarely are held according to the old traditions, but in the past, it was a big deal and all the rituals and customs had to be followed. Let’s see what old and modern engagement rituals there are in Slovakia.

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Parent Category: Europe

This wedding headdress of a bride is truly unique. It is traditionally used (for several centuries in a row) only in one particular area of western Ukraine. The headpiece of the local brides looks opulent, eye-catching, and impressive. When a bride is wearing such a wreath, you can’t miss her. And by the way, even today, local women sometimes choose to get married in this authentic headgear, though not very often. Let’s find out more about this elaborate wedding headdress.

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Parent Category: Europe

Embroidered and woven ceremonial towels called “rushnyk” were traditionally used in many wedding rituals in Ukraine. For example, it was used during the ritual of engagement. The bride and groom stepped on such a towel in church during the wedding ceremony. A bride could use an ornate towel instead of a belt. The wedding witnesses wore ceremonial towels tied around their body. A lot of different wedding traditions are connected with a bridal towel. Here are a few samples of old Ukrainian wedding towels, hand-woven on a loom.

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Parent Category: Europe

In Italy, a wedding is a remarkably romantic occasion. A lot of wedding rituals just scream romance. For instance, a night serenade, a wedding bouquet brought by the groom, or huge bridal veils that don’t let the couple see each other before the marriage ceremony. All together, the local wedding customs and rituals make the Italian wedding a very elegant and beautiful sight. And some of these wedding traditions are 700 years old, which is awesome.

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Parent Category: Europe

A Spanish bodas or wedding is a cheerful event, when families get even closer and celebrate together. In Spain, families are very tight-knit, especially the closest relatives – parents and children, siblings, grandparents and grandkids, etc. Traditionally, couples invited lots of relatives to a wedding to show them respect and share this happy day with them, so there were often at least 200 wedding guests. Though today, weddings got smaller and only close relatives and friends are invited. But still, there are wedding traditions that show how important it is for Spanish people to keep in touch and maintain good relationships with their immediate family.

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Parent Category: Europe

Ireland is a great country with plenty of old traditions that are still preserved and in use in the 21st century. We’ve gathered top-10 most sweet, romantic, and historic Irish wedding traditions. They deserve to be known and used not only by the Irish people but also by any couple out there because they are meaningful, symbolic, and fun. If you’re looking for some old wedding rituals to incorporate in your future wedding, pick one of these. By the way, some of them are 9,000 years old.

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Parent Category: Europe

There is a cute and meaningful tradition in Ukraine – to belt the bride with a ceremonial towel instead of an ordinary belt. We can see this in the central and northern regions of Ukraine in the 19th century. Of course, a towel is much wider, longer, and brighter than any belt, so it adds color and opulence to the bridal outfit. Today, this wedding tradition is practically forgotten, brides don’t belt themselves with embroidered towels anymore. Some people would even say that it’s weird to use a towel as a belt. But why did they do it?

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Parent Category: Europe

In modern European wedding tradition, groomsmen usually dress in suits or tuxes, but what did they wear 100 or so years ago? Here’s a spoiler: in Slavic countries, they wore bizarre outfits, something opposite to imposing suits. To convince you, we’ll show a piece from a museum collection – groomsman’s attire from Carpathian Ukraine. One garment in this set is particularly interesting.

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Parent Category: Europe

Armenian wedding is a sight to behold – it’s beautiful, romantic, and cheerful. Armenians are very fond of their traditions and customs, including the wedding traditions, which there are plenty. We offer you just a few of the most meaningful, old, and popular wedding rituals. Today, our world is very globalized and a lot of couples prefer a boring Western-style wedding instead of a remarkable traditional marriage ceremony. But these traditions are still followed by some local couples.

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Parent Category: Europe

Among the traditional wedding headdresses around the world, there are many oddly-shaped, unique, or eye-catching pieces. Our modern veils, pillbox hats, and other wedding hair accessories can’t even be compared to some of that vintage folk headgear. And here are two examples of such bridal headpieces from Ukraine, the late 19th – early 20th century. Can you imagine wearing something like this for your wedding?