| BRIDAL SHOWERS, STAG PARTIES AND OTHER RITUALS OF MARRIAGE 9. BRIDAL SHOWERS, STAG PARTIES AND OTHER RITUALS OF MARRIAGE BRIDAL SHOWERS, STAG PARTIES AND OTHER RITUALS OF MARRIAGE |
Before a young couple proceeds down the aisle to exchange their marriage vows, there are two social rituals which are usually performed before the day of the wedding. For young women it is the bridal shower and for her future husband it is the stag party. Both of these occasions are filled with unexpected surprises and occur sometime within the month prior to the actual marriage. The bridal shower is the more conservative of the two rituals with the future bride as the center of attention. It is customarily organized by her sister or best friend and attended only by women, usually family and friends. It is usually organized as a surprise party and the bride is caught off guard as to its time and location. Everyone, in addition, brings along a gift which could be useful in setting up a home. A toaster, a microwave oven, a blender and kitchen appliances are all appropriate, so also are items for entertaining guests or accessories for the home. In recent years because many young women are now living independent of their families by the time they marry, it has been the acceptable custom to give a monetary gift sealed in an envelop. Whatever the gift a bridal shower is an important event for the young lady who prepares herself for setting up her own home. For her future husband the stag party may contain more excitement and less gifts. This will be his last chance to have an all-night fling on the town with his close friends. Only men are invited to this party and rightly so since some of the pleasures of the evening may not be in keeping with a proper woman\'s taste. In most cases, however, it may be nothing more than a night of bar hopping while talking about the good times shared with friends in the past. In addition to bridal showers and stag parties there are other rituals and superstitions concerning marriage in America. Some of these even fall under the spell of a superstition. For example, the groom must never see his bride in her wedding gown before she comes to him at the altar before the ceremony. In some cases they must not even speak or meet with one another the day before the wedding. Also it is customary for the bride on her wedding day to wear "something old and something new, something borrowed and something blue" somewhere on or under her gown. This will bring her good luck. Rice throwing at a wedding is also a popular custom. Rice is an ancient symbol of prosperity and fruitfulness. Another reason may be the very ancient superstition that at the wedding there are evil spirits who are supposed to hover about the couple. Throwing rice at them would keep these evil spirits busily eating and away from the groom of whom they were jealous. |