Discovering the Folklore and Traditions of Marriage

Book excerpt: The wedding is a ceremony that is surrounded by tradition and folklore, but why do we do what we do, and what lies behind the customs of marriage? What color should a wedding dress be? What is the origin of the wedding cake? Why do we throw confetti? What is so special about Gretna Green? What is so lucky about a shoe? Why a wedding breakfast, and is the pre-nuptial contract a new idea? In Britain today the celebration of a marriage in the 'traditional' manner is a mixture of something old, something new and something borrowed from other traditions. It is bound up with church and secular legislation, and with custom and superstition. Discovering the Folklore and Traditions of Marriage looks at the ways that marriages are celebrated in multicultural Britain - and how these traditions are similar to or different from those around the world - and how the practices of the past are observed, and sometimes altered, for contemporary times.