A girl's wedding day is considered an important highlight in her life. Planning is done months in advance in an effort to ensure that the day will proceed perfectly. So great is the anxiety to achieve perfection in every detail, that superstitions have arisen, the observance of which are supposed to ensure a perfect wedding day and an idyllic married life.
Some of the more popular superstitions follow, for your amusement and edification. Please note that no guarantees are given for their effectiveness.
BEFORE THE WEDDING
* The couple should not have been born in the same month. nor have last names which begin with the same letter.
* Timing is important. Traditional wisdom advises that the luckiest months for the ceremony are June, October and December.
* It's lucky to have the wedding on the day of the full moon.
* The bride is advised to wear something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a sixpence in her shoe. Today, a penny can replace the sixpence, and the borrowed item must be returned to its owner after the ceremony for the luck to come into effect.
* It is unlucky for the bride to make her own wedding dress, or her own wedding cake. The groom is not to see the bride in her wedding dress before the wedding.
* White, pearl and blue are lucky colors for a wedding dress; red, pink and black are unlucky. Green is also unlucky, unless the girl is Irish.
* It is bad luck to postpone a wedding.
* A week before the wedding, have a cat eat out of the bride's left shoe.
ON THE WAY TO CHURCH
* If the sun shines on the bride, it is a sign of future happiness.
* It is lucky if she sees a lamb, a frog, a spider, a rainbow, a black cat or a chimney sweep on the way to the ceremony. If the chimney sweep kisses the bride, her luck doubles.
* It is unlucky to see an open grave, a pig, a lizard, or a hare.
* It is unlucky to see a monk or a nun, because of their association with barrenness and poverty.
* The bride should step into the church with her right foot first.
AT THE CHURCH
* The ceremony should be held when the hands of the clock are moving upwards.
* If the candles sputter out, evil spirits are nearby.
* The bride's veil will deceive the evil spirits; they won't recognize her.
* It is lucky if the bride finds a spider on her gown.
* If it rains on the wedding day, the marriage will produce many children.
* If the bride wears another girl's garter, the owner of the garter will be married herself within a year.
* If the bride tears her wedding shoes, she will be beaten.
AFTER THE WEDDING
* The bride throws her bouquet over her shoulder to her single friends gathered behind her. Tradition says that the lucky girl who catches it will be the next female married.
* The groom removes the bride's garter and throws it to the single men gathered behind him. Whoever catches it will be the next male to be married.
* The best man should pay the minister's fee in bills amounting to an odd sum of money to bring luck to the happy couple.
*If the bride tastes the wedding cake before it is cut, she will lose her husband's love.
* If she saves a piece of the cake, he will be faithful.
* The bride should not put her bare feet on the floor on her wedding night. It will bring bad luck.
* She should be carried over the threshold of her first residence.
* Whichever spouse makes the first purchase after the ceremony will be the dominant partner in the union.
As noted earlier, these superstitions and traditions do, by no means, guarantee a long and happy marriage, even if they are carefully followed to the letter.
As comedian Henny Youngman so wisely noted some years ago: " The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret."
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