Redirecting....
12 years ago
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Traditional Sunday
In an effort to require myself to post everyday, I will be coming up with themes for each day, Sunday's being "Tradition". I find this a suitable Sunday subject since everyone tends to have a Sunday tradition. Currently mine consists of sleeping in until about 10 AM, my future husband bringing me breakfast in bed, then teaching an hour of ice skating to the daughter of one of my English students.
This new Sunday ritual reminds me of my old Saturday ritual with my mother. We, or at least I, used to spend almost the entire day at Kirkwood Ice Rink. If I remember correctly, the first public session started at 8:00 AM and went to 10:00 AM, then the Zamboni would do the ice, and we had the whole rink for lessons only from 10:15-1:45. Then the Zamboni would do it's thing again, then there was another public session from 2:00-4:00. Then my mother and I would go home, eat dinner, and at 8:00 PM I was back at the rink for the last public session of the day that ended at 10:00 PM.
That was then, and this is now. In regards to weddings, many traditions in Germany are the same as in America. They've incorporated what they've seen in the movies into their weddings, and, honestly, most of our traditions come from the Europeans to begin with. For example, both in Europe and America, the tradition of wearing a white wedding dress is the norm. It was popularized by Queen Victoria, and used to symbolize sexual purity. It is still considered taboo to wear a white wedding dress for a second marriage in both societies.
One German pre-wedding tradition I'm looking forward to is something called "Polterabend". It generally takes place the night before the wedding, friends and family come over to the house of the engaged couple and smash plates! It's said to ward off bad spirits, and the plates must be porcelain, not glass, otherwise it brings bad luck. It's also one of the main reasons why the tradition of receiving china started, since everything was smashed the night before, they would need something to eat off of. Once everything is broken, the bride and groom to be have to sweep up the mess together to show their ability and willingness to work together.
Another fun fact, although, not a German tradition: we've all heard of "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue". Did you know there's a verse missing? "And a silver sixpence in your shoe".
The Germans do, however, have a similar tradition with the shoe. The mother of the bride puts dill and salt into the right shoe of the bride so she gets off on the right foot in her marriage. Still pondering if I should use that or not...
More fun and interesting wedding traditions to come next week...
Buckle up...
Amanda
This new Sunday ritual reminds me of my old Saturday ritual with my mother. We, or at least I, used to spend almost the entire day at Kirkwood Ice Rink. If I remember correctly, the first public session started at 8:00 AM and went to 10:00 AM, then the Zamboni would do the ice, and we had the whole rink for lessons only from 10:15-1:45. Then the Zamboni would do it's thing again, then there was another public session from 2:00-4:00. Then my mother and I would go home, eat dinner, and at 8:00 PM I was back at the rink for the last public session of the day that ended at 10:00 PM.
That was then, and this is now. In regards to weddings, many traditions in Germany are the same as in America. They've incorporated what they've seen in the movies into their weddings, and, honestly, most of our traditions come from the Europeans to begin with. For example, both in Europe and America, the tradition of wearing a white wedding dress is the norm. It was popularized by Queen Victoria, and used to symbolize sexual purity. It is still considered taboo to wear a white wedding dress for a second marriage in both societies.
One German pre-wedding tradition I'm looking forward to is something called "Polterabend". It generally takes place the night before the wedding, friends and family come over to the house of the engaged couple and smash plates! It's said to ward off bad spirits, and the plates must be porcelain, not glass, otherwise it brings bad luck. It's also one of the main reasons why the tradition of receiving china started, since everything was smashed the night before, they would need something to eat off of. Once everything is broken, the bride and groom to be have to sweep up the mess together to show their ability and willingness to work together.
Another fun fact, although, not a German tradition: we've all heard of "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue". Did you know there's a verse missing? "And a silver sixpence in your shoe".
The Germans do, however, have a similar tradition with the shoe. The mother of the bride puts dill and salt into the right shoe of the bride so she gets off on the right foot in her marriage. Still pondering if I should use that or not...
More fun and interesting wedding traditions to come next week...
Buckle up...
Amanda
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment