All You Need Is Something Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue

“If you wed when March winds blow, joy and sorrow both you’ll know. Marry in April when you can, joy for maiden and for man.”

Another favorite of our modern day wedding traditions – the practice of integrating ‘something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue’ – has been a part of the marriage ceremony since the nineteenth century, each standing for a special trinket or symbol the bride carries with her on the wedding day. Most people are unaware of the last line of this phrase, however, which ends with ‘and a silver sixpence in her shoe.’ Many cultures practice putting coins in the bride’s shoes, symbolic wedding customs that stand, of course, for wealth and prosperity. In Sweden, for instance, these wedding customs are evident with the mother of the bride placing a gold coin in one shoe and her father placing a silver coin in the other to ensure that she will always have financial security.

‘Something old‘ stands for the bride’s old life; wedding customs generally state that she should pick something that reminds her of a loved one (perhaps a grandparent) or past special event. ‘Something new‘ signifies the couple’s hope for their future together; a symbol of a shared interest is an excellent choice. ‘Something borrowed‘ represents something the bride wishes to aspire to or someone she wishes to honor, whether it be a loved one’s old bracelet or a memento from a friend who has a happy marriage. And finally, the ‘something blue‘ part of these wedding traditions, though it no longer holds the same symbolism, denotes the bride’s purity. Many brides today incorporate the color discreetly underneath their dresses in the form of garters or as jewelry.

The Vein of Love Links Both Hearts

“Marry in the month of May, and you’ll surely rue the day. Marry when June roses grow, over land and sea you’ll go.”

With its circular shape, the wedding ring, which for years has been a part of our most respected wedding customs, represents a love without end and the moment when the bride and groom are joined together. Placing the wedding ring on the third finger of the left hand is usually believed to have come from the ancient Egyptian belief that this part of the body contained the ‘vein of love,’ or a mythical vein that runs from the finger to the heart. With the wedding ring on this finger, another of our most beloved wedding traditions concluded that happiness, love, and commitment were assured (citation: Georgia Girl’s Wedding Traditions).

Early folklore of how our wedding customs came to be claims that the husband would tie his new wife’s ankles and wrists with ropes to keep her spirit on earth for as long as possible; this particular practice stemming from these ancient wedding customs, of course, evolved into today’s modern wedding bands, now made from gold or silver, though the transformation took many forms throughout the years – hemp (which never lasted long), leather, metal, and other durable materials, such as iron (favored by the Romans) to indicate the permanence of the union.

Come back next week to learn why brides are carried across thresholds!

Read the first post in this series here.

photo credits: Graeme Bosworth, anka zolnierzak