Weddings are inevitably derived and structured from the traditions of a particular culture. Russian weddings are incredibly fun, loud and most are absolutely unforgettable. There are a few "international" rules that are followed, for example the bride's and the groom's friends and family sit on different sides of the wedding hall, the bride throws the bouquet at the end of the ceremony and most of the guests get ridiculously drunk. However, here and there unique elements peak through which shape the events into a heap of Russian fun!
Awesome tradition #1: Shouting "Gor'ko"...this is done every time a toast is said, and at the precise moment the bride and the groom are supposed to kiss. The guests would also count as you are kissing (9...148...459...) and the longer you kiss the happier you are meant to be! So ya, kissing in front of 200 members of your family, your uni teachers, and your colleagues...for a minute...or two...is considered perfectly natural!
Awesome tradition #2: The 'fun' part of the evening starts as soon as the bride and the groom have their first dance, which is usually a traditional slow dance, or a waltz. There usually isn’t a father and daughter dance, but everyone is free to join the dance floor after this ceremony. girl), and guests had to stuff it up with money, the basket with the most money is meant to determine the sex of the first born child.
Awesome tradition #3: Every toast (hip hip hooray) is supported by a shot of vodka. (Pretty self explanatory, isn’t it?)
Awesome tradition #4: All sorts of games and tricks are played during the wedding. The nicest that we had, was when two baskets were being carried around the hall (one for a boy and one for a girl) The basket with the most dough in it, would signify the sex of the first born child.
Mix all of the above with booze, and a great DJ and you will get the great unforgettable wedding
Everyone danced to the rock and the roll, and even though it was about 18 degrees that night no one caught a cold because they were kept warm by the love that surrounded our wedding (ok, i mean the alcohol ). It was a great party...oops...wedding. :)
Hehehehehe gotta love wedding traditions. How with the dough it actually can be said that will that be a boy or a girl? Who has you gotten?
ReplyDeleteI hate two things about our Russian weddings. Everyone gets so drunk that cannot walk and secondly this stupid "Gor'ko" and you are right it is kinda embarassing to kiss and kiss and kiss and kiss... until you stop breathing. lol So what count was yours when you stopped kissing? hehehehehehe
We got baskets full of money, but because our host is soooooo close to us, and he knew we would not want to have any preferences, he just dumped all the money into one basket, and announced that we are going to have twins :) lol
ReplyDeleteAs for the kissing, we had "Gor'ko" shouted over 30 times, so we were exhausssted! I don;t think we ever made it past 30!