7 Weird Marriage Customs Around the World
Marriages are known to be elaborate rituals in most parts of the world. So important is this institution that people have invented a host of crazy ideas and rituals for it to survive successfully. Most of them are nowadays done in jest, although the ancestors took these crazy sounding rites pretty seriously. Here are 7 weird wedding customs from different parts of the world.
1. The crying ritual of China
Weddings are the happiest occasions for people, but the Tuija clan of people in China would beg to differ as they believe in crying more than laughing to express their joy. The females of the bride’s family start crying a month before the marriage because they believe a sweet, albeit salty song is created with the different tones and voices of the weeping.
2. Marry trees and dogs in India
Indians take their marriages very seriously. It’s considered to be very sacred and important, especially by and for women. These people are also a very superstitious lot and there is a thing called Manglik. If a girl is born during a certain inauspicious time as per the Hindu calendar, she is known as a Manglik and it’s believed that whoever will marry her, will die within a year. Hence, such girls are first married to a dog or tree, before marrying a human.
3. Get dirty in Scotland
Brides around the world dream of looking their utter best by beautifying themselves. However, Scottish women go through a ritual that makes them look the worst they have ever looked. Her friends douse her with all sorts of garbage, be it rotting eggs, stale fishes, tar, etc, to humiliate her. The idea behind this ritual is that if she can bear this dirtying custom, she can bear anything that will challenge her in matrimony.
4. Hogging instead of dieting in Mauritania
While brides around the world go on crash diets to look their fittest best on D Day, the ones from Mauritania do the exact opposite. In this country, having a fat wife is a status symbol as it shows that even in the state of poverty of the nation, the husband is well off enough to keep his wife satisfied and well-fed. In fact, many women are sent to fat farms, something like fat camps, except that here, they are sent to gain as much weight possible before they tie the knot.
