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Some reflection will reveal how significant weddings are. Especially if the wedding happens to be yours, you will never attend anything else as important in your life. The act of procreation, by which our species enjoys continuous existence on the planet, is given spiritual stature by the institution of marriage. It becomes, through weddings, an act of commitment to each other and to your children instead of being just the fulfillment of a basic urge. Through the symbols and rituals associated with marriages, the community’s aspirations for the couple are given a kind of magical expression.

All throughout the world, different nations and cultures signify those aspirations in many different ways.

The disappearing apple act in Chinese weddings

In China, there is a customary ritual often performed after weddings before the guests of the wedding reception. This involves suspending an apples by a string in between the newly wedded couple. The couple is supposed to bite the apple at the same time and hands-free. At the moment they lean forward to do so, their closest friend is supposed to pull the apple up into the air and the newly weds end up kissing each other on the lips.

Every time the routine is performed, people never fail to be amused. But underneath the humor, there is a deeper meaning. The pursuit of the apple ending in a kiss stands for the fact that the importance of love cannot ever be subordinate to the need to attain riches and abundance.

The Colombian candle of unity

In Colombia weddings, just after the bride receives the ring from the groom, bride and groom are each given a candle to light. With lit candles in hand, they approach a third candle and light it up with the candles they hold in their hands. After that they blow out the candles they have in their own hands. The ceremony is rich in meaning.

The first two candles which are put out may be interpreted to stand for the death of their old personality as they transform themselves by the act of uniting in marriage. The third candle stands for the union of the two. Taken from another aspect, the ritual could also stand for the birth of a new life as a result of their union. The putting out of the two first candles stands for the part of themselves that die in order to procreate.

Japan’s strong family ties

A peculiarity in some Japanese weddings is the practice of making the wedding couple drink three times from a vessel of rice wine. After doing so, they turn towards each other to say their vows. At the same time, the members of both families also turn around towards the other family.

It is easy to imagine that in ancient times, when women were often abducted, the wedding minister might need to make the wedding couple drunk to ascertain whether they really wanted to be wed. Perhaps the three sips of rice wine is all that remains of just such an ancient practice.

From the fact that the couple’s families also faced one another when the couple pronounced their vows is a way of saying that those vows also held the respective families in a close bond of friendship.

There are other, equally beautiful and meaningful wedding practices from the different nations of the world which can be used to make weddings more significant and memorable.
Jameson Daniels is a writer for skylighter.com check out his colored smoke or his ice fountain.