Lucky Sixpence
Posted in Arts and Crafts on 03/31/2009 08:31 pm by adminLucky Sixpence
Everyone knows the traditions of a wedding. The bride’s white gown, the rings, the flower girl, the cake, the rice, the first dance; all are a classic part of a wedding celebration. But do you know where many of our wedding traditions came from? Or what they mean? The Victorian era of English history had a significant impact not only on England, but America as well. Many of the most well-known traditions began with the marriage of Queen Victoria on February 11, 1840. The symbolism for our traditions goes back far longer than the Victorians though, often having begun before the birth of Christ.
Before Queen Victoria chose a white gown for her wedding dress brides typically did not marry in white. Even after she popularized it, only the wealthy wore a white dress for many years. Light green to signify fertility or blue to symbolize true love were more common colors. Many brides simply wore their best dress and accented it with lace and flowers. Another tradition from the Victorian times was a small pouch the bride wore inside of her dress containing a piece of cloth so her family would always have “clothes to wear”, bread so they would never go hungry, a sliver of wood symbolizing shelter, and a dollar bill for “money for the future”.
Almost all brides know they must have “something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue” in order to assure a happy marriage. This is another Victorian custom that also included the line “and a silver sixpence in her shoe.” The coin represented the couple’s financial security for the future while the old item was in honor of the bride’s heritage. The new item symbolized “optimism and hope for the bride’s new life ahead.” Blue was the color ancient Roman brides wore and was commonly pictured on the Virgin Mary so it represented purity, loyalty, and love. Finally the reason a bride was to borrow something “from a happily married friend or family member” was so their “good fortune in marriage [would] carry over to the new bride. The borrowed item also reminds the bride that she can depend on her friends and family.”
Some traditions predate even the Victorians though. The garter that many brides wear is “considered to be the oldest surviving wedding tradition.” Begun in the Middle Ages, the bridal party escorted the bride and groom to their marriage bed and then obtained “proof” of their consummation by stealing the bride’s garter. Apparently the scramble for the poor girl’s undergarments got so out of hand eventually the groom took to tossing the garter to keep the bride from being molested. Because it is associated with the couple’s consummation the garter symbolizes fertility and luck for the bachelor who catches it. The lucky winner would often wear the garter on his hat until he gave it to his sweetheart.
For more information on weddings and wedding planning please visit http://www.jointhewedding.com.
Hi fellow seniors, in your youth did you have to earn your pocket money?
I know I did, Hubby too.
The chores ranged from menial to downright hard graft.
I think the worse one was having to clean all the footwear in the family, it took forever as they had to be of a certain standard.
I was usually rewarded with either a sixpence or a shilling all depending on how hard I had to work.
My two boys had to earn their small allowance by helping out around the house or cleaning the car which used to end in a riot with water everywhere, or the job they hated most was cutting the grass with one of those old push along lawn mowers.
So did you have to help out to earn your spends or where you lucky enough to have a regular amount handed out each week ?
yes in the 50s i had to go two miles up to the local forest and bring back any broken tree branches and saw them up for winter fuel for the fire in winter,(coal was too costly then),summer time it was up to the forest and get the fresh wild mushrooms evey saturday morning, and throughout the summer had to do so much gardening (we grew all our own veggies in those days),and every thursday night i had to polish all the shoes for my mother/father/young sister, my elder brother done his own shoes,all this was done for 5 shillings a week.got myself a delivery job at 14yr old with the co-op society after school,and got paid 10 shillings a week, my father stopped the 5 shillings claiming 15 shillings was to much pocket money for a 14 year old,but i still had to do the chores already allocated to me.good old days?maybe!
All You Lucky People – Adam Again
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