Wedding traditions of Europe
Rice and confetti, the veil and the white dress, Polish oczepiny, Greek koumbaro and the Irish handfast. 206 traditions on EveryShaadi so far.
Countries
๐ฆ๐ฑ Albania 5๐ฆ๐ฉ Andorra 1๐ฆ๐น Austria 12๐ง๐พ Belarus 9๐ง๐ช Belgium 5๐ง๐ฆ Bosnia and Herzegovina 2๐ง๐ฌ Bulgaria 13๐ญ๐ท Croatia 8๐จ๐ฟ Czechia 4๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark 10๐ช๐ช Estonia 2๐ซ๐ฎ Finland 9๐ซ๐ท France 30๐ฉ๐ช Germany 31๐ฌ๐ท Greece 23๐ญ๐บ Hungary 10๐ฎ๐ธ Iceland 5๐ฎ๐ช Ireland 17๐ฎ๐น Italy 21๐ฝ๐ฐ Kosovo 3๐ฑ๐ป Latvia 3๐ฑ๐ฎ Liechtenstein 2๐ฑ๐น Lithuania 4๐ฑ๐บ Luxembourg 1๐ฒ๐น Malta 1๐ฒ๐ฉ Moldova 6๐ฒ๐จ Monaco 1๐ฒ๐ช Montenegro 1๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands 15๐ฒ๐ฐ North Macedonia 9๐ณ๐ด Norway 9๐ต๐ฑ Poland 26๐ต๐น Portugal 6๐ท๐ด Romania 13๐ท๐บ Russia 22๐ธ๐ฒ San Marino 0๐ท๐ธ Serbia 12๐ธ๐ฐ Slovakia 6๐ธ๐ฎ Slovenia 2๐ช๐ธ Spain 15๐ธ๐ช Sweden 11๐จ๐ญ Switzerland 6๐บ๐ฆ Ukraine 19๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom 78๐ป๐ฆ Vatican City 0
Cities and towns
London 7Rome 5Berlin 4Krakรณw 4Vienna 4Crete 3Hamburg 3Madrid 3Amsterdam 2Athens 2Barcelona 2Bern 2Budapest 2Copenhagen 2Dublin 2Edinburgh 2Galway 2Hanover 2
On the calendar
June, the Western wedding monthSeptember and October wedding peakShrovetide, the old Irish wedding time2/22 and other repeated datesLag BaOmer, weddings resumeMay, the month of brides in BrazilKrasnaya Gorka, the first wedding SundayPokrov, the autumn wedding seasonLentHoly Week and the TriduumAdventOrthodox Great Lent
๐ฌ๐ท Greece and 1 moreEpithalamium
A poem or song written to celebrate a bride as she goes to her wedding chamber.Performance ยท The eve
๐ฌ๐ท Greece and 1 moreAnastenariaฮฮฝฮฑฯฯฮตฮฝฮฌฯฮนฮฑ (Greek), ะะตััะธะฝะฐัััะฒะพ (Bulgarian)
A barefoot firewalking ritual performed by Orthodox Christian communities in Greece and Bulgaria.Rite ยท The weeks before
๐บ๐ฆ Ukraine and 7 moreVechornytsiะฒะตัะพัะฝะธัั
A Ukrainian courtship gathering where young people meet, dance and practice matchmaking rituals before the wedding seasoBetrothal ยท The weeks before
๐ฌ๐ง United KingdomWassailing
Singing and drinking to bless trees or homes during the Christmas seasonFeast custom ยท The weeks before
๐ญ๐ท CroatiaZa kriลพen
A night-long Maundy Thursday procession on Hvar island that honors the Weeping of the Lady.Blessing ยท The weeks before
๐ท๐ด Romania and 1 morePeriniศa
A Romanian circle dance where a pillow marks the last partner dance for unmarried youth before a wedding.Performance ยท The eve
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Epithalamium: Lorenzo Lotto, Public domain, source
- Wassailing: Joss Smithson, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Za kriลพen: E.mil.mil, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Vechornytsi: ะะตะนัะปะตั, ะัะธััะธะฐะฝ ะะพัััะธะด ะะตะฝัะธั , Public domain, source
- Anastenaria: Artkostov, CC BY-SA 4.0, source