Wedding traditions with candles and lamps
Candles and lamps bring light to a day of beginnings.
Candles and lamps bring light to a day of beginnings. They mark a threshold, bless the household and join two flames, and in many weddings a lamp is the first thing that is lit.
Lamps in South Asia
In Kerala the nilavilakku, a traditional oil lamp, stands before the couple at the thali-tying. In Tamil Nadu the kuthuvilakku is lit, and in the Hindu wedding of Bali and Nepal lamps and incense are used. In Sikh and Hindu homes lamps, diyas, line the path for the wedding procession.
Candles in the West
The unity candle, in which the couple use two small candles to light a larger one, became popular in the United States in the twentieth century. In Orthodox weddings the couple hold candles through the service, and in Catholic churches candles are lit at the altar. In Ukraine and Russia the couple hold candles in a church ceremony.
Written by the EveryShaadi desk with AI assistance. Background on Candles and lamps (symbol). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
🇺🇸 New York, United StatesSlave marriages in the United States
The unions formed by enslaved African Americans before and after the abolition of slavery in the US.Rite · The ceremony
🇮🇷 Tehran, Iran and 1 moreIranian weddingمراسم عروسی در ایران
A multi-stage ceremony rooted in Zoroastrianism and Islam that binds families through courtship, feasts, and sacred vowsRite · Finding a match
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreEpithalamium
A poem or song written to celebrate a bride as she goes to her wedding chamber.Performance · The eve
🇧🇳 BruneiBrunei Malay wedding
The sequence of ceremonies that mark the engagement and marriage of Brunei Malays.Rite · Finding a match
🇵🇱 Poland and 6 moreKolachколач (kolach), калач (kalach), kołacz, colac, kalács
A braided or ring-shaped bread that marks weddings and major holidays across Eastern Europe.Feast custom · Engagement and betrothal
🇺🇦 UkraineTraditional Ukrainian weddingТрадиційне українське весілля
A multi-day sequence of folk rites, bread baking and church vows that marks the transition from maidenhood to married liRite · Finding a match
🇮🇳 Delhi, India and 4 moreSindoorसिंदूर (Hindi)
The vermilion powder a Hindu husband applies to his wife's hair parting to mark her marriage.Adornment · Engagement and betrothal
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
- Iranian wedding: Flickr.com user "avlxyz", CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Slave marriages in the United States: An 1899 illustration of a broomstick wedding. Schomburg Center for Res, Public domain, source
- Traditional Ukrainian wedding: Пимоненко, Николай Корнильевич, Public domain, source
- Kolach: Лобачев Владимир, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sindoor: Masum-al-hasan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source