Wedding traditions with water and washing
Water cleans, blesses, cools and joins.
Water cleans, blesses, cools and joins. At weddings it appears in baths, in libations to ancestors, in the pouring of a sacred vessel and in the simple act of offering a guest a drink.
Washing and bathing
The bridal bath is a very old rite. Greek brides once bathed in water from a sacred spring, and Moroccan and Turkish brides visit the hammam. In Indonesia, the Javanese siraman is a bath with flower water poured by elders, and in Hindu weddings turmeric and oil are washed off in a bath. In Jewish tradition the bride may visit the mikveh before the wedding.
Pouring and joining
In Thai and Cambodian weddings the couple's hands are poured with water from a conch shell by guests, in the rod nam sang. In Sri Lanka and India water is poured to seal a gift, and in Hindu weddings a kalash, a pot of water topped with a coconut and mango leaves, stands for the sacred. In many African weddings water is poured as a libation to ancestors, and in Igbo weddings palm wine is used for the same purpose.
Written by the EveryShaadi desk with AI assistance. Background on Water and washing (symbol). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
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Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Sherpa marriage: Dirk Pons, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Laavaan: Ashish 100, CC BY 2.0, source
- Courtship in the Philippines: Markytour777, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Teeth blackening: momo, CC BY 2.0, source
- Mayian: Rakzika, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Handfasting: Sander van der Wel, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Gaye holud: Arr4, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Rushnyk: Pavlo Boyko, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Marriage coin charm: Scott Semans, CC BY 3.0, source
- Blessing ceremony of the Unification Church: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Hindu wedding: Dinesh Cyanam, CC BY-SA 2.0, source