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.

About this page

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.

Jirtig: Alzain Mohammed, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Poruwa ceremony: A Derivative Work by MediaJet ,, CC BY 2.0, source
Iranian wedding: Flickr.com user "avlxyz", CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Odia Hindu wedding: Aditya Mahar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Shinto wedding: Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Blessing ceremony of the Unification Church: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Marriage in Myanmar: Thant Zin Myint, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Laavaan: Ashish 100, CC BY 2.0, source
Tulasi Vivah: Unknown author, CC BY 3.0, source
Palang pintu: Gunawan Kartapranata, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Weddings in ancient Rome: Meister der Aldobrandinischen Hochzeit, Public domain, source
Handfasting: Sander van der Wel, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Chaklong wedding: Chiring chandan, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Gaye holud: Arr4, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Meitei wedding: Dabu Leichombam, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Alta: Shounak Ray, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Traditional Ukrainian wedding: Пимоненко, Николай Корнильевич, Public domain, source
Ayyavazhi wedding: Vaikunda Raja, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Hindu wedding: Dinesh Cyanam, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Assyrian wedding: Yucalyptus, CC0, source
Sindoor: Masum-al-hasan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source