All wedding traditions
650 traditions so far, best known first. 440 more are on the list to be written. Filter by region, kind and stage of the wedding.
RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
🇪🇬 Cairo, EgyptTahtibتحطيب (taḥṭīb)
A traditional Egyptian stick-fighting martial art that evolved into a folk dance performed at weddings and celebrations.Performance · The weeks before
🇬🇧 United KingdomBlackening
A messy pre-wedding prank where friends cover the couple in sticky substances and parade them through town.Play · The weeks before
🇮🇪 Ireland and 3 moreBachelor's Day
The custom that lets women propose to men on Leap DayBetrothal · Engagement and betrothal
🇺🇬 UgandaLarakaraka
An Acholi courtship dance where young men display agility to attract a partner.Play · Engagement and betrothal
🇰🇭 Cambodia and 3 moreTugging rituals and games
A rope-pulling game played across Southeast and East Asia to mark the farming season and build community bonds.Play · The weeks before
🇻🇳 Hội An, VietnamBài Chòi
A sung card game played in huts during Vietnamese New Year festivalsPerformance · The weeks before
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Larakaraka: Tabwoch, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tugging rituals and games: Steve46814 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bài Chòi: Lưu Ly ( thảo luận ), CC BY 3.0, source
- Tahtib: Yasser Elrasoul, CC BY-SA 4.0, source