8 Ancient Wedding Customs That Might Seem Weird Today

Times change, as does the way of approaching traditions. The rules and customs about marriage varied over the years, adapting to the trends of each era. These changes can be so incredible that, when we look back, we often wonder how it was possible to adopt certain practices, now completely outdated.

We, from awesome.club, we will tell you some facts about what marriage was like in ancient times compared to today.

In the past, parental consent was not required to marry, as the Church considered that the decision should come from each couple. In the counties, the allowed age for women to marry was 12 years, while for men, 14. In the nobility, on the other hand, the age was 15 years for women and 18 for men.

We have seen in countless productions about ancient times how royal families organized their children’s marriages and thus strengthened their position of power. Agreements could begin to be drawn up even before the birth of their successors. From the 14th century, contracts with sanctions were even signed if the ceremony did not take place.

As strange as it sounds, there could be huge misunderstandings as to whether you were actually married or not. Many marriages were performed by commitment, or to guarantee the celebration of the ceremony. Matrimonial confusion bothered the Church a lot, as marriage was considered a sacrament.

Although the concept of divorce is very old, for a very long time, most societies rejected it for religious, social and economic reasons. The only way to break the nuptial contract at that time was marriage annulment, that is, demonstrating in some way that such a union never existed.

In Europe, during the High Middle Ages, couples could not marry if they were within seven degrees of consanguinity. That is, they were not allowed to marry, despite having only one great-great-great-great-grandfather in common.

This changed in 1215, when the Fourth Lateran Council reduced the forbidden degrees from seven to four.

Marriage is a process that involves a lot of preparation. Among them are the banns, a public document required by the church about future bride and groom, which should be published in a timely manner to know if there was any impediment that would make the ceremony difficult.

In the past, its publication was not mandatory, which led to many clandestine marriages and contrary to the laws and canons established by the Church. From the Council of Trent, the publication of banns was established to avoid loopholes and to know in time the difficulties that the union could have.

Although today it is the particular feature most associated with weddings, in ancient times, a wedding dress did not necessarily have to be white. Women simply got married in the best clothes they had, not necessarily a dress.

The trend for this piece began when Queen Victoria wore a white dress to her wedding to Prince Albert in 1840, thus starting a custom adopted to this day.

Another curious fact about separation is that the way to end marriage in Germany was through combat divorce. The husband was to wear a tight-fitting hooded suit and be given three large wooden sticks, while the wife wore a long shirt and three small stone bags, her attack ammunition. To make the fight more fair, the man had to be buried in a hole up to his waist, with one hand tied behind his back.

Which of these customs did you find the most bizarre? What would your ideal wedding look like? Tell us in the comments!