by ColorCoffee » Thu May 06, 2021 11:41 am
♡Valentine♡
"I wish you could have seen one. They are a spectacle of sorts on their own. You see, the wedding celebration starts long before the bride and groom make their commitment to each other. The ceremony technically starts three days before that. Before the groom can marry the bride, he has to prove himself. He has three days to go out into the woods to find and kill a stag, or any large animal. One wedding between the butcher's daughter and one of the farmer's sons, he decided to go above and beyond to earn his future father-in-law's respect. He was out in the woods all three days, it got to the point where we were afraid he either got cold feet and chickened out of the marriage or the stag got to him first. When he finally surfaced out of the woods again, he was dragging a black bear behind him! It was hilarious considering his size compared to the bear. Apparently he had killed the bear on the evening of the second day, but took him all of the third day to drag him out.
Anyways, after the groom has shot his beast, traditionally he throws it over his shoulders and parades around the village. This is the first part of the vows. This is to show that he can and will provide for his bride. The ceremony takes place the next day. The groom starts on one side of the village with a head piece fashioned out of the antlers or other part of the animal that he killed. The bride starts on the opposite side of the village wearing a head piece made from flowers that were given by each family in the village. This shows that everyone in the village supports the union and will help care for the new couple as they start a new family in the village. The only flower that is not apart of the head piece is the flower given to the bride by her family. Instead, she carries it in her hand. At the start of the sunset, the two begin walking toward the center of the village. This is the second part of their vows. This represents that they will always work to meet in the middle, no matter what hardships they face. This is even more symbolic when they have to do it in the rain." She laughed
"Once the two meet in the middle, the bride places her family's flower in the center of her groom's head piece. This is the third vow. This is to represent not only the fact that she is leaving her family and becoming a part of his, but it also represents her vow to be the light in his life. She will do her best to brighten his days and to grow their family. After that there is only one more step. The bride and groom hold hands, stare into each other's eyes and make their verbal commitments in front of the entire village. If the timing is right, the vows will be finished just as the sun finally sets. After that its just a big party with fire, flowers, music, dancing, and drinking."
Valentine turned to see Gawain better. Since the main ceremony is following Royal Valmorn traditions, I'm ok to perform the Carahan traditions separately, and more intimately. I'd like to do as much of the traditional wedding as possible. I know it may be hard to do the hunting and the flower head piece, and the walking through the village, but surely we can figure out something, right?"
