Portuguese traditions
Traditionally a wedding cake has two little figures: a groom and a bride.Here in Portugal it is customary for these figures to be “stolen” by friends of the new couple.
Nobody is supposed to inquire about the “theft”.
Whoever manages to steal the figures must keep it a secret.
One year after the wedding, at the first anniversary party, the figures are supposed to be returned to the couple.
As a reward to the “rescuers”, usually the couple who had “stolen” the figures in the first place, the couple must then invite the “rescuers” to a lavish dinner.
The figures are then to be kept safe for good luck.
In our wedding each figure was stolen by a different couple, their excuse was they would either do that so both couples could be invited or they would have to fight over my dinner offer (as if they weren’t used to come over for dinner…pfffffffff).
As you all can see the pigs are still here, watching over us from their little balcony.
I don’t know if this tradition exists in other countries. Have you ever heard about it?
PS: It's also traditional to rent a limo for the wedding... we didn't. We preferred Good Half's little baby:
posted by DCveR at 8:13 AM
24 Comments:
Great tradition, DC! You've got some cunning friends!
Up here, the highest tier of a cake is kept and brought out when a baby is born. (Spice cake lasts a long time and with IVF we're ok!)
Love to hear about other traditions!
I never heard about this... the only tradition I know is the one in which the friends invade the new married couple's home and turn everything upside down (don't really get the point anyway...)
BB
cream: I had never heard about that one. People usually have tiered ckes for weddings in Portugal too, but we decided to be original and have a different cake.
ariadne: I wouldn't call that tradition, although a lot of people have been doing that around Lisbon area in recent years. Don't get me wrong, we do love pranks and we do a lot of pre-wedding pranks, but that is simply nonsense, I've even heard about damaged stuff. My friends aren't that kind of people though, they can pull great pranks without resorting to that.
orange: Do you have any kind of post-wedding traditions?
We don't have that one, Dcver.
We have this: a child in the bride's family would hide the bridegroom's shoes [remember we marry at home here, and we remove shoes when entering a home]...
And the groom can't leave with his bride until he pays the brat for his shoes.
Cool! I'm learning more about Portugal from you than my husband, who tends to give very Benfica-centric lessons!
isis: Now there is something I never really understood, why break the glass/lamp? What does it mean?
GG: Hehehehehe That is a funny one.
tacit: We also have that one with the bouquet. And in some weddings the bride and the groom auction the bride's garter. But you do have a lot of items there.
portuguesa: First things first, my dear, first things first. After all Benfica has more adepts than all other clubs put together. Benfica also has more trophees than all other clubs put together. In a way Benfica is a substantial part of Portugal. That’s right: it’s my club too!
That's a great tradition, I have never heard of it before. Sounds like a lot of fun.
If someone gets caught stealing the figures, do they have to return them for someone esle to try?
isis!! a light bulb??? :) at the jewish weddings i've been to its the wine glass from which both groom and bride take a sip before he wraps it into a hankerchif and smashes it with his foot.
if the glass doesn't break on the first stomp, everyone laughs because it means the groom will be "fumbeling" on the wedding night...
in Uzbeckestan (i dated a guy from there) it is a tradition for the friends of the groom to kidnap the BRIDE! and then the groom goes to her parents and announces that he will be marrying their daughter. it's supposedly a VERY happy ocasion both for the bride and her parents.. and all little girls dream of being "kidnaped" one day... :)
gordy: I actually don't know. The figures must be on the cake until it is cut, but after that I really don't know. I've taken the figures in three weddings and it was quite easy to do it during the compliments, after the cake cutting photos, but I wasn't caught and I never caught anyone. I'd better ask mom or better yet my aunt.
ale: LOL Actually in that area of the steppes that was the traditional way for a guy to get a bride many centuries ago: kidnap her. That's how even Gengis Khan's father got his wife.
Unique tradition. I dig it a lot. I'm not familiar with any of our traditions. I've been to one wedding in my entire life and I was 9. Maybe if I ever get married I'll start one of my own.
Yeah, it's unique. We had 2 sugar swans on our cake. And we just ate them ;-)
Limo? Mm.. We had old Lincoln sedan (20 L gasoline for 100 km!)
tall glass: I can assure you Good Half made an impression on some of the more traditional guests, after all she married in sneakers! The long beautiful white dress would have hidden them, if it weren't for the fact that she showed them to everybody. :D
bent: Maybe someday you do get married. Or not. One thing I can tell you, the knot itself changes nothing. Really. We don't love one another any more or any less because of a paper or a ceremony. Even the anniversary we celebrate most is “the real one” not the wedding anniversary.
anna: Welcome back!! This little baby drinks as much as that Lincoln, more if you step hard on the pedal… it’s sold now. What about Russian wedding or post-wedding traditions?
I like the Mini-limousine! Did you have a chauffeur?
cream: No way! She drove, I don't really like driving minis, steering wheel on my knees and all that.
I never heard of that one, but I like it! I think I'll add it to my list...
I haven't heard about such tradition in Poland. We have just a regular sort of traditions: throwing rice or coins after leaving the church, throwing glasses behind after obligatory shot of vodka (ok - it may be something else ;]) and then they have to clean the mess up, bride throwing flowers etc. Nothing unusual I think. Except the groom have to take an obligatory shot of vodka with each of the guest (usualy male guest) :) but it's becoming less popular as we're more and more in the west then east :)
And we have a lot (a LOT) of games for the groom, bride and all the guests. It's not only dancing and eating. If you'll ever take part in real polish wedding - prepare for some REAL competition!
viking: I should have been wearing the cowboy hat on that picture!
shyha: Games? You got me curious there... Funny, now that I think about I never talked about weddings with my Polish friends. The part about the vodka shot after almost everything in life I've already met, dangerous, very dangerous. What kind of games?
There are many kind of games (depending on region). Just for an example: there are n number of players and n-1 chairs, music plays and the competitors are supposed to run/dance around the chairs, when the music stops they are supposed to sit on chairs. The one which don't goes out of the game, one chair is taken and the story repeats until there's just the one player. He or she usually wins something (dance with the bride/groom etc). This kind of games.
shyha: It seems people like to have lots of fun in weddings over there.
penny: Things are changing around here too. The fact is the marriage itself didn't change much for us, we knew it wouldn't. That is why we were relaxed and just having fun.
Ha! You guys are nuts! No we don't have that tradition in the States, thank goodness... At our wedding brides and maids wwere barefoot. Guys had flip flops. Of course it was on the beach in Hawaii.
kris: If I were to get married on a Hawaiian beach I would wear shorts!
what a great tradition! other than the ones that tacit mentioned, i'm not sure of any others. and, you'd think i would know of some goan ones, but all the things my parents did were fairly american. i think just the food and the roasting of the pig were the goan elements.
vespa: Goan food... yummy.
DC: The guys did have shorts on! and aloha shirts. They had a bit of nerve complaining that I made them wear white shorts!
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