{"id":1014,"date":"2013-04-04T18:07:20","date_gmt":"2013-04-04T18:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mikemalonedds.com\/blog1\/?p=1014"},"modified":"2019-07-24T22:26:21","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T22:26:21","slug":"the-most-untraditional-wedding-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.camelliadds.com\/blog1\/the-most-untraditional-wedding-traditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Weird & Wacky Weddings Worldwide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to wedding season!\u00a0 Well, at least in this country.\u00a0 Aside from lacking a wedding \u2018season,\u2019 countries around the globe celebrate nuptials very differently\u2014if somewhat strangely.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For example, only do Westerners believe brides should wear white on their wedding day.\u00a0 Other cultures think wedding gowns should be colorful and vibrant on the big day.\u00a0 In fact, the color white used to be associated with mourning\u2014especially if a woman wore all white, it was because she was mourning her dead husband.\u00a0 This all changed in 1840 when Queen Victoria married Prince Albert; the queen broke the tradition by wearing a white gown, stirring up controversy while simultaneously setting a new trend.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While Western brides sporting white gowns is unusual to other cultures, what about their wacky traditions<\/a>?\u00a0 There are plenty of them, but here are five countries with the most unconventional of wedding traditions:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

China:\u00a0 Crying Constantly<\/h2>\n

This tradition is probably the tamest, but it\u2019s still odd.\u00a0 One month before a Tujia woman\u2019s nuptials, she must force herself to start crying.\u00a0 She must cry for one hour every day; a few days later the mother must join in, and then the grandmother until every female in the family is crying every day before the wedding.\u00a0 Supposedly it\u2019s an expression of joy, having all of the females cry together in their varying tones creating a beautiful \u2018crying marriage song.\u2019\u00a0 Truthfully, I don\u2019t know anyone who sounds good when they\u2019re crying.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Scotland: Blackening the Bride<\/h2>\n

This tradition is rather gross and unsanitary. \u00a0The Scottish take bachelorette parties to the extreme.\u00a0 Instead of getting the bride-to-be trashed, the future bride gets trash thrown at her.\u00a0 It\u2019s called \u2018blackening the bride\u2019\u2014before a bride is allowed to marry her groom, she must withstand the public humiliation of having the nastiest things dumped on her head.\u00a0 I mean animal feces and sticky food like molasses; dead fish, curdled milk, and tar\u2014basically anything you can find in a garbage dump.\u00a0 Then, in this smelly state, the bride is taken out for a night of debauchery.\u00a0 Supposedly the point of this tradition is so that a bride is able to endure any amount of humiliation during her marriage.\u00a0 I just hope the bride manages to get clean before her ceremony.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

India: Marrying an Animal<\/h2>\n

This tradition actually has nothing to do with preparing a bride for her wedding day.\u00a0 In India<\/a>, any girl who is born ugly, with a baby tooth that is already growing, or with a facial disfigurement is said to be possessed by ghosts.\u00a0 The belief here is that if the girl marries an animal (typically a dog or goat), she will rid her body of the demons and ward off any future ghosts or bad luck.\u00a0 There\u2019s even an extravagant wedding ceremony held, though fortunately the girls aren\u2019t expected to\u2014er, \u2018lie with the animal\u2019 later on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0Mauritania: Fattening the Bride<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

In Northwest Africa, for a man to be proud to flaunt his wife and be of \u2018high status\u2019 she needs to be large.\u00a0 The more stomach rolls, stretch marks, and overlapping thighs the better.\u00a0 The fatter she is, the wealthier people will believe the man to be because he can afford to feed his wife well.\u00a0 In some parts of Africa, a disturbing ritual called Leblouh requires girls between ages 5 and 15 to go to fat-farms where they are force fed thousands of calories per day to prepare for marriage.\u00a0 This is no laughing matter, as women are beaten if they don\u2019t eat and some develop psychological issues later on.\u00a0 If you still don\u2019t think this sounds that terrible, recall how difficult it can be to eat when you\u2019re already overly full.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Malaysia:\u00a0 Avoiding the Restroom<\/h2>\n

In Mayalsia<\/a>, the Tidong people believe the bride and groom should not be allowed to use the restroom for 72 hours prior to the exchange of vows.\u00a0 They are so serious about it that usually family members guard the bathroom to ensure neither of them cheats.\u00a0 Oh, and on top of the torture of not being able to relieve oneself for three whole days (which can\u2019t be healthy in itself) the pair are starved and given minimal water.\u00a0 I suppose in a way this prevents the urge to use the restroom, but still.\u00a0 The Tidongs are superstitious people; they believe this torture, if survived, will lead to good fertility and strong, healthy children.\u00a0 I don\u2019t buy it.\u00a0 Though strangely, I think a little suffering before one\u2019s wedding might be a good thing in the long run; perhaps you\u2019ll think twice before bickering with your spouse so long as you\u2019re both allowed to eat and use the bathroom regularly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Those last two are tied for the worst for me.\u00a0 Looking back, I\u2019m not sure why all of these traditions are so\u2014pleasant.\u00a0 Perhaps we do weddings best in the U.S!\u00a0 What do you think?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dr. Mike Malone<\/a>\u00a0and his\u00a0team<\/a>\u00a0practice expert cosmetic dentistry in Lafayette, LA. Dr. Malone is the former president and current accredited member of the\u00a0American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry<\/a>. He\u00a0is also the official Cosmetic Dentist of the Miss Louisiana USA and Miss Louisiana Teen USA pageants. Check out his\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0for more information.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to wedding season!\u00a0 Well, at least in this country.\u00a0 Aside from lacking a wedding \u2018season,\u2019 countries around the globe celebrate nuptials very differently\u2014if somewhat strangely.   For example, only  Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":1025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","twitterCardType":"","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[363],"tags":[272,128,269,34,26,274,275,276,273,270,268,271,267,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-1014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-lifestyle","8":"tag-china","9":"tag-cultural-differences","10":"tag-cultural-traditions","11":"tag-culture","12":"tag-dr-mike-malone","13":"tag-india","14":"tag-malaysia","15":"tag-mauritania","16":"tag-scotland","17":"tag-tradition","18":"tag-wedding-season","19":"tag-wedding-traditions","20":"tag-weddings","21":"tag-world-cultures","22":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nWeird & Wacky Weddings Worldwide - 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