"Something Old, Something New..." Wedding Tradition and Superstition

Have you ever wondered where the old adage "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a silver sixpence in her shoe" comes from?

The British good-luck saying is believed to have started in the Victorian Era sometime between 1833 and 1890 with a poem by the infamous poet, Anonymous: It was believed that evil spirits lurked close to people during rites of passage (the marking of the end of one life and the beginning of the next) so it was very important for good luck charms and rituals to be employed to keep the bride and groom safe on their wedding day and to ensure their future happiness.

Each item in this poem represents a good-luck token for the bride. It was believed that if she carried all of them on her wedding day, her marriage would be happy.

"Something old" symbolizes continuity or stability, something linking the bride to her family. Many brides choose a piece of antique family jewelry or mother's wedding gown.

"Something new" represents optimism or hope for the bride's new life ahead. This is often a new gown, veil or piece of jewelry.

"Something borrowed" represents to the bride that friends and family will be there for her when help is needed. This item is usually borrowed from a happily married friend or family member, whose good fortune in marriage is supposed to carry over to the new bride.

"Something Blue" symbolizes fidelity, loyalty and love. As for the purpose of the colorful item, the color blue has been connected to weddings for centuries. In ancient Rome, brides wore blue to symbolize love, modesty, and fidelity. Christianity has long dressed the Virgin Mary in blue, so purity was associated with the color. Before the late 19th century blue was a popular color for wedding gowns as evidence in proverbs like "Marry in blue, lover be true." Most often the bride's garter or floral bouquet has a touch of blue. I have also seen blue shoes and a pedicure showcasing pearly blue toes.

"Silver sixpence in her shoe" (one sixpence represented six pennies) is quite often left out or missed as part of the original poem. This represents wishing the bride wealth and financial security. It may date back to a Scottish custom of a groom putting a silver coin under his foot for good luck. For optimum fortune, the sixpence should be in the left shoe. Today, a dime or a penny is sometimes substituted, and many companies sell keepsake sixpences for weddings.

Interestingly, in researching this particular tradition (or wedding day superstition) I found many other sayings that people hold just as true. Here's a sample of some other antiquated wedding notions:

- It's lucky to tear your wedding gown accidentally.

- It's good luck to tear your veil, even if deliberately, though accidentally is best.

- A good bridesmaid may ensure the bride's happiness by sticking her in the arm with a pin (ouch!)

- The bride must stand on the left of the groom-this practice began in medieval times when the groom would hold a weapon in his right hand to fend off the bride's angry family (why they were angry is another story.)

- Bridesmaids serve the purpose of fending off evil spirits-in ancient Egyptian society, bridesmaids dressed as extravagantly as the bride did in order to confuse the spirits coming to attack the bride and curse her marriage.

- Break the wedding cake over the bride's head-this practice signified the bride's fertility and fortunately, this has evolved into the bride and groom stuffing pieces of wedding cake into each other's mouth.

- Catch the wedding bouquet, then drop it, and you'll be the last to marry rather than the first.

- Sew a piece of hair into the bride's gown for good luck and a quick marriage-in 1947, newspapers reported that the seamstresses who made Queen (then Princess) Elizabeth's wedding gown each sewed a strand of their hair into it.

Those are just a few sayings and do not even begin to include the wedding customs of various cultures!

My own wedding day is when I first heard the saying; "It's good luck for a long and happy marriage, showered with love if it rains on your wedding day." It was literally raining so hard it was difficult to determine if the rain was coming from the sky or the ground but it actually did make me feel better to hear the adage.

All these superstitions sound more like ways to make the wedding day's inevitable mishaps more like good luck charms and/or to calm the bride-They're even better if they really work!