June - the month of Weddings (continued) Blessings & toasts for an Irish Wedding As the guests congratulate the happy couple the first person to offer their congratulations to the bride must be a man. It’s very unlucky for a woman to do this so traditionally a male member of the groom’s family will be the first to congratulate the bride and welcome her to the family. The merriment begins. Everybody is given a drink from mead in days of old to Champagne or sparkling wine to-day to raise and toast the health of the bride and groom. There are many different toasts and sayings recited at weddings for example: May there always be work for your hands to do May your purse always hold a coin or two May the sun always shine on your window pane May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain May the hand of a friend always be near you May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you Other examples include: May he bless your home With the peace That surpasses understanding May your troubles be less And your blessings be more And nothing but happiness Come in your door Long live the Irish Long live their cheer Long live our friendship Year after year And not forgetting the traditional toast for any occasion: Slainte ! (pronounced SLAWN – cha) Toasts and blessings speeches eventually over. The Irish are renowned talkers (must be because we all kissed the Blarney Stone at birth) and this part can usually last for quite a while, but eventually the dancing starts. Thankfully these days the bride can relax now but it used to be if she could ‘carry a tune’ (sing) she would be expected to provide the entertainment as well. This is where the groom takes his bride to the centre of the room to show the world his wife and lead her in their first dance as a married couple. Even this has to be done carefully because the new bride cannot lift both her feet off the ground at the same time or else the faerie’s may carry her away. Cutting the cake is a very important part of the day. The guest’s all gather round to watch and cheer as the first slice is cut. A traditional Irish cake would have at least two tiers the first would be a rich fruit cake and the smaller next tier would be soaked in good Irish whiskey and stored away to be used as a christening cake for the first-born. Every guest is given a slice of cake to eat or in some cases taken away by unmarried maidens to place under their pillow that night in the hope that they dream of their future husband. Celebrations over the couple are ready to leave their guests (who will usually carry on celebrating into the ‘wee small hours’) to go on honeymoon. This word actually has nothing to do with going away but was actually honey wine (mead) that was given to the couple who would then drink it every night out of a special goblet to promote virility and also to protect the couple from the faeries who would have loved to have spirited the bride away.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:00:17 +0000
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