The Japanese are an advanced, but at the same time conservative, nation when it comes to traditions, including wedding ones. Modern Japanese weddings, of course, are significantly different from the ceremonies of past years, but nevertheless they retain their originality. What are the customs and traditions of the celebration? What are the features?
Historical facts
The Japanese wedding in the 12th century was not the same as it is now. The Japanese were polygamous and had several wives. At the same time, the couple did not move to live with her husband, and he visited them when he considered it necessary. Only with the advent of samurai men began to choose only one wife. But here we are not talking about love, since marriages were most often carried out to consolidate family and other ties. Usually the parents chose the wife. There were cases when they agreed on future family unions immediately after the birth of children. Only in the twentieth century, the Japanese were allowed to marry for love.
To date, the average age of Japanese marrying reaches 30 years, since only to this milestone does material prosperity appear. In addition, sometimes it is difficult to draw up the relevant documents, which also scares future newlyweds.
As in antiquity, today's Japanese traditional weddings are held either in spring, during sakura blossoms, or in summer. In autumn and winter, the bride and groom are preparing for the upcoming celebration.
Engagement
When engaged, gifts play a very important role. The bride receives 7 envelopes as a gift from the groom and his family, one of which contains money for organizing the celebration. In ancient times, the rest of the envelopes were filled with ritual products, but today this tradition is not respected.
In modern Japan, this ritual is replaced by the European one - giving the bride a ring with a diamond or a stone, which corresponds to the girl’s zodiac sign. The future wife gives the groom gifts in the form of things.
Preparation for the Japanese wedding begins from the moment of engagement and lasts six months. During this time, a list of guests is compiled, a restaurant is ordered, a menu is selected and, of course, costumes for the newlyweds are purchased. Invitations must be sent 1-2 months before the celebration, as each person who received it must have time to consider the proposal and send an affirmative or negative answer. The wedding expenses are traditionally borne by the groom's family.
Wedding rings
Classic rings in Japan are made of platinum or gold, less commonly silver. Such important jewelry is most often made to order, while they can have an individual design, engraving or stone decoration.
Costumes
Outfits for a traditional Japanese wedding are usually very expensive, as the fabric is made and decorated by hand. For this reason, wedding attire can be rented in almost any city in the country. On wedding day, specially invited women make the bride a classic hairstyle and makeup. To do this, “whiten” the face with powder to a light pearl shade, then apply blush, lipstick, mascara. The bride’s traditional headdress is a cocoon of white light fabric.
Kimonos and tsunakakushi (headgear) are used primarily for the wedding ceremony. After that, the bride can change into a classic European wedding dress and put on a veil.
The man on the official part is dressed in a kimono with family emblems. After which he also changes into a classic black suit.
At the wedding ceremony, which takes place according to all traditions, the bride can change the official female kimono to color. This symbolizes that she became a wife. As in European countries wedding dresses are used only once, so in Japan this kimono is no longer worn after the wedding.
Costumes for guests
For a Japanese-style wedding, men usually wear a formal black suit and a white shirt with a long sleeve. Women wear knee-length evening or cocktail dresses. At a traditional wedding, it is customary to appear in Japanese kimonos for both men and women. After the ceremony, guests are allowed to change into more informal outfits.
There is also a ban on black clothes for women at a wedding, as it is the color of mourning. Dresses that bare shoulders are also considered indecent.
Wedding ceremony
In the photo of the Japanese wedding, you can see that the wedding takes place according to all the ancient rules. The ceremony is held in a traditional Shinto temple by the supreme worshiper. The bride enters the temple first, and the bridegroom comes after her. Only a small number of guests are allowed. These may be parents and closest friends.
The newlyweds lay at the altar the branches of the sacred sakaki tree, followed by the tradition of triple ring exchange and the solemn drinking of sake in small sips. A feature of the Japanese wedding is the mutual recitation of oaths before each other.
Unfortunately, today less and less newlyweds resort to weddings in churches. They are limited only to the official ceremony at the places of state registration.
Triumph
After a religious wedding, the traditions of the Japanese wedding involve a lavish banquet. All relatives, work colleagues, friends are invited to it. The average number of guests is 80 people.
At the festive table there are always sake and a wedding cake. Here it’s not customary to dance and there is no leader familiar to Russian people, toasts are pronounced according to a clear schedule drawn up in advance. However, after the official part of the banquet is over, Japanese youth do not mind having fun and singing karaoke.
Gifts
Japanese-style wedding greetings are traditionally made not only by guests, but also by newlyweds. The invitees most often give money, while the bride and groom present each guest with a personal gift that looks like a box of sweets. Since there are many guests at weddings, the money donated is often enough to spend a honeymoon in Hawaii or other islands.
Christian wedding and other
In the modern world, there are often Japanese and Japanese women who profess Christianity, are Catholics. They conduct a classic wedding ceremony in the temple. Costumes are also selected European. This is a classic wedding dress, veil for the bride, a black suit for the groom.
There are representatives of other religions, as well as atheists who choose a wedding ceremony in the European style only because of its external attractiveness. In this case, the ceremony is conducted not by the priest, but by a disguised employee of the agency that organizes the celebration. Fashion for such rituals appeared in the 1980s, after the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.