Today, there are many options for holding a wedding celebration. Someone, following Western traditions, prefers to conduct field registrations. Someone wants to spend this holiday only in a close circle. However, most newlyweds and their families still prefer the traditional version with a festive feast and a large number of guests.
In addition to the scope of the celebration, a traditional wedding is characterized by a large number of ritualswhich are performed both by the young spouses themselves, and by invited friends and relatives. Showering the bride and groom with petals and coins, throwing a bouquet, stealing the bride - all these actions have remained popular for many decades. And one of the most symbolic and beautiful traditions is the lighting of the family hearth.
Features of the tradition
The ignition of the hearth is really a very touching action for all participants and guests. Parents of the newlyweds from their candles light a new candle, passing a piece of comfort to their children. The light in the hands of the bride and groom symbolizes the formation of a new family, the fate of which is now responsible for the grown children. Most often, the ritual of lighting a home hearth is unreasonably attributed to a story dating back to ancient times. From the parents' house, open fire was brought into the young's house, and from it the furnace was first melted.
In fact, this ritual has not lived for more than a hundred years, and no ritual of the transfer of fire before this at weddings existed.
Some associate the lit candles of young parents with candles from a wedding ceremony in the church. Indeed, during the religious ceremony, the young hold long thin candles in their hands at the time when the wedding prayers are being read. However, even in this case, lighting a candle at a celebration has no connection with the Christian wedding. Moreover, despite the lack of a rich history, such a ritual is of considerable importance in the schedule of the holiday, and special attention is always paid to it. The closest thing is to light a hearth of a new family can be compared with the parental blessing that loving children receive before binding themselves in marriage. So the marriage union receives unofficial confirmation and acceptance by all families of relatives and friends.
Candle selection and decoration
Modern weddings rarely take place in the home of the groom or bride. Most often, a restaurant, cafe or even a whole country club is rented for the celebration. And the family hearth in modern city apartments is more a symbol than a real stove or fireplace, which gives warmth and allows you to cook for households. As such a symbol is a lit candle, which can be purchased at a wedding salon or made independently.
The fragile light, lit in the twilight, gives a moment of trepidation and mystery, as befits such a ritual. At least 3 candles must participate in it: one for the young and one for the parents of the bride and groom. In addition, you can distribute small candles to guests, many flickering lights illuminating the couple will be an excellent background for memorable photos. Despite the fact that there are no strict rules for the purchase of attributes, there are some recommendations that are better taken into account when buying.
The focus of the young should be larger than that of the parents, or have a more magnificent decoration.
Most often, this is an ordinary round candle of large diameter with a height of about 15-20 cm. Moreover, the shape of the hearth can be absolutely any and limited only by the imagination of the wedding designer or the young ones themselves.
Some people prefer other, no less beautiful rituals to light candles. You can replace a regular hearth, for example, with a beautiful transparent vase, in which parents and newlyweds pour colored sand. Such a vase will look great in the interior of a bedroom or living room and remind spouses of the holiday. Some plant a tree or flower, symbolizing the emergence of a new cell in society. Another beautiful rite of parental blessing, which replaces the traditional ritual, is the connection of the groom’s hand with the bride’s hand, which is held by the parents. In this case, the wrists of lovers are tied with many colored ribbons.
After the ceremony, the bride and groom and parents will return to their places, so it is best to put out the candles. If there is a desire to leave candles burning during the continuation of the holiday, you must pre-attend to the purchase of three candlesticks. On one will be a candle of the newlyweds, and on the other two - candles of their parents.
Such accessories should also be combined in style and design, both among themselves and with the rest of the wedding decor.
It will be most convenient to light a hearth with long thin sticks, so it is best not to choose curly or too small candles for parents. Do not raise the decor, it is better to limit yourself to the lower part of the accessory, as thin candles burn faster, and synthetic ribbons and plastic are highly inflammable. Openwork carved candles look beautiful, but they are very difficult to make without the appropriate experience. It is best to purchase such blanks already cut and decorate them yourself.
If the choice of candles in the store is not happy, you can independently make all the necessary accessories. Candles are decorated with beads and rhinestones, ribbons and lace, bows and small plastic figures.
Monograms are engraved on pliable wax or paraffin in the form of the first letters of the names of young people or in the form of wedding rings.There are many workshops on the network for the original design of such wedding compositions. All three candles should be decorated in the same style, while the main one of them remains the candle of the bride and groom. It needs to be decorated more luxuriantly, it should be slightly larger than the parental candles and more visible. The hearth, made by the joint efforts of the bride and groom, will not only bring the young family closer together, but will subsequently evoke more tender feelings in them than the finished accessory bought in the salon. Beautiful design can be done by following a small step by step instructions.
- Draw or print a small heart on a piece of paper, cut it out with scissors.
- Attach the cut figure to the candle and gently circle it with a thick needle around the edge so that a noticeable line remains on paraffin or wax.
- Lay out beautiful large beads or small beads along or along the line, stick artificial flowers.
- Inside the heart, you can draw the first letters of the name of the bride and groom with a needle, and also decorate them with decor.
- Tie the bottom of the candle with a satin ribbon and make a beautiful bow.
- Similarly, but with less decor, decorate the parent candles.
You should not postpone the preparation of candles until the last evening before the ceremony, but you should not do them for several months. Wax or paraffin is too malleable, easy to deform, and all glued beads can fall from it. In addition, bright sunlight or intense heat can further soften and even melt the material. It is best to do the decoration 1-2 weeks before the ceremony and store the accessories in a special box in a dark, cool place.
On how to make candles for the family hearth with your own hands, see the following video.
The subtleties of conducting
The wedding is most often answered by a person specially hired for this, who is called the host. Each leader can have his own ideas about the intricacies of the ceremonial ritual, however, the general principle of its conduct remains always the same. Parents of young people are invited to the center of the hall, to whom two long twisted candles are handed. The right to light a family hearth is traditionally given to mothers, since in the traditional culture, the preservation of comfort and warmth at home is a female role.
At the same time, fathers can contribute to the ongoing ceremony during the lighting of these candles. Men match or lighter ignite the wicks and pass the candles into female hands. The mothers of the bride and groom together bring their own to the largest candle and pass fire from them, setting fire to the wick.
The hearth itself at this time is in the hands of one bride or both spouses. At the end of the ritual, young people can leave the burning hearth on a special tray or candlestick or put it on the table with gifts.
To increase the time of the ritual and its solemnity, you can additional dance of the young or lighting many smaller candles from the hearth. Everyone can take small candles and surround the young. The bride and groom will take turns approaching the guests and sharing the fire of their hearth, lighting their lights. This action means that the bride opens her house and her heart to the relatives of her newly-made spouse. Such a ceremony will look especially solemn at dusk, so it is better to postpone it to the end of the whole event.
What do they say during the ceremony?
To properly conduct the ceremony of lighting a new hearth, one beautiful candle is not enough. Firstly, it is advisable for the presenter to talk about the tradition of lighting such a hearth. This can be done in poetic form, in the form of a parable or just to talk about a beautiful and symbolic action. Secondly, before lighting a candle in the hands of the spouses, parents can tell them parting words and wishes. Candles must be kept neatly, brought to each other slowly enough so that the fire on them does not go out from the movement of air.A hearth that goes out for a wedding is considered a bad omen and, even if the spouses are not superstitious, it can upset them with unnecessary fuss.
Finally, after the family hearth has been lit, the newlyweds can pronounce wedding vows if they have not yet been pronounced during the registration of marriage. In addition, the bride and groom can say thanks to their parents and other guests. The ritual is best accompanied by a beautiful melody selected in advance. It is worth choosing soft and calm music so that guests can hear every word of parental blessing and the response words of the bride and groom. Such an action will be a beautiful end to the whole event and a great end to the holiday for young people.
What to do with the hearth after the ceremony?
According to traditions, the candle of a new family hearth should be kept by spouses for all subsequent years of marriage. It symbolizes the understanding and love of the couple. Some light this symbol every year for a few minutes on the wedding anniversary date, others prefer to maintain a hearth for more memorable dates. For example, such a date could be the birth of a baby or a wedding anniversary. A beautiful tradition will be the lighting of the hearth of young from the candles of their parents, who have preserved a happy marriage for many years. In this case, you may have to slightly redo the old design so that all the candles are decorated in the same style.
The symbolic ritual will look great on photos in the family album. The main thing is to choose and warn the wedding photographer or the operator who is shooting right. They must be prepared in advance for video and photos in a darkened room lit only by candles. This will allow you to get clear photos that can not only be placed on the album, but also make a portrait out of them. The picture can be hung on the wall or given to parents of young people.
