Serbian wedding – Mixture of tradition and modern…

Until the end of the 90s, when you said wedding in Serbia you were always thinking about three days of parting under the big tentthat was rented specially for this great occasion.  And it was not a small tent like in some movies you have seen on the TV. It was going up to 800 or even 1000 guests. The tradition is still kept in a lot of places in the countryside. Not long ago a friend made a wedding for his son. It was in lovely wine region of Topola. They drank 800 liters of red wine and a bit of white – 600 liters ? I will not tell you how much food they ate. Imagine it by yourself ?

The wedding in Serbia is really important part of our lifes. A lot of money is always spent. Even when people don’t have money for this occasion they borrow it or take credit, because the custom is to invite everyone to whom you went to the wedding. And it’s usually a lot of people. The preparations are always very long but everybody is there to help.

The custom is, even if the bride lives with the boyfriend (it is 21th century), that she spends the night in her parents’ home. The next day the groom and his friends are forming a column with cars and going to her home, blowing the horn all the way.

When they come to the home of the bride, they first have to shoot down the apple placed far up on the tree. The groom is shooting with the help of his friends. After shooting it down there is second barrier. Grooms brother has to buy the bride from bride’s brother – it’s a funny custom, anyway the money is going to be spend for the music later.

From here grooms and brides guests are going together to the Church where Christian – Orthodox wedding is taking place. Most of the guests are outside the church waiting to congratulate while the two families are inside. The groom and the bride are standing in front of the altar and the best man and grooms uncle (he is also known as stari svat  – the host of the wedding) behind them, all holding candles.  After the holy matrimony the couple is going out of the Church, where everybody is throwing coins at them – it’s a symbol of future prosperity.

From the Church everybody is getting to the restaurant  or to the tent where everything is already settled for the big party.

Everything is usually in white decorations. There is a big band that plays the music until early in the morning. Everybody is dancing, parting and taking photos so they can have memories of this great day. The most usual dance is Serbian traditional dance called kolo.

But the best atmosphere at the weddings is always made by the trumpet orchestras, that are coming on the scene when the cake is about to be cut around midnight. The light goes down and the thunder of the trumpets is coming in…. Love it. Can’t wait to go to the next wedding ?

 

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