Ancient Roman wedding customs
...tting a wedding date was considered one of the most important elements to ensure a positive marriage. The most popular month was June, considered the lucky month because June is named after Juno the goddess of marriage and protector of women. Dress: The brides were dressed in a simple white woven tunic or tunica recta, belted with a length of elaborate rope called the ‘knot of Hercules’( Hercules was the guardian of wedded life). Men would be dressed in a formal toga, used for special occasions. Their hair would be elaborately arranged, it was common to have lengths of iron shaped around the hair to drive out evil spirits that may have lived in the hair. Her hair was then covered in a flammeum, a vividly colored veil usually either yellow orange or red. The use of the bright colours was meant to symbolize fire and thus scaring away any evil spirits, the shoes the bride wore matched the veil. Dowry: The dowry was a means of sharing the cost of setting up a new family. It was also a way of ensuring that woman always had a way of taking care of herself if her husband died or they had a divorce. If her husband died or if they divorced the dowry was returned to her. The law permitted the husband to retain a sixth of the dowry if his wife had committed adultery. He could also retain an extra sixth of the dowry for each of their children who continued to live in his household after the divorce. Wedding ceremony: At the wedding ceremony gifts were exchanged between the two families and the bride’s dowry was agreed on. The ceremony took place at the home of the bride’s family when the brides parents handed her over to her new husband there was a verbal exchange along the lines of: ‘Quando tu Gaius, ego Gaia’ (When and where you are Gaius, I then and there am Gaia), its origin is from the lucky meaning of Gaius’s name. After those words of consent the bride and groom would sit facing the alter on stools, an offering would be made to Jupiter by the priest, which usually consisted of cake. The newly married couple would then ‘seal the deal’ with a kiss and sign the tabulae nuptials (marriage contract). Congratulations from family and friends followed and a form...