Scots-Irish Wedding Traditions

My mother's family is more on the Celtic side of things. I figured I should see what they have going too!

Although I did at one point try to be a red-head, most of my relatives have dark hair like me.

Please ignore pubescent acne.

My brother owns a kilt and plaid, but I think the only times he ever wears them are if he decides to hit up Ren Faire.

I'm way better at archery than him, which makes exactly one sport I can say that about.

But I digress. On with the traditions!

The first one I read might also be my favorite. It's certainly made me laugh the most. Apparently in Donegal a man could go to the house of a girl he was interested in and throw his hat into the house. If she threw it back, she wasn't interested. I'm just picturing a tam or similar come frisbee-ing out the door.

Another good one from the Ireland side is the mother in law breaking bread over the bride's head. It's supposed to signify that the bride is the new woman of the house. But what if you have lived in your own house for years? I'm totally trying to picture Mama Wolf doing this and I keep imagining her actually bopping me on the head with the bread, which I'm not sure is right.

The ideal woman in Irish culture was, and I quote, "one with a pleasant speaking voice, a sweet singing voice, good sewing skills, cleverness and if possible virginity." Three out of five isn't too bad, is it?

Now let's move across the water to Scotland to see what they're up to.

We all know "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue", but there's another part to the rhyme, "and a sixpence in her shoe". Is that for cab fare if she bails? Actually, my dad is interested in coin collecting.  

It's too bad they stopped making them before I was born. It would be cool to have one from my birth year.

It was good luck to hide white heather in the bride's bouquet. I don't know yet if I'm doing a traditional bouquet, but I might like to add this.

The Wedding Scramble: The couple (or the bride's father) throws a handful of coins for kids to scramble for, kind of like after the breaking of the pinata. 

Photo courtesy of Ambaile

The Lang Reel: The whole community starts dancing. As couples reach their own homes, they leave, with the bride and groom as the last ones dancing.

I quite like some of these. Of course, a lot of it is up to Mr. Wolf. I know I wouldn't get him to do the tradition where his feet are smeared with grease, ash and soot, even if I wanted to!




All info comes from Gaelic Matters and Visit Scotland