PROJECT ON TRADITIONAL WEDDINGS IN SOME

NEIGHBOURHOODS OF CÓRDOBA

Nowadays there are many customs and superstitions in the south of Spain associated with weddings that have no relation with those held fifty years ago.

A wedding was a social event for the whole village or the neighbourhood, since most people were invited. Nowadays things have changed quite a lot, the couple just invite their family and friends in salons, not in houses.

If we refer to the wedding itself, it has changed as well. Weddings used to be celebrated in the bride and bridegroom´s parents´ homes., whereas now, it is in salons.

The proposal, called "El Sí" fifty years ago, took place between mother and mother in law; men did not have a say in the matter. It was a great party for all the family, even women wore "mantillas" for this ocassion. There was a saying for the proposal:

The groom´s mother asked

"Aquí vengo a pedir la mano de tu hija para mi hijo (groom´s name)"

The bride´s mother answered

"Si ellos son conformes, concedida la tienes"

Then, the groom gave a present to the bride.

Some of the "superstitions" that are current today in Spain are those related

to the bride wearing something old, something blue and something borrowed, or not being seen by the groom in her wedding dress before the ceremony, and as I said before they were not held fifty years ago, when the influence of the mass media did not exist.

The changes in the present wedding customs may be due to the influence of the English speaking countries introduced in ours, possibly as a result of the growing expansion of the massive media, above all the television and the cinema, for example the Hollywood films

Most couples got married in their twenties, after a few years of dating.

Most of them were neighbours or lived in the same village. Weddings even took place among relatives

There were some couples who got married by proxy, since the bridegroom was living abroad. This was normal taking into account that there were many people who, after the war, emigrated to foreign countries, like France, Germany, etc

The couple used to go to the church walking or in taxi, since at that time just few poeple owned a car

Most brides were dressed entirely in white which meant that they were virgins, however, when a woman was pregnant or in mourning, she dressed in black. Depending on the family the bridegroom’s father paid for the bride’s dress

In the celebration there were around fifty or sixty guests maximum because most of the time the party was held at a relative’s house, except if the couple belonged to a high class and lived in a town that it was celebrated in a hotel.

We cannott forget that there were no hotels in villages to celebrate weddings, so everybody celebrated their wedding in houses.

As the celebrations were in houses and there wasn’t much money, the family invited the guests to cakes and drinks.

In the case that the family was wealthy and belonged to a higher class, things were bit different because the food was abundant and varied.

If the family was very wealthy, at that time, the groom contributed to the marriage with the guest room and the dining room and the bride contributed with the rest of the furniture apart from bringing her trousseau. Most women used to make their own one.

THE TROUSSEAUTHE TROUSSEAU

As most couples didn´t have much money to travel, they usually didn’t go on a honeymoon. Just a few of them were able to travel.

After one or two years of marriage they had their first child. In Spain in the 60’s there was no TV in the houses and couples didn’t use birth control methods.