There are several customs observed at Székely weddings (some old and some new) that you might experience while attending ours. Most of them are accompanied by funny speeches and are aimed to lift the spirits.
Asking out the bride
Traditionally, the wedding starts at the groom's house. Then the groom and participants go to the bride's house to ask for the bride. When asking for the bride, first they show to the groom a young girl, then an old women, and if the groom does not accept them, then they finally show the real bride.
In our case, these will happen both at our house in Székelykeresztúr.
Blocking the road in front of the bride & groom
Those who are not invited to the wedding, they usually block the road of the groom & bride on the way from the bride's house to the church. They ask rather funny and difficult questions, and they let them through only if they answer the questions (impossible in most cases) or give them some drinks and cookies.
Stealing the bride's shoe, the bride's bouquet or the bride herself
This is a very old custom meant to express that if the bride can be stolen, then the groom does not deserve her. Nowadays, it is just for fun and the above three items are popular to be stolen. In return, the groom and bride or their guardians have to carry out funny tasks or give a lot of drinks and cookies to the ones who stole these, in order to get the bride or the items back.
We do not want to get into further details on the tasks or this custom for understandable security reasons :)
Usually at midnight the groom and the bride has to perform a dance. After this dance, the participants also have the chance to dance with the bride, if they generously donate for the newly wedded couple, while the whole crowd is looking at them. Some of them try to use this opportunity to try to steal the bride (not to be taken as an idea though).
Eat, drink & party till you drop
At the end of the day, a Székely wedding is all about eating as much as you can, drinking as much as you can and dancing till you drop. While we might not follow closely the other traditions in all aspects, we will try to make our ancestors proud with strict adherence to this one.
