Tradition of the consummation ceremony

Wedding traditions range from precious to archaic and strange. If I say the words, “wedding night,” what comes to mind? In today’s Western cultures, couples work to create a special romantic destination that’s both special and memorable. But that wasn’t always the case. Just a few hundred years ago, the tradition of the bedding ceremony, also known as the consummation ceremony was a wedding night celebration that included witnesses…sometimes a gallery of witnesses. 

Consummation meaning

 

In Webster’s 1818 Dictionary, the definition of the word “consummation” in relation to marriage is “the most intimate union of the sexes, which completes the connubial relation.” Today’s Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “the act of making a marriage or romantic relationship complete by having sex.” The consummation ceremony provided witness to this act.

The Consummation Ceremony

The purpose of the consummation ceremony was to confirm the consummation of the marriage. According to Eric Metaxas, author of Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World, “Sixteenth-century marriages in Germany were typically two-stage affairs. There was first a small ceremony with a handful of witnesses and then a larger event with a church procession and guests from out of town. But the initial event was capped with the consummation of the marriage, so the marriage—actually called the Kopulation, which is etymologically related to the more anodyne word “couple”—was in fact consummated before the wedding.” If the consummation didn’t take place, then there was no wedding. Today, we think of things the other way around. Marriage ceremony, THEN the consummation of the marriage. But back them the consummation came first—in full view of the witnesses. In most traditions, these witnesses included family, friends, and neighbors.

 

According to historian, Alison Weir, this consummation ritual was also practiced by the royals in in medieval times. “The royal newlyweds were put to bed by their wedding guests, toasted, and then blessed by a bishop or priest.” Historian Lucy Worseley elaborates further saying the “room would have been full of people cheering them on.”

What prompted me to look deeper into this topic is that Martin Luther (a former monk) and his wife Kathie (a former nun) took part in their betrothal night consummation with witnesses in the room. Among their witnesses were Luther’s closest friend, Justus Jonas, a man by the name of Lucas Cranach and his wife, Barbara, who Kathie lived with before the wedding, as well as another local friend named John Apel who was chosen by the university to serve as the “official witness” to the marriage. In Luther’s day, they considered the marriage bed to be holy, and celebrated in the consummation with a joy shared by all present.

In general, witnesses of the bedding ceremony watched the bride and groom upon their wedding bed from within the room. Sometimes, the witnesses left just before the actual consummation, but in other cases people circled the bed to be sure the consummation was clearly viewed. In some situations, witnesses observed the couple from an observation deck above the bed. Can you imagine!

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Source: Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World

 

Photo credits: Wikipedia, wikimedia, wikipedia