Modern Viking weddings are trending, along with Viking wedding clothes, wedding feasts and more, but when you look at Viking wedding traditions historically, I have to ask: Could you be a Viking Bride? Before you answer that, let’s take a closer look at what they went through.
Viking brides didn’t plan the wedding
Could you stand back and let others plan your wedding without you? The Viking bride’s wedding coordinators and planners
were family. She didn’t have any real say in it, not even for the actual marriage ceremony.
And as for that ceremony, if you aren’t one for rituals, you wouldn’t cut it as a Viking bride, because in
the Viking tradition, each marriage ritual was deemed necessary. Why?
Because they were essential to earn the blessings of the gods. This was vital,
even down to the day of the week chosen for the wedding. Viking marriages were performed on Fridays because
in the Norse religion that was a sacred day to the goddess of marriage.
Viking Marriage – A Union of Families not Just Couples
For Viking brides, the wedding and the preparation
leading to it was a long process. While that's still the case for many weddings today, the Viking wedding wasn’t just about the union of a man and
woman--it was about the union of families with long-lasting legal consequences.
So if you are an independent sort that likes to keep your private life private, you wouldn’t make a good Viking bride
because this meant numerous negotiations to determine the “terms” of the
marriage which were formally agreed to through legal delegates. This included
details like the bride’s dowry, and the groom’s financial holdings and
properties. So instead of the bride really having a say, the groom’s family
and their delegates were the ones who carried proposals with beneficial terms for the marriage to
the bride’s family. On top of this, sometimes, when the dowry
was paid, an animal sacrifice was necessary. So if you're an animal lover, probably not a candidate for being a Viking bride. The animals used were associated
with gods related to fertility.
- For the god Thor (associated with fertility): a goat
- For the god Freyr (associated with virility and prosperity): a boar or horse
- For the goddess Freyja (along with war, death she was associated with love, sex, beauty, fertility, and gold): a sow
Bathhouse Ritual for the Viking Bride
Before the wedding, Viking brides and grooms were
separated so they could get rid of their former “selves” before coming together
as husband and wife. For the bride, this required a ritual involving her
“maidenhood.” The bride’s mother, married sisters and other married female
relatives and friends were involved in this ritual which included removing everything
that symbolized her “maiden” standing. For instance, the circlet worn in the
hair of Scandinavian girls that symbolized their virginity was removed (and
stored for the bride’s future daughter).
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| The bride's long hair expressed her sexual allure |
No Special Wedding Gown
Viking brides didn’t wear an ornate or special dress. Instead
the emphasis was on her hair and the wedding crown. What’s interesting is why
the hair was the focus. It turns out that in the Viking culture, the hair
expressed the bride’s sexual allure and the longer her hair, the better. So if
you have short hair or even shoulder length hair, what message would you be
sending as a Viking bride? I guess there’s always hair extensions. As for the bridal crown, it was most often a family
heirloom crafted of silver.
So could you be a Viking bride? Not able to plan your
wedding, forced to hammer out financial terms as two families rather than two
individuals, living totally separate and not seeing each other as you got rid
of your “old self” and on top of all that, no wedding dress but rather wearing
long hair to express your sexual allure! I do like the idea of modern
Viking-themed weddings but as for the rituals from the past? That’s where they
belong.
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Photo credits: Amazon, Johannes Gehrts, Wikimedia
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