"Giving away" the bride tradition?

[Rascal]

Okay, I’m new and am learning the ropes in these forums. The thread on being “Spousal Subordination” reminded me of this question.

Who knows where the “tradition” of “giving away” the bride started? Since an adolescent, I’ve always thought this was strange (given our current U.S. culture). I think it was around when I became married, that I learned the Catholic church specifically does not do this. Since then this question has always been toiling in my head.

Who has thoughts on this?

 

[LabChick]

Rascal:

Okay, I’m new and am learning the ropes in these forums. The thread on being “Spousal Subordination” reminded me of this question.

Who knows where the “tradition” of “giving away” the bride started? Since an adolescent, I’ve always thought this was strange (given our current U.S. culture). I think it was around when I became married, that I learned the Catholic church specifically does not do this. Since then this question has always been toiling in my head.

Who has thoughts on this?

The tradition was in existence during the early Middle Ages, but it possibly began earlier than that. In the days of arranged marriages, girls were considered to be the property of their fathers.* When it came time for the daughter to marry, her father arranged a groom for her and usually paid the man to take his daughter. He was actually transferring ownership of his daughter to the groom.*

So, the father was literally “giving away” his daughter to her new husband!

As a follow-up…the wedding veil tradition also arose in part from arranged marriages. Often, the grooms didn’t see their brides before they stood at the alter. The veil was used to hide the woman’s face until after they couple was joined - that way, if the groom didn’t like the bride’s looks, he couldn’t back out of the arrangement.