Mexican Wedding Customs at Mass

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AmandaCatherine

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Hi Everyone!

I am curious if anyone has ever seen the Lazo rosary or arras coin customs used in a wedding mass? I am going to be married in July, and my fiance is half Mexican. I would like to incorporate some of that culture into our wedding and I especially like the rosary idea. Both of us have a strong devotion to the Blessed Mother, and we already planned to include giving a bouquet to Mary in our mass. He has never seen the Lazo or coins used at any of his relatives’ weddings, and the past two generations don’t even speak Spanish anymore, but I think it would be nice to honor his heritage in that way.

If you have seen this, where does it happen in the mass?

Thank you for your (name removed by moderator)ut! 🙂
 
I have seen this.

Usually it is the Uncle of the Bride who puts the Lasso ( yes a rope Lasso like in the cowboy movies) around the couple. The Uncle repeats a short prayer that the union will last. I saw this in Houston and also in the Valley of Texas. Coins are placed in the Brides hand and in the Grooms pocket. There is no rosary in this Mexican tradition.

When does it occur. After the marriage is over. It will occur just before the couple turns to walk out.
 
Do you think it would be weird to include it in our wedding? I was wondering, since his family is proud of being Mexican but they are very assimilated, the come from Chicago and have lived there since immigrating 3 generations ago. My heritage is German/English/Swedish, and I look it–I get nicknamed “the Viking”, and he is tall but very dark. (I can only wonder what our kids will be like!) It might look funny to have the Lazo thing, and above all I don’t want some artificial thing that looks silly. We are having Tex-Mex and mariachi for our reception! It will be funny to see both sides interact.

🙂
 
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Exporter:
I have seen this.

Usually it is the Uncle of the Bride who puts the Lasso ( yes a rope Lasso like in the cowboy movies) around the couple. The Uncle repeats a short prayer that the union will last. I saw this in Houston and also in the Valley of Texas. Coins are placed in the Brides hand and in the Grooms pocket. There is no rosary in this Mexican tradition.

When does it occur. After the marriage is over. It will occur just before the couple turns to walk out.
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Amanda - my Mexican husband and I had a full-blown traditional Mexican nuptial Mass, complete with the rito de las arras, el lasso, and everything. Feel free to PM me with any questions.

I have to disagree with Exporter, although I don’t doubt his experiences; they sound like “Tex-Mex” modifications. In authentic Mexican custom, these rites take place immediately after the vows; the rubrics of the nuptial Mass allow for cultural symbols, rites etc. to be manifested at this point.

Also, it is generally the godparents who drape the lasso (we had my husband’s sister and my godmother do it) and the lasso itself is customarily a very large rosary (a “beaded lasso”).
The coins, furthermore, are given by the groom to the bride; they don’t both have them.

These are beautiful symbols, although the arras custom is a little paternalistic; we made some adaptions in order to use the 13 heirloom coins that have come down in our family; again, PM me!

I’m going to sound like a cultural snob here, but if you’re going to use traditional customs (especially if the Mexican side of your family is assimilated as you say) do them right! I’d be glad to help if I can.

Congrats!.
 
We have many Mexican Weddings at our church and the Lasso and coins are very much a part of them, along with bringing flowers to statue of Our Lady Of Guadalupe. It is such a beautiful ceremony. We have these traditions after the vows. I hope that you continue in this tradition.

Deacon Tony
 
madendem, Thank you for the traditional Mexican Wedding ceremony.

I will agree that the Mexican Weddings I have seen were of third generation Mexicans. And yes they were mostly in deep South Texas . They did it like they wanted to I suppose. So it’s very possible there are variations deep in Mexico. One of those weddings was the wedding of one of my sons.
👋
 
Thank you all for the information! My fiance likes the idea so when we have our meeting with the priest this evening we are going to discuss it. I found pictures of the lasso rosary on the internet so I am going to make one myself. I like making rosaries, and maybe this one will become a family heirloom!

I guess the wedding guests will be surprised by the coins and rosary thing. My side of the family is all Protestant, so they will think that all Catholic weddings have them! 😉

I was very glad to hear from people that had seen these rituals, since I just read about them on a wedding planning site I found by searching for wedding customs. Hopefully the priest will know about it. He was the pastor of a Hispanic parish before he came to ours.

🙂
 
These customs are used at many weddings here in South Texas but there is as much variation as you can imagine, depending on whether the families are very assimilated or have retained their language, culture and customs. This incidentally has not a lot to do with how long they have been here, remember this was Mexico before it was Texas or USA. the Mexican American Cultural Center in San Antonion (MACC) can help you with the specifics of these customs, also quince anos and other customs. (can’t do the diacritical marks on this editor, sorry)
 
A priest friend told of conducting a wedding which included the lasso. The groom had been fasting too long and passed out. Everyone was busy attending to him and it was some moments before anyone noticed that the lasso was still around the bride’s neck and slowly strangling her. So be careful. 😉
 
The lazo can take the form of a rosary but not always; my parent’s lazo was a rope covered in *azahares *(orange blossoms). Many people will have unofficial *padrinos *(godparents) for the different customs: the lazo, the arras, etc. It’s a way of building social bonds and common in Mexican culture.
 
Does anyone know of any books or articles written that explain the origins and significance of these symbols, and exactly, step by step,how and when they should be done within the liturgy. I am a Catholic priest, and not of Mexican background; and it seems that every time I have a wedding rehearsal, I get different explanations. Of course, people are trying to describe what they may or may not have seen at various weddings they’ve attended.
The symbols I’ve seen include the arras, the bible and rosary, the velas (involving the padrinos de velacion), the lasso, and the flowers for Mary.
 
AmandaCatherine said:
Hi Everyone!

I am curious if anyone has ever seen the Lazo rosary or arras coin customs used in a wedding mass? I am going to be married in July, and my fiance is half Mexican. I would like to incorporate some of that culture into our wedding and I especially like the rosary idea. Both of us have a strong devotion to the Blessed Mother, and we already planned to include giving a bouquet to Mary in our mass. He has never seen the Lazo or coins used at any of his relatives’ weddings, and the past two generations don’t even speak Spanish anymore, but I think it would be nice to honor his heritage in that way.

If you have seen this, where does it happen in the mass?

Thank you for your (name removed by moderator)ut! 🙂
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I’m Filipino (and thus Christianized by Spain like Mexico) and we have those arras coins during wedding. There is a particular part in Mass where all the other symbolic parts come in, like the putting on the veil, rope, lighting of candles, etc. Its also part of the wedding procession, you would need a coin bearer (male). It will be part of the Rite of Matrimony.
 
ConstantineTG said:
I’m Filipino (and thus Christianized by Spain like Mexico) and we have those arras coins during wedding. There is a particular part in Mass where all the other symbolic parts come in, like the putting on the veil, rope, lighting of candles, etc. Its also part of the wedding procession, you would need a coin bearer (male). It will be part of the Rite of Matrimony.
Click to expand...
I believe the OP is a married woman with children now. I am curious as to how her wedding was and what traditions she used. However, her signature says that she is expecting a baby in 2009, so it appears as though she does not frequent the forums anymore. Funny, this is the second 6 year old resurrected thread I’ve seen about her wedding.
 
I read that it started in spain where the madrina(godmother) give a set of 13 gold coins
( representing Christ and the twelve apostles) to the bridegroom giving them to the bride
say I give you this aras in representation of care that I will have to always provide and take care of you to the best of my abilities. The Bride say I receive this aras in representation of
the care that I will have in managing our finances.

In the ceremony
The coins are presented to the priest by a friend or relative. The priest then blesses the coins and hands them to the bride who places them in the grooms cupped hands at the beginning of the ceremony. The coins are then placed on a tray and handed to an assistant to be held until later in the ceremony. Near the end of the ceremony the box and coins are given to the priest who places the coins in the box and hands them to the groom.

I did almost 30yrs ago so I don’t remember that well, the good thing now is that usually
everyone now has a video of their wedding now
God Bless
 
anp1215 said:
I believe the OP is a married woman with children now. I am curious as to how her wedding was and what traditions she used. However, her signature says that she is expecting a baby in 2009, so it appears as though she does not frequent the forums anymore. Funny, this is the second 6 year old resurrected thread I’ve seen about her wedding.
Click to expand...
LOL, sometimes you miss things like that :D:D:D
 
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