Unity Candle in a marriage ceremony

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GodIsGracious

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Is the unity candle part of the Byzantine marriage rite? (I hope I am asking that correctly. If not, please correct me so I know how to properly say this.)
 
Actually, I have another question and I’ll ask it here instead of starting a new thread.

My boyfriend grew up in, and his family goes to, an eastern rite church. He said that at his sister’s wedding she had this crown of some sort put on her head. I don’t remember if the groom had the same thing done. I did not attend so I’m asking based on what my boyfriend said. (I didn’t know them at the time.)

What is that crown? Is it part of the nuptial rite? what is it supposed to represent? Where did it come from?
 
Indeed. The crowns are the principal symbol of Marriage in the Byzantine tradition. The ring properly refers to the betrothal. In Greek the Sacrament of Marriage is called the Mystery of Crowning.

Song of Solomon 3:11
Come out, you daughters of Zion, and look at King Solomon wearing the crown, the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, the day his heart rejoiced.

Both bride and groom are crowned. The crowns symbolize several things, among them
  1. The are now king and queen of their own realm–their home.
  2. They are crowns of martyrdom, as each should be willing to die to self for the other.
  3. They are anticipations of the crowns to granted in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Frequently, the wedding crowns form the centerpiece of the family’s prayer shrine.
 
I know a wonderful Byzantine priest. He has a great gift shop at his Church, and they have some truly beautiful crowns for weddings. I think it is a beautiful tradition!!

~Liza
 
Admittedly, when I heard about the crown my first reaction, and I told my S.O. this, “That sounds rather pagan.” oops! 😊 Although, dummy me, I didn’t even bother to look up on Google a picture, I automatically pictured a flower type one that you DO see pagans wear. Totally my bad. I just did a Google search on Byzantine wedding crowns and they are NOTHING like what I imagined. Now that I know what they look like, it certainly makes all the difference and they do not look “pagan-like.”

He knows I’m on here asking questions so he asked about the crown during the ceremony since he didn’t really know the meaning or origin, just that it was done.

Incidentally, the impetus for my asking about the unity candle is because he said his sister’s wedding had one at her wedding and then he said, “It’s going back to a traditional original ceremony.” I didn’t think that sounded correct. I told him that I know it’s not part of the Latin Rite (I even looked it up - his cousin’s wedding last year, Latin rite ceremony, they had a unity candle, admittedly, it was annoying to see but then I haven’t even been praciticing so really, I have nothing to say) so I asked here regarding the eastern rite.
 
Cluny said:
Indeed. The crowns are the principal symbol of Marriage in the Byzantine tradition. The ring properly refers to the betrothal. In Greek the Sacrament of Marriage is called the Mystery of Crowning. …
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FWIW, the same is true in the Syriac tradition as well.
 
GodIsGracious said:
Incidentally, the impetus for my asking about the unity candle is because he said his sister’s wedding had one at her wedding and then he said, “It’s going back to a traditional original ceremony.” I didn’t think that sounded correct. I told him that I know it’s not part of the Latin Rite (I even looked it up - his cousin’s wedding last year, Latin rite ceremony, they had a unity candle, admittedly, it was annoying to see but then I haven’t even been praciticing so really, I have nothing to say) so I asked here regarding the eastern rite.
Click to expand...
The “unity candle” is an invention - it has no place in a Catholic Mass.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_candle

~Liza
 
GodIsGracious said:
Admittedly, when I heard about the crown my first reaction, and I told my S.O. this, “That sounds rather pagan.” oops! 😊 Although, dummy me, I didn’t even bother to look up on Google a picture, I automatically pictured a flower type one that you DO see pagans wear. Totally my bad. I just did a Google search on Byzantine wedding crowns and they are NOTHING like what I imagined. Now that I know what they look like, it certainly makes all the difference and they do not look “pagan-like.”
Click to expand...
The Eparchy of St Josephat in Parma for the Ukrainians has put out a DVD on the major sacraments of the Byantine Rite… the crowns used in the marriage shown are floral!

Different byzantines use different styles of crown for Crowning in Marriage, and slightly different handling of them, too.

The other Eastern Churches differ as well, but again, Copts and Ge’ez all use crowning in marriage. I’ve seen photos of both.
 
Ditto for the Malankara Church, interestingly we do not use actual crowns, but a Cross Pendant with chain is used in our Marriage Rites and the priest-celebrant uses it to draw a Crown upon the heads of the couple being married.
 
I’ve seen crowns.

I’ve seen floral or evergreen wreaths.

I’ve seen beaded silk bands.

In a picture of an Orthodox wedding in Indonesia, they were adorned with peacock feathers!

They are all called “crowns.”
 
I don`t think unity candles have any place at a Catholic Mass either but I have seen them in a couple Catholic weddings lately.
 
Here’s a YouTube Video of part of the Malankara Bethrothal and Wedding Rites. This bishop is Orthodox, but the exact same Wedding Liturgy is practiced by the Syro-Malankara Catholics.

youtube.com/watch?v=Ns0C_rBTY6o

The bishop initially prays in (West) Syriac, but reads the Gospel in Malayalam, then prays the Crowning prayers in Syriac and Malayalam (notice that he draws the crowns upon the heads of the couple with the Cross Pendant). [Unfortunately, this choir is irritatingly grating on the ears with their musical “style”, and is not indicative of traditional Malankara music].
 
kitkatty said:
I don`t think unity candles have any place at a Catholic Mass either but I have seen them in a couple Catholic weddings lately.
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I never heard of it before now. 🙂 Does anyone know how this got started?

Is some monastery selling these things?
 
This whole “Unity Candle” thing is new to me. Never heard of it before. Could it be some sort of new age variation on the ribbons?
 
Well for this Byzantine I guess it would be the old country, Dad`s family lived there on their way to Michigan.
 
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