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Traditional Aboriginal Wedding Ceremony
Not all Aboriginal and Native American weddings are the same. They vary from tribe to tribe, this is a blanket ceremony.
A traditional wedding ceremony takes place in the evening and outside. It is usually outside becuase Father Sky acts as the roof over their heads, which is believed to be the most scared cathedral, and Mother Earth is the floor that supports them through the ceremony. Before the ceremony is to begin, the priest smudges the circle to make it sacred. As each guest enters the circle, they are smudged and they symbolically enter the womb of Mother Earth.
As the wedding party enters the circle, they are also smudged; the bride and groom will also wash their hands which is a sign of purification. Washing of the hands symbolize washing away all the past evils that they have committed and to wash away their past loves The mothers and sisters of the bride and groom hold baskets which will be exchanged between the bride and groom later in the ceremony. The guests of the wedding will then be invited up to the couple and are able to give personal blessings to them. After the community gives their personal blessings to the bride and groom, the blankets are brought up and they will be tied together to symbolize that they will stay together forever.
After the tying of the blankets, the bride and groom will say to each other the Rite of Seven Steps. This is like their vows to each other.
Rite of Seven Steps 01
Groom, Step 1:
O' my beloved, our love has become firm by your walking one with me. Together we will share the responsibilities of the lodge, food and children. May the Creator bless noble children to share. May they live long.
Bride, Step 1:
This is my commitment to you, my husband. Together we will share the responsibility of the home, food and children. I promise that I shall discharge all my share of the responsibilities for the welfare of the family and the children.
Groom, Step 2:
O' my beloved, now you have walked with me the second step. May the Creator bless you. I will love you and you alone as my wife. I will fill your heart with strength and courage: this is my commitment and my pledge to you. May God protect the lodge and children.
Bride, Step 2:
My husband, at all times I shall fill your heart with courage and strength. In your happiness I shall rejoice. May God bless you and our honorable lodge.
Groom, Step 3:
O my beloved, now since you have walked three steps with me, our wealth and prosperity will grow. May God bless us. May we educate our children and may they live long.
Bride, Step 3:
My husband, I love you with single-minded devotion as my husband. I will treat all other men as my brothers. My devotion to you is pure and you are my joy. This is my commitment and pledge to you.
Groom, Step 4:
O' my beloved, it is a great blessing that you have now walked four steps with me. May the Creator bless you. You have brought favor and sacredness in my life.
Bride, Step 4:
O my husband, in all acts of righteousness, in material prosperity, in every form of enjoyment, and in those divine acts such as fire sacrifice, worship and charity, I promise you that I shall participate and I will always be with you.
Groom, Step 5:
O' my beloved, now you have walked five steps with me. May the Creator make us prosperous. May the Creator bless us.
Bride, Step 5:
O my husband, I will share both in your joys and sorrows. Your love will make me very happy.
Groom, Step 6:
O' my beloved, by walking six steps with me, you have filled my heart with happiness. May I fill your heart with great joy and peace, time and time again. May the Creator bless you.
Bride, Step 6:
My husband, the Creator blesses you. May I fill your heart with great joy and peace. I promise that I will always be with you.
Groom, Step 7:
O' my beloved goddess, as you have walked the seven steps with me, our love and friendship have become inseparable and firm. We have experienced spiritual union in God. Now you have become completely mine. I offer my total self to you. May our marriage last forever.
Bride, Step 7:
My husband, by the law of the Creator, and the spirits of our honorable ancestors, I have become your wife. Whatever promises I gave you I have spoken them with a pure heart. All the spirits are witnesses to this fact. I shall never deceive you, nor will I let you down. I shall love you forever.
The traditional wedding food for an Aboriginal Wedding all the people that are attending and involved in the wedding share the four main food that include corn, buffalo meat, berries and water. Along side the four main foods fry bread, squash, beans, venison (deer meat), corn soup, potato soup and many desserts are also served. The food is typically served buffet style and placed on a blanket which it is then blessed. When eating, there is a typical order that the food will served, the Elders first, the bride and groom next, then their sponsors and the remaining guests. At an Aboriginal Wedding no food is ever wasted because it will either be eaten or given to the Elders. In this wedding there is also a wedding cake but the design or flavour depends on the person, tribe or what is in season.
- A comon ceremony between a bride and the groom is to each drink from a vase that was made from by the grooms family, that vase will determine the future of their married life. If the couple can drin outof the vase together sucessfully then they will have a good marrige. If the couple cannot sucessfully drink out of the vase then they will not have a good marrige.
- The idea of devorce is a sparce topic but in the old ways of the Cherokee tribe, to signify a divorce and the man wated to leave the woman he would simply pack his stuff and leave.
- Bridemaids and grooms men serve as guardians to the couple getting married
- In the cherokee tribe the Groom give a cut of deer mean which is to symbolize that they will be good hunters and providers for their family. The bride will sometimes also offer some fry bread to symbolize they she will be a good homemaker and farmer.
Lakota Sioux Flute - Elk's Courting
First nations music.
Kahoot Time
Ruffed Grouse,Partridge, Spring Courtship, Drumming
https://play.kahoot.it/#/?quizId=6870b4e6-0c7d-4384-b4dd-3953b1ad4bcd
Fashion and accessories
Wedding dresses
Traditional First Nations music is singing. Most music has only a melody without harmony, although groups may take turns singing parts of a song back and forth.
The drum represents the voice of the Creator. It speaks of a balance with the natural world, often told in song.
At special ceremonial weddings. Flutes, vocals, and drums are used.
Traditional stringed instruments are rare but some of the instraments that are used include, the mouth bow, the Inuit fiddle (a one-stringed instrument of bark and caribou gut) and the Apache fiddle (a single stringed instrument made from the tubular century plant) used in some traditonal ceremonies.
Native American / First Nation people's wedding dresses can range from very plain, white dresses; to very detailed, traditional dresses covered in tassels and other designs. The couple can choose whether or not they want to have a very traditional or more modern style for their attire.
Traditional dresses
The garments that the bride will wear are woven by the groom and other men in the village. The outfit consist of one large belt often made of leather, two all white robes. The bride will also often wear white buckskin leggings to encourage modesty, and a pair of moccasins. There is also a large blanket used to wrap the outfit during parts of the ceremony.
Mens suits / outfits
The atire of the groom may depend on how traditional or how modern the wedding is, for example the Groom could either wear a ribbon shirt or a formal tux because the wedding is going to be either more formal and traditional or more modern. Traditional Grooms would also have long hair so it would typically be put into two braids on either side of the head.
Since songs and ceremonys were sacred, they had to be protected from exploitation and intrusion. Commercializing them would violate their spiritual integrity.
Many traditionalists held the view that the recording of songs and ceremonies could bring harm to those who allowed that activity and to the culture itself.
Dating and Courtship Rituals
Fun Facts
In traditional Aboriginal dating and courtship, there is a big dance which is called the Crane Dance where all the eligible women would dress up in colourful dresses. The Crane Dance usually lasts for a couple of days. When a man saw a woman who he liked he would then go and talk with his mother. His mother would then go and talk to the mother of the woman in which the man was interested in. Once the mothers have talked, the man is then allowed to visit the lodge of the woman in which he fancied. When the man is invited to the lodge, he goes after everyone in the house is sleeping and finds the room of the woman he fancied an when he finds her he goes into her room with a candle. He wakes her up and illuminates her face and if she likes the way he looks she blows out his candle. Once that happens he is now part of her family.
If the woman does not blow out his flame then the man will have to try and win her favour the next day. This is traditionally done with a Courting Flute. The Flute will be played until the woman comes out of her lodge and he will go again that night with a candle and hope for a different outcome than the night before.