10 Old Wedding Traditions You Didn't Know Existed

In Case He Forgot

Here is a tradition, recorded in 1921, shared as far apart in the world as “White Russia” (now Belarus) and among native Colombians. Beating the groom and ordering him to make love to his new wife, now. In Belarus, the groom’s best man follows the couple into the bedroom, waits until they’re under the covers, beats his friend with a whip and yells, “Look at each other, kiss, and embrace! FAST!” In old Colombia, the whip-man follows the couple to their marital hut and yells at the groom, “TAKE THE WOMAN!” and then beats him with a whip; the same whip which, coincidentally, the tribe uses for funerals. It does not say what they use it for at funerals. I thought it better not to know.