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History of the Maltese Wedding III – Wedding Day

After the arrangements for the marriage to come were made during ir-rabta, it would soon be time to exchange vows. A peasant wedding would be a quiet, low-key affair, but if the couple getting married came from money, the wedding procession to the church would be a sight to behold. To start with, everyone would go to church on foot. Whenever a carriage would be used to transport the bridal troupe, it would often be mistaken for a funerary procession!

In his study of local customs Zwieg, Twelid u Mewt (Marriage, Birth and Death), Guido Lanfranco provides a detailed report of the components of the bridal troupe. A group of musicians and singers would be at the head, singing flattering songs praising the couple. They would be followed by a man carrying the wine and candles which would be used in the ceremony. Two other men would be carrying a large dish each on their heads, one bearing a cake with figures of the groom and bride on top, while the other would be laden with sweets and pastries, as well as an embroidered handkerchief in the shape of a pyramid. Another man would throw some nuts and coins into the street, which poor street children would scrabble and tussle for, while yet another member of the bridal procession would be carrying a vase with lit herbs as a symbol of spirituality and goodwill.

The bride would be next, accompanied by her father under a baldakkin, a grand ceremonial canopy held by relatives or close family friends. “Girls from poor families would sometimes have funds raised for them by the Order of St John, or by a local fraternity, in order to give them a decent dowry and wedding day. They would be accompanied by a representative of the respective fellowship under the baldakkin. However, use of the baldakkin was outlawed in the mid-seventeenth century, when the Archbishop declared that its use should be restricted only for sacramental processions and eminent ecclesiastical figures,” Mr Lanfranco notes. The bride would be followed by guests and other wedding singers. Many weddings used to take place on a Sunday morning during the 8 o’clock mass, although it wasn’t uncommon for wedding masses to be held even earlier than that!

It’s worth noting that while most brides in Malta wear a shade of white or ivory on their big day, this custom only started becoming widespread in the mid-nineteenth century, and up until the early twentieth century, it was still common for brides to wear a smart outfit in another colour, with wine and black being popular choices. Many of the guests wore black too. The traditional Maltese ghonnella was a bridal wear staple up until the 1950s.

Next in the series: The wedding reception

IMAGE CREDITS

Illustration by Guido Lanfranco from Zwieg, Twelid u Mewt (Wise Owl Publications, 2011)