Croatian Wedding Traditions

gibberish

I've been searching online for some Croatian wedding traditions that we could incorporate in our wedding, I'm croatian and FI is Australian, but in all the weddings I've attended there weren't any traditions except for the rosemary or the dance with the bride, and there is not a lot of information online =(Does anyone know of any others?I also know of shot in the receiving line and the groom and groomsmen trying to "buy" the bride...are there any others?

Jack's_Mama

I know you posted this in April, but I just found your post while looking for Croatian wedding traditions for my wedding next year! I thought I'd let you know what I've found! My grandmother is Croatian and I wanted to honor our heritige a bit too - It's true, there aren't many solid "Croatian" wedding traditions other than the rosemary, the dance, and the drinking. Since the country has close neighboring territories, there are many similar traditions between Yugoslavia, Serbia, Bosnia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, and so on. And when everyone came to America, the traditions changed depending on each family too. But I found a few things that could be considered Croatian traditions in general. One I've heard is about the groom and the wedding party. In all fun and games of course, the parents and family of the bride are suppose to make it difficult for the groom to get to the ceremony. Kind of creating obstacles and pulling and pushing I guess. I've never seen this first hand, but I'm sure it could either turn out really silly or someone would end up getting hurt! It's suppose to symbolize his love and devotion, overcoming anything to be with you! I'm going to have Poviticia as a part of my dessert buffet. It's a traditional Croatian dessert bread. It's easy to make too if your a DIY bride! It's almost like cinnamon rolls, except with filings of walnuts, cocoa, strawberry, orange peel, or hazelnut. There's also Puhance. It's supposedly like another bread-like dish. But I don't know what it looks like or how to make it! After the ceremony, all the women are suppose to take your veil off and replace it with a bonnet or scarf, and dance around you while singing a certain song (Sorry, can't remember what my grandma called it!) It's suppose to symbolize your transformation from "single" bride, to faithful house wife. The apple tradition with the well is very "old country." All of the guests walk three times around a well which represents the holy trinity, and throw apples into it, to ensure the newlywed's fertility. I'm sneekily adding apples in water in honor of that tradition by making green apple centerpieces in tall cylindrical vases of water! And the last one, which most people don't do anymore, is playing the tamburitza for the circle dance called the "kolo." But again, I don't know much about that either. čestitka na tvoj vjenčanje!

gibberish

The apples in vases is a brilliant idea!! I didn't even think of that! Yeah I saw all those apple, well, apron, stop the groom.We are also doing kolo, it's so much fun!! Love it, and when you're wearing a poofy dress no one can see your feet ;)I've seen the stopping of the groom done! it's really funny, making him answer all these random questions about the bride and making him do silly things. And also dressing a fake bride to meet him when he "passed"the test - it was my grandma! lol! eventually he did get his real bride, good for a laugh!!I will have to get the recipies off Majka for that bread stuff! Will let you know if i find them =)Good luck with your wedding! i'm sure you'll have a blast!