The Czech wedding had been celebrated according to the popular customs and manners before Christianity, while with the introduction of Christianity in the Czech Lands the influence of the Roman Catholic Church on the wedding had been on the increase, ...
The Czech wedding had been celebrated according to the popular customs and manners before Christianity, while with the introduction of Christianity in the Czech Lands the influence of the Roman Catholic Church on the wedding had been on the increase, particularly after the Decree of the Council of
Trent in 1563 that the wedding ceremony must be held in the Church only. Nevertheless, common people continued to celebrate their weddings in their manners, even though the ceremony itself was solemnized in the Church.
Proposal of marriage, marriage settlement, engagement, preparation of wedding costumes, wedding cakes, wedding tree, and floral wreaths, most of these events before the wedding ceremony were in accordance of folk customs and manners, which included many kinds of popular believes, superstitious
believes, and magic practices. In the first part of the traditional Czech wedding only the wedding announcement and catechism, i.e. question-and-answer examination of the bride and bridegroom took place in the Church.
Parents' blessing to the bride and bridegroom in the morning before leaving for the Church was a mixture of popular rites and Christian ones. Of course, the very ceremony of the traditional wedding was held in the Church or Cathedral, however popular believes penetrated into even the marriage service in
the Church. For example, people believed that the one who steps to the altar first, he or she will dominate his or her partner in their household. Also they believed that it is a sign of good luck if the sun shines at the moment when the new couple says “ano(Yes)” before the altar.
Almost all celebration programs after the wedding service in the Church like stopping of the bridal procession, wedding reception, čepení, i.e. putting the čepec, symbol of the married woman, on the head of the bride, orientation and test of bride in her new house, wedding dances and plays, all these were
under the influences of the popular manners and customs as well as various magic practices, secret measures, popular believes, and superstitions. For example, the rite of making the bed(stlaní lože) for the married couple in the first night was originated from a magic practice to protect the couple against
the evil powers as well as to ensure the fertility of the couple. Another example is that the rite of scattering the corns over the couple when they arrive at the home of the bridegroom's parents had the meaning for the people to wish the couple fertility.
On the other hand, a series of ceremonial acts like the leading of the bride to the bridegroom in the first night and the bride's farewell to her home the day after the ceremony were more influenced by Christian traditions. Furthermore most of the ceremonial acts based on the popular manners and customs
contained Christian elements and Christian symbolism. Therefor we can say that the Czech traditional wedding was influenced not only by popular manners and popular believes but also by Christian ones. It was only a matter of degree.