There are many wedding traditions, one of the most popular is the drinking of glasses after marriage. The roots of this tradition go back to antiquity.
Why did they break the dishes before?
In Russian villages, for example, on the second day of the celebration, clay pots were necessarily beaten. The broken pot symbolically signified the bride's chastity. Therefore, if the pot did not break, it was a real disaster. The young bride very rarely managed to convince relatives and guests, who implicitly trusted this tradition. Along the way, a broken pot spoke of future family happiness. It was believed that the more fragments, the happier and longer the newlyweds will live together.
A similar custom was in England. During the celebration, the groom was offered a dish with small pieces of wedding cake. The groom had to throw this dish onto the road over the bride's head. If the dish did not break after that, the groom's best man would break it with his foot. A large number of debris was considered a good omen.
Why should the glasses be broken?
Nowadays, glass-breaking is something of a symbolic step from bachelorhood to marriage. Young couples empty their glasses, metaphorically drinking free life to the bottom. After that, it is very important to get rid of the container of this free life, so it is customary to break the glasses.
There is a belief that broken glasses are a kind of scapegoats. That is, in fact, they should be the first and last things ruined, both at the wedding and in marriage.
In addition, earlier, suddenly breaking dishes were considered a bad omen "to a quarrel." That is why the dishes began to be smashed deliberately in order to prevent all imaginable quarrels.
If the glasses did not break after hitting the ground, they can be stepped on. But it is better for the groom to do this, since the thin soles of the bride's shoes may not withstand such a test.
Over time, broken dishes began to be considered, on the contrary, a positive sign "for good luck", so that, breaking glasses, the newlyweds simultaneously turn to both the original and the new meaning of the omen.
It is believed that the ringing of broken glass should remind the groom of the possible difficulties of living together. In Jewish weddings, the groom must break the bottle by stepping on it with his heel. A reminder of difficulties on the "happiest day" should drive them away and all kinds of misfortunes, since there is a belief that such negative things happen at moments when you do not think or remember them at all.
It is important to think over all the little things before the wedding, buy special glasses for the bride and groom, as such details create the right mood and atmosphere. Your best bet is to buy two pairs of honeymoon glasses. The graceful glass ones are symbolically broken after the wedding, and the heavy and expensive crystal ones are left for the celebration.
