The Custom Of Western Wedding (西方婚俗).doc

The Custom Of Western Wedding (西方婚俗) When we talk about the Western wedding ceremony, a picture comes to our mind: while on her white wedding dress, the bride is wearing the wedding ring on the third figure of her left hand and standing at the groom’s left side. All of these are customs of western wedding. Now let me talk about the origins of these customs. The custom about wedding dress can be traced back to the Victorian Times. In the wedding, the bride must wear something old, something new, something borrowed and something white. Something old is the relationship to her former family, something new means that the bride will have good fortune and success in her future live, something borrowed can bring happiness into the new family, and something white is believed to be the symbol of the bride’s clean and honest. The one about wedding ring is considered starting at the 17th century. At that time, the priest strokes the new couple’s left fingers in proper order, as speaking the following words: in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit…”. When he finishes his speaking, his hand happens to stop at the third finger. As regards to the custom that the bride have to stand at the left side of the groom, there is a much funny way of saying. In the ancient times, it is prevalent to take away the bride by force. So the groom has to protect his bride by his left hand and defeat his enemies by the right hand at the same time. Although people have been used to the western wedding ,it is also interesting to learn more about the old customs, isn’t it? On the other hand, Puritan ideology is very important for Puritans for they designed their lives after that. The puritans believed in the majesty, righteousness and sovereignty of God. They regard him as omniscient and omnipotent. In contrast,all human beings were depraved sinners. They believed that God had predestined some of these fallen creatures for the gift of salvation. This status of the elected or non-electe