Top 17 Most Unusual Wedding Customs from Around the World You Might Want to Know

The Charivari ritual (also known as shivaree, meaning noisy disturbances) is a tradition in France that occurs on the wedding night of the bride and groom. This is perhaps a ritual that causes a lot of discomfort for newlywed couples.

On the wedding night, people will gather outside the window, banging pots and pans, singing, dancing, and creating all sorts of noise to disrupt the couple. However, this is considered a way to congratulate the bride and groom and wish them happiness. They believe that the louder the noise and the more unpleasant the sounds, the happier the married life will be for the couple. Therefore, it's difficult to blame those who wish the best for the newlyweds.

In South Korea, there is a very peculiar custom in weddings where the groom's feet are bashed. After the wedding ceremony, the groom's friends will remove his shoes and socks, tie a rope around his ankles, and then use a stick or a dried yellow corvina fish to strike the soles of his feet.

Although this action may cause pain, it is believed to make the groom strong for the wedding night. This strange ritual holds a significant place in the wedding culture of the Land of the Morning Calm.

In some regions of India, it is believed that evil spirits can inhabit a person, especially ugly girls. Therefore, the only way to exorcise this spirit is for the girl to marry an animal, typically a dog or a goat.

However, this is merely a symbolic ritual, and the bride does not spend the night with the animal. This custom is just a way to ward off evil with the hope that the girl will marry a man in the future.

The Tidong community in Indonesia has a custom that prohibits the bride and groom from bathing for three days and nights after the wedding. Locals believe that if the rituals are not followed correctly, bad things will happen such as broken marriages, unfaithful spouses, short-lived children, etc. After the third day, they are allowed to bathe and return to normal life.

Wearing a ring on the toe is not only a peculiar but also an interesting tradition. Unlike the common practice of wearing rings on the ring finger in most countries, Hindu brides and grooms wear rings on their toes.

The silver ring is slipped onto the bride's left toe during the wedding ceremony, and she will wear it there for life. What's unique in India is that only the bride wears the ring; the groom does not need to wear them.

In history, bride kidnapping has been practiced by many ethnic groups worldwide. Today, this custom still exists in some countries like Romani and Kyrgyzstan. In this tradition, a man often gathers friends or relatives to help him abduct the girl he wants to marry.

The girl is then held captive in the man's room until she consents to remove the scarf of a married woman as a sign of willingness, thus officially becoming the man's wife. In Africa, bride kidnapping is not constrained by state punishment or societal condemnation; rather, it's an act to demonstrate male bravery.

German weddings feature a small event known as Polterabend, where they collectively smash plates, bowls, and dishes. The origin of this custom is unclear, but it's believed that the loud noise of smashing dishes symbolizes the challenges and troubles in married life that the couple will have to face in the future.

By smashing dishes beforehand, the locals believe they are mentally preparing the couple to confront obstacles ahead while wishing them luck.

Spitting on the bride is one of the strangest wedding rituals in Kenya. During the ceremony, the bride's head is shaved clean, then coated with a layer of oil and young sheep's fat.

Next, the bride's father blesses her by spitting on her head and chest. While for many, this act may seem disrespectful, according to Kenyan beliefs, it brings luck. Afterward, the bride walks away without looking back because if she does, she'll turn into stone.

The tradition of smearing the bride and groom before the wedding day is an ancient tradition in Scotland. It can be said that this is a very peculiar tradition that gives everyone a creepy feeling. Before heading to the groom's house, the bride will be bombarded with various items such as flour, egg yolks, bird feathers, leftover food, or anything smelly from head to toe by the groom's family.

Additionally, the bride and groom will also be poured with syrup or smeared with dirt to ward off evil spirits. After being completely covered in the mixture, the bride and groom will have to parade through the streets for everyone to see, the more people see them, the better. Scottish people believe that this tradition is to ward off evil, and by doing so, the couples will not commit adultery in the future. This tradition is still practiced in some areas of Scotland.

For Vietnamese people, the idea of a father-in-law sleeping with his daughter-in-law is considered incestuous and outrageous. However, in the Ankole tribe, Uganda, it is a legal act for the father-in-law to sleep with the bride on the wedding night before the groom.

Interestingly, this is seen as one of the best gifts a father can give to his son. Moreover, in Ankole culture, the groom's aunt will teach the bride how to please her husband instead of the mother teaching the daughter, as is the case in many other places.

The Tujia people of China spend a month preparing for weddings by crying. According to the tradition here, the bride must cry for 60 minutes each day.

For the next 10 days, the bride's mother will cry with her, followed by her grandmother and all the women in the family. Contrary to common belief, they believe that crying expresses joy and deep love.

In the traditional weddings of Puerto Rico, there's another peculiar custom: the appearance of dolls. The dolls are fashioned after the bride: dressed in lavish gowns, adorned with veils, floral wreaths, gold jewelry, and holding flowers. Even their faces are meticulously made up.

The doll now looks as enticing as the real bride. Then they are presented to the guests, and the jewelry on the dolls will be taken off and offered to the guests attending the party if they agree to exchange them for cash. A business deal unfolds at the wedding. Truly one of the strangest things on Earth!

The bride and groom jumping over the broom symbolizes a new beginning. This act also represents sweeping away the past and uniting two families or showing respect to ancestors. This tradition is widespread among African people.

The event called Mehendi is a colorful festival held the night before the wedding of women in the bride's family. A professional henna artist or relatives will apply 'henna' for the bride and other women in the household. They are usually applied to the hands and feet with intricate, artistic patterns that appear quite mystical.

These patterns symbolize awakening spiritual joy, beauty, and prosperity for the bride. The tradition of body art is also common in a few other Asian countries.

In traditional wedding ceremonies in Russia, the bride and groom's parents welcome the newlyweds with bread and salt. It's a unique custom symbolizing hospitality.

Both the bride and groom will evenly share a piece of bread and salt to feed each other. Surprisingly, whoever breaks the larger piece of bread will become the cornerstone of their future household. Then each guest will receive a piece of wedding bread called karvai.

This beautiful and romantic country has a rather peculiar wedding tradition. After the wedding ceremony, the bride's family gathers all the leftover food, garbage, and other disgusting things and dumps them into the toilet in the newlyweds' bedroom. The guests stubbornly refuse to leave the room until both newlyweds agree to drink this dreadful concoction.

The Jewish people are known for their wisdom and sophistication, so it's no surprise that they have some quirky wedding traditions. After the ceremony, the bride and groom step on a bag filled with glass to break it.

This act symbolizes many things, one of which is to show the couple that marriage contains both sorrow and joy, as long as they stick together forever, they can overcome any adversity.