Love and MythA website by Studio Esoterico CornelioLove rites and customs
Every age has invented gestures to say that two people belong to each other. This section tells the history of those gestures: the ring worn on the fourth finger because of an imaginary vein, the clasped hands of Scottish handfasting, the sugared almonds of Sulmona, the flame-coloured veil of Roman brides, the walnuts thrown to the wedding procession, the cake shared with the guests. Alongside European customs you will find the Chinese festival of Qixi with its bridge of magpies, the seven steps around the fire in the Hindu wedding, the sake shared in Japanese shrines, and the canopy and broken glass of the Jewish wedding. More recent traditions are here too, such as padlocks on bridges, as are the more unsettling pages of the ancient sources, where love potions appear in poems, tragedies and even a Roman trial: we present them as historical documents, not as practices. For each rite we give places, dates and texts, carefully separating what is attested from what belongs to legend.
The vena amoris: why the ring goes on the left ring finger
From the Egyptian belief reported by Gellius and Macrobius to the vena amoris of English jurists: the history of the ring worn on the left fourth finger.
3 min read02From iron to diamond: a history of the engagement ring
Maximilian of Habsburg and Mary of Burgundy, the mines of India and Brazil, Kimberley: how the diamond became the stone of engagement and betrothal.
3 min read03Posy, gimmel and Claddagh rings: jewels that speak of love
Engraved mottoes quoted by Shakespeare, twin rings with separable hoops and the crowned heart of Galway: three kinds of love ring from European tradition.
3 min read04Handfasting: a history of joined hands in Scotland and England
From Old Norse handfesta to irregular Scottish marriages, from Gretna Green to the neopagan revival: what handfasting really was in British history.
3 min read05Wedding sugared almonds: the sweet history of an Italian custom
From sugar-coated medieval spices to the tradition of Sulmona, from odd numbers to the colours of each occasion: how confetti entered the Italian wedding.
3 min read06Love padlocks: from Serbia to Ponte Milvio
The legend of the Most ljubavi in Vrnjačka Banja, the Roman craze at Ponte Milvio and the removal from the Pont des Arts: a short history of bridge padlocks.
3 min read07Saint Valentine: the martyr, Chaucer and the birth of a festival
The two Valentines of Rome and Terni, the doubtful link with the Lupercalia, Chaucer's birds and nineteenth-century cards: the real history of 14 February.
3 min read08Qixi, the Chinese lovers' festival and the bridge of magpies
The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, the stars Altair and Vega, the bridge of magpies over the Milky Way and Japanese Tanabata: history of the Double Seventh.
3 min read09The bridal veil from the Roman flammeum to Queen Victoria's gown
The flame-coloured veil of Roman brides, Rebekah in Genesis, the Christian velatio and Victoria's 1840 wedding: a history of the veil and bridal white.
3 min read10Throwing rice at newlyweds: from Roman walnuts to petals
Walnuts thrown at Roman weddings as told by Catullus and Virgil, the spelt of confarreatio and modern rice: the history of a wish for fertility and plenty.
3 min read11Love potions in Greek and Latin sources
Simaetha in Theocritus, Virgil's eclogue, hippomanes, Deianira and Ovid's warning: what ancient authors tell us about love potions, read as history.
3 min read12The trial of Apuleius: accused of seducing a widow by magic
Sabratha, around 158 AD: Apuleius defends himself against the charge of winning the wealthy Pudentilla with potions. The Apology and Roman law explained.
3 min read13Welsh lovespoons: courtship carved in wood
From the 1667 spoon kept at St Fagans to symbols of chains, hearts and wheels: the history of Welsh lovespoons, courtship gifts born in the countryside.
3 min read14Dowry, trousseau and marriage chests: the economics of marriage
The Roman dos, Florence's 1425 dowry fund, painted Renaissance marriage chests and the end of the dowry in Italian law: a social history of marriage.
3 min read15The wedding cake: from spelt bread to tiers of sugar
The spelt cake of Roman confarreatio, the English bride cake, the legend of St Bride's spire and Victoria's cake: how the cake of the newlyweds came about.
3 min read16Marriage in ancient Rome: joined hands, torches and the threshold
Dextrarum iunctio, «ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia», the hawthorn torch, the cry of Talassio and the bride lifted over the threshold: the rites of Roman weddings.
3 min read17Serenades and dawn songs: courtship beneath the window
The alba of the Provençal troubadours, the lark in Romeo and Juliet, Don Giovanni's serenade and the bride's serenade in southern Italy: night songs in history.
3 min read18Chuppah, ketubah and the broken glass in the Jewish wedding
The wedding canopy, the Aramaic marriage contract, the seven blessings and the glass broken as told in the Talmud: history and meaning of Jewish wedding rites.
3 min read19Saptapadi: the seven steps around the fire in the Hindu wedding
The wedding hymn of the Rigveda, the Grihya Sutras, the fire of Agni and India's 1955 law: the history of the seven-step rite that makes a Hindu marriage valid.
3 min read20San-san-kudo: shared sake in the Shinto wedding
Three cups and nine sips, the white shiromuku kimono, the tsunokakushi headdress and Prince Yoshihito's wedding of 1900: the history of the Shinto wedding.
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