09:34 PM:Admiring the significance and beauty of chuppahs
The sight of a chuppah fills my heart with joy. It happens every time.
In any wedding setting, a canopy introduces a quiet beauty that uplifts and the spirit. It never fails to add an extra sense of the special nature of the celebration.
Of course, Jewish tradition requires that the ceremony takes place under the chuppah.
While today the chuppah or canopy is used for religious or decorative reasons, canopies have been used in various cultures over the centuries.
In ancient Chinese practice, a sacred umbrella was held over the bride’s head to prevent evil influences from harming her, as she was conveyed to the groom’s house in an enclosed sedan chair. Through the centuries to today, a Chinese couple often chooses to use canopy, also for protection evil influences.
Continuing around the world, the Bedouins of Ethiopia concealed the bride beneath a canopy. The Egyptian bride, on going to the baths on the evening of her wedding, went beneath a silk canopy of some bright color, a pink, rose color, or yellow, or of two solids composing wide stripes, often rose color and yellow, carried by four men by means of a pole at each corner.
A decorated canopy called a poruwa is used in Sri Lanka, under which the couple sit or stand for the wedding ceremony. The canopy is considered such an important part of this culture that even Christians go through a ceremony beneath the canopy outside of the church after having just been married inside the church.
Hindu and Jain weddings in India usually take place beneath canopy called a mandap.
In what would become England, the Anglo-Saxons performed the marriage benediction under a “veil,” a piece of square cloth held at each corner, over the groom and bride to conceal her virgin blushes. It was known as a care cloth, and used well into the fourteenth century in England.
Such a long and meaningful history of the chuppah, reminds me of the great importance of marriage and the wedding ceremony for people everywhere.
Whether four simple poles and a plain piece of cloth, or yards of silk decorated with extravagant flowers, it’s a mark of a long tradition, serious and joyous all at the same time.
Indoors or outdoors, elegantly flowing with yards and yards of beautiful fabric or a more straightforward architectural style, a canopy can be a wonderful focal point for a wedding celebration.
Whatever your needs for creating a delightful focal point for your ceremony, Miracle Chuppahs will help you create your dream chuppah or canopy.
