At the traditional Slovak wedding, the day of the wedding begins from an official visit of the groom and his parents to the bride’s house. This wedding tradition is called “odpytovanie” in Slovakia. They officially ask for her hand in marriage.
But on his way to the bride’s house, the groom meets different obstacles. For example, villagers can block the road with a chain and ask for a ransom to get to his fiancee. Usually, he pays with a bottle of some alcohol or something like that. They make a whole show out of it, with laughing, music, playful negotiation, etc.
Another very funny and curious wedding ritual is performed when he gets to the bride’s house. The bride hides in the house and her family tries to fool the groom offering him another woman as his bride. Usually, the first woman who claims to be his bride is some elderly woman. He refuses to take her as a wife. Then, another, younger girl is offered to him. And again, he refuses to marry her and negotiates with the family to get the bride he expects. After some time and a lot of jokes and laughing, the groom finally is allowed to enter the house and look for his fiancee. He finds her hiding somewhere and reunites with her.
All these obstacles and jesting negotiations have a purpose – they make the groom put some effort into conquering his bride so that he valued her more. They make him show manly qualities and think about his fiancee as a woman who’s difficult to get.
A widespread till this day wedding ritual is the plate braking. The couple breaks a plate to ward off the evil spirits and sweeps the shards together to show that they can cooperate and succeed as a unit.
