Title: The Bride is Carried Over the Threshold

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Tradition
• Italian, English
• Italy

Informant Data:

• Nancy Canepa has been an Italian professor at Dartmouth College since 1989. She is descended from Italian immigrants on her father’s side. Her paternal grandmother is from the Lombardy region of Italy, and her paternal grandfather is from the Liguria coast. She has attended two Italian weddings. Her husband is from the Apulia region of Italy.

Contextual Data:

• Social/Cultural Context:  The tradition of a groom carrying a bride over the threshold of a church doorway is very widespread. This tradition is practiced in all regions of Italy, and even in the United States. Usually, the groom carries the bride over the threshold as the couple leaves the church after being declared man and wife.

Item:

• Once the bride and groom are married, the groom must carry the bride over the threshold of a doorway in their home or at their church. By carrying the bride over the threshold, the groom avoids the chance of her stumbling, which would anger a group of ancient household gods.

Associated file (audio):

Transcript of Associated File:

• “Um once they’re married, uh the bride must be carried over the threshold by the groom – and of course that’s a kind of universal uh wedding custom too, but it actually goes back to ancient Roman times um when the groom would carry the bride over the threshold to avoid her walking over the threshold and perhaps tripping or stumbling, which would immediately put the household gods on edge, and kind of, you know, they would be against her and the couple’s future life in that house. So, to avoid that, she had to be carried over the threshold.”

Informant’s Comments:

• The informant said that this is a very old tradition that originated in Ancient Rome, which is one of the reasons why it has spread to so many cultures over time. The informant believes that this practice usually occurs at the couple’s home and not in a church. Therefore, the significance of this tradition is that it affects the couple’s life in their new home.

Collector’s Comments:

• It could be that the household gods would become angry at the groom if he did not protect the bride from the risk of tripping on the threshold. The anger of the household gods might reflect ancient Roman society’s expectation that the groom should act chivalrously by helping the bride over the threshold.

Collector’s Name: Peter Loomis

Tags/Keywords:

• Customary Lore, tradition