A Traditional Spring Wedding
This past weekend I was invited to an ancient Sardinian wedding tradition held high up in the hills of Fiminaltu. Actors recreate one of the oldest wedding traditions to date with ox-drawn carts and a 90-minute procession down the windy mountainous roads to St. Antonio di Li Colti.
Traditionally the groom gets the pleasure of the ox-drawn cart while the women walk beside. Today however, times have changed and the women are quickly whisked away to the ‘women’s house’ in St. Antonio for their upcoming nuptials and the groom takes the 90-minute ride in the ox-cart, along with the procession of horses and guests.
Participants come from all over Northern Sardinia to take part in this day long wedding festival. Traditional costumes are donned by men and women; some costumes dating back one hundred years.
The Groom, Bride, Sister of the Bride and Mother of the Bride.
Traditional dress from Samugheo
The church in St. Antonio is decorated with traditional wedding flowers and cloth. Young children dressed in their towns traditional costume wait patiently for the festivities to begin.
Traditional hand-woven baskets are put on display.
Local towns people busy themselves preparing the feast. Zuppa Gallurese is on the menu for this wedding feast. Zuppa Gallurese is made with sheep meat, slow cooked tomato sauce, flat bread, grated cheese and parsley.
The beginning stage of Zuppa Gallurese
Once the procession arrives at the church, traditional songs are carried out and the bride and groom are united as one.
I missed the wedding ceremony in the church as I hitched a ride back into town, it was a fabulous morning.
What ancient wedding traditions does your town have?
My Sardinian Life 
SO interesting! I love the traditional costumes!
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Seems so odd that the traditions have stood the test of time…
The big tradition in Shanghai is firecrackers and lots of them. They light them off to ward off evil spirts in front of the couples home and then the car will drive up and let them out. I have seen this a lot in the apartment complex where we live. I have yet to go to a traditional Chinese Wedding. Although we all receive “gifts”. Whenever someone is married they give small tokens to everyone at work. For weddings it is often a cute little box filled with chocolates (like the favours we pass out at weddings).
I’m finally catching up again on blog posts. Thanks for your patience! 🙂
Very nice, love this kind of festival, and the smaller the town the better. And the more remote the village all the better!
I think it is great that these traditions are upheld. We bought on of those baskets while we were in Sardinia.
I love the baskets and will buy some when the money flows, they aren’t cheap! 😉 Great festival, I would do it again.
How fun this must have been. I’d never heard of such an event. Great post!
Hugs,
Kathy
Thanks Kathy! It was great, and so were the sweets! 😉
This is so beautiful! I doubt you need any introduction to an Indian wedding! Especially the garish ‘Bollywood’ inspired ones of late 🙂
A very interesting post. Good pictures.
I felt like I was also a part of the wedding procession! Such lovely pics and the I am sure the feast was delicious!
Ahem … I actually didn’t walk the 90 minutes from point A to B. These photos are from the beginning and middle part of the festival. I hadn’t planned on staying for the feast as I don’t like Zuppa Gallurese! 😉
Huh huh..Anyway, glad that you could capture all this for us folks out here!
Thank you Kendra! It was rather cold and windy so I grabbed a ride with the brides and headed to the farmhouse for treats and wine!
WOW! I enjoyed so much… Thank you dear Jennifer, it was so beautiful photographs and writing up. Have a nice new week, with my love, nia