Exploring Wedding Traditions from Around the World - Armenia

Exploring Wedding Traditions

Though I am not of Armenian descent, my husband, your ring-maker, is.  We had an Armenian wedding, raised our children in the Armenian Apostolic Church, live amongst his entire Armenian family in Watertown, MA, celebrate all the Armenian holidays, sing Armenian songs, and eat all the Armenian food.  So after 25 years of Armenian marital bliss, I feel pretty Armenian.  Well, that is to say, we are Americans first but we are proud of our Armenian heritage. Exploring Wedding Traditions is a hobby anyway, but of course Armenian heritage is a great pull for us.

We have certainly made loads of Armenian wedding rings over the years.  There are so many beautiful elements from the Armenian countryside that we can incorporate into the Armenia Inspired Wedding Rings we make.  The most popular stone in Armenia is Obsidian as it is so plentiful there, so we often incorporate it into rings.

We were also honored to have one of our rings presented in person to Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan in 2019!  We were able to use wood to mimic the colors of the Armenian Flag for him.

Dukhov! Armenia-Inspired Wedding Ring - Exploring Wedding Traditions

If you decide you would like to have us help you design a wedding ring that is inspired by Armenia, simply copy and paste the below with your answers to an email to me at sales@minterandrichterdesigns.com and we will get started.

Ring A - ____________________________ (name or description of ring – or name of ring on website you are basing your design upon))

apx. size - __________ (we would base your sizers around this size.  Custom Sizers are highly recommended, see below in signature for info.)

width - __________ mm

Finish on metal - _______________________ (satin?  Sandblasted?  Mirror?)

Shape of edges - __________________________ (rounded?  Flat?  Pinstriped?)

Any interior anodizing?  If so, what color? - ___________________ (blue, green, bronze, sunset, pink, purple)

engraving phrase - _____________________________________________ (if desired)

Ring B - _________________________________ (description of ring – or NAME OF RING on our website you are basing your design upon))))

apx. size – _____________ (we would base your sizers around this size.  Custom Sizers are highly recommended, see below in signature for info.)

width – _____________mm

Finish on metal - _______________________ (satin?  Sandblasted?  Mirror?)

Shape of edges - __________________________ (rounded?  Flat?  Pinstriped?)

Any interior anodizing?  If so, what color? - ___________________ (blue, green, bronze, sunset, pink, purple)

engraving phrase - __________________________________________ (if desired)

Instagram Handle - ______________________ (Do you want to get tagged with a pic of the ring while we are making it?)

Wedding hashtag - ___________________________

wedding date - _________________________

latest must have by date - __________________

Do you want a Lifetime Care Option?  If so, which level? _________________ (STANDARD Level, PREMIUM Level – see below in signature for info.)

Full STREET shipping address - ______________________________________________

Choose either STANDARD or PREMIUM LEVEL of Lifetime Care Options: PURCHASE ONCE AND YOUR RING IS COVERED FOR LIFE!

PREMIUM LIFETIME CARE ($275) - WE WILL MAKE YOU A NEW ONE FOR FREE IF YOU LOSE IT!!!

Covers all damage for life

Covers a onetime free re-make should you ever lose your ring.

Not available for Meteorite Rings

Unless waived for special circumstances, must be purchased as part of original transaction.

Includes return shipping

STANDARD LEVEL OF LIFETIME CARE ($200)

Covers all damage for life

Does not cover loss of ring

Includes return shipping

FAQs

Q: How do I get sized?

A: WE STRONGLY SUGGEST PURCHASING MINTER & RICHTER CUSTOM SIZERS to guarantee you get the absolute perfect fit for your ring. The industry-wide standard for ring size carries many variables (different measuring tools, ring widths, ring materials and design). Factory made bands are sized LESS accurately than our handmade bands. Therefore, getting sized at a factory jewelry store does not guarantee that the size will be correct. We offer Sizing Exchanges for life for half price. But getting Custom Sizers ensures that you will not need a sizing exchange. A sizing exchange is 50% the cost of the original if you were not sized on our custom sizers.

1. Minter & Richter Custom Aluminum Sizers ($45 for a set of 3 sizers): If you have a general idea of what your ring size might be, we can make you a set of custom aluminum sizers (plain aluminum bands) in three different sizes at your preferred width. This allows you to spend time wearing each sizer for a day or two and finding out which one offers the most comfortable fit. Finger size can fluctuate slightly throughout the day due to water intake, temperature, etc. so this is an excellent way to get an accurate representation of exactly how your final ring will fit. We request that customers purchase their final ring(s) at the same time as the sizers. We will ship you the sizers along with a SASE for convenient return (domestic only – international must pay for return shipping). Once you confirm your ring size we begin making your rings!

(**Please note that sizers can add approximately 2 weeks to order processing.)

Below is an excerpt I found in the public domain from “Weddings” from When I Was a Boy in Armenia, by Manoog Der Alexanian, 1926. It is a perfect write-up of all the ancient traditions of the Armenian engagement and marital process.  Not all, but some of these traditions are still practiced today!

“Weddings” from When I Was a Boy in Armenia, by Manoog Der Alexanian

Exploring Wedding Traditions

The wedding day is the happiest in the Armenian’s life; it is also a day of serious responsibilities, for Armenians consider marriage as serious and sacred. Furthermore, a wedding is a gala day for little boys and girls, because on this occasion they are given a good time and plenty of candy, beseech, Roddick, and koulindga (Armenian sweets).

The Armenian marriage is indissoluble; the church refuses to accord divorce; although separation is allowed, under very serious conditions; the separated party cannot marry again. So, you see, married couples in Armenia are faced with a very solemn problem when they marry. Once united, they try to make the best of it by ironing out all minor differences and bravely suppressing the major ones. *No courtship is allowed before marriage.

*Note from Minter - Interestingly, Scott and I stuck to this tradition!  He proposed 3 months after we fell in love on a single day, and we couldn't date in between because I lived in NC and he lived in Boston and this was before the internet, people. It's been 25 years, so I guess it worked out!

The first step towards marriage is chosk-gab. The priest examines the bride and groom to see that they are not related to each other and that their ages are appropriate, for Armenians to marry early. After the chosk-gab comes to the engagement; as a present, the fiance gives the fiancee the following articles: (1) an engagement ring, (2) a bracelet, (3) a pair of earrings, and (4) a veil. The fiancee wears the ring on the fourth finger of her right hand (which corresponds to the vein from the heart), to show that she consented to marry him with her own heart; the bracelet indicates that with her hand, she binds herself in obedience to him; the earrings indicate that she heard the request with her ears and consented to it with her mind.

Seven days before the marriage ceremony, relatives and friends gather together in the fiance’s house to hold a preliminary feast. During these seven days, both sides make koulinja (scones) upon which are printed various figures. These are distributed to those present by two elderly women from the side of the groom and serve as invitation cards. If the groom is a rich man, they distribute two candles with each koulinja; if he is not rich, the koulinja stands, and if he is poor, just a candle is sent.

Thursday is the day of the feast, interrupted on Friday, on account of fasting on that day, and it recommences on Saturday. The guests take with them provisions—jugs of wine, a live lamb, and sweets—then go to the home of the bride to make merry. Later in the evening, the groom’s relatives go to the home of the bride, dancing on their way. When they reach the home to ask for the bride, they find the door closed. After a long conversation and many requests, they win the consent of the bride’s relatives to open the door, after many valuable presents are made.

In the evening is performed the “shaving ceremony” of the groom. He is seated in a chair surrounded by a chorus of boys who, while he is being shaved and his hair cut, sing the following song:

“Let us sing of your face,
Your face shines like the moon.

Let us sing of your eyes,
Your eyes are full of fire.

Let us sing of your teeth,
Which resemble a row of pearls.

Let us sing of your stature
Tall and solid like the oak of the woods.”

After the groom is shaved and his hair cut, his clothes are auctioned off to those present, and while the auction proceeds, the groom must need to stand there and shiver with cold. His wedding clothes are blessed, and he is then dressed in his new wedding clothes. This ceremony is followed by henna, that is, the maid-of-honor places a handful of kneaded henna on a plate, surrounded by twinkling candles, and, accompanied by others, comes towards the bride, dancing. The guests plaster the dancers’ foreheads with money as a sign of consent. The maid-of-honor then puts henna on the hands and fingernails of the bride, sometimes, also, on her toes. Later in the evening begins the ceremony of “hiding the bride.” The guests on the groom’s side come to ask for the bride. The request is met with resistance from the side of the bride. After presents are given, and songs sung in praise of the bride, she comes out of her hiding place. The following is an example of the song:

“Come out, beautiful!
Come out to our home!
Whose daughter are you,
So pretty and so bright?

You are the daughter of the
Brown-eyed mother;
Your mother has given you to us;
We have come for you.

Come out, our bride,
Come to us, now;
For you are so beautiful and so bright!”

Upon this, the parents and guests of the bride consent to the request of the groom’s party, bring the bride out of her hiding place and give her to the groom. At this point, the bride cries, for she does not want to leave her parents. But she is advised and directed by her mother and relatives to obey. At the time of giving the bride away, the groom holds a present in his closed fist (usually a five-dollar gold piece). If the maid-of-honor can open the groom’s fist, he is not considered a strong man; if she cannot (and usually she cannot), he is considered strong and brave; then he willingly opens his fist and gives her the gold piece.

Monday morning the guests on the groom’s side gather in front of the house of the bride. The bride and groom (each on horseback) ride to church amid songs and dances. In the church, the best man stands by the side of the groom with a naked sword in his right hand, and a cross in his left, his face turned towards the bride and the groom. After the priest makes his prayer, the bride and groom exchange rings; the bride puts her ring on the groom’s finger, and the groom puts his on the bride’s finger as a sign of unbreakable unity; then the groom places his right foot gently on the bride’s left foot until the end of the ceremony.

During the ceremony, the priest wraps a red handkerchief around the groom’s neck and gives him a cross in his left hand; then the best man hangs the sword on the right side of the groom, who wears the crown of a king, and the bride that of the queen; thus, both are proclaimed by the priest as “king” and “queen.” After the ceremony, the priest distributes blessed wine to all unmarried young men and young women so that they, too, may be blessed with the fortune of marriage.

When all the wedding ceremonies are completed, the bride and groom exchange their horses, the groom leading. The reins of the bride’s horse are attached to the tail of the groom’s horse so that no one may pass between them; for that would be considered a bad omen. After leaving the church, they ride to the groom’s house on horseback amid more dancing and singing. As soon as the party reaches the door, a lamb is slaughtered on the threshold as a sign of the foundation of a new home. On the way to the house, the groom scatters silver and gold coins which are diligently picked up by the children as fast as they fall. When they reach the house, the mother-in-law comes out to meet the bride, kisses her on the forehead, saying:

“I am iron,
I am steel.”

And the bride, after kissing the hand of her mother-in-law, answers her, in a low, whispering tone, from beneath her veil:

“Wait, until I get inside,
You will see how I will squeeze the iron and steel.”

Then the group on the bride’s side begins to sing to the mother-in-law the following song:

“O mother of a king,
Come out and see
What we have brought to you!

We have brought a rose,
A violet we have brought,
We have brought a home-builder
A helper we have brought.”

Then the “messengers of misfortune”—a group of women—take up the following song:

“O mother of the king,
Come out and look,
Look what they have brought you!
—They have brought you an evil thorn,
An evil thorn to your home.

Look what they have brought
A home-breaker they have brought.
Look what they have brought
A heart-eater they have brought
A divider of your bread they have brought.”

The mother-in-law gives presents and money to stop their bad tidings, and upon this, their singing is hushed.

The bride and groom together with all the guests now enter the house where refreshments are served. The bride kisses her mother-in-law’s hands, after which she offers an apple (decorated with cloves and candles) to the groom who, after taking the apple, cuts it in two with his sword, and offers one half to the bride, eating the second half himself.

After fifteen days of marriage, the groom goes to visit his father-in-law. When he is inside the door, the mother-in-law throws a block of wood or the stump of a tree before him, at the same time giving him an axe. The groom divides the wood with two strokes, and leaves the axe in the groove of the block made by a third stroke, then enters the house of his mother-in-law. After a cordial reception, the mother-in-law places the key to her house before the feet of the groom as a sign of his being the master of her house. In departing, the groom, however, leaves the key with them, kissing the hands of his mother-in-law and receiving her blessings for good luck and happiness.

Exploring Wedding Traditions