About a week ago I had taken a little trip to visit my Nonna and while I was there she pulled out a big photo album that I had never seen before. This photo album happened to be full of my parent's engagement photos. I had quickly noticed my mom was wearing such a lovely off white dress with a sweetheart neckline and a of white shall to complement the dress. On the car ride home from my Nonna's house I had brought up interviewing her about a garment that held a lot of meaning to her and she picked this engagement dress which I thought was perfect since I'm in love with her dress as well.
Concluding Thoughts
When interviewing my mom I got to speak to her about the nostalgia she felt on the day of her engagement party. This was one of the most exciting times in her life as she was finally going to marry the person she loves surrounded by friends and family. It shows how time flies by in the blink of an eye, so much has changed in life since then but my mom always keeps her engagement dress as memory of starting this new chapter in her life. This event got me thinking of Italian wedding traditions, growing up I had only been to a few weddings but was too young to remember certain traditions that went on. On the day of the rehearsal dinner or engagement party an Italian family celebrates by starting the night of Prosecco (which is an Italian version of champagne) and in some traditions Italian brides wear green whether that be a sash or a piece of jewelry to bring good luck (Canney, 2020). On the day of my mom's engagement party she wore a green gemstone necklace that complemented her off white dress to bring "good luck" so to speak. The next tradition is something that is usually done at the actual wedding not the engagement party but at my parent's party they did a traditional dance where the party guests hold hands and rotate in a clockwise position, as the music speeds up they switch directions (Canney, 2020). This dance is mostly done for good luck but the result is usually a bunch of dizzy party guests. Another old tradition is that at Italian weddings and engagement parties the guests as a parting favour are given confetti or candy coated almonds that represent the bitter and the sweet of marriage (Frappa, 2020). For my parent's engagement party they had given out bags of confetti with a small jar of olive oil (such an Italian thing). There's a lot of work that goes into making these events sustain traditional aspects such as a green item on a future bride or cultural dances in celebration of a wedding. Many different cultures have certain customs for weddings that must be upheld or traditional garments that are worn for important events. Even thinking back to the article " Why Saris are Indian Material Culture" by Cynthia Green, saris are a "material culture" that involves a lot of hard work with the relationship between the weaver and the wearer (Green, 2018). Saris are part of one's identity and tradition just as others have certain traditional aspects they want to keep alive. This was another reason that my mom's engagement have some traditional customs because it keeps the past alive but is also mixed with new traditions.
I'm so lucky that I got to interview my mom on one of the most important days of her life because she got to reflect on the past and see how much life has changed for her. I loved learning about the tradition that comes with important memories of clothing and how when my mom started talking about her engagement dress was not only taken back to that moment in time but how happy the dress made her feel and the excitement of picking out that dress for the event.
References
Canney, Colleen. "Italian Wedding Traditions and Superstitions." The Knot. Last
modified 2020. Accessed December 3, 2020. https://www.theknot.com/content/
italian-wedding-traditions.
Frappa, Laura. "Italian Wedding Traditions." Exclusive Italy Weddings. Last modified 2020. Accessed December 3, 2020. https://www.exclusiveitalyweddings.com/italian-wedding-traditions.html.
Green, Cynthia. "Why Saris are Indian Material Culture." Jstor Daily. Last
modified February 23, 2018. Accessed December 3, 2020.
https://daily.jstor.org/why-saris-are-indian-material-culture/.
Pinterest. Accessed December 3, 2020. https://pin.it/1cvTUAI
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