Polish Wedding Traditions - "The Blessing"

Sister Pudding has been giving me a lot of attitude about the fact that I haven't been blogging as regularly as I used to.  She's calling me a "bad bee", and she's right; my post counts in the last couple of weeks has been measly compared to what it used to be.  The truth is, the closer I come to the wedding, the more thinking about anything wedding related (including blogging) gives me a slight panic attack.  I sincerely apologize:  I have been a bad bee.

This week, I would like for that to change.  So, in order to ween myself back to being a regular blogger, I have decided to do a week long series on Polish wedding traditions.  I have a different tradition for every day, and I am hoping that this pre-determined list of topics will aid me in blogging regularly.

So without further ado, today's tradition is called "Blogoslawienstwo" or "The Blessing".

The idea that seeing the bride before the wedding is bad luck does not exist in Polish tradition.  In fact, the bride and groom have many duties to perform together before the wedding mass begins.  The Blessing takes place right before the young couple depart for the church.  The closest family gathers at the bride's house, and observes while the parents, godparents, and grandparents give the couple a religious blessing.  Usually, there will be a cross prepared and some holy water, and each person will have the couple kiss the cross and sprinkle them with the holy water.

(source)

This is a very touching and personal moment for the family of the bride and groom.  It is the time when the family officially declares their approval of the union, and a chance for the parents/godparents/grandparents to impart some words of wisdom on the young couple before the celebrations commence.  There is a 95% chance that Mama P, Sister P, and I will all be bawling our eyes out throughout the whole thing.  Good thing that I will have my make up artist on hand :p

When the Pudding family came to Canada from Poland about 18 years ago, one of the things that Mama Pudding chose to pack in the few suitcases that we were allowed to bring was a "wedding set" - basically, a silver cross, two candelabras and a silver container for holy water.  Most of the weddings in our family have been blessed with this same cross, and my turn is just around the corner.

Does your family and/or culture have any pre-wedding-ceremony traditions that you will be incorporating into your wedding day?