Description

Honey and bees are symbols of immensely significant spiritual traditions in several cultures around the world. Honey is used to represent abundance, sweetness and purity, among others. Bees, on their part, reflect family union, harmony and hard work. These are some of the sweetest traditions around the world:

Armenia

When the bride and groom enter their wedding reception they break a plate for good luck. Then they are given lavash (unleavened bread) and honey by the groom’s mother. They balance the bread on their shoulders to ward off evil and eat spoonfuls of honey to symbolize happiness, and then the party really starts.

Greece

Taking the term “groomsman” literally, on his wedding day, a Greek groom’s best man, or “koumparos,” becomes his barber when he pulls out a razor and shaves his pal’s face. But the groom’s day also has a sweet side: After he’s been freshly shaved, his new mother-in-law will feed him honey and almonds.

Persian Traditions. Immediately after the couple is married they each should dip their right pinky finger in the cup of honey and feed it to the other one. In some parts of Iran, particularly in Shiraz, the honey is coupled with yogurt. An omnipresent ingredient in Iranian cuisines, yogurt symbolizes  a “bright, white destiny”, or sefid bakhthi. Honey, which has strong spiritual and mythological aspects in most world cultures, features prominently at Persian weddings, .