Irish Traveller Weddings - From Being a Princess To Being a Maid.

When  studying the topic about immigration in Ireland, I came across the “Irish Travellers”, a minority group in Ireland. It reminded me of a documentation I saw some months ago about Traveller girls and their weddings. For a Traveller girl her own wedding day is the most important day of her life, as it is the only occasion she can make the decisions (the Traveller society is a rather male-dominated society – women are just expected to keep the house and to take care of the children). Most girls marry at a young age, at about 16 or even earlier. Although still most marriages are arranged by the parents, the couple may have a say in finalizing the match. They often marry a second cousin or at least another member of the group in order to avoid the “mixing” with other groups.

The real Traveller wedding costs a fortune – every family wants to impress others with a white horse-drawn carriage, ten-tier wedding cakes, stunning flower arrangements  and, of course, a breath-taking bridal gown. There are specialised tailors in Ireland that only sew bridal gowns for Traveller weddings. Also the other female wedding guests dress very extravagant. They often try to exceed the other girls with their dresses, which are usually very short.

At such Traveller weddings lots of alcohol is being consumed and later that night the young and unmarried boys start “stealing” the girl they fancy (there is a special name for this rite, but unfortunatelly I’ve forgotten it… :/). At some point of the party they  simply take another unmarried girl with them and vanish with her into the dark. There, they have the chance to get to know each other better or to exchange kisses while the wedding party is still going on. This can be a good occasion to spend time with one’s crush but it also happens quite often that the girl doesn’t want to be alone with the boy at all. Also violence towards girl and women is no rarity among Travellers. Funnily enough, the rite of stealing girls is accepted among the Traveller society, although it is forbidden to have sex before marriage.

  But back to the wedding:  After the marriage, the young couple usually moves into a small caravan. The young brides normally don’t work – they stay at home all day long, clean, cook and wait for their husband to come home. I’m sure these women feel very disappointed as their new life as a wife started phenomenally with a fairytale wedding – but ended in being locked in a small caravan.