We explain what a wedding anniversary is, how it originated and what types are celebrated. Also, the monthly anniversaries of the first year.
What is a wedding anniversary?
A wedding anniversary is the annual celebration of the day of the formalization of the marriage, which a couple decides to remember in order to renew the feelings that unite them. On this date, spouses usually give each other gifts, organize celebrations or commemorative activities, often related to the shared love story. It is also common for the celebrants to receive congratulations (and even gifts) from their family and friends.
Wedding anniversaries are among the most common and popular personal celebrations, similar to birthdays and name days. However, the way they are celebrated can vary according to the culture and also the number of years married, so that the longer the time together, the greater the celebration. You must read about Roman Numerals once.
Origin of wedding anniversaries
Wedding anniversaries were not always celebrated: in the Western Middle Ages it was not even common for commoners to marry, but rather to simply come together under the same roof. Marriage was reserved for the nobility, as a way of formalizing and cementing the common political and economic project of two aristocratic families, especially when they came from two different and often enemy nations.
In this way, wedding anniversaries were usually celebrated because they constituted a founding event of governments or even nations, that is, a date on which two noble houses joined together to become more powerful, or two rival nations joined their thrones to overcome their differences. More than an emotional and family formality, marriage was a political procedure.
But from the Renaissance onwards, the world of the nobility was slowly replaced by that of the bourgeoisie, and many plebeian but wealthy families could become part of the nobility through marriage. Thus, this institution became popular, especially among the emerging middle class, and the custom of celebrating their anniversary was transmitted to the common people.
Anniversary types according to the years of marriage
Numerous traditions and different symbols have been woven around marriage and the celebration of its anniversary over time. One of the most popular has to do with the association of certain particular anniversaries with a certain material, so that the longer they are together, the more noble and valuable the material with which the bond between the spouses is represented.
This custom responds to medieval European traditions, in which nobles gave each other gifts of valuable materials as the marriage lengthened, as a gesture of celebration and a reminder of the power and abundance that the union had brought them. For example, after 50 years together, the couple gave each other gold objects and ornaments, meaning that their union had acquired immense value over time. Thus, the couple celebrated their “golden wedding.” Maybe you should definitely read about Sheet Sizes of Paper once.
Traditionally, the years of marriage are associated with the following materials:
Years of marriage – Material
- 1 year – Paper (Paper Wedding)
- 2 years – Cotton (Cotton Wedding)
- 3 years – Leather (Leather Wedding)
- 4 years – Linen (Linen Wedding)
- 5 years – Wood (Wood Wedding)
- 6 years – Iron (Iron Wedding)
- 7 years – Wool (Wool Wedding)
- 8 years – Bronze (Bronze Wedding)
- 9 years – Clay (Clay Wedding)
- 10 years – Aluminum (Aluminum Wedding)
Monthly Anniversaries of the First Year of Marriage
Just as the years of marriage are celebrated, many people like to celebrate the months of the first year of marriage, so names have been given to each monthly “anniversary”:
Month of the first year of marriage – Monthly “Anniversary”
- 1st month – “Anniversary” of the kiss
- 2nd month – “Anniversary” of the Ice Cream
- 3rd Month – Cotton Candy “Anniversary”
- 4th Month – Popcorn “Anniversary”
- 5th Month – Chocolate “Anniversary”
- 6th Month – Feather “Anniversary”
- 7th Month – Glitter “Anniversary”
- 8th Month – Pompom “Anniversary”
- 9th Month – Motherhood “Anniversary”
- 10th Month – Gourmet “Anniversary”
- 11th Month – Gumball “Anniversary”
- 12th Month – First Wedding Anniversary
