Ashtyn Cayias

Ms. Stephenson

English 2710

Oct 1st, 2022

Rites of Passage Project

Greek Weddings and The Number Three

Greek people are very superstitious and very religion based, old fashioned greek people are also

going to want their younger family members to marry other greeks; if you’ve seen the movie

“Big Fat Greek Wedding” that will help you understand the energy of a greek family is pretty

accurate.

The number three is very significant in not only Greek culture but also often in many Catholic

cultures. There was an ancient Greek philosopher that believed the meaning behind numbers is

very significant.Three was considered the perfect number, it is a complete cycle. Representing

harmony, wisdom and understanding; past, present and future; birth, life and death and most

notably for this situation the father, son and holy spirit. The number three can be found in a

significant amount of not only fairy tales and mythology but also obviously in Greek mythology.

You will notice the theme of repeating things three times during the rite of passage that is a

wedding for these reasons and more. This is also due to the mathematical truth that we cannot

devind odd numbers evenly. The wedding in Cana of Galilee occurred on the third day in the

bible. Three is the first number that was referred to as “all”.

There are some things that Greeks will do for good luck for the couple getting married. One of

these is that they have to invite and have odd people attending the wedding not only in the

audience but also an odd amount of people up at the front with them. Representing that the two
getting married will become one and cannot be divided.

In Greek culture it is a custom to mimic the action of spitting at someone, it is thought to keep

evil spirits and the devil away; they will do this in sets of three for some extra luck. The fake

spitting is referred to as “ftou ftou ftou” because that is the sound people will make while doing

it.

Something you need to know about the wedding celebration is that the maid of honor is called a

koumbara, on the day of the wedding they will assist the bride get ready; while the women get

ready they will often sing and dance around.

The first tradition that takes place during the ceremony we are going to talk about is something

the bride does, it is similar to how American weddings will throw the bouquet. She will write her

single female friends' names on the bottom of her shoes, as the ceremony goes on the first names

to rub off are the next ones to get married.

The men on the other hand have their own traditions, the best man is called koumbaro. One of

the first things the koumbaros will do is shave the groom, this is something they do alone. This

represents the trust and reliability between them and to show their great bond, It is literally

allowing him to hold a razor up to the groom and trusting him to do a good job for the wedding.

After this the rest of the men will join and help the groom finish getting ready.

During the ceremony they will have the blessing of the rings, first the couple will place their

rings on the tips of their ring fingers. The koumbaro will swap their rings three times, before the

priest blesses them three times.

The candles are next, the bride and groom will be holding taper candles that are called lambaths

throughout the ceremony. The fire represents the couple's acceptance of the light of Christ and

his blessings.
The common cup the duo will each take three sips of blessed wine from the same cup. This is

from the passage in the bible John 2:1-11 that is about “Miracle at Cana - On the third day there

was a wedding in Cana of Galilee” this is when Jesus famously turned water into wine. The wine

being drunk represents the sharing of all of life, the two joining means that they will share their

happiness so it doubles while their misfortunes will be halved.

One of the two most well known traditions in a Greek wedding celebration is the wedding

crowns, called stefana, the crowns are made of foliage, flowers and or precious metals. They are

bound together by a single strand of ribbon, this ribbon shows the union of the two being wed as

they are now one full unit. Once wearing the crowns the couple will walk around the altar three

times.
The second most well known is the smashing of plates, in Greek culture it is believed that joyous

occasions and celebrations attract evil spirits with malicious intentions. The smashing of plates is

to create a violent and aggressive situation, this way the spirits won’t be attracted to the party. So

strangely enough they purposefully try to make a destructive act to trick the spirits into being

oblivious and staying away from the positivity of their wedding.

Martyrika are a part of the Greek version of a goodie bag. They are little wedding witness pins.

They are made of a strand of ribbon each in a traditional Greek color like light blue, white or
pink; often there is a cross attached to the center of the pin.

The number three appears repeatedly in a Greek wedding; there is a representation of three

appearing in verbal context by the priest blessing the rings and the wine. Customary is shown by

the ftou (spit mimicking). The importance of three and odd numbers is also represented in the

fact that they invite and have an odd amount of people up on the altar with them.
Works Cited

“11 Greek Wedding Traditions We Love!” Wedaways, 20 Dec. 2020,

https://www.wedaways.com/11-greek-wedding-traditions-we-love/.

“About Greek Orthodox Wedding Traditions.” Greek Wedding Traditions | Greek

Orthodox Wedding Ceremony, https://three16photography.com/greek-orthodox-wedding-

traditions.

Lucey, Candice. “What Is the Significance of the Number 3 in the Bible?”

Christianity.com, Christianity.com, 23 Feb. 2021,

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/what-is-the-significance-of-the-number-3-in-the-

bible.html.