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From throwing a mixture of eggs and flour over the bride-to-be before parading her around town to a party dedicated to smashing porcelain objects in the name of good luck, women from around the world celebrate their final days of single life in hundreds of different ways.
Regardless of how you choose to celebrate the moment, it’s an incredible time in life to come together with the people that matter most and totally let your hair down. As the maid of honour, it can be overwhelming knowing when to start or how to put together the perfect celebration that shows your girlfriend just how much she means to you.
After planning their fair share of hen’s parties, our friends at Wicked Hens have learned a thing or two about throwing an epic celebration. We caught up with them recently to chat about the tips and tricks they’ve picked up over the years and we walked away with more ideas than we could ever try out.
To make your job a whole lot easier, they’ve put together 5 of their favourite hen’s traditions inspired by cultures from across the world. Take a sneak peek at these suggestions and get inspired for your party planning.
Top 5 Hen’s Traditions for Weddings from Around the World
1. India – Mehndi Party
The Mehndi party is one of the most festive and exciting celebrations in a South Asian wedding. People often picture these parties like a Bollywood movie scene with choreographed dancing, bright colourful dresses, and bhangra music. If that’s what you’re imagining, you’re not far from the truth! But there’s much more to it too.
During a Mehndi party, the bride has beautiful, intricate designs applied to her skin by an expert using the distinctive Mehndi stain – which many people know as Henna. This design can represent a variety of things but most commonly is associated with love, luck and positivity. Tradition also says the deeper the colour of the Mehndi, the deeper the love and happiness for the bride and groom.
The party itself is typically held on the day before the wedding ceremony or as close to the big day as possible and is usually marked with plenty of great food, dancing and entertainment.
2. South Africa – Kitchen Tea
In South Africa, a Kitchen Tea is often arranged in celebration of the bride. It’s traditionally an intimate party attended by the bride’s closest family and friends, all of which must also be included on the wedding guest list.
The mastermind behind the celebration (AKA the maid of honour!) is responsible for ensuring the venue is decorated to match the wedding colour scheme. At traditional events, hens gifts meant for the home are usually given to the bride, including things such as appliances, cutlery and home décor. Often gift registries are set up for the wedding couple with ideas of items they need and the idea behind it all is to help them prepare for their new life together. While this is the tradition, many people are starting to move slightly away from this approach and no longer stick to only home-style gifts. However, most events are still only attended by women.
3. Germany – Polterabend
All German weddings are held at a registry office, with church weddings being an optional and non-legally binding extra. As these events are usually fairly low-key affairs, many brides-to-be use the lead up to their wedding as an excuse to celebrate.
That’s where the Polterabend comes in. The word itself comes from the verb Polten, which means to make a lot of noise and Abend, meaning evening. Taking place a couple of weeks before the wedding, the noise comes in the form of smashing porcelain. The saying goes “Schedrn Brignen Gluck” – shards bring good luck.
The idea of this event is that the bride and groom clear away the shards of porcelain at the end of the evening, which instils the importance of teamwork and prepares them for married life together. This is an event that both men and women are invited to. Traditionally these shards were the broken pieces of thrown clay pots, but now come in the form of broken pottery, porcelain and sanitary ware.
4. Scotland – Blackening the Bride
Despite what the name might suggest, ‘blackening the bride’ isn’t quite as sinister as it might sound. This popular custom in Scotland traditionally saw crowds gather and throw buckets of eggs, sauces, flour and a lot of other pantry items over the bride. The well-covered bride was then placed on the back of a tractor and paraded across the town. As she made her way through the streets, further items were continually thrown at her – from both local villagers and her party goers.
After surviving the experience, the reward was a night out on the town. The only catch was that the bride wasn’t allowed to make her way home until the group decided the night was over. While most Scots don’t go to the same extreme these days, modern festivities see the bridal party finding new and innovative ways to parade the bride-to-be through town and take her out for a wild night to remember.
5. Greece – Hen Party
While the typical Hen’s parties that we all know and love today are commonplace across the world, these celebrations actually date back to Ancient Greece. The term ‘hen’ was first introduced in the 17thC and by the 19th C, the reports and mentions of hen’s parties became commonplace.
Rather than just being associated with weddings, these events were simply a gathering of only women – often with tea, food and music. Whether it was rejoicing the pass from childhood to womanhood, marking a sexual awakening or the beginning of their family, hen’s parties have always maintained a connection to significant events.
Today, most people refer to hen’s parties as a pre-wedding celebration that brings together the soon-to-be bride’s closest family and friends. Usually, this includes a night out on the town, a long lunch, a boozy dinner or even a trip to a place of personal significance.
No matter how you’d like to celebrate the upcoming wedding, Wicked Hens has plenty of ideas and tips to help bring your vision to life. To hear more, contact the Wicked team today.