8 Lebanese Wedding Traditions You Might Not Have Heard Of

This article was originally published on our Arabic platform by Hanaa Yassine and was translated to English.

With all the emerging trends of extravagant parties and out of this world themed nights, all that we have left from Lebanese wedding traditions is the white dress and the dabke nowadays. Want to know what it was like in much simpler times? Here’s a glimpse of what used to be, or maybe is still practiced, in some parts of Lebanon:




1. The bride and the groom stomp on the feet of the guests to signify the end of their single days.


2. After the wedding, the bride would carry a piece of dough and stick it on the door of the house. She would also say, “Hek khabaretne sette” (that’s what my grandmother used to tell me), to show that she, also, will become the matriarch of her house.


3. A zaffe will escort the bride out of her house before the wedding, and all the neighbors and close family members would be out in the streets to watch her.




4. The groom carries his bride into the house as a sign of affection for the bride, and also to make sure she does not trip over her long dress.


5. Some villages in Lebanon carry the tradition of kidnapping the groom before the day of the wedding. Then, his family starts a search party for him, not allowing the bride to know of his whereabouts until after marriage.


6. Familiar with Joe Ashkar’s “Jurn el Kebbe “? Does sheelo sheelo sheelo ring a bell? This song was actually derived from a tradition where the groom proves his manhood and strength to the father’s bride by successfully carrying the heavy jurn el kebbe (a huge hallowed out stone mortar and pestle used to grind spices and meat).




7. In some parts of Lebanon, the wedding is composite of 7 days preparing for the day of marriage. On a specific day, the groom’s relatives and parents go to the bride’s house, and escort her with the traditional zaffe all around the village to break news of the wedding. At the end when the bride and groom meet, they stick the piece of dough (#2), and the marriage is consolidated.




8. An older version of liste de marriage: There’s also a tradition of Naqout, where the bride and groom are given an amount money from family members.