Wedding ceremony participants#Bride

The bridal veil is a symbolic marking feature of entering the state of matrimony person or deity. He is already in use for the early third millennium BC in Mesopotamia for both women and deities, such as Inanna was the nickname of the Veiled / the veiled. In the Epic of Gilgamesh Gilgamesh the statement refers to the former existence of Bridal Veil: Since he wrapped ( Gilgamesh ) the friend ( Enkidu ) as the face of a bride. In Assyria the end of the second millennium BC in the reign of Tukulti - apil - Ešarra I ( 1114-1076 BC ) was the first rules of law with respect to a legally defined type of woman actually tangible in terms of Bridal Veil. The mittelassyrischen right collection can be seen that a man who wanted to marry a concubine, create the bride before 5 to 6 witnesses a veil and speak the words had, She is my wife.

In Christianity, the bridal veil is used since the 4th century. He was the veil, with which the bride appeared on the wedding day, while in former times in long, flowing hair, the sign of preserved innocence, accompanied. He was white, later red paint and put a symbol of virginity and marital chastity dar. In ancient Rome, put the groom " on the wedding day, the snow-white toga on, the robe of the free citizen and symbols of male dignity; the bride wore over her tunic still a saffron union, said bridal veil flammeum. This particular color has likely been selected in allusion to the color of the hearth fire, the practical as ritually important part of the Roman household - as a symbol for the existence and cohesion of the family.

The bride's father led the veiled bride to the altar, where the veil from the groom was aired. The closure of second marriages happened without bridal veil.