Oh, they say when you marry in June you’re a bride all your life,and the bridegroom who marries in June gets a sweet-heart for a wife.
--from the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
For all of my fifty plus years, I've heard that June is the month to marry. Being an obnoxious American, I believed that my country had started that tradition. Still, I wanted to be sure, so I started digging into the history of June weddings. Oh, was I wrong!
It appears that the tradition of marrying in that month probably started with the Romans. The month's name is connected to the reason those ancient people liked to marry then. Juno is the month's namesake, a goddess the Roman's connected with marriage. (Thought she certainly couldn't control her wandering husband!)
Juno was known as Hera by the Greeks. I'm glad the name of June is patterned after Juno. Just imagine a month called Here.
My research turned up another tidbit that I find harder to believe. I read that during Medieval times people married in June because flowers were available. Now, the part about wanting flowers at the wedding I can believe. It's the reason that I struggle with, though.
At that time, people didn't bathe. At least not more than twice a year. Bathing was thought to be harmful. So, marrying with flowers allowed the bride to mask her body odor. Poor girl! Another source suggested that people during this period married in June because that was the month for their annual bath. I suppose that's possible but doesn't explain the tradition of flowers.
Whatever the reason in the past, June is a lovely month. Warm often without being sweltering like July or August, June is the busiest month for weddings in the United States.I, of course being different, married in October. Sigh....
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