# Rain on your wedding day: good or bad luck?



## Outsider

GreedyGreen said:


> "it's like rain on your wedding day" - Alanis Morisette
> Sorry, Alanis, that's what in English we call just "unlucky", not ironic (or even sarcastic).


This remark by GreedyGreen in another thread made me smile, because suddenly I remembered that in Portugal people say that rain on a wedding day is a good omen for the married couple. 

Is rain on one's wedding day considered a bad omen in English? What about other languages or cultures?

Thanks in advance for your replies.


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## valskyfrance

Outsider said:


> This remark by GreedyGreen in another thread made me smile, because suddenly I remembered that in Portugal people say that rain on a wedding day is a good omen for the married couple.
> 
> Is rain on one's wedding day considered a bad omen in English? What about other languages or cultures?
> 
> Thanks in advance for your replies.


 
In French we say :

Mariage pluvieux, mariage heureux. 

So it's a good thing in the French culture.


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## alexacohen

Hello Outsider,

I believe in Spain is considered unlucky but not because it is a bad omen, just because it is annoying: it may ruin lovely hairdos and lovely dresses.

We have a tradition (though I am not sure either if it is a local tradition or a more generalized one) that to avoid a rainy wedding day either the bride or the bride's mother have to take a dozen freshly laid eggs to the nuns of the Convent of Saint Clare.

I don't know how it is supossed to work or what the nuns do with all those eggs.


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## Montesacro

Outsider said:


> Is rain on one's wedding day considered a bad omen in English? What about other languages or cultures?


 
In Italy it is definitely a good omen.
We say: "_sposa bagnata, sposa fortunata_".            (_Sposa_ = bride)
It seems we believe that rain brings good luck only to one half of the couple...


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## Yajaira

In the US rain is supposed to be a good omen even though many consider it to be a bad thing (because your dress can get ruined). Rain on your wedding day also signifies "fertility" and that you may have many children. Catholics say if you hang a rosary outside on the morning of your wedding, the rain should stop in time.


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## sokol

Yajaira said:


> Rain on your wedding day also signifies "fertility" and that you may have many children.



That was my first thought too when reading Outsider's starting post. However, here in Austria (predominantly Catholic) *no one* would consider you lucky if it would rain on your wedding day.

But the fertility-connection very well could be the background for positive connotations of rain on your wedding day.


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## romarsan

alexacohen said:


> Hello Outsider,
> 
> I believe in Spain is considered unlucky but not because it is a bad omen, just because it is annoying: it may ruin lovely hairdos and lovely dresses.
> 
> We have a tradition (though I am not sure either if it is a local tradition or a more generalized one) that to avoid a rainy wedding day either the bride or the bride's mother have to take a dozen freshly laid eggs to the nuns of the Convent of Saint Clare.
> 
> I don't know how it is supossed to work or what the nuns do with all those eggs.


 
In Valencia we have the same tradición and the bride takes the same offer to the nuns of the same order, although we have sayings stating that a rainy wedding day is a good omen.


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## Nunty

The nuns of the Order of Saint Claire (Clare. Chiara, Clara) are contemplatives who spend about eight hours a day in prayer. Many people feel that their prayer is particularly effective. Because the nuns were traditionally vegetarian and until the 1960s they relied on gifts for their sustenance, people developed the habit of bringing a food gift when they asked a favor of the nuns. To make that special, they would bring eggs so the sisters could have an omelet.

As far as I know, the custom isn't related just to rain-free wedding days, and I don't think there is a directo egg-fertility connection, though their might be one on the level of popular belief.


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## alexacohen

Thank you for explaining, Nun Translator.

I know your explanation is the right one. The tradition has always puzzled me; but no one could explain what had been its origin.


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## Vanda

I bet 1 over 10 (don't know if this is the expression) that this tradition/belief (rain = good luck) was brought to us by the Portugueses but I have read somewhere that in the end this an Indian (from India) saying/belief:


> “casamento molhado, casamento abençoado!”,   assim se chover no dia da cerimónia, auspicia-se um casamento feliz. Tal   ideia veio da tradição hindu, pois de acordo com esta, chover no dia do   casamento é sinal de sorte.


I'd really like to hear some Indians on the matter.


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## Macunaíma

I think raining on your wedding day is unlucky per se and dispenses with interpretation. Traditions and superstitions vary hugely from region to region within Brazil, but in my experience raining is one of the most unfortunate things that could happen on a wedding day, second only to the bride eloping with somebody else or the groom not showing up.


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## Outsider

sokol said:


> Yajaira said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rain on your wedding day also signifies "fertility" and that you may have many children.
> 
> 
> 
> That was my first thought too when reading Outsider's starting post. [...]
> 
> But the fertility-connection very well could be the background for positive connotations of rain on your wedding day.
Click to expand...

Or maybe it's just a way to console the poor bride whose wedding dress just got wet.


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## sokol

Outsider said:


> Or maybe it's just a way to console the poor bride whose wedding dress just got wet.



This also would be possible, and the most simple explanation. (After all in some countries there's also good luck connected with broken glass.)


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## jmx

valskyfrance said:


> In French we say :
> Mariage pluvieux, mariage heureux.





Montesacro said:


> In Italy it is definitely a good omen.
> We say: "_sposa bagnata, sposa fortunata_".


I've heard this one in Spain, with the same meaning: "novia mojada, dicha asegurada".


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## pickypuck

jmartins said:


> I've heard this one in Spain, with the same meaning: "novia mojada, dicha asegurada".


 
However, the bride and bridegroom spend half of their salaries in eggs and bring them to St Claire to avoid rain in the wedding day 

Greetings!


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## avok

In Turkey, most people would think just like Alanis did. Neither bad luck nor good luck just ironic or something unwanted.

But in general, rain is something good as it means more water, more fertility and more food.


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## bb008

Hola

En Venezuela si el día de tu boda llueve, según las creencias populares, es por que comiste de la olla directamente.

Eso lo dicen por que hay muchas personas que (lo dicen personas de los tiempos de maría castaña, es decir, muy viejos) si comen o han comido directo de una olla en vez de servirse en un plato, seguro que llueve el día de su boda, conozco eso nada más, "pero si es de mala suerte o buen augurio no se que decir"...


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## Miguel Antonio

Nun-Translator said:


> As far as I know, the custom isn't related just to rain-free wedding days, and I don't think there is a directo egg-fertility connection, though their might be one on the level of popular belief.


I always though it had to do with the play of words _Clara_ (in Spanish) to have a clear day, and the fact that the white of the egg is also called _clara _in Spanish.  Makes one wonder... It doesn't always work, though, apparently when Prince Felipe of Spain married Letizia, they sent tons of eggs to Saint Claire's (folk gossip _does _exaggerate things), and what a downpour! Slosh, slosh they all marched up to the Almudena Cathedral in Madrid.



bb008 said:


> Hola
> 
> En Venezuela si el día de tu boda llueve, según las creencias populares, es por que comiste de la olla directamente.
> 
> Eso lo dicen por que hay muchas personas que (lo dicen personas de los tiempos de maría castaña, es decir, muy viejos) si comen o han comido directo de una olla en vez de servirse en un plato, seguro que llueve el día de su boda, conozco eso nada más, "pero si es de mala suerte o buen augurio no se que decir"...


 What exactly do you mean by all this spiel? I don't quite get it, I'm sorry


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## mirx

I don't know of any connection beween fortune and rain on one's wedding day, not future fortune anyways; if anything, it may be associated with bad luck because it ruins the hairdoes and dresses if the ceremony is in the open.

Apart from that I haven't heard anything related to bad luck in México.


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## Julz

From what I understand, rain symbolizes washing away the past and starting fresh - so rain on a wedding day means that many changes will happen. Neither good nor bad.


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## Chaska Ñawi

Julz said:


> From what I understand, rain symbolizes washing away the past and starting fresh - so rain on a wedding day means that many changes will happen. Neither good nor bad.



Outsider has asked how this is seen in our _cultures _- is washing away the past an Australian perception?


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## Fernita

Here in Argentina, rain on a wedding day implies a good omen. 
Rain is considered "Holy water", in this specific case, so it would be a *blessing* for the couple.


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## bb008

Miguel Antonio said:


> I always though it had to do with the play of words _Clara_ (in Spanish) to have a clear day, and the fact that the white of the egg is also called _clara _in Spanish. Makes one wonder... It doesn't always work, though, apparently when Prince Felipe of Spain married Letizia, they sent tons of eggs to Saint Claire's (folk gossip _does _exaggerate things), and what a downpour! Slosh, slosh they all marched up to the Almudena Cathedral in Madrid.
> 
> What exactly do you mean by all this spiel? I don't quite get it, I'm sorry


 

Lo que quiero decir que si en algún momento de la vida, cualquier persona comió directamente comida de una olla, en vez de service en un plato, esa persona cuando se casé, ese día va a llover, no se el origen de esa creencia popular pero eso es lo que dicen.


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## Thomas1

I am not aware of any such custom in Polish culture. If anything, it could be taken a something which spoils hairdos, dresses, etc. 


sokol said:


> [...] (After all in some countries there's also good luck connected with broken glass.)


Now this is true about Poland, the couple usually throw behind the glasses aftter emptying them before the wedding reception begins.

Tom


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## alinapopi

bb008 said:


> Hola
> 
> En Venezuela si el día de tu boda llueve, según las creencias populares, es por que comiste de la olla directamente.
> 
> Eso lo dicen por que hay muchas personas que (lo dicen personas de los tiempos de maría castaña, es decir, muy viejos) si comen o han comido directo de una olla en vez de servirse en un plato, seguro que llueve el día de su boda, conozco eso nada más, "pero si es de mala suerte o buen augurio no se que decir"...


 

We have the same superstition in Romania. (O si bebes directamente del cubo de agua). There we say that if it rains the wedding's day, the new marriage will have a lot of money.


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## alinapopi

I forgot to tell you that, although it doesn't rain the wedding' day, water is very important in a traditional weding in Romania: old women bring bins full of water when the couple goes back from church, for example, and everybody has to put some money in the bin, this brings good luck. And there's a lot of other traditional and old customs where water is the main element.


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## blue_jewel

In our country, a rain on your wedding day or any special occasions entails good luck, that means blessings are pouring on your wedding day and the rest of your marriage life.


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