This isn’t a very good picture because a) I didn’t want to get close enough to be begged from and b) I didn’t want to be rude and starey, but this gives you an idea of a Québec bridal shower custom where a brides and their marriage minions take to the streets, often in matching outfits (here, neon green vests) to chant/sing in unison while the bride proffers a cup for donations.
This custom is very loud. Also, perhaps the province of younger brides, though the average age of first marriage in QC is over 30.
Since the secularization that followed The Quiet Revolution, the rate of marriage is pretty low (it was low even before the pandemic). There is a common-law-ish legal status that happens if you cohabit for over a year, so a lot of couples just hang with that instead of getting officially married or civil-unioned.
Civil law here prohibits name change for brides–although she can be called “Mrs. -X-” socially, all legal names for everyone remain as on one’s birth certificate for life. Parents get to choose kids’ surnames.
It’s all very non-patriarchal, right? Until you learn that only brides do this wacky public money dance, the boys just go on a regular stag night.
Fun fact (maybe): in California you can marry your cousin, but here in Québec you can marry your former aunt-or-uncle-in-law, or former mother/father-in-law. Um. K.
2 replies on “Here Comes The Bride”
So beggy! No like. 🙁
I’m not sure it’s any more beggy than gift registries (or worse, “honeymoon” registries that are really just cash gifts, disguised with the pretense of buying the couple an “experience”). I guess the difference is it’s begging from strangers who won’t even get any cake out of it. If one were granted some sort of boon, I’d be down.