I've put some photos from the final few days in Toronto up here if you are interested. They're from a bunch of different days so if you notice a lack of cohesive narrative in the series of pictures, that's because there isn't one. The jumbledness kind of reflects my state of mind during those final days. In other news, I am back 'home' in Vancouver. I put the word home in quotations because although I grew up here and my mother lives here, it doesn't quite feel like home after having lived on my own in a different province and even a different country for 5 years. I guess the saying 'You can never go home' becomes true once you've lived it. Nevertheless, I am having a great time being here. There are many wonderful things I forgot about here, including the mild climate. I do not envy those of you in Toronto and Western Europe who are subjected to temperatures in the mid 30s. Thank you proximity to the ocean!
Besides the weather, there are other things going on here, such as this month's theme: weddings. To begin, I went wedding dress shopping with Cassandra, my lifelong friend this past weekend. It was a successful day, as she found her dress! She looked beautiful; her tiny little waist lends itself very well to dresses. That aside, I really can't get over how opulent some of these wedding stores are... Personally, I find it to be overkill. To be fair, I have no personal investment in the spectacle of weddings as I am not getting married, but even so, I think anyone with any social conscience realizes they're rather ridiculous. Some of the dresses I saw cost over $5000, and I know that's pocket change compared to some of the higher end garments. Christ.
The weekend prior, I had the honour of attending a wedding for my friend Melanie. We both lived in Dunedin, NZ in 2003-2004, and she ended up meeting a fellow Canadian during our summer holidays up in the North Island. Long story short, she and Chris got married at a golf course at the foot of Burnaby Mountain. It may sound surprising to some to meet and fall inlove with someone of the same nationality while overseas, but it's actually fairly common given the mobility of young'uns these days. Then again, it's just as likely to meet someone of a different nationality while travelling and fall in love (i.e. my case), but I digress. Anyway, the wedding was great. Keeping with the New Zealand theme, they played the Lord of the Rings Soundtrack in the background before the wedding. The wedding favours were Douglas Fir saplings, which suited the couple who are outdoor enthusiasts perfectly. Here are a couple not-so-great photos from the wedding due to my poor camera skillZ:
And rounding out the wedding speak, my close friends Shannon and Greig , who have been dating for almost 10 years and are my age, are finally getting married. In their defense, we've been banking on them getting married for about 9 years, so they've done remarkably well in waiting so many years. While nothing is for certain, it looks like it may be a Destintion Wedding, with the destination being Jamaica! Bring it on, Ochos Rio, I want to meet Bob Marley's mom.
2 comments:
Krista....Bob Marley's mom! I laughed so hard when I read that. I'm not going to live that one down.
Shannon
History Trivia for non-Dummies Blog
Why Grooms Carry Brides across the Threshold
The historical tradition of a groom carrying his bride across the threshold is over 3,000 years old.
It is based on the Rape of the Sabine Women. When you go back this far in history it can become hard to tell myth from history, but the story is an ancient one whose tradition has carried down to the present day.
As newly founded Rome grew in size, its founder Romulus discovered that he had many men but very few women, and that the male population of immigrants to the city was growing rapidly. The Sabines were a people who lived near Rome. They refused to let their daughters intermarry with Romans.
Romulus invited the Sabines to attend games in honor of Neptune in Rome. When they did, bringing their daughters with them, the Romans carried off the young Sabine women, on a pre-arranged signal given by Romulus.
A war between the Sabines and the Romans began. In order to stop the war that began over them the young, kidnapped women intervened. They convinced their Sabine fathers to cease their attack and allow their marriages to the Romans.
The Sabine women attached several conditions to their agreement to marry the Roman men, however. The most noteworthy was that the Roman husband had to carry his Sabine bride across the threshold of their new home.
The ritual was to symbolize that initially the Sabine women were forcibly taken by the Roman men against their will into their homes.
That is the historical reason why bridegrooms still carry their brides across the threshold today. The ritual still takes place after our modern weddings, though most people don't know why they do it. Now you know why.
Source: History of Rome, Livy
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