Ladin country wedding

We love nostalgic events maybe because of that. A really special one is the Ladin country wedding taking place once a year in Abtei in Alta Badia. One day in February there is shown how a wedding look like in former times.

Marrying did not begin on the wedding day, but months before. The future bridegroom had to wear a clove on his hat as a love token and he had to take 12 coloured eggs with him to signalize that he was going to get married during the next 12 months.

The bride, however, took a big effort to get a great dowry from her family. The dowry was made up of bedclothes, dinnerware and housekeeping things. And how to demonstrate what cooking-arts the future wife has, the mother of the bride had to invite the bridegroom and his friends to a big "Fortajes" eating. Fortajes are typical sweet pastries with blueberry jam.

On the wedding day, the engaged couple had to dissolve some funny tasks and the older sisters of the bride had to buy a goat on their way. The wedding parade was big: the whole village took part of it, on feet, on horses or drawn by sledges.