Marriage

Talking about family traditions, the wedding is the most interesting and complicated one. It started from so-called “bride’s ransom” when a groom had to buyout a bride from her parents. After the buyout, the bride and the groom were blessed by their parents and went to a church for the wedding. The important attributes of the wedding ceremony were special wedding bread and embroidered towels as the symbols of welfare and happiness. Traditional Ukrainian wedding is bustling and cheerful, accomplished with jokes, music, dancing. In past times, a wedding could last for a week. Unfortunately, nowadays it is only one or two days long.

Traditionally, young people chose their friends at social gatherings. Parental approval and blessing were traditionally sought. Marriages against the wishes of parents were uncommon in the past, and matchmakers mediated between the two families. The parents' role in marriage has been preserved in modern Ukrainian culture through their responsibilities to organize and finance their children's wedding ceremonies and festivities. The festivities demonstrate the family's social standing. Nowadays, most marriage ceremonies are both civil and religious in nature.

In traditional society, young people were pressured to marry young. This continues to result in many marriages between the ages of seventeen and twenty-five. It also leads to a high number of divorces, which were previously uncommon. Divorce is prohibited by the Ukrainian Catholic Church and discouraged by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Divorce is granted by civil courts, as are property and custody rights.