Wedding customs in SW

As embarrassing as this is going to sound, I'm looking for information on wedding traditions in the SW universe. SW puts a lot of emphasis on marriage and family (more so than just about any other sci-fi series), but there seems to be little information about what customs are involved in a wedding.

Big hugs to anyone who knows about Mandalorian weddings or pre-Exar Kun Jedi weddings (they did exist, see Sunrider).

 

Here's a few...

1. Mandalorians get married in full armor. They pretty much just vow to love one another and its blessed by their clan leader. Marriages are sacred to them and there's an emphasis that they have severe problems with pre-marital sex. This seems based on extensive clan based ties and a focus on families.

[image=http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/8/87/Mandalorian_wedding.jpg]

2. Luke and Mara's wedding was probably one of the Pre-Ruusan one and that is done by a Jedi serving as officiate with the "full saber salute" over a crystal as a blessing item.

 

Interesting topic...as it ties into other Science Fiction series. For example...I'm sure some here are familiar with David Weber's series (Honor Harrington)....Or Ian Douglas's Star Corps. trilogy... In both of those, although the writing is better, and the plot lines are more interesting/relative...I could never get past the "marriage" issues. In both, individuals are allowed multiple partners... Ian Douglas took it a step further and incorporated (pun intended) marriages into corporate building, and has allowed wealthy/powerful individuals the ability to build families based on influence. Divorces in the latter were applied via democratic voting by the 'married' members. I found it creepy.

However, Star Wars seems, for the most part, to follow more traditional marriage sentiment in reference to humans. Obviously, such would not be applied to certain alien communities (Barabels for instance). Of course, Star Wars was founded on a movie premise of entertainment back in the 1970's. I think when the Expanded Universe expands on a lot of these type premises it may provide more depth to the genre...but really kicks the original material in the teeth. The goals are no longer the same. Instead of going after the consumer who likes to be, simply, entertained...it cultivates a more cult like following that can tell what color buttons can be found on Han Solo's second favorite shirt.

As an example, I'd ask you to consider how extraordinarily dark the most recent Star Wars installments have been. It ain't the same as it once was. At the same time (and back on the orignal topic)...some times the authors write for the lowest common demoninator. That's how we end up with every single Twi'lek (with few exceptions...Wraith X-Wing series-Allston) coming off like promiscuous tarts, an unusual number of individuals with red hair and green eyes...or 90% of the politicians being self-serving idiots. Marriages in Star Wars seem to be an afterthought...and way too deep a concept to really fit into the (forgive my honesty) simplistics of Star Wars...and considering that there myriad star systems with even more life supporting 'planetary' bodies...it's hard to suggest that there is, in fact, a general notion of what constitutes marriage in the galaxy.

My two cents...and then some...

 

Pre-Ruusan Jedi probably incorporated homeworld-specific traditions in their weddings at times, seeing that more than the occasional Jedi knew quite a bit about his or her heritage. So, for instance, if you've got a bride of Corellian origin, she'll probably be wearing green.

 

AHHH a grean wedding dress? lol

 

Tionne had come up with the Jedi ceremony in Union from her research. It may have been one of many that have been lost to the ravages of time, who knows.

The public ceremony for Luke and Mara seemed very in the manner of the Earth-Western-Christian tradition, especially with the 'tuxedos' and Mara's wedding dress. However, from the parade of fashion designers, such a western-tradition gown was not her only option or custom to choose from.

Anakin and Padme had a simple exchange of vows before an officiator. Her dress was very much in the manner of Earth-Western-Christian tradition.

There is a b&w sketch of Han and Leia's wedding. The details in CoPL seem pretty sketchy. Leia had a western-style gown with a diadem and veil, but she and Han knelt before each other to exchange vows. What those vows were, we don't find out.

Dathomiri wedding customs: Woman captures man, takes him back to clan and announces he's hers.

One thing that I would like to take this opportunity to say is that we have seen very, very few actual marriage ceremonies. With all the planets and all the species and all the cultures that exist in the Star Wars universe, the universal custom cannot possibly be Western-Christian, even for humans.

I would like to encourage people to be inventive, go for something besides the white dress, and dispense with Christian vows in their fics. Make up something else.

There has also never been a recorded incident of the infamous engagement ring, either, though there is evidence for dowry. Ironically, it was a male, Isolder, that came with the hugely substancial dowry, not a female as would be traditional in most parts of Earth.

So, I would say the necessary parts of a GFFA ceremony are two (or more, depending on culture) individuals wishing to make a union, and an officiator to make it all legit. Be freely creative with the rest of it.

 

Good advice, I'll second that.
I don't know of much 'official' stuff, but what I read in fanfic is very inventive and mostly close to western-christian.
Maybe because the idea of a White Wedding is slowly conquering the world.

I had to write a Falleen Wedding and made it up from A to Z. Nobody complained, so I'd say making something nice (and maybe even credible ) up will work fine. And that way, you can always tweak it into the right shape to fit the needs of the plot.

 

The 'white wedding' just strikes me as such a blatant Earthism, even in profic, that I want to encourage everyone to avoid it. Or at least tone it way down to just the dress.

I don't mean to offend, but Christianity doesn't exist in the GFFA and rites that originate from our Earth religions, while most familiar to us, are out of place. They don't possess the history and meaning in the GFFA that they do for us. That's why I'm an advocate for stripping away everything of Earth-based religious significance and rebuilding the rite in a manner that's organic to the GFFA.

I guess my inner Anthropologist is showing.

 

They don't possess the history and meaning in the GFFA that they do for us. That's why I'm an advocate for stripping away everything of Earth-based religious significance and rebuilding the rite in a manner that's organic to the GFFA.


Well, one could argue that the idea of getting married is an "earthism". I think it is impossible for writers to take out all earthims because the readers are supposed to relate to these characters and that would be very difficult if they are portrayed as too alien.

I like the idea of coming up with a new marriage tradition for the characters that you are writing, but it is impossible to take out all earthisms.

 

I agree with the taking out as much earthisms as you can, without taking away from the readers relatablity. (Is that a word?)I would believe that some of the cultures that live for a very long time, probably wouldnt believe in marrage.