Northern Spain Wedding: Centers of Attention?

Tags

Cantabria, Celtic ring, Danza de Los Arcos, folk dancing, Northern Spain, Spain, wedding, wedding ring

So the new and better blogging me is back…

As promised back on topic.  Life and experiences in Northern Spain.  The rings have this one, specifically wedding rings and traditional ringed dances.

What´s should a wedding ring look like?  Why not whatever you want it to?  We wanted something meaningful and representative of us with lots of Northern Spain in it.

Ours (my wife Lynne and I) started as many of our great discussions do, at the kitchen table over a few glasses of wine.  We threw around ideas and I got my creative bug juiced. I started drawing what we were saying.  We went through many iterations and actually required several nights of wine at the kitchen table (we never enjoy that!)…  Here what we ended up with (original sketch by yours truly):

There is a lot in this sketch so I´ll explain.  We agreed on a Celtic braid and then lots of symbolism.  Here are the key features of our ring:

Oak Tree – represents strength and fortitude in Celtic cultures and a very important tree in Cantabria where we live and I am from.  The ancient tribes that inhabited all of Northern Spain venerated the Oak.  More info about that here if you want.  Fitting symbol for a marriage.  Strength. Endurance.

Celtic Braid – we wanted a braid that intertwined as we chose to join our lives.  The braid is made with the branches of the oak tree with oak leaves in the center of each braid.

Celtic Knot – the branches of the oak tree meet at the back of the ring to form a Celtic knot with no end, as this is forever.

Our Initials – each of our initials sprouts out on either side of the oak tree as a branch

Cross of Santiago and Scallop Shell – These are two symbols of the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage route across Northern Spain (from all of Europe really).  If you want more info about the Camino you can get the gist in Lynne´s blog entry here. Lynne and I did the Camino together last year.   We walked together for almost 40 days and over 500 miles and it really made an impact on us and our lives.  We even had a practice wedding on the Camino with a bunch of pilgrim friends.  We wanted these things on the ring.

What did the rings end up like you ask.  Here they are:

rings front and back on a thistle from the mountains near our house in Northern Spain (a similar one was was in Lynne´s bouquet of our American wedding)

– Oak tree with initials and braid, cross of Santiago and Scallop shell (hard to see but the jeweler did his best in nano jewelery by hand)

– detail of braid of oak branches and leaves

– Celtic knot made by the oak branches

What about the rings for the dancing you say?  In this case I am referring to a ringed dance.  Specifically “La Danza de los Arcos” or dance of the arches.  It is a traditional dance performed where the bride and groom pass through flowered arches held by dancers, which then form a ring around them and celebrate by dancing rings around them (us in this case).  Music is on traditional “pitu y tambor”  or whistle clarinet and drum.

We finally got our pictures from the wedding.  Here are some shots of our “Danza de Los Arcos”.  Hope you enjoy them.

traditional “pitu y tambor” for the procession and dance

Lynne and I walking through the arches

Surrounded by flowered arches

Danza de los Arcos

Arches at our feet

Ringed dancing celebrating our big day. Center of Attention?