Celebrating diversity: Couples incorporate cultural traditions in wedding ceremonies

In celebrating their wedding liturgies, many couples getting married in the Catholic Church incorporate cultural traditions that hold special meaning for their families. Here are some vignettes of couples in the Archdiocese of Baltimore that made their culture part of their marriage liturgy or wedding receptions.

Dance

Many Polish Americans include an “apron dance” at wedding receptions, with guests slipping a bit of money into an apron pocket  to dance a polka with the bride or groom.

Irish Americans sometimes offer traditional ceili social dancing, with Scottish Americans offering ceilidh dancing at receptions.

Food

Ethinc foods at wedding receptions include Mexican polvorones (cookies), Czech koláče (pastry), Chinese Peking duck and Italian anginetti (cookies).

Krystyna and Daniel, Bread and salt

  A round loaf of sourdough and salt presented to Krystyna and Daniel Waclawski by their Polish-American parents at their wedding reception represents a prayer the couple will never know hunger. The bread stands, too, for Christ, the true bread of life, and the salt, to preserve what the Lord has given them. The salt brings flavor also, of course, enhancing life just as the Gospel does.

The centuries-old tradition is one of many customs that the couple wove into their wedding liturgy and reception. They were married Oct. 6, 2018, at Holy Rosary in Fells Point.

“Throughout the Mass, I had a sense of calm,” Krystyna Waclawska said. “I felt the Holy Spirit. There is no doubt in my mind that he is the one and the Lord has brought us together.”

In many ways, Krystyna Waclawska’s life has been defined by her family’s connection to Holy Rosary, a church founded to serve the Polish-American community. While her husband was raised in the former Church of the Good Shepherd in Glen Burnie, Waclawska’s family worshiped at Holy Rosary, where her late mother was a musician and they stayed closely connected to Polish culture.

On their wedding day, after Communion, the Waclawskis moved to an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary near the altar to bring her flowers – a bouquet of roses and daisies. They knelt before the image as a friend sang, “Ave Maria.” Daisies were the favorite flower of Waclawska’s mother. She died in 2016, two years before the couple married.

The Waclawskis live in Glen Burnie, where they raise their young children, a daughter who is 21/2 years old and a son who is 8 months. They are raising their children to speak Polish and English.

Victoria and Matthew, Crowning moment

Growing up, Victoria Karolenko loved hearing stories of the protection and fellowship her family found in St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church in East Baltimore. Her relatives who immigrated from the Eastern European country generations ago are among those who helped to establish the parish that became their spiritual home and an enclave, rich in tradition.

And when Karolenko stood in the church sanctuary Oct. 14, 2022, to marry Matthew Mielke, she was united with them, her Ukrainian roots and the sacred expressions of faith in the Byzantine rite.

“I was baptized and confirmed there, and it was really important for me to get married there,” Karolenko said. “My family had fled Ukraine, and the church was a safe place where they could be with other Ukrainians and celebrate their faith, culture and heritage.

“I really take care to carry on those traditions, especially with the war in Ukraine that is happening right now.”

Through her marriage planning, she met longtime parishioner and church volunteer Jullie Humeniuk, who helped her understand and incorporate many rituals into the wedding liturgy and reception. The rituals included a crowning of the bride and groom that symbolizes their roles in their home, the domestic church where they rule with the fear of God.

The couple live in Bethesda, and they worship at both St. Michael and Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family in Washington. They’re expecting their first child, a son, who is due in June.

Joseline and Jorge, Spiritual bond

 The lasso – made of a white silk cord wrapped in tiny beads and pearls and adorned with lace, ribbon, daisies and roses – sits in special display behind glass in Joseline and Jorge Medina’s home alongside candlesticks and a Bible from their wedding day.

To the couple, the lasso is a sacred tradition carried from their home country of El Salvador that physically and spiritually bound them in matrimony Dec. 16, 2023, united in Jesus Christ and their love for one another, at their parish, Christ the King in Glen Burnie. The cord was blessed by the priest and looped around them during the liturgy.

“It brings us joy and we feel God’s grace, knowing that what we are doing is forever until death,” said Medina, speaking in Spanish. Her comments were translated into English by fellow parishioner Hillevi Flores.

Although she was far from Central America where she was born and raised, Medina said her wedding and reception were filled with family and friends. The rituals, traditions and the food – including plates of rice and chicken – made her heart burst with the memories of home and the hope and promise of life she is building now with her husband.

Lori and Nicholas, Sweep out the old

Nicholas and Lori Dorsey jumped the broom at their wedding at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland Oct. 2, 2021. The broom symbolically sweeps out the old and ushers in the new. The handle signifies the Lord who holds the couple together. The spray of the straw bristles represents their families and friends who are spread throughout the world.

The significance and symbolism doesn’t end there.

“When Africans were enslaved in this country, they were forbidden to marry by those who enslaved them,” according to a passage written by a friend that was read at the end of the Dorseys’ wedding liturgy before the procession.

“The enslavers thought if enslaved Africans were to marry, they would grow in number and revolt. Since Blacks were denied this right, they invented the process of ‘jumping the broom’ as a way of ceremonially uniting.”

The broom the Dorseys jumped was covered in white and deep-purple flowers, ribbons and fabrics with patterns and designs that represent different regions in Africa.

“To me, it honors our heritage and our ancestors,” Lori Dorsey said.

The couple, who live in West Baltimore, are parishioners of St. Cecilia. Due to the pandemic, the size and timing of their wedding meant they needed the cathedral’s larger venue.

Their nine bridesmaids and groomsmen counted “1, 2, 3” as the Dorseys jumped the broom and walked down the aisle as husband and wife, united in God, marriage and tradition.

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