Live Life Team
In Albania, it is still common for a matchmaker to bring the bride and groom together. Both the bride and groom’s families celebrate the engagement and the bride is given a gold coin to signify an agreement has been made. A party is then held at her home, during which she is showered with presents. Food, drinks and sugar coated almonds, known as “kufeta” are plentiful. The groom’s family holds a similar party and it is traditional for the groom’s family to pay a dowry.
The wedding celebrations start one week before the ceremony, in an event known as the “jav’e nuses”. Relatives and friends visit both the bride and groom’s houses to deliver presents and gifts, the bride’s trousseau and her wedding outfit are put on display. Relatives from the groom’s family then go to the home of the bride’s parents, laden with gifts of wine, flowers and a money topped cake, to ask for her presence at the celebration.
The feasting continues until midnight, when the couple and their respective families walk off in opposite directions to three water sources to fill two urns. At every water stop, money is tossed in the air.
On the wedding day, once the bride is dressed, her parents give her a mouthful of wine and a blessing, while other relatives give cash. The best man brings her shoes, filled with rice and candied almonds and tied in a silk scarf. He is escorted to the bride’s home by cheerful women-folk where he then puts the shoes on the bride’s feet. After tossing money in the air, the bride is escorted to the service. Following the wedding, there is a reception with merrymaking and plenty of food and drink to be enjoyed.
