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Danish aid organisation turns heads with powerful video
Christian Wenande
October 13th, 2017
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From laughs to tears as Red Barnet seeks to raise awareness of child brides
You think beating feet with dried fish is bizarre? (photo: Red Barnet)
If you’ve ever been to a wedding in Denmark, you’ve probably noticed an odd tradition or two.
From all the male/female guests queuing up to kiss the bride/groom when one of them leaves the room to the couple having to stand on chairs/go under tables to kiss at the behest of cutlery banging/foot stomping guests, Danish weddings can be strange at time to the uninitiated.
But perhaps the weirdest thing the Danes do is hold the groom up and cut off the tips of his socks with a pair of scissors.
It is this tradition that has found its way into the new video produced by aid organisation Red Barnet – which lists the top five bizarre wedding traditions in the world.
But then the video ends with a stunning twist.
READ MORE: Illegally-adopted Sri Lankan children could have ended up in Denmark
No laughing matter
The Danish tradition ranks fifth, following the Armenian money throwing tradition, which involved guests ‘making it rain’ on the bride and groom as they dance. Number three comes from Germany, where guests smash porcelain for the bride and groom to clean up.
Number two, which must be among the weirdest traditions around, hails from South Korea. The groom’s friends pin him down and beat the soles of his feet with canes and dried fish. Surely, nothing could possibly match that perplexing bit of tradition/sadism. But number one does.
And if viewers are expecting to continue on their jovial journey of bizarre wedding traditions, they soon to realise their error. Suddenly the video shifts to images of young sullen brides, crouching next to older grooms.
That’s right, the most messed up wedding tradition is not one of good times and amusing toasts. It’s one of heart-breaking tragedy.
“Every seven seconds a girl under the age of 15 is married,” Red Barnet writes as the images flash by. “Let’s stop this tradition.”
See the powerful video below.
By the way, the Danish sock thing is an old tradition to remind the groom he no longer needs to seek out any more unmarried women in town.
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