The Ceremonies of the Bridegroom’s Bath

One of the traditions of weddings in Jordan is the invitation of the bridegroom to have a bath before Al Zaffe, a kind of celebration before the wedding, in which one of the relatives or bridegroom’s friends invite him to have a bath. This is done on the day of wedding usually on Friday between 10:00 and 11:00 o’clock in the morning. After the bath comes the lunch and sometimes it is served in the afternoon if the wedding is going to take place in a hall or in the house of the bridegroom.
The family and some of the relatives of the groom go to the host taking with them the wedding suit, shoes, plate full of chocolate, candies and decorated with flowers. The plate is normally made of traditional straw. Men and women sing and dance all the way through their trip to the house of the host. They do the traditional dance known as “Dabka”, In the past there used to be a real bath but nowadays the groom takes a bath at his home and in the house of the host he changes his clothes while the friends and relatives spray perfumes and distribute candies and chocolate to the attendees. When the groom comes out of the bathroom, he kisses the hands of his parents and the family of the groom thanks the host by singing a famous song: “May God enrich your goodness and your good deeds come back to you again and again”. On the way back to the groom’s house people from the nearby houses throw candies from their balconies over to the participants in the wedding. Some even shoot with their guns. The bath has many benefits for the groom since it reduces stress in this busy day.
In the past these ceremonies were done in a different way from these days. They had previous preparations where they bring everything they need for bathing including bath loofah, soap, shampoo and towel, His friends will bathe him, scrub him with the loofah. They also make a kind of message for him. Then they get him dressed with the wedding suit and carry him on their shoulders. During this process they sing “the handsome man came out of the bathe, so ululate for him oh, young lady. “Sow and reap eggplants. Cursed he be who gets angry”.
Then they take the groom to his house to prepare him for receiving his bride.