If you just read the title, you might think I’m a bit crazy. Normally the shower is a Bridal Shower when it comes to weddings. But that is the case in Western weddings, and since this is Tradition Tuesday, I thought we might peruse the globe to check out the Chaldean style Shower. While the Bridal Shower is a gathering of the women, and sometimes men, before the wedding, as another gift giving event, the Groom’s Showers is much more “literal.”

A small gathering called a Khyapta d khitna or a groom’s wedding shower is the first of the wedding activities in a Chaldean wedding. Drinks and delicious foods are prepared and eaten with friends and family members closest to the bride and groom at the groom’s home, or parents home. This tradition is said to wash away any bad luck that is following the groom. During this event the bride is not allowed anywhere near the grooms house or the groom. She is expected to relax and wind down before her dream day and it’s customary for the bride not to visit or see her fiancée until the wedding the following day.

The night will start off with all the grooms’ family, groomsmen and all his friends’ singing and dancing until it is time to start the showers. Traditionally the ring bearer is showered first either by his mother or his aunt. Once that is finished it is the grooms turn. Any male who is at the event must take a turn washing him (married men so that their luck can rub off on him and the single men so that their turn will come soon). They can wash him with anything that is handy be it shampoo, juice or even beer. While the groom is being showered the women typically the older women stand outside the washroom singing old customary folk songs.

Once the groom is all dressed and finished the full party begins and can last until the wee hours of the night.

Let the party start!!