Wedding|Some of the priests consider handing over the bride to be against equality, but almost all of them do not see a problem with it.
A wedding tradition has become the subject of controversy in Sweden.
At the wedding, the father traditionally escorts the bride to the altar and hands her over to the groom. Now two Swedish social democrats have made an initiative to the Church Council to ban the tradition, says public broadcasting company SVT.
Another of the initiators of the change is the priest of the Högsbo parish Nina Konnebäckwho commented to SVT that he considers the tradition patriarchal and against equality.
Many priests find the symbolism related to handing over the bride problematic, Konnebäck stated For Göteborgs-Posten.
He justified his position to the newspaper by the fact that a woman is handed over from one man to another, where historically it is a trade between families.
“It also guaranteed the bride’s virginity until the wedding day,” Konnebäck stated to the magazine.
Konnebäck says that he understands that for modern couples, tradition has a very different meaning. For him, however, the tradition does not fit the Church of Sweden and the work it does for equality.
Presentation has also faced opposition from the Church of Sweden’s Christian Democrats.
Group leader of the Christian Democrats of the Church Assembly Kalle Svensson states to the newspaper that the matter should be decided on a case-by-case basis.
According to Svensson, there have long been differing opinions among priests regarding handing over the bride. He does not need national guidelines, as it would interfere with the couples’ freedom to organize the wedding ceremony as they wish.
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