A while ago I made a memory box for mom and dad – photos of them courting and a photo from their wedding day. Photos I’ve always loved.

I found the box in a secondhand store, and it had a glass front which slides out. All I had to do was paint it white, glue on a background I liked and then decorate it.

This trip while I was in Athens I found the wedding crown from their wedding in all the boxes I sorted through.

It’s yellow with age and has lost some pearl beads, but I like it as it is. At some stage I’ll iron the ribbon, but for now, I just popped it into the box for safe keeping.

For those who don’t know how Greek weddings go, somewhere among all the priests chanting and carrying on for what feels like hours, the best man or woman gets out these ‘crowns’ to crown and bind the couple together.

The crowns can be decorated in any way they want, but they are made to sit on the heads of the couple during the ceremony and have a ribbon tying them together. It’s meant to symbolize that they are now kind and queen of their own household. Apparently. I didn’t know that. I just read it on google…

During the ceremony, the best man/woman puts the crowns on their heads, then crosses them over back and forth so that each crown goes on both heads. Then the couple does the ‘dance of Isaiah‘ – where they move around the table with the best man/woman holding onto the crowns/ribbon.

Seeing as Greek Orthodox church ceremonies are all in ancient Greek, I can’t say I’ve ever understood a single thing they say or do…

But at least this bit of the ceremony had a bit of action, so it was fun.

Sort of like cricket…. I heard a comedian once describe cricket as so boring for so long that when something finally happened it was insanely exciting. Like that.

You can tell I’m not a very church-going person. There are a couple of ceremonies I like – Easter Friday is my favourite by far. I’ve always thought that other Christian churches I’ve visited were much more interesting. At least there the priest/father/pastor/whatever he/she is called speaks in English and gives a sermon that I can understand.

However, I digress. All I wanted to do here was share how much I cherish having mom and dad’s wedding crowns to add to my memory box.

z