Swedish brides place a silver coin from their fathers in their left shoe and a gold coin from their mothers in their right shoe. These coins symbolize the hope that the couple’s marriage will prosper and the bride will never have to go without.
A sixpence is a British coin which was first minted in the mid-1500s. It is a coin that equals 6 pennies. Again, during this time, people were very superstitious and believed that evil spirits lurked everywhere, ready to take over and control everyone’s lives.
During ritualistic events, such as weddings, they believed that the evil spirits were even more abundant. The sixpence became a good luck charm for the couple which would symbolize future luck, wealth, and prosperity.
The back of the sixpence coin depicts a Scottish thistle. This, too, carries meaning in the reason for the sixpence good luck charm. In the 1200s, the Danes from northern Europe attempted to invade Scotland.
Undercover of darkness is when they attempted their attack on those sleeping. However, many of the raiders were bare-footed, and when they stepped on the thistle flower, which has thorns, they howled out in pain, thus alerting those who were sleeping.
The Scottish believed the thistle to be good luck and began putting the flower on the back of their coins in the 1400s. Also on the back of the Scottish coins is the Latin phrase, “Fid Def,” which is an abbreviated form of “Fidei Desfensor,” which translates to “defender of the faith.”
Unfortunately, the sixpence was no longer made after 1967. Because of this, a bride could use any type of coin, as the thought of “wealth and prosperity” will follow.
The wedding tradition of placing a penny in the bride’s shoe was made popular with a Victorian rhyme something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a sixpence in your shoe.
Over the years, they have replaced the term sixpence with the term penny. In this rhyme, the penny was used to ensure the wealth and good fortune of the couple.
In some European cultures, the bride saved this penny; later given to her daughter on her wedding day. In contemporary times, brides often have the penny made into a piece of jewelry after the wedding.
They often pass bridal customs down through generations, leaving the origins of the tradition obscured. The tradition of a bride harboring a penny in her shoe hails from a Victorian British rhyme: “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a sixpence in her shoe.”
Though sixpences haven’t circulated as currency since 1967, many brides still keep lucky pennies or specialty coins in their shoes on their special days.
