This is quite funny. This practice was popularized thanks to the 2002 film, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Spitting in Greek cultures is a kind of good luck charm that is supposed to help ward off the devil.
https://youtu.be/vdQFcdNRdEE
Today, the custom typically doesn’t involve guests hocking loogies at the newlywed bride. Instead, it has developed into a more symbolic act where guests mainly forcefully utter “ftou ftou ftou.” Greeks do this on other special occasions too, including baptisms to acknowledge the beauty and good health of the baby.
Spitting can even be done as a superstitious measure to ward off evil during a regular conversation. The story behind this behavior is very simple. If the Bride steps on her Groom’s foot, she will have the upper hand during the Marriage! There is also an ancient Greek tradition that requires to “spit” on the Bride and Groom.
Of course, no literally. But by pretending that spitting on the happy couple, the guest protects them from evil spirits! A traditional Greek wedding ceremony follows the ceremonies and rituals of the Greek Orthodox Church.
There are two golden crowns or “stefana” connected by a single strand of ribbon, which symbolizes the union of two people becoming one in marriage. At the heart of the ceremony, the koumbaros place the wedding crowns over the bride’s and groom’s heads after passing them over the couple’s heads three times to symbolize unity as well as the holy trinity.
After sipping wine from the same cup, the bride and groom are led around the altar table three times by the koumbaros as a Greek prayer is recited by the priest. Afterward, in some more traditional villages, the priest offers the newlywed couple honey-dipped almonds.
However, in modern times it is much more common to end a ceremony with guests throwing both rice and koufeta as the newlyweds leave the church. This is also symbolic as the rice symbolizes fertility and koufetta represents the bittersweet aspect of life.
As a part of the tradition, when the new bride first arrives at her in-laws’ home, she takes part in a ritual known as the “sweetening of the bride.” This ritual varies from village to village and from different regions of Greece.
Some brides will dip her fingers in honey then make the sign of the cross in hopes of a good relationship with her mother-in-law. Other rituals comprise brides smashing a pomegranate at the doorway into the home, scattering the pomegranate’s seeds symbolizing wealth and fertility. Or sometimes for this ritual. The bride tosses a piece of iron onto the in-laws’ roof to show the strength of her new home.
