Bride kidnapping or marriage by abduction is a practice throughout history and around the world in which a man abducts the woman he wants to marry. Today bride kidnapping is only a cheerful ritual at the all Slavic weddings but not everybody knows that tradition of stealing a future bride has the ancient roots.

The ancient Greek gods transformed into animals to steal brides, the Trojan War started because of the abduction of Helen, in ancient Sparta stealing the bride was a prerequisite for marriage. The elements of the abduction of brides have been preserved in the tradition to carry the bride over the threshold and to cover her face with a veil.
According to the Slavic tradition, a groom had to kidnap his Russian bride after an agreement with her and her parents. The groom sent the ransom to his future father-in-law and the Russian bride’s mother made the special chicken pie (chicken as a symbol of a Russian lady). As a positive response the groom had to send a rooster (the symbol of a strong and brave man). It meant that everybody is ready for the wedding! There was another interesting wedding ritual: the unmarried bridesmaids asked the Russian bride to try on her shoes. If they fit a bridesmaid asked for the ransom. Shoes meant so much on the wedding because they were bought for money a Russian bride saved for years. As usual she was embroidering and sewing everything for the wedding by herself. This custom was a test of her groom to know his character.

If he paid money without haggling – he was considered as a rich and generous, asked to return them for free – he was stingy and greedy, paid with sweets – a poor but not greedy, if he was nervous and angry it meant that he was niggling and aggressive.
This custom is very popular at contemporary Russian weddings and as a ransom bridesmaids may ask a groom or his friends to sing, to dance striptease or even to drink from the shoe!
The ancient tradition of bride kidnapping exist at the contemporary weddings but in modified forms. The groom’s friends may “kidnap” a Russian bride and a groom has to pay them the ransom for her beauty and kindness, this ritual symbolizes the bride’s farewell to the past life and a new life as a wife and a homemaker!
There is another tradition nowadays which is connected with the bride kidnapping. At the beginning of wedding, bridesmaids don’t let a groom to see his Russian bride without the ransom – different tasks which can prove that he is ready for the marriage life. Of course they are very funny: to say a lot of compliments to his beloved, to remember the details of their first meeting, to sing serenade, to eat a lemon (because marriage life is not only sweet but may be bitter too!) The bridesmaids may invent different tests for a groom and when he finally passes them, he can see his beautiful Russian bride and take her to the church or the registry office.
So marriage by abduction in contemporary Ukraine and Russia is only the funny game which makes a wedding hilarious and memorable. However bride kidnapping still occurs in countries spanning Central Asia, the Caucasus region, and parts of Africa, and among peoples as diverse as the Hmong in Southeast Asia, the Tzeltal in Mexico and the Romani in Europe.