Anengagement party, also known as abetrothal party orfort, is a party held to celebrate a couple's recentengagement and to help future wedding guests to get to know one another. Traditionally, thebride's parents host the engagement party, but many modern couples host their own celebration.
Originally, engagement parties had the appearance of normal parties at which thefather of the bride-to-be made a surprise announcement of the engagement to his guests, which was ecclesiastically solemnized in arite of betrothal at a church, according to Christian customs. The engagement party had the purpose of sharing theengagement news with family members and friends. Therefore, it was not a traditional gift-giving occasion, as none of the guests were supposed to be aware of the engagement until after their arrival.
Inancient Greece, an engagement party was acommercial transaction. It was anoral contract, between the man who gave the woman in marriage, generally the father and thegroom.[1] Thebride was not present.[1]
AnAshkenazi Jewish engagement party is known as avort (Yiddish:word).[2] Breaking a ceramicplate at avort is customary, symbolizing the permanence of marriage and mirroring thebreaking of a glass at a Jewish wedding.[3]
In the Scottish Gaelic tradition, arèiteach was a betrothal ritual which typically ended in a dance party for the whole community.
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In modern times, an engagement party may celebrate a previously publicized engagement. It is a party like any other, except that usually toasts or speeches are made to announce the upcomingwedding. While it varies, an engagement party takes place at the beginning of the process of planning a wedding. It is often thrown at the couple's home or at the home of a close friend or relative of the couple, or at the couple'schurch hall. Gifts are never obligatory, and if one is brought, it should be small and less expensive than a typicalwedding gift.[4]
AChristian betrothal ceremony, which is often followed with an engagement party, is normative in certain parts of the world, as with the Christians of India and Pakistan.[5][6]
In theUnited States, engagement parties are currently a more common practice in theNortheast.[7] In most other parts of the country relatively few couples have them. Unlike publishing thebanns of marriage, an engagement party has never been required.
InAfrica, what is now known as anengagement party may in fact be the last remnant of the traditional, pre-colonial marriage ceremony itself. Such is the case with theYoruba people and theirbride-pricerites and theNguni people and theirlobola practices.
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