Wedding anniversary 12 years: how to celebrate what to give

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

There are certain traditions and names for each year of marriage, and 12 years of marriage are no exception. What kind of wedding this year, what to give and how to celebrate - questions that are primarily of interest to women. After all, it is they who organize home holidays and start family traditions, and husbands only support these initiatives.

What kind of wedding is this?

12 wedding years is a date that has different traditions and names. In Northern Europe, in Germany, among the Slavic peoples, it is customary to celebrate nickel. But in Italy, France, Spain and Portugal they celebrate a silk wedding. In Asia, India, England, the Middle East and the United States, this day is called a pearl wedding.

Where did the name come from?

In Russia, the tradition to call 12 years of wedding nickel came from German lands. It is not exactly known when this happened, but during the reign of Ivan the Third, the grandfather of Ivan the Terrible, this anniversary was already called the nickel anniversary.

In northern Germany, there is a legend, more like a parable, about why this anniversary is a nickel. The legend is very long and beautiful, and the story in it is about a dwarf,whose name was Nickel. This dwarf was a great prankster and was distinguished by curiosity. When people mastered mining and their mines crashed into the depths of ancient caves, all the gnomes left their acquired places further to the north, but Nickel remained. Exactly 12 years he was engaged in the fact that he changed the valuable breed extracted by people for a dummy, and then disappeared.

But exactly five months later, Nickel returned and gave people a new metal for them, which shone like silver, but was strong as steel. People were delighted with the gift and did not ask the gnome about what the catch was. And the catch was that the metal shone only with constant care for it. If at least one day was missed, the metal became dull and blackened, and with a long careless attitude, it lost its strength. This metal was called nickel.

After the story about the gnome, there is a part devoted to the history of the miner, to whom Nickel gave the metal, and his wife.

The legend ends with the fact that the wedding anniversary - 12 years lived together - does not at all mean the inviolability of the family. Marriage in this period of time is similar to nickel - it is strong, like steel, and shines like a noble metal, but only with proper care. If a husband and wife do not take care of each other, do not take care of their home, then their marriage fades, blackens and loses its strength.

Sufficiently true allegory. In principle, there are similar stories about pearls, but such tales about silk have not survived to this day.

What is customary to give spouses?

Traditions of eachAnniversaries provide for a certain type of gift, and 12 years of marriage is no exception. What to give spouses on this day is a question that does not require thought. Of course, you need to give a nickel.

In ancient times, when the main thing in a gift was its relevance and practical value, on this day the couple was presented with dishes, kitchen utensils, even shoe buckles. In Russia, it was customary to give a large nickel-plated samovar.

Today, the practicality of a gift does not really matter. But this does not mean at all that you can present everything in a row.

A gift to a married couple on any anniversary, including 12 years of marriage, must meet two conditions:

• intended for both spouses, and not for one, that is, it is impossible to present a nickel-plated flask with engraving or something like that, such gifts are made by husband and wife to each other themselves;
• correspond to the theme of the holiday date, in this case, be nickel-plated.

Thinking about a present, people often want to be original. In the case of celebrating 12 years of a joint "wedding-life" of one of the friends or acquaintances, the most original gift will be the most traditional, paradoxically. It's about a samovar. The samovar was once the most typical present, but nowadays almost no one remembers it as a possible gift. And what will this samovar be like - a real, electric or even a decorative lampshade for a lamp, this is not soimportant.

How should we celebrate?

This date is considered "half silver". There is even an interesting tradition associated with this - the spouses break a silver coin in half. One part is kept by the husband, and the other part is kept by the wife. On the silver anniversary, they take out their halves and go to the blacksmith, who makes the coin whole again.

It is necessary to celebrate the “half” of the anniversary exactly like a silver wedding, but half-heartedly. That is, you should invite only close friends, people you want to see, and not "the whole city." The table should also be much more modest than on the silver anniversary. In fact, a nickel holiday is a rehearsal of a silver wedding in terms of a banquet, presentations, program and number of guests. With regard to feelings, everything should be to the fullest.

How to congratulate your husband?

Unlike the gifts given to spouses by their guests, congratulations by the husband's wife and vice versa implies gifts of personal purpose. That is, it is not necessary to give a spouse a coffee pot, in the event that someone else in the family drinks coffee. This present can be made on another day.

Good gifts will be items that a person will use daily. After all, any nickel-plated present needs daily care, and a man is unlikely to take out cufflinks or something else every evening and polish it to a shine. You can give a gasoline lighter, an expensive pen, a watch and other similar things.

How to congratulate your wife?

On the day of the 12th wedding anniversary, congratulations for the wife are no differentfrom the choice of presents for her husband. The gift should be personal and easy to care for.

That is, there is no need to present the iron. It is worth giving a watch, a bracelet, a reticule with nickel-plated clasps. If the spouse has a hobby, for example, she knits or draws, then you can safely present knitting needles or a set of paints in a nickel-plated design.

What flowers to give?

Very often in flower shops, or rather, in small shops selling around the clock, such situations arise - a man flies in with panic in his eyes and in one breath gives out the phrase: “12 years of marriage. What wedding? What are they giving?”, after which he stops and looks at the seller.

This is worthy of a comedy film, but it does not happen so rarely in life. Whether this is due to the fact that flower shops sell toys, postcards, all sorts of trinkets and little things, or not, is not known.

You shouldn't do that. Firstly, this is disrespect for a person who gave 12 years of his life to marriage, and secondly, you can’t find nickel presents in flower shops, however, as well as flowers suitable for this day.

Nickel-plated wedding flowers are peonies of all shades and varieties. Of course, if the date of the anniversary falls on the winter or autumn months, then finding peonies is very difficult. They can be replaced with roses, but in no case should you buy lilies or chrysanthemums on this day.

As for the shade of flowers, on this day it is customary to give multi-colored bouquets. Each color in such a bouquet has its own meaning:

• light pinksymbolize respect for each other;
• dark pink speaks of financial we alth;
• scarlet, bright red reminds of love and passionate ardor;
• burgundy, dark reds communicate fidelity in feelings;
• purple or lilac declare their readiness to protect and equip the house;
• white promise stability;
• blues sing about tenderness and mutual sincerity;
• yellow indicates the presence of harmony and stability in life.

A good florist will tell you about this and many other "floral" details, helping in choosing a festive bouquet.

How to spend this day?

12 years of marriage is a date that does not have clear prescriptions. The only condition for spending time on this day is mutual joy. That is, you should do something together, for example, go on a short trip to another part of the city. You can just take a walk, go to the cinema or to the theater. Some couples do not get out of bed at all on this day, and not at all because of the presence of violent passion, but because they have prepared gifts and congratulations in advance, prepared food and put champagne in the refrigerator, deciding to do nothing all day, but only indulge in gluttony and watch old movies. This option for holding a holiday is also quite acceptable.

Whatever your preference for celebrating your anniversary, don't forget to take the day off from work and do all your household chores in advance.