The History of the Honeymoon

Honeymoon Thoughts

Rumor has it that the word 'honeymoon' has its origins in an ancient Northern European custom in which newlyweds, for the first month of their marriage, daily drank a cup together of honeyed wine (known as 'mead'). This practice dates all the way back to the Fifth Century AD.

According to the same source, there is also an alternative Northern European traditional practice, known as 'hjunottsmanathr'. In this tradition, the bride is abducted and held captive in a secret location for at least a month. It's important to note, however, that this is a folkloric explanation and that the original meaning of the word is obscure.

I turned to My Swedish Friend for confirmation or denial on these 'traditional customs'. This is what she has to say about Northern European honeymoon traditions:

"The Swedish language has two words that are used to describe what we think of as a 'honeymoon'; 'bröllopsresa' which literally means 'the wedding travel' and 'smekmånad' which refers to the month following a wedding. So they'll say 'fire smeksmånad' for 'go on honeymoon' but 'bröllopsresa' is more commonly used to describe a honeymoon. The word can be literally translated out as 'bröllop', meaning 'wedding', and 'resa', meaning travel.