In an appearance on Insight in 2013, Manu-Sione explained why she agreed to take part in the sheet ceremony upon her marriage. Inez Manu-Sione, from Tonga, married her Samoan husband in Australia when she was 30. A ‘yenge’ – usually an older female relative – is on hand to offer advice to the young couple and take receipt of the bloodstained wedding sheet, which will later be shown to dinner guests at a celebratory feast.Īmong some groups in Tonga, a bride is expected to show her sheets to her family after her wedding night. In Georgia, a blood ceremony forms part of the wedding festivities among some Azerbaijani communities. In Armenia, wedding night-virginity testing is known as the ‘ Red Apple’. “The virgin bride is still prized as untouched, ‘unsoiled’, and thus still pure.” “Virginity tests are still practised because there is still a value attached to virginity,” says Rosewarne. Many cultures around the world still practise blood ceremonies.
Often, women in medieval times were subjected to a physical examination by a midwife to check the state of their hymen, as well as an inspection of their bedding after consummation of the marriage. In an age of primogeniture – where the eldest son was the family’s heir – virginity testing was justified as a way of guaranteeing paternity. “In Western culture, such tests date back at least as early as the Middle Ages,” she says. “Blood or sheet ceremonies are part of the long history of virginity testing, which is designed to generate proof that a bride's sexual encounter with her new husband is her first sexual experience: blood on the sheets is, apparently, demonstration, that her hymen was ‘broken’ on her wedding night,” says Lauren Rosewarne, Senior Lecturer in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne.ĭerian (centre) participated in the virginity-testing ceremony Blaga Rakija in this week's episode of 'Marry Me, Marry My Family.' (Image supplied.)īlood ceremonies have a long history. The virgin bride is still prized as untouched, ‘unsoiled’, and thus still pure.
It may sound outrageous, but virginity testing has occurs in many cultures. If Izzy discovers his daughter was not a virgin before marriage, he will disown her. The ancient ceremony involves Derian’s father, Izzy, inspecting the sheets of her bed after their wedding night. In fact, in this week’s episode of SBS’s Marry Me, Marry My Family, Macedonian-Australian Derian agrees to take part in the post-marriage ritual called Blaga Rakija to confirm her virginity. But in some cultures, virginity – particularly for brides – is a big deal. In 1975, 16 per cent of couples who married lived together before tying the knot today that figure is 77 per cent. In mainstream Australian society, there is little expectation that the bride or groom will arrive as virgins to the matrimonial bed.Īccording to the 2013 Australian Study of Health and Relationships the median age of first vaginal intercourse has remained steady at 17 for over a decade, while the median age for marriage is much older, at 31 for men and 29 for women.