Every country, tribe and family has it’s own wedding traditions. Scotland actively practices a pre-wedding tradition called "blackening". Originally just the bride was to be blackened by her friends but now the groom may also be blackened. They are taken by surprise and covered in foul and disgusting things, anything they can think of. Some examples are curdled milk, rotten eggs, soiled curry, smelly fish sauces, mud, flour, sausage, and feathers. Due to the popularity of this tradition brides and grooms rarely try to run or hide from the blackening. After the blackening they are either tied to a tree or paraded down the local streets and into the pubs (still covered in nasty) with friends clanging pots and pans to announce the wedding. Scots believe that this humiliation prepares them to face all the difficulties they may come across in marriage, as nothing could be more humiliating than their blackening.
As a side note, Scotland (in 2010) has the lowest divorce rate that they have seen in their country in 30 years, with divorces dropping and marriages raising.
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