# Rice and weddings, what's the deal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 5, 2003, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357 "2003-07-05T06:25:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CelraySoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@CelraySoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelraySoda)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/1 "2003-07-05T06:25:11Z")
What is the significance of throwing rice on a newly married couple as they walk to their car to leave? -M ps. I tried to search the archives but the page kept on telling me it wasn’t responding. Anyone else get this often, too? ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/2 "2003-07-05T06:39:32Z")
This doesn’t answer your question, but [Cecil speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_081.html) on the topic of rice and weddings. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/3 "2003-07-05T06:42:19Z")
[Google](http://www.snopes.com/weddings/customs/confetti.htm) is your friend. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/4 "2003-07-05T07:57:52Z")
Throwing bricks just didn’t seem polite. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/5 "2003-07-05T13:51:17Z")
Rice is a symbol of fertility, so you’re visually wishing for children for the happy couple. There’s a joke about pregnant brides and instant rice, but I don’t remember just how it goes. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/6 "2003-07-06T00:38:43Z")
Bird seed has become popular. Birds, naturally, clean up the mess pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/7 "2003-07-06T01:05:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ltfire \* > \*\*Bird seed has become popular. Birds, naturally, clean up the mess pretty quickly. \*\* I symbolize my wish that you newlyweds have a good marriage by pelting you with animal food! Let me toss some horse fodder and kibbles and bits for good measure! And here, let me smear some ground beef on you! (It’s good for the feral dogs, they lick the church steps clean like spanking new!) ## Peace. Watch the corneas. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/8 "2003-07-06T07:43:36Z")
I think in England it used to be wheat. At any rate, grains are symbols of fertility and of plenty, so pelting the newlyweds with grains has a double meaning: that they should never know want, and that they be fertile. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/9 "2003-07-06T23:51:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by moriah \* > \*\*I symbolize my wish that you newlyweds have a good marriage by pelting you with animal food! Let me toss some horse fodder and kibbles and bits for good measure! And here, let me smear some ground beef on you! (It’s good for the feral dogs, they lick the church steps clean like spanking new!) > > ## Peace. > > Watch the corneas. \*\* This was a PETA recommendation. Check their web site. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/10 "2003-07-07T04:32:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ltfire \* > \*\*This [pelting newlyweds with bird seed instead of rice] was a PETA recommendation. Check their web site. \*\* Don’t need to check the web site of raging lunatics. Their endorsement of the practice should tell you everything you need to know about it. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/11 "2003-07-07T04:58:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ltfire \* > \*\*Bird seed has become popular. Birds, naturally, clean up the mess pretty quickly. \*\* from the Master’s column liked above > [@](#): > > (10) A Presbyterian minister called WBEZ to say that the reason they didn’t want you to throw rice at weddings was that it was like spreading little roller bearings all over the floor, and insurance companies didn’t want the bride and groom to fall and break their necks. Though now that I think about it, using birdseed instead of rice is basically replacing roller bearings with ball bearings. And just how would this be an improvement? ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/12 "2003-07-07T06:47:59Z")
Well, there for a while, there was an urban legend going around that if you threw rice, the birds would eat it, and it would soften and expand in their little stomachs, and they’d explode. Ridiculous, yes, but I can’t tell you how many times it was repeated to me as an honest-to-goodness bit of scientific knowlege. Bird seed, of course, is safe for the birds, which is why it’s become popular. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/13 "2003-07-07T07:31:19Z")
Heh, and I thought I could stamp out all the bird exploding nonsense with one simple link to Cecil. Since **CelraySoda** hasn’t reappeared, let me remind everyone that the OP was in regard to the _significance_ which has been briefly addressed: symbol of fertility. But I think the question of _origin_ is implied. Anybody? ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/14 "2003-07-07T10:13:06Z")
In the Indian culture rice is seen as a symbol of wealth and prosperity. As the bride leaves the place where the wedding ceremony happened, she throws rice, provided by her parents behind her, signifying that she is leaving behind her parents and all their wealth for a new life with her husband. Just an alternative perspective on the rice throwing thing. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/15 "2003-07-07T20:42:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by moriah \* > \*\*Don’t need to check the web site of raging lunatics. Their endorsement of the practice should tell you everything you need to know about it. \*\* Yo, I’m with you on that one. I surely wasn’t endorsing anything those, as you say, lunatics say. Just puttin’ my two cents in. Sorry if I got your juices flowing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/16 "2003-07-08T04:30:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ltfire \* > Bird seed has become popular. Birds, naturally, clean up the mess pretty quickly. Umm, rice is a seed and birds eat it. I don’t get the distinction. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/17 "2003-07-08T19:37:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ftg \* > \*\*Umm, rice is a seed and birds eat it. I don’t get the distinction. \*\* See CRAZYCATLADY post, above. …and personally, all weddings should be in the winter so you could throw snowballs…😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/18 "2003-07-08T20:45:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CrazyCatLady \* > **grains are symbols of fertility and of plenty, so pelting the newlyweds with grains has a double meaning: that they should never know want, and that they be fertile** Hey, if you use corn on the cob, you can get the phallic thing in there too. Just don’t aim for their heads. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/19 "2003-07-09T00:05:22Z")
Fertility yes, but I always understood that a spray of rice was supposed to symbolize a spray of sperm. No, I cannot give a cite; this was just a common supposition. And I don’t believe for a minute the BS about explding birds. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357/20 "2003-07-09T13:59:44Z")
> [@](#): > > No, I cannot give a cite; this was just a common supposition. Common? I don’t think so. RR P.S.: “Exploding Birds” = rock band! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-and-weddings-whats-the-deal/186357.md?page=2)