Ever wondered why the saying,
“Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue,” ends with…”and a sixpence in your shoe?”
This old adage refers to the bridal custom of wearing a silver sixpence during the wedding ceremony. The tradition can be traced to ancient Grecian
times, when it was common for the bride to carry three silver coins to her wedding: one to give to her future mother-in-law before the ceremony began,
one to give to the first stranger she sees on the road after the wedding is over, and the third to keep with her as she goes to her new home, in order
to ensure her wealth. The bride had to keep the coin somewhere on her body throughout the whole ceremony in order to appease Diana, the goddess of
chastity and unmarried maidens, so that she would be able to bear children. This practice of wearing the coin has continued ever since, but
it was only a few hundred years ago when the sixpence became incorporated into this ritual.
The sixpence became widely known in society as a lucky coin when Edward VI ascended the English throne in 1551, and by the time the Victorian rhyme, “Something old, something new”…was written, the sixpence had already become entwined in the English wedding tradition. Now that the sixpence is a bit difficult to find, any silver coin can substitute for the outdated coin. Still looking for one last special little “happy” to give to the bride? Genuine sixpences can be purchased in some stores and also online.
And now you know the Legend of the Sixpence!