Bridesmaid
This article discusses the bridesmaid as a person in a wedding custom. For the 2004 feature film by French film director Claude Chabrol, see The Bridesmaid.
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The bridesmaids are companions of the bride.
They were originally there to distract evil spirits from the bride. They put on beautiful dresses to resemble the bride and thus confuse the evil spirits: should an evil spirit decide to want to possess the bride, he had several similarly dressed women to choose from and could not determine which was the real bride. The bridesmaid thus represented a protection against all spiritual dangers. Her male counterpart, the best man, was originally charged with protecting the bride from earthly dangers such as marauders.
Nowadays, the bridesmaid is often the bride's most important helper in the preparations for the wedding ceremony after the groomsmen. She should be single and know the bride very well, maybe even be related to her or the groom. On the wedding day, the bridesmaid is the most important help for the bride; she accompanies her in the wedding procession into the church or walks with the best man directly behind the bride and groom, carries a train if there is one and takes the bridal bouquet from her during the wedding ceremony.
Bridesmaids (1933)
