MARY BRASWELL: Looking Back, June 1, 2o14

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or [email protected].

The Romans celebrated a festival in honor of the deity Juno, wife of Jupiter and goddess of marriage and childbirth, on June 1st. During the 1400 and 1500s, late May or early June was when people came outdoors after a long winter and bathed communally. To marry when one is clean seemed to them to be a good beginning. Getting married in June also meant that children conceived from these unions would be born the following spring, increasing their chances of survival. Also, spring births would not interfere with the fall harvest, which was the busiest time of the year for most people. And now, more on the subject…

— Today the average bride is 24.5 years old and the groom is 26.5 years old.