Wedding Blog
Often, Hispanic Catholic weddings include the ritual of the arras, or unity coins, which the groom presents to the bride (I bet there are others cultures that do it, too, and I just don’t know about it: please excuse my ignorance and be sure to tell us who else incorporates this tradition!).
Arras consist of 13 gold coins. When the groom gives these to his bride, he’s symbolically saying that he will be there to provide for her. The number of coins is also significant: they represent Jesus Christ and the 12 apostles.
As you can probably guess from one of my last posts, as a now Jewish bride, I didn’t feel comfortable incorporating this tradition into my own wedding, but I do fondly remember that my oldest brother did, and I can appreciate how beautiful some of these coins and sets can be.
Recently, I also saw some posts on the Knot wondering where they could be purchased. I know in South Florida, they can be found in some shopping malls where there are kiosks that sell religious goods. I am sure that many religious shops would also carry them. If you are unable to find them in person, though, there is always, of course, the Internet. Here are some of the ones I found:
From Glory 2 BVM
From JMcKinley.com
Also from JMcKinley.com
From CatholicMax
Keep in mind that there are many variations, from simple to extravagant, and do also remember that some containers are sold without the coins, making it necessary to buy the coins themselves separately.
Are any Bees/Bee readers incorporating this tradition into their ceremonies?
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I attended a friend’s wedding, a Filipino wedding last year and they incorporated this tradition during the ceremony.
My husband and I, both Filipinos, incorporated this– as well as a cord and veil ceremony in our wedding.
We are incorporating the arras and lasso traditions in our wedding. I’m Mexican and my fiance is Filipino. Both cultures use these traditions.
We’re tweaking the arras tradition by dividing the coins and presenting six to one another and offering the 13th as a gift to our priest. It symbolizes equality and giving.
i’m doing this tradition in my ceremony… i’m filipino too. this tradition came from the spanish, and since they occupied both the philippines and mexico for so long, our cultures have assimilated very many spanish traditions. i’m actually going to use the new 2007 george washington $1 coins though. just gotta drop by the bank to exchange monies. we’re doing the exchanging of the arras right after we exchange the rings.
tara, that’s a really nice idea!
Hi there, I am also a Filipino, my fiance and I will incorporate this tradition to my ceremony. We will also do the lasso/cords and veil tradition. Cant wait. Ill be wearing mantilla veil that would definitely give the spanish touch ..
I am Mexican, so I was thinking about having the “other half” of the arras (the lasso). After looking at the pretty pictures you’ve posted now I want to have the arras too.
I nearly gave up on this because it seems that here (Philly) no one uses that. The priest that is marrying us definitely doesn’t know. After a long search I finally found out when the lasso is placed and taken away and when the arras are given; but I had to search in Spanish websites.
After all the searching I’m glad to be able to give the ceremony a bit of a Mexican touch…I can’t wait 
Yes I am! (My wedding is in Spain.) I think we’re using a dish instead of a bag or box but not sure yet…
We were thinking of incorporating this into our wedding since he is Filipino, but we decided to keep the ceremony as short as possible.
P.S. I found this explanation online about the “arras” tradition which I think is a bit more pro-feminine and not just “::beating chest:: Me, macho man, will make money and give it to you ::grunting::” Hope this is helpful for those incorporating the arras tradition!
This tradition of exchanging “arras” or coins is derived from the Roman custom of breaking gold or silver, one half to be kept by the woman and the other half by the man, as a pledge of marriage. The groom gives the bride thirteen coins as a symbol of his unquestionable trust and confidence. He pledges to support her, and places all of his goods into her care and safekeeping. Acceptance by the bride means taking that trust and confidence unconditionally with total dedication and prudence.
my wedding will be in England but since I’m spanish I’d like to include the arras tradition.
I’m very surprised to read on the net that the meaning of being 13 is christ and the apostols… never heard that!! in all weddings I’ve been in Spain when priests have explained the meaning they’ve all said it represents 12 months of the year plus one, so to represent to have enough to provide for each month … and the plus one some say is to “give to the poor” some say it’s for unforseens or celebrations.
the arras tradition comes well before the roman times so certainly the Christ and apostols version can’t be the original one. So I wouldn’t worry too much about not being catholic and using the tradition!
your give 6 coins to each other is a nice idea Tara. Or you can do what my sister and her husband did: just exchange them first her to him and then him to her (or the other way round) saying the same words.
Does anyone know the passages or words that are said during the exchange of the arras? I am getting married in France and I have to write out this ceremony word by word to give to the officiant because they don’t do that there.
Lyssett all I have are the spanish words (which i got for researching the lazo, we did not do the arras)
I bet the Spanish catholic wedding booklets might help more. I found this in http://www.virtualbodas.com/arras.htm and made some corrections as there was a spelling error.
Sacerdote: Bendice, Señor, estas arras,
que N. y N. se entregan y derrama sobre ellos la abundancia de tus bienes.
Esposo (derrama las arras en sus manos y las entrega a la esposa diciéndole): N., recibe estas arras como prenda de la bendición de Dios y signo de los bienes que vamos a compartir.
Esposa: N., recibo estas arras como prenda de la bendición de Dios y signo de los bienes que vamos a compartir.
(Al terminar la entrega de las arras se puede cantar un canto de alabanza).
And here is the version that I have actually heard:
El novio dice: N., recibe estas arras como prenda de la bendición de Dios y signo de los bienes que vamos a compartir.
La novia dice: Yo las recibo en señal del cuidado que tendré de que todo se aproveche en nuestro hogar.
[...] (Mrs. Petunia and Mrs. Hydrangea also posted about the Arras ceremony and Mrs. Joey posted about a similar tradition: the Arrhae.) [...]
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Mrs. Petunia, Ft. Lauderdale
Age and Occupation: 31, College Professor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Engineering Student/Part-time Barista
Engagement Date: December 8, 2006
Wedding Date: March 2, 2008
Venue: Riverside Hotel
Blogging Since: August 6, 2007
About Me: Our original idea of running off to get married quickly turned into an event with 100+ guests once other people got involved and I, too, got swept away in the lovely madness that is wedding planning. Mr. Petunia and I are obsessed with all things World of Warcraft, Monopoly, and Nintendo, so we’re planning on including some fun “game-y” details into our wedding.
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