The INSIDER Summary:
- The rhyme "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" dates back to at least 19th century Lancastershire.
- It refers to five things a bride should wear on her wedding day.
- They're meant to provide protection for her baby and prosperity for the couple.
The rhyme "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" refers to the things a bride is supposed to wear on her wedding day to have a successful marriage. And like most superstitions, it doesn't entirely make sense.
There are, of course, many psychology-backedand scientifically grounded ways to have a better marriage. But wearing those five items is a tradition that many people like to keep.
This particular phrase and tradition likely comes from Lancastershire, England. The oldest written reference to it is in an 1871 issue of St. James Magazine, where the author complains about the tradition.
A more thorough explanation was later encoded by Charlotte Sophia Burne, the first female president of London's Folklore Society, in her 1883 publication "Shropshire Folklore: A Sheaf of Gleanings." The full rhyme, it turns out, has an additional line:
Something old,
something new,
something borrowed,
something blue,
and a silver sixpence in her shoe.
What do each of those things symbolize? Let's break it down.
"Something old" is to provide protection for the bride's eventual baby.
"Something borrowed" refers to something that another happy bride has already worn. It's meant to transfer their luck onto the new bride's relationship. Some sources also say that the garment is meant to ward off the evil eye from spurned suitors, which would presumably leave the woman barren. For that reason, it was recommended to use "the undergarment of some woman who has been blessed with children" because the clothes "communicate fertility to the bride."
The "something blue" is another "device to baffle the evil eye." It's recommended that one wears blue garters under a white wedding dress, according to Burne.
And "a sixpence in her shoe," of course, is a symbol for prosperity for the new couple.
There's no source or meaning behind "something new." It might just be there to make the rhyme work.
Taken together, a bride who wears those six things has the ingredients for a successful marriage in the years that follow.
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