That's an interesting point. I've never been to a wedding without dancing. At my own wedding a few weeks ago, we had a dance floor, but the kids used it mostly for playing with toys. Instead of dancing, the rest of us decided instead to do vodka shots. So there you go.
Dancing is what people do when they convene for a ceremony.
Simple. Weddings make people think of procreation. Dancing is as close to public sex as you can get in most societies. In fact, it's too close for some. Hence, quite a few religious denominations ban it entirely, and others simply segregate the revlers by gender, but still let them dance.
And how many hook-ups are wedding-related?
It all hangs together. It's primal.
Oops, and I, personally, have never been to a wedding without dancing. Heck, pretty much the only time I'm willing to dance is at weddings.
What's this oy, ogged? I guess I was thinking of wakes and not the part where you stand in a wind-wracked field and toss a handful of dirt over the coffin, but wakes are parts of funerals (or so say I).
I don't normally have to spell things out for you, Ben. Oy, because, even granting that the wake is part of the funeral, not all funerals have wakes (and dancing), so your original point, about dancing and ceremonies, is just wrong. LarryB's point, about procreation and sex, however, is a good one. Though it doesn't explain why no bowling.
Actually, I understood when I wrote "some do" that I was not saying "all do" and that therefore what I had said before was not universally true. I just didn't recognize "oy" as meaning "ah, but do you not see that you have just proved yourself wrong! ho ho!".
I still think that what I said has some truth to it.
I had no dancing at my wedding. So few people know how to dance in formal clothes, and everyone just ends up looking and feeling ridiculous.
We hired a good jazz pianist, had the reception in a furnished penthouse with a view of the sunset, and basically made it a nice cocktail party. A good time was had by all.
Weddings are romantic events, and dancing is romantic. At least, it can be. Your other suggestions are not.
I'm available for all sorts of easy question.
We had no dancing at my wedding either. After the ceremony we all walked across the park to a local bar/restaurant. Had a meal, then sat in the bar's garden getting drunk. :)
Just went to a wedding which was followed by cricket. The bride was batting (having changed out of her dress) when rain, alas, stopped play.
Just went to a wedding which was followed by cricket.
Awesome!
I endorse bphd's remarks. Dancing made sense when everyone knew how, but those days are past.
Imagining what it would be like to go to a wedding at which your other suggestions are taken seriously is sufficient to undermine them, I think. Have you met my ol' uncle Cephalus?
Or take the old folks five miles away, spin them around, and have them race back to the reception hall, I should have added.
Larryb nailed it. If procreation sounds too impersonal then call it a mating ritual, or courtship. Either way, it really revs up the urge to merge in the female of the species. They see one of their sisters bagging the big trophy and the hunt is on.