Confetti or Coriandoli

 

The tradition of throwing confetti over the newly weds dates back to mid 19th century here in the UK but comes from a  much older activity practised in ancient Rome. Warriors back from a battle? Throw flowers, rice or other grains and seeds. Random celebratory procession? Throw rice flowers and seeds.  Getting married? Rice oats and wheat were thrown over the couple to symbolise fertility.

Moving forward to the middle ages during Italian Carnival, ladies would carry baskets of confetti or small sweets such as candied peel. They would throw the sweets at favoured people  (basically people they fancied) in the parade and these small sugar and flour coated sweets would leave a mark on the clothing. They threw eggs at others, so this could be where the wearing of masks started... if they can't tell what you look like, you might get away without getting 'egged' as to get to the end of the parade covered in flour and sugar 'dots' meant the person was highly favoured.

Confetti, as we know it that is small bits of paper has a controversial origin but still in Italy. It was either created by an Milanese businessman, Enrico Mangili in 1875 or 14 year old Ettore Fenderl from Trieste in 1876. Both are cited as the inventor.

Rice was the 'confetti' of choice in the UK from about the mid 1800s  but that went   out of fashion as its quite a hard sharp thing to have thrown at you. Throwing coloured bits of paper made its way over from Italy, and the first recorded instance of confetti in the UK was 1895 when the word entered the Oxford English Dictionary.

Theses days, a lot of venues frown on confetti as the clean up time is immense ( ever tried cleaning up glitter?) and sometimes the coloured paper can stain.

 The more modern and environmentally conscious choice would be, cut out leaves as pictured, flower petals or even wild flower seeds and or birdseed.

Other ways of celebrating the 'walkdown' at the end of the ceremony include the blowing of bubbles. Fun, whimsical and it makes for a variety if great 

And the title of this blog? Confetti is an Italian word meaning sweets. Coriandoli is an Italian word meaning.....confetti. Coined in the 16th century by a botanist from Florence Giovanvettorio Soderini referring to sugared coriander seeds.