My favorite part of a wedding ceremony is the many cultural, and religious traditions I've seen. This week tradition is the Chuppah. The chuppa carries a religious significance in a Jewish ceremony. It consists of a cloth or a tallit, stretched or supported over four poles. It is sometimes carried by attendants to the ceremony.
The wedding ceremony takes place under the chuppah (canopy), a symbol of the home that the new couple will build together, and the spiritual birth of a couple's life together. It is open on all sides, just as Abraham and Sarah had their tent open all sides to welcome people in unconditional hospitality.
The Ashkenazi custom is to have the chuppah ceremony outside under the stars, as a sign of the blessing given by God to the patriarch Abraham, that his children shall be "as the stars of the heavens"(Genesis 15:5). Sefardim generally have the chuppah indoors.
