oor of the
anbar, sang in concert, as each vehicle was loaded with the
effects of the bride. This ended, the party returned to the
house, when dancing commenced, and was kept up with spirit the
whole night. Before quitting the house, the parents of the
young bridegroom requested me to come the following morning,
and witness the ceremony of his taking leave of them,
previously to his going to church. At twelve o'clock, on the
22d, we attended at the father's house, where a number of the
friends of the bridegroom were collected: several large tables
were laid for dinner, and at the principal one, near the
images, which in a Russian house are always at the eastern
corner of the room, sat the bridegroom and his attendants. A
female relative, representing the bride, was placed in the
chair on the left hand of the bridegroom; and the father and
mother sat at the opposite side of the table. Three dishes of
cold meat were placed before the principal attendant, and wine
and watky being at the same time handed round, he cut a large
cross on the first one, placing it aside; then the second, then
the third, in the same way; and, at the cutting of each, wine
and watky were handed round to the company, who rose, and drank
to the wedding party. Nothing was eaten, this being merely a
ceremony to prepare the feast for the young couple when they
should return from the church. After this, the bridegroom went
round to the opposite side of the table, holding the image of
the Virgin in his hand, and crossed himself on his knees, and
bowed his head three times to the ground, before his father,
who, when he rose, took the image from him, kissed him, and
crossed him with it on his head. The same homage was paid to
his mother, on which she delivered the image to another person,
who preceded the bridegroom and his party to the church, where
they met the bride and her attendants; and the couple were then
led to the altar, and united in the holy bands of wedlock, by
the Protopope, or Chief of the Clergy. The ceremony resembles
that of the Catholic church, except that, towards the close,
the priest places a hymeneal crown on the heads of the man and
woman, and they walk three times round a table, where lie the
cross and the Bible. This part of the proceeding is regard