MARIA'S WEDDING
MARIA was to be married. This was a very great event in the family
and all the little Mezzorios were wild with excitement. Maria was the
favourite sister, and she was tall and very beautiful. Her hair and
eyes were dark and her smile showed through gleaming white teeth.
Her marriage chest was ready, her dowry was earned, and a cousin of
the family had acted as "go-between" between Uncle Georgios and the
father of the young man who wished to marry Maria. His name was Mathos
Pappadiamantopoulas, and he had seen Maria as she walked spinning in
the fields.
Generally in Greece the parents arrange the marriages and the young
people scarcely see each other before the marriage ceremony binds them
together. Maria's, however, was quite a love match, for she and Mathos
had grown up together and had been waiting only for the dowry to go to
housekeeping in a little white cottage near to that of her mother.
Mathos had often been beneath Maria's window and had called his
sweetheart all the fond names he could think of. She was in turn "cold
water" (always sweet to a Grecian because good water is so scarce in
that country), a "lemon tree," and a "little bird." He had sung to her
many love songs, among them the Ballad of the Basil.
"If I should die of love, my love, my grave with basil strew,
And let some tears fall there, my life, for one who died for you,
Agape mon-ou-ou!"
Maria's _prekas_[5] was a fine one. Her father and brothers had
determined that.
"She shall not be made ashamed before any man. If I never marry, Maria
shall have a good dowry," said Marco.
When the list of what she would give to the furnishing of the little
home was made for the groom there was a strange array, a bedstead, a
dresser, a chair, sheets and pillowcases, blankets and quilts. There
were copper kettles and saucepans of many sizes and shapes, and the
lovely homespun linens were beautifully embroidered.
Early in the morning of the wedding day, Mathos' friends helped him
carry the _praekika_[6] from the bride's old home to her new one. Not
a single pocket handkerchief but was noted on the list Mathos' best
man had made, and it would have been a disgrace to all the family of
Mezzorios had there been even a pin missing from all that had been
agreed upon when the match was arranged.
Musicians played the guitar and mandolin, as Maria sat straight upright
upon a sofa. She was a little white and frightened, but looked very
pretty in her white dress embroidered in gold, her yellow embroidered
kerchief over her head. Zoe, with the other children, had been flying
around the room ready, whenever the _mastiche_ paste was passed on a
tray, to take a spoon from the pile and gouge out a taste of the sweet
stuff.
"Maria looks lonely," she said to Marco. "I'm glad I'm not in her
place."
"She'll be all right now," he said as the cry "He comes!" was heard
outside. Zoe ran to the door. She had never seen a wedding in Thessaly
and was very curious to see what it was like. Little Yanne Ghoromokos
was coming up the street carrying a tray on which rested two wreaths of
flowers and two large candles tied with white ribbon. Behind him was
Mathos, looking very foolish, surrounded by his friends.
"I shall not marry a man who looks like that," said Zoe to Marco, who
stood beside her.
"What is wrong with him?" asked Marco, who liked to hear his little
cousin talk, her remarks were so quaint and wise.
"He looks very unhappy, as if this were a funeral," she said, "or as if
he were afraid of something. When I marry, my husband shall be glad."
"That he should be," said Marco smiling, and showing his white teeth.
Mathos meanwhile made his way into the house and sat down on the sofa
by Maria. He did not look at her, for that would have been contrary
to etiquette, but over the girl's face there stole a warm and lovely
colour which made her more beautiful than ever.
All the men present looked at her and all the women, old and young,
kissed the groom, and each woman made him the present of a silk
handkerchief. Then it was time for the wedding ceremony and Zoe's eyes
were big with wonder.
On the table were placed a prayer book, a plate of candies, as the
priest, old Papa Petro took his stand near by. Maria came forward with
her father and Mathos and his best man stood beside her. To the child's
great wonder and delight, Zoe was to be bridesmaid, for Maria had said
to her mother,
"Let Zoe be bridesmaid. It will please her and she is a good little
thing." And Aunt Anna had answered,
"What ever you want, my child."
Zoe, therefore, in a new frock, with a rose pinned in her black hair,
stood proudly beside Maria at the altar. She watched the queer ceremony
in silence. First Papa Petro gave the groom a lighted candle and asked
him if he would take Maria for his wife; then Maria received a candle
and was asked if she would take Mathos for her husband, after which
the priest sang the _Kyrie Eleison_ and made a long, long prayer.
He blessed the two rings laid on the tray before him, giving one to
the bride and one to the groom. The best man quickly took them off the
fingers of each, exchanged them, and put the bride's on the groom's
finger, giving his to her.
Papa Petro next put a wreath on the head of each and the best man
exchanged them, and the ceremony continued, but of it Zoe saw little.
She was so overcome by the sight of Mathos' red, perspiring face,
surmounted by the wreath of white blossoms, and looking silly but
happy, that she had all she could do to keep from laughing.
She was so astonished a moment later that she nearly disgraced herself,
for the rest of the ceremony was like nothing she had ever seen before.
The priest took the hand of the best man, he took that of the groom,
and he held his bride by the hand, and all, priest, best man, groom
and bride, danced three times around the altar, while the guests pelted
the dancers with candies, and Zoe stood in open-mouthed amazement,
until Marco threw a candy into her mouth and nearly choked her. Then
the ceremony was over and everybody kissed the bride and her wreath,
which brings good luck.
"What do you think of being bridesmaid?" asked Marco.
"It is very nice, but I was afraid I should laugh," answered Zoe. "What
do they do now, Marco?"
"Maria must go to her husband's house. She is starting now. Come, let
us follow."
They went with the bridal couple down the village street, and at her
door lay a pomegranate. Upon this the bride stepped for good fortune
with her children. Then Mathos' mother tied the arms of the two
together with a handkerchief and they entered their own home. They
drank a cup of wine together and turned to receive the congratulations
of their friends.
"Marco, it is your turn next. Beware lest a Nereid get you," said
Mathos, laughing.
"I am not afraid of a Nereid," said Marco hastily crossing himself.
"Once I saw one upon the hillside when I was watching the sheep," said
an old man. "She was so beautiful I crept up to seize her in my arms
and behold! she turned into a bear and then a snake. The bear I held
but the snake I let go. Then I saw her no more."
"Upon the river bank of Kephissos," said an old woman, "dwell three
Nereids. They are sisters. Two are fair but one is ugly and crippled.
My mother lived there and she has often told me that she heard the fays
talking and laughing in the reeds along the shore. The pretty sisters
like children and love to play with mortals. Sometimes they steal away
little folk when they have stayed out at night in disobedience to
their mothers. They take them to their home in the reeds, but the lame
sister is jealous of pretty children and when she is sent to take them
home, she pinches them. My mother has with her two eyes seen the black
and blue marks of pinches upon the arms of children who did not always
stay in the house after dark. And where my mother lived they say always
to naughty children, 'Beware! the lame Nereid will get you!'"
"Be careful, Zoe," said Marco. "Be a good child and keep within when it
is dark, else you shall see the Nereid."
"God forbid!" said Zoe, quickly crossing herself, "I should die of
fright."
FOOTNOTES:
[5] Dowry.
[6] Wedding things.