A Greek Marriage—The Day before the Bridal—The Wedding
Garments—Cachemires—Ceremony of Reception—The Golden
Tresses—Early Hours of the Greek Church—Love of the Greek
Women for Finery—The Bridal Procession—The Marriage—The
Nuptial Crowns—Greek Funerals.
There are few ceremonies more amusing (for that is really the correct
term) than a Greek marriage. All is glitter and gossipy; and so many
ancient and classical usages are still retained, that it is a curious as
well as an interesting sight to a stranger.
Having received an invitation to the wedding of a fair neighbor, I
joined a party of friends who were about to visit her, according to
custom, on the previous day; to offer their congratulations, and to give
their opinions with regard to the bridal gear, as well as to assist in
weaving the golden tresses by which a Greek bride is always
distinguishable.
We found one of the daughters of the family waiting to receive us on the
terrace; and, as she stood smiling and blushing in reply to our
salutations, her bright black eyes dancing with joy, under the shadow
of an overhanging vine, whose clusters of rich purple grapes fell
temptingly through the open trellises, she formed as pretty a picture of
young, gay, light-hearted beauty, as the eye ever lingered on. When we
had exchanged compliments, she led us through the center saloon to an
inner apartment, where we found the bride elect; a fair, dove-eyed girl,
who was sitting upon the sofa with her hand clasped in that of one of
her young companions.
On one side of the room were displayed the bridal dresses; and on the
other were collected all the smaller articles of her toilette. It was a
confusion of blonde, and gauze, and flowers, and diamonds; satin
slippers, embroidered handkerchiefs, and cachemire shawls; and I really
pitied the owner of all this finery when I remarked how much she was
harassed and oppressed by the commotion which surrounded her, and the
crowd of company that came and went in one endless stream.
Sweetmeats and coffee having been served, every article of the bridal
costume was exhibited separately to the guests, commented on, and
replaced. The shawls and jewels were examined with the most earnest
attention, for these gauds are the glory of the Greek women, who, in
speaking of a married acquaintance, seldom tell you that she is happy
from being the wife of a man of amiability and high principle; but
invariably reply to your inquiry by the assurance that she is a most
fortunate person, to whom her husband has given six or seven cachemires;
or that she is, poor thing! very much to be pitied, having been thrown
away upon an individual who can only afford to allow her a couple of
shawls! To such a height, indeed, do the Greek ladies carry their love
for this article of dress, and their desire to display it, that they
will suffocate in a cachemire during the hottest day in summer, and even
wear it in a ball-room!
When all the bridal paraphernalia had been exhibited, the mother of the
bride entered the room, carrying in one hand a fillagreed silver essence
bottle, and in the other a censer of the same material, in which were
burning aloes, myrrh, and perfumed woods. Making the tour of the
apartment, she flung the perfume over each individual, varying her
address according to the circumstances of the guests. To the unmarried
she accompanied the action by saying, “May your own bridal
follow!”—while to the matrons of the party she said, “May you also see
the bridal of your children!”
When the old lady had withdrawn, all the more youthful of the visitors
formed a group in the center of the floor. One laughing girl held a pair
of diminutive scales; and another was laden with the glittering skeins
of flat gold thread, of which were to be woven the singular head-dress
to which I have already made allusion. The gallantry of the bridegroom
had induced him to send forty drachms of this expensive gewgaw to his
fair mistress, instead of ten; the largest quantity that the laws of the
Greek Church allow to be worn; and the first care of the party was,
consequently, to separate the skeins, and to weigh out the portion
destined for the bride. When this had been accomplished, a score of us
were employed at once. The threads were drawn out singly, in lengths of
about three yards, and were then woven together at the end into a sort
of coronet, whence they fell in a golden shower to the floor.
When this pretty and amusing occupation was over, we took our leave,
each embracing the bride in turn, who still retained her place upon the
sofa; and every individual, as she passed the bridal gear, flinging over
it a handful of small silver coin.
I was summoned on the morrow at an early hour; for all the religious
ceremonies of the Greeks are performed at most unseasonable times. Even
their Sunday mass, when the poorer portions of the population, after
having toiled throughout the previous six days, might be excused a
little sluggishness, commences at daybreak; and no one who has spent
four months in a Greek village, as we did, can have failed to be
awakened at dawn by the rattling together of the two cedar sticks,
which are the substitute for a bell; followed by the frightful drawl of
the inferior priest, who traverses the streets, and utters a second
invitation to prayer, half growl and half shriek; infinitely more
calculated to frighten away the pious from his vicinity, than to induce
them to seek it.
But the call is, nevertheless, answered. Every cottage pours forth its
inhabitants; and even at daybreak the females deck themselves out in all
the finery of which they are possessed. Here it is a red gown, and a
yellow shawl—there a blue turban, and a pair of pink shoes—in short,
there is nothing more laughable than the idea that the poorer class of
Greek women entertain of a becoming toilette. Your maid answers the
clapping of your hands, (for bells there are none in Eastern houses) in
a turban of colored muslin or gauze a yard square, and half a yard high;
or, if she be an elderly woman, in a little red woollen cap with a
purple silk tassel, bound to her head by a painted handkerchief, over
which is twisted a thick plait of hair, generally false—the shortest of
petticoats, the most showy of stockings, the smartest of aprons, and a
pair of earrings frequently hanging to her shoulders; and poor indeed
must be the female servant in a Greek family who is not the happy
possessor of three or four gold rings!
But I have, meanwhile, forgotten the pretty bride, who was to be
married at the house of an intimate friend of our’s; and who, on my
arrival there, was momentarily expected. The center of the great saloon
was covered by a Turkey carpet, on which stood a reading-desk, overlaid
by a gold-embroidered handkerchief, and supporting a Bible and the two
marriage rings; the whole bright with the profusion of silver money that
had been scattered over them. The lady of the house was to officiate as
“Godmother” to the bride, an office somewhat similar to that of
bride’s-maid; and she was even at that early hour sparkling with jewels.
At length the sounds of music announced the arrival of the marriage
train; and we hastened to a window to watch for their approach. The
procession was an interesting one. The musicians were succeeded by the
bridegroom elect, walking between his own father and the father of his
bride; the fair girl followed, accompanied by a couple of her young
companions; and the two mothers, attended by “troops of friends,” closed
the train.
They were met at the threshold by the Archbishop of Nournaudkeüy and a
party of priests, who immediately commenced chanting the marriage
service; and, as they ascended the stairs, showers of money were flung
over them from above.
In five minutes, the spacious saloon was filled to suffocation; the
young couple were placed upon the edge of the carpet; the nuptial
crowns, formed of flowers, ribbons, and gold-thread, were deposited on
the reading-desk; and the rector of the parish, in a robe of brocaded
yellow satin fringed with silver, began a prayer, that was caught up at
intervals by the choral boys, and repeated in a wild chant. At the
conclusion of this prayer, which was of considerable length, the
attendant priests flung over the Archbishop his gorgeous vestments of
violet satin, embroidered with gold, and girdled with tissue; and he
advanced to the reading-desk, and took thence the two brilliant diamond
rings, with which he made the cross three times, on the forehead, lips,
and breast of the contracting parties; and then placed them in the hand
of the “Godmother,” who, putting one upon the finger of each, continued
to hold them there while the Prelate read a portion of the Gospel: after
which she changed them three times, leaving them ultimately in the
possession of their proper owners. This done, the Archbishop put the
hand of the bride into that of her husband, and went through the same
ceremonies with the nuptial crowns that he had previously enacted with
the rings; they were then placed upon the heads of the young couple;
and, a goblet of wine being presented to the Archbishop, he blessed it,
put it to his lips, handed it to the bride and bridegroom, and thence
delivered it up to the “Godmother.”
The crowns were next changed three several times from the one head to
the other; and, several wax candles being lighted, as I have described
them to have been during the Easter ceremonies at the Fanar, the whole
party walked in procession round the carpet; and then it was that the
silver shower fell thick and fast about them: the floor was literally
covered.
When the chanting ceased, the bride raised the hand of her new-made
husband to her lips; after which every relative and friend of either
party approached, and kissed them on the forehead. The Archbishop cast
off his robes; the children scrambled for the scattered money; the band
in the outer hall burst into an enlivening strain; and such of the
company as were of sufficient rank to entitle them to do so, followed
the bride, and the lady of the house to an inner saloon; where a train
of servants were in attendance, bearing trays of preserved fruits and
delicate little biscuits, which were given to each person to carry away.
Liqueurs were then offered, and subsequently coffee; after which each
married lady made a present to the bride of some article of value,
previously to her departure for her home, whither we all accompanied her
in procession; and took our leave at the portal to return to the house
of her friends, and join in the cheerful morning-ball which was about
to commence.
The effect of the golden tress that I had assisted to weave was very
beautiful, binding as it did the rich dark hair of the bride upon her
fair young brow, and then falling to her feet; and her whole costume
would have been eminently graceful, had she not been sinking under the
heat and weight of the eternal cachemire. The nuptial crowns which I
have mentioned are about a foot in height, and shaped like a beehive;
when they were removed from the heads of the young couple, they were
carefully enveloped in a handkerchief of colored gauze, and borne away
to be hung up in the chapel of the bridegroom’s house; where they will
remain until the death of either of the parties, when the deceased is
crowned for the second and last time, in the open coffin in which he is
borne to the grave.
The Greeks make almost as much toilette for a funeral as for a marriage.
Where the deceased is young and pretty, she is decked out in her gayest
apparel, and not unfrequently has her eyebrows stained, and a quantity
of rouge spread over her cheeks, to cheat death for a few brief hours of
his lividness; her gloved hands are carefully displayed; she is tricked
out in jewels; and this frightful mockery is rendered still more
revolting by the fact that she is thus paraded through the streets,
followed by her female relatives, who weep, and shriek, and bewail
themselves with a transient violence truly national. At the grave-side
all the finery is stripped from the stiffened corpse: the friends carry
it away; a cover is placed over the coffin; and the poor remains, that
were only a few instants previously so lavishly adorned, are consigned
to the earth of which they are so soon to form a part.