A wedding is a very exciting and memorable moment in the life of each of us. In Cossack lands, it takes place with its unusual rites and conditions, which are very different from our present.
Cossacks and Cossacks were married at the age of 17-20 years. They tried to take the bride from a good quality family, so that they could manage the housework, cook deliciously, and respect the elderly. Young people got acquainted at evening festivities (evenings), round dances, holidays: seeing off Shrovetide, Christmas, Easter.
They tried to play Cossack weddings in the fall after harvesting, as the Cossacks had much more free time. It was also connected from an economic point of view: Cossacks were accustomed to walk for several days in a big way, so that there were a lot of various dishes and alcohol on the holiday tables.
How did you prepare for a wedding in Cossack lands?
First of all, the young Cossack started a conversation with his parents about marrying the bride of his choice, and asked his mother and father for consent to the wedding. If the mother and father agreed, then they began to prepare for the matchmaking.
Matchmaking
Preparation for the Cossack wedding began with matchmaking for the bride and her parents. Mother and father, from the groom's side, put on elegant clothes, tied their son, invited respected relatives with them, and went to future matchmakers with a loaf (pie) baked in advance for this occasion. If the groom did not like the girl’s parents, then the guests were not even offered to sit down. If they needed time to think about the answer, then the groom’s parents left the loaf of bread for the mother of the bride. Returned a few days later a piece of cake or pumpkin back to the groom, it could be considered that the answer is no. If the mother and father immediately agreed to the marriage, the matchmakers were seated at a table, drank a glass and agreed on vaults.
Vaults
The vaults are a great feast with all the invited relatives from the bride and groom, at which specific details of the upcoming Cossack wedding were discussed, namely: how many guests to invite, costs, gifts, dowry, wedding decoration.
In the arches of the young bride, multi-colored ribbons were woven into her hair and she walked like this until the upcoming wedding. At the table, guests from both sides beat each other's hands, treated themselves and drank. From this day on, the girl was considered an “impregnated” bride.
The entire period from the vaults to the wedding, which lasted from 4-6 weeks, young Cossacks and Cossacks spend all evenings in the bride’s house, the so-called “evenings” and “overnight stays”. During such events, friends and girlfriends play various games, sing songs, girls do needlework, guys treat them with sweets.
On the evening eve of the wedding, the bride’s dowry (bed, chests, pillow, blanket, mirror) is transported to the groom’s house. A large wedding cake was baked in this house. A coin for happiness was hidden in the filling of the pie.
Ah, this wedding, wedding, wedding sang ...
• Wedding preparations
Early in the morning on the wedding day, the bride woke up and went around her yard, mentally saying goodbye to him. If the girl was an orphan, then she ran to the cemetery, cried at the grave, asked for blessings from her parents - the deceased, after which she returned and began to prepare for the visit of the groom and guests. In this, her friends and matchmaker helped her. The bride braided her hair and gave it to unmarried girlfriends along the bright ribbon that had been woven into her earlier in the arches. The matchmaker twisted the braid again for the bride, and together with the lyrical songs they all waited together for the arrival of the young groom.
We met the guests at the table: they put the groom near the bride, the parents with the icon blessed the young, and then went to the church.
• Wedding
Now, in our modern time, weddings are much easier. In the registry office, the newlyweds present their passports, exchange rings, witnesses are no longer so necessary, and few people get married. And in the middle of the XIX Cossack weddings, this ceremony was necessarily held. In advance, the newlyweds kept the fast and communed.
The bride put on a modest floor-length dress, her shoulders were covered with a light cloak, her head was covered with a veil or just a beautiful scarf.
At the wedding, witnesses held crowns over the heads of the newlyweds, the rest stood with lit candles. It was believed that if during the exchange of rings one of the newlyweds accidentally dropped the ring, then marriage promised a difficult life between the couple.
After the wedding, upon leaving the church, the newlyweds had to pass by crosses bared above their heads, crosswise with checkers. This custom symbolizes the protection of the new family from adversity and misfortune. The matchmaker took away the extinguished candles from the guests and gave them to the family for storage. In the event of a severe illness or painful childbirth of the bride, the candles were again lit.
• Arrival from the church to the groom's house
The newlyweds were greeted joyfully: with sweets, nuts, the groom's parents blessed the couple and invited everyone to the table. Here began a real feast with a variety of dishes, alcohol, funny songs, games and jokes, gifts. By the way, gifts at Cossack weddings took place on the second day, when the groom was convinced of the "honesty" of the girl. The young Cossack thanked the father of the bride for a good wife. If the girl was “dishonest,” then the next day, a glass with a large crack at the bottom was served to the mother and father at the table, and the wine spilled on the floor. There was such a tradition: after the newlywed night, the newlyweds' tablecloth was announced. She was hanged on a cart, on which, after the wedding, the bride and groom arrived. In some Cossack regions there was such a custom: during the first night of the newlyweds, a friend of the groom lay under the bed until dawn.
The feast continued for several days, the guests feasted, sang, rode horses, scattered coins on the streets, flanked with a checker, and on the last day of the wedding they heated a bathhouse, made a big fire and jumped over it.
There are many Cossack traditions and wedding ceremonies and all of them, in their own way, are interesting. Something has survived to our present day. It is important to get married and, moreover, get married not because it is fashionable, but to approach this issue thoughtfully and with all responsibility.
