barred;[1] only opened on payment. 8. Prayer; kalym paid; eating and drinking [bride not present]. 9. Bride [in undress] appears from behind curtain; bewails herself; gives presents; her friends praise her; bride retires. 10. Old woman [in fur coat, turned inside out] plays the buffoon; hopes bride will ever excite smiles of pleasure, 11. Bride brought in [in full dress]. 12. Prayer to water-goddess (goddess of marriage). 13. Bride blessed by parents [candle burning on threshold; not extinguished till marriage is over[2]]. 14. Carried to tilt-cart, and taken to church, with precautions against evil spirits. 15. Bridegroom [covered with a hide] is driven to church. 16. Marriage solemnised after Russian rite. 17. Wedding-party drives to bridegroom’s. 18. Received by oldest man in house. Variant.—Received by father and mother of bridegroom [in coats, turned inside out]; notch cut in door-post. 19. Pan-kicking.[3] 20. Couple left in bridal chamber (out-house). 21. Bride taken to river[4] [path sprinkled with pure]; hen sacrificed, and prayer to water-goddess; bride drenched, and returns home. 22. New name given [by striking on head with loaf]. 23. Bride led to stove, and fed out of hand by mother-in-law.
From the above we may arrive, with considerable probability, at the following conclusions:—That the Mordvins, before they came in contact with the Slavs, wooed by proxy, and contracted marriages by purchase, though there was a prevailing sentiment that a man should give proof of his
- ↑ This is also done in some parts of Russia. (Ralston, p. 285.)
- ↑ A Little Russian usage. (Haxthausen’s Russian Empire (R. Farie), i, 413.)
- ↑ A Russian custom of similar purport is mentioned by Jenkinson in 1557 (Hakluyt, i, 360), After receiving the priestly blessing in church, the young couple had to drink out of a cup. The bride drank first, and, after the bridegroom had drunk, he let the cup fall to the ground. Whichever of the two could first tread upon it would have, it was supposed, the upper hand in future.
- ↑ A Russian bride takes a bath the morning after the wedding. (Ralston, p. 281.)
