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"Ukrainian Minstrels: and the blind shall sing" by Natalie Kononenko
Virtual Bandura Museum
More N. Kononenko fotos at U. of Virginia
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Traditional Ukrainian Wedding Rituals
Photo Album
Collected in Central Ukraine, 1998
by Natalie Kononenko
Click the images below for enlargements
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The breads prepared for the wedding festivities. On the
right is the korovai. The round breads had no special name in
this area. They were used as gifts and eaten with the various
meals that are part of the wedding celebration.
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The bride ties a red ribbon around the korovai.
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The stove where all of the food to serve the over 250
guests will be heated.
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Huge pots of food are needed to feed all of the wedding
guests.
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The bride's special friend and helper, something like a
maid of honor (she is called the druzhka) pins the special
wedding corsage on the groom's lapel. She also pinned one on
the groom's best friend and helper, the boiaryn.
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The druzhka adjusts the bride's dress. There are no
prohibitions against the groom seeing the bride on the wedding
day or on his seeing her dress. The groom took the bride to
Cherkasy on the morning of the wedding to have her hair done,
then was present for the adjustments to her dress and veil.
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The druzhka adjusts the bride's headdress and veil.
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The wedding participants left the bride's home and drove
to the village club. Here they are entering the club house for
the formal marriage vows.
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The formal marriage vows in the club. The couple has to
stand on a rushnyk spread by their two mothers. Sometimes
coins or bills are placed under the rushnyk and used to pay the
person who conducts the marriage ceremony.
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The church version of the wedding.
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After the formal marriage vows at the village club, the
mother of the bride ties the hands of the couple together with
a special rushnyk and leads them off the stage, showering them
and the guests with wheat berries, candy, and coins. The candy
and coins are collected by the children
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The train or poizd sets out from the home of the groom for
the bride's house. Please note the svitilka, a young woman
carrying a bunch of paper flowers with beeswax candles inside.
The svitilka is the sister or cousin of the groom. The two
candles she carries are sometimes used to tell the fortune of
the wedding couple.
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The poizd on the way to the bride's house. Please note
that both of the starosty are tied with towels or rushnyky.
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The poizd arrives at the home of the bride.
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The guests at the wedding table at the home of the bride.
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The bride is seated at the table and the groom has to
bargain with her relatives to "buy" a seat next to her.
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The couple at the table at the home of the bride. The
groom gets to sit next to the bride after successfully paying
for this privilege. Please note the two champagne bottles tied
together with a ribbon. They are considered an obligatory part
of the modern wedding table, just like a ritual tree or hiltse
had to adorn the table in the past.
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After the meal at the bride's home, her mother ties their
hands together with a rushnyk.
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The mother then leads the couple to the car that will
carry them to the home of the groom. She circles the car three
times. This is the formal farewell between the bride's parents
and the bride and it was at this point that the bride's mother
cried.
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When the couple arrives at the home of the groom's
parents, they are greeted with breads held on rushnyky. This
couple was planning to move in with the groom's parents, as is
traditional.
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Another festive meal takes place at the groom's house. At
the end of the meal, the starosta holds the korovai prior to
its cutting and distribution among the guests. The starosta
calls the parents and god parents to partake of the korovai
first. Then all the other guests approach in turn. The guests
take a piece of the korovai and a drink of horilka from a tray
held by the bride. They then present their wedding gift to the
couple.
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BACK TO WEDDING RITUALS
Natalie Kononenko is professor of Slavic Languages,
Literatures, and Folklore at the University of Virginia. Her
publications include studies of Turkish and Ukrainian
minstrelsy and collections of Ukrainian folktales and epics.
Her most recent book, Ukrainian Minstrels: And the Blind Shall
Sing (M.E. Sharpe, 1998; to order: www.mesharpe.com), won the Kovaliv prize for 1997. She is currently
collecting field and archival materials for her next book, a
study of Ukrainian rituals of marriage, birth, and death.
E-mail: nkm@unix.mail.virginia.edu
Background: Ukrainian rushnyk from the collection of the Oblastni
kraeznavchyi muzei in Cherkasy. View it on
Anne Ingram's University of Virginia webpage.
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