A wedding has long been considered the most important event in life. Orthodoxy does not provide for the possibility of divorce, so people got married only once. And although our religion promotes chastity and sings of purity, some merry liberties were allowed during the celebration of youth.

In the pre-Christian era, the rite of marriage symbolized the flowering of nature and fertility. After the Baptism of Russia, some pagan elements were preserved, new traditions were added to them. Both in rich families and among ordinary peasants, the decision of the important issue of choosing a life partner was left to the heads of families. But not everything was so bad. The young people understood the established order and found their own ways to persuade their father to choose their beloved betrothed or betrothed.

Russian wedding tradition

At all times, the ceremony of marriage was divided into several parts, stretched out in time. Each stage required not only certain words and actions, but also other obligatory attributes - costumes, gifts, decorating premises or vehicles. Main stages:

• betrothal
• Training
• wedding train
• "Purchase" of the bride
• Walking and feasting
• Second wedding day - pancake

The whole process took from one week to three months. The peasants arranged the dates in accordance with the church and agricultural calendars. Not only relatives, but also friends of the bride and groom took part.

The central stage - the wedding - was distinguished by special beauty, solemnity and splendor.

wedding suits

An important role was assigned to the clothes of the participants in the ceremonies. The main colors are red and white. Red symbolized male power and wealth, and white symbolized female purity, purity and beauty. Woven items were decorated with intricate embroidery with symbolic patterns.

Interestingly, in ancient Rome and medieval Europe, only very rich people could afford the red color of clothes. The dye was extracted from the shells of Mediterranean molluscs and was expensive. In Russia, red paint was made from carmine, a substance extracted from cochineal insects. Therefore, a Russian bride, even from the poor, could afford a chic outfit of a beautiful, dark red color.

bride's outfit

The young woman put on sandals, bast shoes or woolen felt boots, depending on the season. Toward the beginning of the twentieth century, leather boots were often used.

Under the clothes, the bride put on a shirt made of homespun cloth. In those days, underwear did not yet exist; this part of the wardrobe performed its functions. Casual shirts were simple and coarse. Another thing is the wedding. The bride began to decorate and embroider her outfits even before the wedding date was determined. The most commonly used threads are red and yellow.

A sundress was put on a shirt - a dress with straps, not without sleeves. It could consist of several parts at once and usually had a wedge-like shape. Tailors in those days did not pay attention to the female waist, the narrowest point of the sundress was at the top, in the chest area. And the widest one is near the ground. The color was almost always red, in rare cases - white or black with an abundance of multi-colored embroidery.

An apron was worn over the sundress, which served as a kind of "business card" of the bride. Girls spent years decorating it with embroidery. The entire costume was pulled together by one or more belts.

Separately, it is worth noting the headdress of the bride and groom. In almost all regions of Russia, women wore kokoshniks. Only the shape or decorative elements could differ. According to tradition, the bride had to remove the kokoshnik only in front of her future husband, at the wedding ceremony. The priest placed crowns on the bowed heads of the newlyweds and began the ceremony. In different provinces, the kokoshnik was called the magpie, kichka, warriors. But the essence has always been the same - a solid band and a colorful beaded fabric.

groom's outfit

If in Western countries a young man puts on a nondescript suit and gets lost in a motley crowd, then at a Russian wedding his clothes stand out among others. The main element is a red shirt or a kosovorotka. In the cold season, it could be replaced by a caftan of the same color. Often, not coarse cloth was used for tailoring, but thin and elegant linen fabric. The groom's shirt was also decorated with embroidery, but in less quantity than the bride's. Most often, a thin layer of embroidered fabric covered only the collar. Rich people wore fur coats in winter.

On his feet, the groom put on pants or, as they said in Russia, trousers, often black, and boots. The lower part of the men's suit did not matter much.

The groom's headdress is always a hat, regardless of the season. Furs have always been expensive and were a sign of wealth. Therefore, the groom could wear a fur hat decorated with velvet or pearls, even in summer. Ordinary people wore felt hats.

Russian wedding ceremony in detail

Interestingly, many traditions have survived to this day. But, although their form has remained almost the same, the essence has completely changed.

If now matchmakers come to seek the consent of the young, then before they went for the blessing of their father. Usually not the groom's parents came, but his relatives or acquaintances, who have the highest social status. The whole process could take place without the bride, her desire was of little interest to the participants in the ceremony.

Tellingly, it was not customary to speak directly at the matchmaking, indirect expressions were used. “You have goods, we have a merchant” or “You have a chicken, we have a cockerel.” Matchmakers started a conversation from afar, because the young father had to refuse for the first time. Although in many cases, it was he who was most interested in marriage. Therefore, the ceremony remotely resembled trade - the future father-in-law praised his daughter and dowry, and the matchmakers praised the groom and his family.

Smotriny

During the courtship, the issue of marriage was not yet resolved positively. Therefore, the next stage is the bride, the visit of the bride's parents to the groom. According to the old Orthodox tradition, the husband took his wife to his home. Therefore, the father of the future newlywed went to look at the farm in which his daughter would live and work.

Formally, it was during the show that the groom's parents could first look at the bride and chat with her. In some regions, the ceremony of the bridegroom was held differently - the groom's parents went (after the matchmakers) to the bride's parents.

In any case, it was at the bride's show that families made the final decision about marriage and the amount of the dowry. For the bride, this day was the most important. It is clear that formally the decision was always made by the head of the family. But we know that a woman, a future mother-in-law, often makes a decision instead of a man.

Betrothal in the Russian tradition

Engagement in the Orthodox world was very different from the Western one. Although our ancestors also used wedding rings, this accessory did not play a dominant role. The most important was the official announcement of the consent of the fathers of each of the parties and the announcement of the date. The parties, as it were, entered into a "wedding agreement", which was sealed with a public "handshake" - the fathers of the families shook hands with each other. It is from here that the popular expression "hit hands" came from.

Interestingly, in the process of betrothal, not only the size of the “dowry”, but also the size of the “treasure” was finally approved. This word was called the guarantee of material support for the bride from the groom's family. In the event that the future husband could not cope with his new duties, the wife had to live for some time at the expense of these funds.

Training

(Preparing the bride for the wedding)

Further actions in the Russian wedding tradition varied greatly, depending on the era and region. In general, their essence was reduced to the preparation of a solemn wedding ceremony. The future bride was already wearing different clothes than she informed others about the upcoming event. Sometimes a bachelorette party was held, only its essence was different from the modern festivities of the women's company. The young woman gathered unmarried girls to help her embroider her wedding clothes and prepare her dowry.

The groom also did not beat the bucket. He had to take care of the ransom, the wedding train, and the place for the feast. And just before the wedding ceremony, the young man, along with his friends, went to the bathhouse to cleanse himself of all the sins of a bachelor's life.

"Wedding Train"

In the old days, this term meant a motorcade of horses and a cart, on which the bride and groom rode to church. Only the poorest segments of the population had a walking wedding procession.

The harness of the horses was decorated with flowers and ribbons, the participants in the procession sang songs and wished health and well-being to the newlyweds. The men who participated on the part of the groom wore red shirts or decorated their outfit with red belts and ribbons.

"Redemption" for the bride

In our Orthodox tradition, all sorts of rituals associated with the "purchase" of the bride or the groom's right of way could take place at all stages of the wedding ceremony. In some villages, they even took a nominal fee from matchmakers who only came with an offer.

In most cases, the amount of the fee was symbolic or charged in the form of some kind of action. Sometimes the subject of the ransom could not be the bride herself, but some of her things or part of the wedding treats. This part of the ceremony has always been the most fun and interesting. Our ancestors also liked to play a trick on the groom, for example, offering him another girl.

Church wedding

The most important sacrament in the entire wedding ritual. It was here that the bride became a wife, and the groom became a husband. At the church ceremony of marriage, the clergyman put on the most beautiful and solemn clothes. Crowns were placed on the heads of the newlyweds, often in the form of a crown.

A number of ritual actions during the wedding symbolized the unity of the newlyweds. They tied their hands with one towel or belt, they drank from one cup or ate one piece of bread. In the north of Russia, it was customary to give young people one handkerchief, they had to, holding on to it, enter the church.

Only now the church wedding ceremony has acquired the same form throughout the country. In the old days, priests tried to follow the traditions of the area in which they served. They could cover the heads of the young with a cloth or "push them with their foreheads." Sometimes young people walked around the altar, stood on one towel, scarf or belt. You will be surprised, but the tradition, after leaving the church, to close the symbolic lock with a key and throw it into the river, has existed for several centuries.

Festivities, a feast and the second day of the wedding

Immediately after the completion of the ceremony, festivities began in the church. They usually took place in the groom's house. Due to the abundance of red in the clothes of the newlyweds, in some regions of Russia the traditional feast is also called the “red dinner”.

There could be several wedding tables at once. The guests were divided by gender, social status or family ties. In any case, the most important part of the ceremony was the process of seating the guests. The young people, as it were, indicated their attitude towards each of the guests. Here, for the first time, the newlyweds could sit down together at the table, in the most honorable place, under the icons.

In almost all regions of Russia, it is customary to continue the festivities on the second day after the wedding. Only not all guests are invited to this ceremony, but only the closest relatives and friends.

Today, a wedding is considered primarily a family event, taking place in a close circle of close people. In the old days when villages mostly consisted of relatives, almost all residents became participants in the celebration. The wedding usually lasted for several days. No wonder then they said - not "celebrating", but "playing a wedding". The wedding was really played as a kind of theatrical performance.

The wedding consisted of many episodes, each of which had its own participants who performed strictly defined roles. Any action or event of the wedding ritual had a special meaning and repeated from generation to generation. It was believed that deviation from the established order will bring great trouble not only for the newlyweds, but also for other participants in the wedding.

Distinguished by great diversity and many regional features, the Russian wedding retained an obligatory structure common to all places. The main episodes of the wedding ceremony were considered:

1. matchmaking,
2. handshake,
3. collusion,
4. hen-party,
5. bachelor party,
6. bath,
7. the morning before the wedding
8. wedding,
9. young people meeting
10. wedding tables.

The wedding began with the matchmaking. Matchmakers came to the house of the bride's parents and agreed on a future marriage. If the parties reach an agreement, the day was set. Then the groom's parents came to the bride's house. They were treated and welcomed as future relatives.

The groom's parents brought to the bride's house a special round-shaped gingerbread (similar to the sun), on which using carved wood planks symbolic patterns were imprinted - squares with a dot in the middle, circles, wavy and straight lines (ancient signs of fertility).

collusive gingerbread was a symbolic parting word to the bride - she was supposed to become a good housewife and a prolific mother. Initially, instead of a gingerbread, they brought a bread loaf, specially baked for the day of the conspiracy. Gradually, the loaf was replaced with gingerbread, which kept fresher longer. Guests were also treated to gingerbread after the wedding.

In addition to the collusive gingerbread, the groom's parents also prepared all kinds of baked goods for collusion - bread, pancakes, kulebyaki. The bride's parents must kurnik was served to the table - a closed pie stuffed with chicken meat. He symbolized the wealth and purity of the bride, because in the songs performed during the conspiracy, the girl was compared to a chicken.

The bride did not take part in the feast. She went out to the guests several times (usually from three to five), and each time she changed outfits. Only after that she could sit down with everyone at the table. The bridesmaids ended with a special ritual - a handshake. The fathers of the bride and groom joined the hands of the newlyweds and hit them with a mitten.

Sometimes, during the handshake, the fathers of the bride and groom beat the pie on the pie or broke the pie in half as a sign of the inviolability of the agreement. Then the matchmaker three times carried around the hands of the bride and groom bread with salt and icon. She, as it were, blessed the future union on behalf of the forces of heaven and earth.

Since that time, the families of the bride and groom were one family, all expenses for preparing for the wedding were divided in half. After a mutual treat the wedding could no longer be cancelled. Usually, during the conspiracy, the date of the wedding in the church was determined.

After performing the ritual of rubbing the girl, who became the bride, called collusion. Becoming a bride, the girl changed into a special outfit, the so-called "sad" clothes. She put on a black or white shirt, not decorated with embroidery, tied a simple white or dark scarf around her head. Usually it was tied with a "cuckoo" (in a frown), so that the upper part of the face was covered.

The bride had to wear a scarf until the very day of the wedding, often without taking it off even during sleep.

Until the day of the wedding, the bride, as a rule, did not appear in public. Together with her friends, she was engaged in the preparation of the dowry. Usually the dowry was sewn long before the wedding, now it was being prepared for moving, decorated with embroidery and packed in chests. The dowry included things that a woman had to wear in the first years after marriage. The daughter-in-law brought bedding, several tablecloths, towels, bedspreads for chests to her husband's house. The dowry also included pieces of cloth, from which clothes for children were later sewn.

While working, the bride and her friends lamented. In chorus or replacing each other, they uttered parables or sang songs. The parables helped to express a complex range of feelings and cope with natural excitement.

God bless
Lord, Mother of God, Mother of God,
I sing to the young
sad song,
Not with fun, with joy,
From sorrow, from greatness,
With pity, with pity,
With burning tears.

In the first lament the bride asked her father not to marry her. She said that her parents sent her to a strange family early, that she would feel bad on a strange side. Usually the groom's house was compared with a dark forest, and his family - with animals. During the lamentation, the bride sat down near the stove pillar, on the border of the male and female parts of the hut, since she alternately turned to her father, then to her mother:

Do not light the candles of God,
You are a dear father
Don't go to the oak table
Don't take the golden spell
Don't drink green wine.
You don't drink green wine
You are mine, then you drink burning tears,
Drinking away my wild head
With good maiden beauty.

Well, the Lord is with you, mother,
And my dear mother,
And welcome brothers falcons.
And the doves of the bride!
They did not obey the command of the strong -
You entrusted the red girl
For bail, for strong ones,
For letters that are eternal.

Father never responded to lamentations, and mother spoke her reply. In it, she reassured her daughter, saying that she would never forget her and would help after marriage:

You are born, my child,
We've got it all done
Things have been hit on the hands.
On Saturday, a bachelorette party
On Sunday - parting day:
Separate you from your friends
Soulful doves.

Maternal lamentation always ended with a kind of parting word. The mother told the bride how to respect mother-in-law and father-in-law how to treat your husband. In maternal lamentations, the mother-in-law always acted as a villain, who should be treated respectfully and even cautiously. The last lines of the lament contained advice to the bride to be quiet and meek..

Almost every day after the handshake, the bride was visited by relatives and the groom. The bride received them in a kut, a small room behind the stove. She met everyone who came with a reckoning, only women answered her, uttering a response reclamation. If she had no parents, she turned to her brother:

Like a brother, my falcon,
You go to the village of Pavlovo,
You tell the church watchman
Like hitting a big bell
Yes, I would crush the mother-cheese earth,
I would wake up my mother!

Future relatives said that they would accept the girl as their own. The groom was compared to a falcon gently circling around his dove. The young man presented the bride with various delicacies. Accepting the treat, the bride gave it to her friends and, in turn, passed the pie with the groom's initials to the future relatives.

Usually, along with the dowry, the bride and her friends prepared gifts that she was supposed to offer to all members of the groom's family. The work did not stop until the wedding. When the gifts and the dowry itself were ready, a bachelorette party was held in the bride's house. It took place on the eve of the wedding. After the bachelorette party, the bride began to be called a young woman.

The culminating moment of the bachelorette party was the ritual of loss of beauty (will). It began after the completion of the bachelorette party, when only the closest friends remained with the bride. They seated the bride in the middle of the hut on an empty bowl covered with a fur coat.

Singing a long song, the girls took off the scarf from the bride, worn during the conspiracy, and untwisted the girl's braid. Russian girls traditionally braided their hair in one long braid. A married woman wore a more elaborate hairstyle, consisting of two braids, which were laid in a bun at the back of the head.

unraveling the braid, girlfriends took out “will” from their hair - a ribbon, which symbolized girlish beauty and freedom. Most often, after the completion of the ceremony, the ribbon was passed to the younger sister of the bride. If the girl did not have a sister, the will passed to the closest unmarried friend of the bride.

After unweaving the braid and removing the will, the bride walked with her friends to the pre-heated bathhouse. The girl was invited there with a special song:

You go, dear friend,
You wash the beauty of a girl,
What is your will.

To protect the bride from evil spirits, her friends carried a broom decorated with ribbons in front of her. Sometimes the broom was untwisted, and the rods taken out of it were stuck along the path along which the bride went to the bathhouse. Approaching the bath, the bride always addressed her with a special treatment. She asked so that the bath does not wash off her beauty. Before entering the bath or immediately after washing, the bride would guess to find out the future. Usually she threw a broom over her shoulder, sometimes she threw it on the roof. If the broom fell with rods to the bride, then it was believed that she would successfully marry.

The bride who came out of the bath father and mother met at the door of the house. The father held an icon in his hands, with which he blessed his daughter. At the same time, he wished her a successful marriage. In response, the daughter thanked her father and friends, at the end of the recital, she again turned to the bathhouse, thanking her for not washing away the girlish beauty.

Entering the house, the bride again sat down on the empty sourdough. The girls began to comb the bride's hair. Now the braid was no longer braided, but only a few strands were prepared. According to custom the bride was supposed to walk down the aisle with her hair down. Only when she arrived at the groom's house, she went into the room, where they braided two braids for her, laid them on her head and put on a woman's headdress.

Combing hair was accompanied by a kind of dialogue. The bride turned to her friends, parents, dead ancestors. Motives of separation and fear before the future gradually gave way to other requests. In them, the bride asked to wish her every well-being, begged her ancestors to protect her and promised to honor them after the wedding.

The friends also responded to the bride with hymns and songs in which they regretted parting and asked the bride not to forget them. They also admonished the bride: they begged her to remain as beautiful and kind, love your future husband.

After combing the bride's hair, her friends seated her at the table, where a treat was prepared. Usually at this time the groom came. He brought gifts to the bride, her parents and friends. In turn, the bride passed on pre-prepared gifts to the groom and his relatives. When the groom left, the girls said goodbye to the bride and sang her the last song.
The next morning, the bride dressed for the wedding, but did not braid her hair, leaving combed strands. The mood of the bride was reflected in the song:

Doesn't the little bird sing early in the morning,
Isn't the girl crying about the blond braid,
In the evening, the girls wove her scarf,
Yes, the girls wove!
They divided the scarf into six shares,
Yes, six shares!
They put her scarf over her head,
Here you are, yes a scarf, yes lie down for a century,
And you girlfriend, you can’t be girls.

On the morning of the wedding day, one of the groom's relatives, usually his older brother, came to the bride. He brought a gift and left with a return gift. Only after that the groom came for the bride. He stopped in front of a locked gate. Bridesmaids refused to open the gates and demanded gifts. The groom gave money to one of the girls, and the gates opened. Sometimes, instead of the groom, the conversation with the bridesmaids was conducted by the boyfriend.

Having received a comic ransom, the bride was shown to the groom, and they boarded the wedding train. It consisted of several wagons decorated with ribbons and bells. Mares were never harnessed to wedding carts. It was believed that only horses, animals symbolizing the elemental force of nature, could carry the newlyweds.

In the first wagon, friends always rode, in the second - the bride with the godmother or matchmaker. The groom was in the third wagon, followed by all the other relatives and guests.

In the church, the priest conducted the wedding ceremony. The ceremony did not take place during fasting, Christmas time, Easter week, as well as on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

For a long time there was no marriage ceremony at all in the Christian church. Apparently, the too clear connection of marriage with the “carnal” side of human life prevented its conclusion from becoming the subject of the corresponding sacrament. It was only when the number of members of the Christian communities increased that the appropriate service was drawn up. The rite of baptism served as a model for her.

Traditionally wedding ceremony consists of two parts- engagements and weddings. During the betrothal, the priest asks the bride and groom if they are ready to marry. Having received affirmative answers, he puts on them pre-consecrated rings, with which the bride and groom change three times.

The wedding ceremony begins with the priest puts wedding candles into the hands of young people. They must burn while the sacrament is performed. The bride and groom approach the altar and stand on a white cloth spread out in front of the lectern, on which are the cross and the Gospel. The priest again asks about the intentions of the spouses. Having received confirmation of the intention to marry, the priest, with a blessing, places crowns on the heads of the bride and groom.

Then the wedding couples drink wine from one cup, to the chants the priest circles them three times around the lectern. The crowns are removed, and the final prayers are read over the young. Like all mysteries, the wedding ended with the joint acceptance of Holy Communion.

After the wedding, the bride travels with the groom. Arriving from the church to the groom's house, the guests took their places at the wedding table. The young were planted in the red corner, under the icons. They accept congratulations and greetings, but cannot participate in the general feast.

After some time, the young go to the upper room or kut, where special food was prepared for them. Most often, they were served two pies, one of which was baked in the bride's house, and the other in the groom's house. The young man fed his wife with a pie brought from his home, and she fed her husband with her pie.

After eating, the bride went to her room and changed into women's clothes. She put on a shirt, over it a sundress with wide straps, her friends braided two braids for her and laid them on her head. Finally the bride wore a kiku and covered it with a scarf - the headdress of a married woman.

Then the bride went out to the guests and, together with the groom, sat down at a common table. At first, the newlyweds were served porridge and bread, as well as a glass of milk. They had to drink from one glass, eat with one spoon from one dish, bite off from one piece of bread or pie. It was assumed that common food will unite the young forever. Then the young people took part in the general fun. The central figure at the feast was a friend, he supported those who made toasts and filled the pauses with his own jokes and jokes.

During the feast, the wife and husband were seated in a red corner. The rest of the relatives were seated in two rows, and men on one side, women on the other. A treat was brought to the table, usually a wedding cake, which was handed out by a friend. Then hot and fried dishes were served. It was believed that freshly cooked hot food conveys the fertile power of fire to the young.

Bridesmaids and women sang praise songs in which the young were called the prince and princess, the sun and the dove, the moon and the sun. First addressed to the groom:

Our prince is pretty
Our prince is handsome,
That Ivan Vasilievich,
You are not sitting in the garden
You are not in green
At the oak table
Behind the tablecloths,
For sugar rice.
All not nightingales sing.
Here all the girls sing
The souls of the red singer,
They want gifts from you
Great ones from you.

Then they sang the praise not. news:

And how good, and how good
Her face, her face
Like white snow, like white snow
She has cheeks, she has cheeks,
Like scarlet, like scarlet
She has eyebrows, she has eyebrows
Black sable, black sable,
Her eyes, her eyes,
At the clear falcon, at the clear falcon,
It was nice, it was nice
Nicephorus has a daughter, Nicephorus has a daughter,
At Leontievich, at Leontievich.

After the young, they called their parents and other relatives, including a friend. When the feast ended the young were escorted to the bedroom with the singing of observant songs (for example, “Hey, Nastasya, hey, Nastasya, open the gate”).

In the morning of the young woke up with loud shouts, knocks on the door, even shots of their guns. Sometimes pots were broken in front of their door. Thus, over time, the expression “dishes beats fortunately” appeared.

The main feast - the red table - began the next day. Only married women prepared food for him. They were helped by a young woman.

On the third day, the bride went out to the guests in ordinary everyday clothes. When the young woman entered the room, straw, rubbish, and sometimes money were thrown on the floor. She had to sweep the floor and in the direction from the door to the stove. In the old days, they believed that the rite would protect the new family from hostile actions from the brownie..

During breakfast, a “soft table” was arranged. The groom's mother carried out a pot of porridge and pretended to lament: "Oh, it's hot, it's hot!" The bride was supposed to take the pot from her hands, blow on it and give mother-in-law a handkerchief so that she could take the pot in her hands. From that moment on, the daughter-in-law was considered a full member of the family and took part in all household chores.

Usually on the third day, the young people came to the house of the bride's parents. The mother-in-law went out to meet her son-in-law with pancakes. He had to bite off a piece of the top pancake and give his mother-in-law a present for her concern.

The wedding ritual often ended casings - a ritual feast. The married women of the village accepted the young woman into their society. They treated her to wine and jelly.

A Russian-style wedding is an interesting variety, based on the ancient traditions of the Slavic people. For a full immersion in the atmosphere of ancient Russian color, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the folklore heritage in advance. The advice of older relatives who played the wedding according to ancient rites can help in organizing a Russian wedding.

The newlyweds are the main figures of the Russian wedding, where they appear as part of the Tree of Life of their Family. the last role is assigned to the celebration.

Important! Preparation of a national Russian wedding, albeit a stylized one, is impossible without immersion in history, folklore and the study of folk customs.

A Russian-style wedding has a number of features:

• the beginning and end of a Russian wedding is marked by a parental blessing;
• the absence of strong alcohol in the wedding menu, "demonic" dances to Verka Serduchka and foul language;
• an abundance of bright colors;
• festivities on a grand scale;
• playing the accordion and driving round dances.

Venue for winter and summer weddings

The decisive factor in the preparation of a Russian folk wedding is the season. If the celebration is planned for warm weather, then it is better to find a green lawn near the river or a clearing on the lake surrounded by pines or birches. Gorgeous landscapes and fresh air fit into the theme.

Alternatively, you can rent a tourist base or a country house, the interiors of which are designed in the Russian style.

In winter, a banquet hall with characteristic architectural details and ancient Russian decor will be an excellent place for a Russian wedding - a wooden frame with a large refectory, with massive wooden furniture (long tables and benches), with a Russian stove.

If you can’t find a stylized establishment, a restaurant with a lot of natural elements in the interior will do. Such a room is easier to transform into a cozy place for a Russian-style banquet.

For those who are not afraid of the cold, you can choose an extreme option - find a beautiful clearing surrounded by snow-covered trees, put tables with treats and a burning samovar there. Outdoor games and round dances will not let the guests and the bride and groom freeze. And if the winter is very severe, you can continue the feast indoors - in a restaurant or at home.

Nuances of the organization

Compliance with the Russian style of the entire wedding ceremony and images of the newlyweds depends on a combination of different factors - the venue of the banquet, outfits, culture of behavior, selection of accessories. Every detail should fit into the overall color.

Summer

It is better to celebrate outdoors or in a cozy cafe overlooking a beautiful landscape.


In the summer it is easier to solve organizational issues. To play a wedding in the Russian manner, it is enough to take into account a few points:

• Decide on a venue. Arrange to rent a restaurant or a tourist base if you are planning an indoor party. If it's just a green lawn, you need to consider how to equip it for a wedding feast;
• Hand over and notify guests about the planned dress code;
• Consider a holiday menu
• Take care of an unusual wedding cortege;
• Order professional photography and videography services, invite a toastmaster;
• Look after Russian folk groups - song or music, or negotiate with a good harmonist;
• Choose appropriate accessories for a photo shoot and decor;
• Prepare gifts for guests
• Calculate the wedding budget.

in winter

Compared to a summer wedding, it is more colorful, because it has a chic scope.

• You can use real Russian sleds and not just a wagon;
• choose beautiful snowy landscapes for photography;
• spend a lot of winter fun outdoors- skiing down a hill, building a snow fortress or a competition to make the biggest snowman, fighting with snowballs;
• decorate the banquet hall in a special way- dried flowers, needles, bunches of mountain ash;
• arrange a tea party with a boiling samovar, pancakes with caviar and gingerbread, and for the entertainment of guests, invite folk singers, dancers and a trainer with a bear;
• complement the wedding dresses of the bride and groom with fur vests, painted scarves, warm shawls or flirty hats with fox trim.

Important! In winter, nature favorably fits into the style of a Russian wedding, and if a Russian stove is installed in the feasting room, the atmosphere of the holiday is saturated with warmth and cordiality.

Stages of the Slavic celebration

Traditionally, the Russian-style wedding scenario is divided into several stages:

1. . At dawn, the groom with his retinue drives up to the bride's house, where he is met by friends and relatives. The groom is offered to pass a series of tests in order to get the girl. Competitions for the groom are symbolically associated with Russian epics - he is offered to demonstrate heroic strength, defeat the Serpent Gorynych, outwit Baba Yaga;
2. Marriage registration. In summer, the wedding ceremony can be outdoors - in the fresh air;
3. Wedding. For this ceremony, it is advisable for the bride and groom to prepare clothes in the Russian style;
4. Wedding photo session. The photographer prepares accessories and scenery in advance, but the most beautiful photos of young people are obtained against the background of ancient Russian architectural structures and natural objects;
5. Festive feast. Near the entrance to the banquet hall, the newlyweds are met by their parents with salt and a loaf, the guests give gifts. In the interval between the feast and honoring the young, they dance, dance, sing, perform ditties;
6. At the end of the celebration guests are given symbolic gifts.

In the past, the wedding took place in several stages, invariably accompanied by wedding ceremonies.

Matchmaking

Now boys and girls decide for themselves who to marry, but this was not always the case. The man's parents were looking for a bride. Often a future marriage was negotiated when the potential newlyweds were children. Matchmakers were sent to the family of the future wife. They had to present the groom and his family in the best light, present them with gifts. Matchmaking was considered a solemn event, and preparations were made in advance for it.

Even if the bride's parents understood that they liked the potential groom, the matchmakers were always refused at the first visit. And only on a second attempt, the head of the bride's family gave the go-ahead if the presented candidate met strict criteria - he was hardworking, revered his ancestors and elders, regularly attended church.


As part of a stylized Russian wedding, matchmaking is usually held on the first day of the wedding. It becomes a substitute for the more usual ransom. The ceremony is organized in the house of the bride's parents in the form of a fun performance with games and jokes, to which relatives and friends are invited.

Collusion

In Russia, it was held after the matchmaking. On it, the parents of the young, together with the matchmakers, determined the date of the wedding, discussed expenses and stipulated the size of the bride's dowry.

Now these issues are decided by the bride and groom themselves or their parents long before the celebration itself., while the range of issues discussed over the centuries has not changed much. They determine how the expenses for the wedding will be divided and what is the total budget, where the young people will live, how the solemn event will take place.

Bachelorette and bachelor party

The day before the main event, the bride and groom say goodbye to free life, and the ritual part of the bachelor and bachelorette parties is amazing, filled with rituals designed to protect from the evil eye, energize, cleanse for a happy life together.


The bride and her friends took a steam bath. At night, at her house, the girls were guessing. It was customary to be sad about the upcoming wedding and family life: the more artistically the girl portrayed grief, the happier the future she prophesied for herself. However, the girls often grieved quite sincerely, especially when they were given in marriage for old men.

Interesting! And the groom should take a steam bath, but all alone. After the procedure, until the marriage ceremony, he was forbidden to talk.

Today, a bachelor or bachelorette party on the eve of a Russian wedding can be spent in a bathhouse or rented a country estate. It's nice that now the groom has the right to say goodbye to the status of a bachelor not in splendid isolation, but in the company of friends.

Images of the newlyweds

Bride

Suitable for creating:

• a red or pale blue dress or a sundress with embroidery;
• red boots or shoes;
• kokoshnik or wreath of meadow herbs;
• ribbons and flowers woven into a long braid.

Should emphasize the natural beauty - natural "sable" eyebrows, rosy cheeks, red lips. Don't line up or use eye shadow.

If there is not enough courage for a Russian sundress and kokoshnik, then you can style a traditional white dress with hand embroidery. An outfit with prints in the form of Gzhel painting will perfectly fit into the atmosphere.

Bouquet

Exotic flowers are not chosen for a Russian bouquet. Peonies, marigolds, asters are suitable, but it is best to make a composition of daisies, sunflowers or wildflowers.

In the winter version of the bouquet, bunches of mountain ash look great in combination with white roses, but the red color of the berries must be duplicated in a dress or shoes.

Intricate decor is not used. Usually the bouquet is simply tied with twine or scarlet ribbons.

Groom

If the bride has chosen a wedding dress with Russian-style ornaments, it is enough for the groom to complement the free-cut wedding suit with an embroidered shirt.

If the bride wanted to dress up in national clothes, then the groom's outfit should be created taking into account the peculiarities of the Russian costume:

• loose-fitting black trousers with cuffs at the bottom;
• embroidered white or red shirt;
• a wide belt - a sash of bright red fabric;
• black boots (preferably varnished or polished to a mirror finish) into which trousers are tucked.

It is recommended that the groom wear a cap with a visor on his head, and a vest over the shirt. The headdress can be decorated with a flower to match the shirt.

Dress code

Ideally, everyone - the bride and groom, the guests, and the toastmaster at a Russian-style wedding are dressed in the same vein. Long sundresses are suitable for women, and brightly colored shirts and harem pants are suitable for men. It is recommended to rent traditional Russian clothes.

Such images may not be to everyone's liking, and then it is worth suggesting that guests add one of the elements of Russian color to their outfit. It can be wild flowers, jewelry, accessories or a matching hairstyle.

Advice! So that there are no “white crows” at the holiday, you should take care of accessories for guests in advance by laying boutonnieres or ribbons on a separate table at the entrance to the banquet hall.

Tuple

At a Russian-style wedding ceremony, it is better for the heroes of the occasion to appear in an open horse-drawn cart. The coachman must wear an embroidered shirt, a cap with a bright flower, and a zipun. In winter, sleds are used instead of wagons.

The wagon and horses are decorated with flower garlands and bright ribbons, and the inside is lined with carpets in summer and furs in winter. To notify everyone about the creation of a new family, bells are hung on the chest of horses.

If a specific transport could not be found, you should not be upset. You can decorate ordinary cars in Russian style- wreaths of wild flowers, beautiful satin ribbons, rings with bells.

Hall decoration

In order for the space for the wedding banquet to harmoniously fit into the overall theme of the holiday, you must follow a few rules:

• make white the leading color, adding red, golden, black decor elements to it;
• Set tables with openwork tablecloths, decorate them with birch branches, mountain ash;
• Use handmade napkins crocheted or embroidered with Russian ornaments;
• Hang towels and paintings depicting nature on the walls;
• Replace chairs with long benches made of wood;
• Put a samovar in the center of the table;
• Pick up beautiful dishes in the Russian style with artistic painting;
• Instead of stacks and glasses, use iron goblets.

Decor elements should complement each other, not merge into a motley and homogeneous mass. When decorating the premises for a banquet, traditional symbols are also used - paired figures of swans, a horseshoe at random and nesting dolls.

invitations

Be sure to mention the dress code in the invitations, and also do not forget to indicate the date and place of the wedding.

Invitations can be:

• in the form of rectangles with folk ornaments;
• imitation nesting dolls or bears;
• with old Russian calligraphy.

You can order postcards to be sent by courier dressed in a Russian costume.

Accessories

The book of wishes and glasses for the young can be decorated with bright ornaments:

• based on the Mezen painting in red and black in combination with ocher;
• Gorodets pattern, the palette of which includes white, green, red, blue and black shades;
• in the Gesture style using red, gold and dominant black;
• Gzhel painting in white and blue tones.

To emphasize the breadth of the Russian soul and the scope of the holiday, guests present at a Russian-style wedding are presented with gifts. Porcelain saucers with floral ornaments, painted spoons or nesting dolls are ideal.

Menu

During the preparation of the menu, the bride and groom cannot save money, because the tables at a Russian wedding should be bursting with treats. No sushi, rolls, pizza and other foreign dishes should be present at the banquet- only dishes of classical Russian cuisine.

The first is served goose baked with apples, veal on a skewer or piglet. For a snack prepared:

• red and black caviar, but not eggplant;
• baked fish;
• salted herring with onions;
• canned mushrooms;
• pickles - cucumbers and cabbage.

Important! The Russian menu cannot be imagined without traditional pastries - pies with meat, kulebyak with cabbage, pies with berries and fish, buns. The next day, they treat the fish soup in a royal way or soup with mushrooms.

From soft drinks, berry fruit drinks, dried fruit compotes are perfect. At a Russian wedding, it is not customary to drink a lot of alcohol, so several varieties of home-made mead, tincture or fruit liqueurs are enough as alcohol.

Cake

An alternative to the traditional cake should be a large loaf decorated with birds and dough flowers.

If young people consider it an obligatory attribute, it can be baked in the form of a tower, matryoshka or samovar. It is decorated with stylized birch twigs, wheat ears, bunches of mountain ash, sunflower flowers, and is crowned with a figure of two swans.

Photo shoot in folk style

It is better to organize a photo session outdoors. A dense pine forest, a birch grove or a green lawn will be the best scenery. In winter, spectacular photos will be obtained against the background of snow-covered firs or red mountain ash.

It's great if you can shoot footage with horses. Next to these magnificent animals, gentle and romantic photos are obtained.

You can organize a photo session against the backdrop of pre-revolutionary buildings, for example, a well-preserved merchant's house or a wooden tower. Warm shots will be obtained at the Russian stove, and romantic ones - in the hayloft.

As additional accessories for a photo shoot, folk musical instruments, a kokoshnik, a samovar with bagels, matryoshkas, wreaths of wild flowers are used.

Photo

One of the most popular themed celebrations is a Russian-style wedding. The centuries-old traditions and rituals that have existed in Russia since time immemorial make the holiday very sincere:

Useful video

In an effort to make the wedding celebration not only fun, but also unforgettably original, more and more often, newlyweds choose thematic plots for its decoration. After all, this is an opportunity not only to try on a bright and unusual image, but also to create exactly the mood that you would like to see on this day. The best choice would be a wedding in the Russian style.

Conclusion

To organize a wedding in the Russian style, do not be lazy to study folk traditions. The whole scenario of the wedding is built on them. You can compose it yourself or leave this work to professionals in order to accurately convey the Russian flavor of an important rite of birth for a new family.

Modern traditions at a Russian wedding have much in common with the traditions of past centuries and for the most part with the habits of the Soviet era. And with a great delay, they are being transformed into modernity - by the forces of pioneers and especially independent people. I often visit Russian weddings as a photographer, and according to my observations, our weddings have the following distinctive features:

1. Most newlyweds internally resist the usual, but often no longer suitable for modern society, traditions and, in principle, do not want their wedding to take place “like everyone else”, but as a result, most often it turns out that way.

2. From birth, Russian people were taught to be responsible and aware of their own importance through the prism of the perception of others. Therefore, we are quite critical of ourselves. From here follows the main style of shooting at weddings - portrait-staged-photoshop. Reportage is somehow not particularly appreciated, while the civilized world has long preferred reportage cards, sometimes with faces and figures distorted by emotions or wide lenses.

3. At Russian weddings, as a rule, there is a large amount of alcoholic beverages.

Now about everything in order.

Modern Russian wedding

The bride and groom in Russia get to know each other and decide on the wedding themselves. Sometimes it also happens that parents learn about the wedding of "children" after registration. Most often, however, all possible relatives, as well as friends on Vkontakte, and so on, know in advance about the wedding. The date of marriage registration (this strange word refers to the beginning of a life together in Russia) is planned for Russians from six months to a month in advance.

During these six months, the bride (grooms often somehow do not particularly bother with preparing for the wedding) lives in constant stress. Preparation for the wedding takes place both in a dream and in reality. You need to have time to make a list of guests, find a cafe or a catering point for a banquet, figure out where to take a walk with a photographer after registration, where to get normal shoes, what kind of ruffles will be on the dress, and so on. In this, Russian traditions are not very different from some others. In general, for some brides, the pre-wedding six months is a real madhouse.

The bride's wedding dress is traditionally white. Until the time of Catherine the Second, the dress of the bride in Russia was red. The white dress of the bride, which now symbolizes purity and purity in our country, came from Ancient Greece - there it was a symbol of joy and prosperity. Catherine married in a white dress and thus categorically changed the Russian tradition.

The wedding day, like in any other country, begins with hair, makeup and dressing. It happens differently for everyone: the bride can do her hair and makeup in a beauty salon with a specially trained hairdresser and makeup artist, or maybe in her own room with improvised tools.

The groom needs less time and effort to prepare.

But other tests sometimes fall on him (decorate a car, get a wedding bouquet, and so on).

Meanwhile, the bride's turmoil continues. After all, it’s not for you to buy some bouquet there (pre-selected by the bride), but you need to properly style your curls, lace up your dress and all that - these are more serious matters.

Parents and girlfriends are also involved in the preparation: they rush around the apartment, checking whether all the bottles have been transferred to the cars, whether enough sandwiches have been made for a walk, whether everything is ready for the meeting of the groom and whether he has already arrived.

And now, a car drives up, from which the groom comes out with a bouquet, and then ... the ransom begins. The procedure takes place in the entrance of the bride's house.

Redemption is perhaps the oldest tradition preserved in a Russian wedding. Its meaning is fan. The bridesmaids need to torment the groom as much as possible, ask him a bunch of stupid tasks and riddles and at the same time get a ransom from him - it can be money or some sweets that he is not sorry to give for the bride.

The bride, meanwhile, is finishing her preparations.

If she does not have time, then the groom gets more.

In the end, the groom is allowed into the house, where he still needs to find a bride. Because here they are trying to cheat him.

In the end, he finds the bride, and everyone drinks champagne on this occasion. Then a moment occurs, the roots of which have been preserved in modern times from antiquity, when the mother handed over the so-called “talisman” to the bride. It could be jewelry or some kind of family heirloom. These talismans were highly valued and were not sold under any circumstances. The bride, in turn, gave them to her daughter on her wedding day. At modern weddings, this sometimes happens too.

After that, everyone goes to the registry office - a rather official institution, from which the bride and groom are already husband and wife.

On the threshold of the registry office, other guests, relatives and friends, come to the bride and groom. It's hard to say what's going on here: meeting friends.. or saying goodbye to bachelor life). And now, at exactly the scheduled time, everyone is invited inside.

In the registry office, the newlyweds sign some document (I never looked into it, even when I signed it myself), officially agree before the official aunts (registry office workers) that they “marry” of their own free will, exchange rings, kiss - and all this in 5-10 minutes, because at this time dozens of other newlyweds are waiting for them, who want to quickly go through this part of the ceremony. The queue is another Russian tradition.

And now it's all done! Now everyone congratulates the newlyweds and goes outside to drink champagne on this occasion.

And now almost the most exhausting part of the wedding day begins (whoever is lucky with the photographer :) - a walk :)

True, there are some deviations from the above traditions. The most memorable wedding for me was in Kronstadt. There were only three of us at the wedding. When the guys left the registry office, we went to a cafe, where they took out their mobile phones and called their parents to inform them that they were now husband and wife. Up to this point, no one knew anything at all. It was cool.

Well, in the end, the tired newlyweds and the photographer go to a cafe, where relatives and friends who did not participate in the walk are already waiting for them.

Young people are met in a cafe and sprinkled with cereals and coins, which symbolizes wealth and prosperity. They can also sprinkle sweets (so that life is sweet) and all kinds of sparkles (so that everything is bright and romantic).

Then the parents of the young present them with a loaf. This is also an old Russian tradition - from the loaf, the newly-made husband and wife simultaneously bite off a piece - whoever has a larger piece will allegedly dominate in life together. It's kind of a sign. And then the feast begins.

To begin with, guests open bottles of alcohol and drink on this occasion. Then they shout “Bitterly” and the young, who are already insanely tired and hungry, should put down their spoons and forks, stand up and kiss.

Starting from the arrival at the cafe, the wedding script completely passes into the hands of one person - the toastmaster. This is also an ancient tradition, in some way transformed into modernity. Previously, a friend was always chosen for a wedding. It had to be a wise and at the same time a cheerful person (healer, elder of the family). Druzhka was present at the wedding from the very beginning and was considered the main director and controller of this event. He monitored the observance of all rituals and supported the fun among the guests. In ancient times, theatrical elements were present at the wedding - they were also led by a friend. Now all this has been transformed, and the following remains:

1. Druzhka is now called "master of ceremonies" and begins to lead only at the moment when tired and hungry guests and newlyweds come to the cafe and sit down at the tables.

2. Theatrical elements are most often reduced to dressing up especially active guests (most often men dress up as women, and women as men), who manage to play several roles of an incomprehensible purpose during the feast.

3. Tamada clearly distributes the time for raising toasts and shouting “Bitterly” - most often this happens with a frequency of once every 5-10 minutes. Between toasts there is also a strictly distributed toastmaster giving gifts to guests interspersed with reading wishes, most often written in poetic form on postcards specially purchased for this.

4. By the time the celebration begins, guests and newlyweds are quite tired and hungry, and most often they think mainly about the meal, from which they are constantly distracted. Therefore, the saturation process is delayed and lasts almost until the end of the party.

5. In the conduct of the toastmaster, the same special Russian officiality and excessive "responsibility" are most often felt. Therefore, the feast can be conditionally divided into two parts: the “meal” especially loved by the guests and the not entirely clear, but traditional “official part”. Both parts are mixed with general fun and as a result everything turns out to be quite funny and festive.

Previously, the wedding celebration lasted three days. The second day was spent in the parents' house, and on the third day the guests came to the young people's house. It is difficult to say exactly when these days were reduced to one - partly it happened during the Soviet era (people were busy with work), partly during the post-perestroika crisis - when even one day of the holiday was too expensive for young people and their parents.

Today, many traditions of the Russian wedding have been irretrievably lost, and those few that remain exist in a very modified version. Nowadays, the interest of young people in Russian wedding traditions has significantly increased. More and more young couples want to celebrate their marriage in the same way as their ancestors did a hundred, two hundred or more years ago, in compliance with its beautiful and memorable rituals and traditions. Today we will talk about what wedding traditions existed before.

Just a few hundred years ago, a wedding was a complex of rituals that were performed in strict sequence according to a script defined by tradition. The most important wedding ceremonies in Russia were matchmaking, conspiracy, bachelorette party, wedding, wedding night, wedding feast. Each of them had a certain semantic meaning. Matchmaking, for example, was expressed in the negotiations of two families about the possibility of marriage between a young man and a girl. The bride's farewell to girlhood was an obligatory stage characterizing the transition of a young girl into the category of married women. The wedding acted as a religious and legal registration of marriage, and the wedding night - in the form of its physical bond. Well, the wedding feast expressed public approval of marriage.

Performing each of these rituals in a certain sequence was considered the right way to create a family. If the sequence of rituals was violated, or any of them was not performed, the marriage was considered untenable (that is, the event was not fully completed).

The wedding ritual covered various ritual actions that were not mandatory. For example, the bride could not be held if the future bride and groom lived in the same locality (village). If the guy who got married lived in another village and nothing was known about his family, the bridegroom was carried out in accordance with all established rules. If the parents of the future bride and groom knew each other perfectly, and there were no doubts about the marriage of their children, then matchmaking and conspiracy were carried out simultaneously.

Despite the unity of the general scheme of conduct, the wedding ritual had local diversity. For example, in the northern provinces of European Russia and in Siberia, a ritual was widespread in which the bride had to attend a bath. This rite was part of the rites of farewell of a young girl with girlhood. In southern Russia, a loaf ceremony was an obligatory part of weddings. Separate ceremonies were performed only in specific areas. For example, in the Pskov province, the bride with her "retinue" had to meet the groom's "train" on the way to church and put a bouquet of paper flowers at his feet. In other Russian regions, the groom had to pick up the bride from her parents' house and take her to church.

Certain actors participated in the wedding ceremony - wedding rites, whose behavior obeyed the rules established by tradition, but there was also some improvisation. The bride and groom were the main characters around whom the wedding action took place, and they played a passive role. The bride, with all her appearance, had to express humility, love and gratitude to the parents who raised her, and also in every possible way to show her unfriendly attitude towards the groom and his relatives. In turn, the groom had to show respect and love for the bride. The initiative participants of the wedding were the parents of the young, godparents, as well as the closest relatives. Other actors at the Russian wedding were the friends of the bride and groom or the boyars, the matchmakers, the tysyatsky, the friend, the helpers of the friend (friends), the loaves (young married women, happy in marriage, having good, healthy children), etc.

The most important role was assigned to the boyfriend or the main manager of the wedding from the side of the groom. His duties included monitoring the compliance of the wedding with Russian traditions, entertaining those present with the help of jokes and sentences, as well as protecting the wedding participants from evil spirits. In Southern Russia, loaves played an important role, which baked a wedding loaf. Each individual wedding rank had at its disposal a special costume or element of clothing, decoration. For example, the bride during the ritual had to change clothes several times, thereby demonstrating a change in her status. At the “mourning” stage, the bride was supposed to be in mourning attire with her face covered with a scarf, during the wedding and the wedding feast she wore smart clothes, she was supposed to be smartly dressed, and the next morning after the wedding night, the young woman put on the most elegant and bright suit and women's headdress. The groom usually wore an embroidered square scarf (wide), which was attached to a hat, a bunch of flowers, attached to a hat ribbon and thrown over his shoulders or tied up instead of a belt with a towel. Matchmakers were distinguished by an embroidered towel fastened over the shoulder or red gloves on their hands. The attribute of the friend was a whip. Wedding ceremonies, as a kind of theatrical action, included special songs, sentences, games, sayings, laments, conspiracies, dances.

The core of the Russian wedding ritual was a complex rethinking of the mythical ideas of antiquity and Christian ideas. For example, its integral part was actions that reflected people's distant ideas about the dying of a girl's soul when she passes into the category of married ladies and gains the soul of a young woman after her wedding night. Some ceremonies date back to the cult of distant Slavic ancestors: the crying of the bride at the grave of her parents with a plea for a blessing on marriage, farewell to the stove when leaving home on the wedding day, etc. Often magical actions performed during the wedding (protective, producing), were pagan. The desire to protect and protect the young from the evil eye and damage, as well as any negative impact of otherworldly forces, forced the bride to cover her face with a handkerchief or towel, stick needles into the clothes of the young, utter conspiracies, brandish a whip, shoot after the wedding train, choose a roundabout way to the church. So that the young would not feel the need for family life and have many children, they sprinkled them with grain and hops, treated them to chicken, and put them on a fur coat turned inside out. All these ritual actions were accompanied by prayers to Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, St. Nicholas Ugodnik. In general, in Russia, great importance was attached to the blessing of parents, they asked for the protection of Christian saints, who were mentioned in ancient lamentations.

Russian wedding ritual, history of formation.
The traditions of the nineteenth and the first quarter of the twentieth century were taken as the basis for the modern Russian wedding ceremony. It finally took shape presumably in the middle of the fourteenth century on the basis of the all-Slavic wedding ceremony. The written materials of this period contain a brief description of weddings using the words familiar to our ears: “groom”, “wedding”, “bride”, “wedding”, “matchmakers”. There are also preserved old miniatures and drawings depicting wedding feasts and marriage ceremonies. In the sixteenth century, judging by the description of princely weddings, a nomenclature of wedding ranks was formed and their functions were determined, special wedding clothes, paraphernalia, food, and wedding folklore arose.

In the second half of the seventeenth century, the traditions of the Orthodox Church began to be actively introduced into the folk wedding ceremony: the rite of parental blessing arose, and the wedding ceremony became obligatory. Officials began to condemn the folk rite itself, considering it a "demonic act." In 1649, under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, a decree was introduced that condemned many rites of a people's wedding, and which prescribed that people should be beaten with batogs for holding them, and the musical instruments used for this should be broken and burned.

Matchmaking.
Matchmaking was a negotiation of families who were interested in marriage, and was also the main and obligatory ritual preceding the Russian wedding. It was customary to marry in Russia early, while the parents of a young man themselves were engaged in choosing a bride for their son. Often, the young themselves did not even know about the upcoming wedding, they could only be notified during preparations for it. Matchmaking was approached with all seriousness and responsibility. Before deciding on it, they gathered a family council, which was attended by godparents and close relatives. Of course, when choosing a bride, the opinion of the young man and relatives was taken into account, but the last word was left to the parents. A beautiful bride was considered a physically strong girl, possessing diligence, capable of doing household and household work well, showing respect and reverence for her elders, modest, but having a sense of her own dignity. Girls from families with a good reputation were in special "demand". The girl's belonging to a clan that had been respected for several generations made it possible to judge her as a worthy daughter-in-law, successor to the clan-tribe.

The material well-being of the family was not taken into account when choosing a bride. It was believed that the young would be able to "make everything" themselves. Matchmakers were chosen very carefully, since the result of matchmaking often depended on their ability to conduct a conversation, arrange the relatives of the future bride, and present the family of a young man in a favorable way. Usually, the godparents of the guy, or someone from his close relatives, acted as matchmakers. Sometimes the boy's parents invited a respected and trusted fellow villager to matchmaking. In addition, such a responsible role was offered to eloquent people who knew how to arrange marriage affairs. In large craft settlements, large trading villages, cities, they used the services of professional matchmakers. But this custom became widespread at first in the cities, and then quite late. So in the middle of the nineteenth century, such matchmaking, even in cities, was considered to be “not real”, therefore, after obtaining the consent of the parents, “real” matchmakers were sent to matchmaking.

Matchmaking in those days took place with the obligatory observance of various signs, on which, according to ancient beliefs, the future life of the newlyweds seriously depended. Usually, parents or close relatives of the groom came to the girl’s house to woo or arrange marriage. During this ceremony, the families of young people got to know each other and made “contacts”, since family ties had quite a serious weight at that time, so everything was thought out literally to the smallest detail. For matchmaking, certain days of the week were chosen, which were called "light": Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday, usually late in the evening or at night. All this was accompanied by various magical actions, which were supposed to ensure a positive outcome of the case and prevent the refusal of the bride's parents. For example, in the Pskov province, the mother of a young man beat the matchmakers who went out the door three times with a belt, accompanying them with certain magic words. In the Russian villages of the Kazan province, the matchmaker, upon arrival at the house of the chosen one, found a stupa and wrapped it around herself three times, this suggested a successful marriage (the girl will be circled around the lectern three times during the wedding). In the Perm province, the matchmaker, at the entrance to the girl's house, hit her heel on the threshold.

Entering the house of the future bride, the matchmakers behaved according to the village custom: they took off their hats, crossed themselves on icons, bowed to the hosts, did not go to the table without an invitation and did not sit on the bench. The matchmaker was the first to start the conversation and uttered well-known phrases to all those present: “You have goods, we have a merchant”; “You have a hen, we have a cockerel, is it possible to drive them into one barn?”; “We need not rye or wheat, but a red maiden,” etc. It also happened that the matchmakers directly expressed the purpose of their arrival, they came, they say, “not to trample the floor, not scratch the tongue, they came to do business - to look for a bride.”

The parents of the future bride expressed gratitude for the respect shown to their family, invited them to go to the front part of the hut or to the upper room, put refreshments on the table and invited them to the table. Previously, it was believed that matchmakers should be met very well, even if the groom did not particularly “look” at the bride's parents. If the groom was not to please the bride’s parents, then they always stated the refusal in a delicate form: “Our goods are unsaleable, they haven’t ripened,” “Still young, we have to wait.” In the case of the desired matchmaking, and if the guy was well acquainted, the girl's parents gave their consent immediately. If the guy was unfamiliar or lived in another village, the parents asked the matchmakers for time to think: “To marry a daughter is not to bake a pie”, “We raised them for more than one day to give back at once.” The greeting of matchmaking did not yet mean full consent to the wedding.

The cycle of matchmaking rituals also included negotiations regarding the dowry that was given for the bride, the amount of money (masonry) allocated by the groom's parents for wedding expenses, the amount of expenses for the wedding feast, the number of guests that would be at the wedding from the groom's side and from brides, gifts that relatives will exchange during the wedding ritual. If the families were prosperous, then legally certified marriage contracts could be drawn up, in which all the details of the wedding and the future life of the young family were mentioned. At the end of the negotiations, the families were determined with the time of the agreement, that is, they appointed the day for the exact decision regarding the wedding celebration.

Looks and looks.
Following the matchmaking, glances and bridegrooms were arranged. Glances (place-gazing, guesses) consisted in the arrival of the parents and relatives of the bride to the groom's house to clarify his property status. This ceremony also had a solemn ceremony, the bride's family was greeted very well: they showed the house, outbuildings, livestock, the amount of grain in the barns, the barn, the threshing floor, they sat at the festive table, talked about family traditions. If the families did not know each other, then the inspection was more strict and thorough. If for some reason the girl's parents were not satisfied with the groom's household, they could refuse to match: "Thank you for the bread and salt, it's time to go home." If they liked the inspection, they said something like this: “Everything is fine with you, we like everything, and if you need us, come to us.”

At the bridesmaids (gazadinas), the girl was officially introduced to the guy. Who got married to his family. Usually this ceremony was performed in the house of the chosen one. It was attended directly by the groom, his parents and closest relatives. This action was accompanied by the singing of young unmarried girls (bridesmaids of the future bride), who were also invited to this ritual. The girl put on her ceremonial dress, she was taken to the center of the hut, asking to walk or turn around on the spot. The guests and parents of the groom, who watched this process, expressed their approval of the girl. After that, the young people walked hand in hand around the hut, stood on a fur coat that had been spread out in advance, kissed or bowed to each other.

If the bridegroom was not to the liking of the girl, she could tell her parents about it at the bride, and then refuse the wedding. For example, she could silently leave the hut, replace her festive attire with a weekday one, and return to the guests. This was regarded by the guests as a refusal. But, as a rule, this ceremony ended with a feast, while the bride's parents set the table, and the groom's parents brought intoxicating drinks.

Collusion.
A few days after the matchmaking, a conspiracy (handshaking) was held (in the bride's house), which served as a symbolic consolidation of the decision to marry and marry. Parents and relatives from both sides were also present. At first, negotiations were held on the day of the wedding, agreed on the amount of dowry and masonry, the number of guests at the wedding feast. During the conspiracy, the bride began to lament, complaining about her fate and her parents, who forced her to say goodbye to a free girl's life and her home.

The end of the negotiations was a ritual handshake, during which the fathers of the young stood opposite each other and slapped their hands, which were wrapped in handkerchiefs or a small piece of sheepskin ahead of time, after which they shook hands with each other with the words: “Our son would be a common son between us and your daughter would be a common daughter and our obedient servant.” Since ancient times in Russia, shaking hands with each other legitimized a mutually beneficial agreement, an agreement. In some Russian regions, hand-handling was carried out over the table, where a loaf was placed in advance, after which it was broken in half. Bread in this case served as a fastening of the contract.

After the handshake, the girl's mother fastened the hands of the young, thereby confirming her consent to the decision of the fathers. After that, everyone began to read a prayer in front of the icons with a lit lamp. What was reached and the agreement was celebrated with a feast, while the young were not present at it.

After the agreement, it was impossible to refuse marriage, it was regarded as a terrible sin, the retribution for which would last a lifetime. According to custom, the guilty party in violation of the agreement was obliged to pay all expenses for the wedding, as well as pay "compensation" for dishonor to the deceived party. After an agreement, the young people were called the bride and groom. The young people had to correspond to the status they received (change their behavior, appearance). After the agreement, the bride was supposed to “twist”, “kill herself”, lament, that is, mourn her girlhood. From now on, she had to wear only mourning clothes, on her head a scarf pulled over her face, she could not comb her hair and braid her braid. She practically did not speak, explained herself with gestures, she moved around the house exclusively with the help of her friends, who now were constantly next to her, and often spent the night with her. The bride was forbidden to go outside the house and yard, go to parties and youth festivities. It was allowed to leave the house only to invite relatives to the wedding, and say goodbye to neighbors, the village and the "white world". Now she was suspended from any chore work. Her only occupation was the preparation of gifts, the sewing of a dowry. There were also those regions of Russia where the bride had to go out every day for a week before the wedding and lament sadly. According to legend, the more the bride cries, the easier life will be with her husband. All the women of the village sometimes gathered for such "gatherings".

The groom, after collusion, walked with might and main with his friends in his own and neighboring villages, parting with the "youth". In addition, every day he had to go to the bride's house and present her friends with various goodies (sweets, gingerbread).

Caravan rite.
The loaf rite acted as a kind of ritual action that was associated with baking and distributing a loaf (round bread with decorations in the form of dough figures, artificial flowers) during the prince's table (wedding feast). The loaf was baked in the groom's house (sometimes in the bride's house, and in some places both there and there) on the eve of the wedding or wedding night, or a couple of days before. This rite was divided into two stages: the first - its preparation itself (the stage was called "loaf loaf"), the second - the division of the loaf on the wedding table or "wear the loaf". Throughout the existence of this rite, its essence was the same, although it could be played out in different ways.

The process of making a loaf symbolized the birth of a new life and ensured the fertility of a young couple. It was of a ritual nature. They began to cook the loaf at a secretly scheduled time, before sunset, before turning to God and the saints. The rite was attended by the planted father and the planted mother of the groom (if they were happily married), as well as young loaf women, also happy in marriage and having healthy children.

To prepare a wedding loaf, water was collected from seven wells, flour - from seven bags. All processes, from kneading the dough to taking it out of the oven and distributing it to the guests, were deliberately theatrical. To give shape to the dough, it was placed in a special large bowl with a cross, and the bowl, in turn, was placed on a bench, where there was hay covered with a tablecloth. Everyone who was present at this special ritual was strictly forbidden to touch the dough and the bowl. Before sending the molded loaf to the oven, the planted mother went around the hut with him, sat on the stove, and then, together with the planted father, went around the stove pillar three times. They pushed it into the oven with the help of a special shovel, on the edges of which burning candles were attached. Before finally leaving it to bake, the loaf was pushed in and out of it three times. After placing the loaf in the oven, it was necessary to hit the ceiling beam with a shovel.

From the point of view of mythology, the oven symbolized the female womb or mother's womb, the bread shovel - the masculine principle, and the loaf - the fruit that resulted from their merger. Dough decorations, which the girls baked separately from the loaf, were in the form of figures of the sun, stars, moon, flowers, fruits, domestic animals, that is, signs that Russians considered the personification of peace, goodness, happiness, contentment, fertility. During the whole process of making and baking the loaf, special loaf songs were sung, telling about the stages of its creation by loaf women.

Hen-party.
A bachelorette party (weeping, wedding) were called ritual actions in which the bride said goodbye to girlhood. This ceremony was held in the bride's house, all her girlfriends were called to it. The farewell of the bride to girlhood, as a rule, began immediately after the agreement and continued until the wedding. The bachelorette party symbolized the girl's transition into the category of married women. The farewell of the bride to the "white light" in many villages of European Russia and Siberia took place in the morning and evening dawn outside the village, where she came with her friends. In the Pskov province, a bride with girls, singing sad songs, solemnly walked through the village, carrying in her hands a small Christmas tree decorated with ribbons, rags, paper flowers, or a bouquet of paper flowers.

In the villages of the Vladimir province, the bride lamented about her free life, sitting with the girls on a bench near her house. All the women of the village ran to her lamentations. In the Yaroslavl province, the bride and her friends wailed in the middle of the village, at the house of her relatives, at the hut where the gatherings took place. The finale of the bachelorette party was the so-called farewell to the "virgin beauty", held on the eve of the wedding in the bride's house in the presence of parents, sisters, brothers and friends. Almost throughout Russia, the symbol of girlhood was the "braid - a girl's beauty." A ritual of farewell to the bride with the scythe was carried out: first, the braid was braided, the bride was sold, and then untwisted again. They braided it in such a way that it would be as difficult to unweave it later: they woven ribbons, cords, braid, stuck in pins and even sewed them up with threads. All this was accompanied by the sad songs of the girls and the lamentations of the bride. After braiding, the bride's friends or the brother of the bride bargained with the groom's boyfriend, asking for a bride price. After receiving the ransom, the girls untwisted the braid while singing songs.

Loose hair showed the bride's readiness for marriage, symbolized the first step towards married life. Ribbons from the braid of a friend were divided among themselves. In the northern provinces of European Russia, in the Middle and Upper Volga regions, in Siberia, in Altai, as a farewell to the “virgin beauty”, the bride in the company of her friends visited the bathhouse. The bridesmaids heated the bath early in the morning, accompanying this process with special songs. Then they took the bride by the hand, sitting in the front corner of the hut, and led her into the bathhouse. At the head of this procession was the groom's friend, who read curses from evil spirits, waved a whip and sprinkled the bride with grain. The process of washing in the bath was quite lengthy, the bride was hovered with a birch broom, with ribbons, they poured kvass, beer on the stove, sprinkled it with grain. All this was accompanied by singing and lamentations.

Molodechnik.
Molodechnik symbolized the groom's farewell to single life and was held in the groom's house on the last pre-wedding day, or early in the morning on the wedding day. It was attended by the parents, relatives and friends of the groom. Food was collected for those present, wedding songs were sung. After that, the groom's relatives, or he himself went to the bride with gifts. This rite was not very common, it was found only in some villages of European Russia.

Wedding train.
This tradition is the departure of the bride and groom to the church for the wedding. Early in the morning in the groom's house on the day of the wedding, friends, one or two girlfriends, the godparents of the groom, an early matchmaker (a close relative of the groom), who participated in the manufacture and baking of the loaf (her duties included sprinkling the train with grain), assistants of the matchmaker, uncle or best man who accompanied the groom to the crown, the boyars are friends and relatives of the groom. In different regions of Russia, the composition of the wedding train could vary. The groom's parents, according to tradition, were not present at the wedding. They were preparing for the meeting of the newlyweds and the wedding feast itself. For the bride, the travelers rode in sledges in winter, in autumn on koshevs, carts, and carts. The horses were very carefully prepared for this event: they were fed with oats, cleaned, combed their tails and manes. For the wedding, they were decorated with ribbons, harness with bells, bells, and the sleigh was covered with carpets and pillows.

He headed the train of a friend, while he chose a smooth road to the bride, so that "the life of a young couple was smooth, without quarrels." On the way to the bride, the villagers met the train and blocked the way in every possible way: they locked the entrance gates, stretched the ropes. As a ransom, the friend offered wine, sweets, fruits, nuts and gingerbread. At the bride's house, her bridesmaids met the train, closed the gates and sang songs about the groom and his retinue, as about lovers who had come to pick up their girlfriend. Druzhka led the procession, brandishing a whip, as if clearing the road of evil spirits. Then he entered into a conversation with his girlfriends, who, after a good ransom, let the guests into the house. Then, in some villages of Russia, the groom and the friend began to look for the hidden bride, and in others - to redeem her from her older brother. All this was accompanied by mocking songs that the girls sang to the groom and the travellers. The ritual action was expressed in the desire to save the bride from the inevitable symbolic death that marriage promised, according to mythological ideas.

Then the travelers were invited to the table and treated. The bride and groom were supposed to sit at the edge of the table and not touch the food. It was believed that before the sacrament of the wedding, it was necessary to cleanse oneself morally, giving up “carnal” pleasures, including food. Also, the bride and groom were not supposed to eat together with married and married relatives, this was possible only after the wedding night. After the treats, the father of the bride handed over his daughter to the groom with the words that he would transfer her forever to the disposal of her husband.

The bride and groom went to church in different wagons: the bride accompanied by a svashka, and the groom - with a thousand (the main leader). Travelers from the side of the bride were connected to the wedding train: a wagon driver who drove the horses, godparents, and closest relatives. At the head, as before, rode a friend, accompanied by friends on horseback, then the groom's cart, then the bride, and after them all the other relatives. The bride's parents were also not present at the wedding. The wedding train drove quickly to the church, loudly ringing bells, thereby notifying everyone of its approach. During the trip, the bride and groom performed peculiar magical actions: the bride, having left her native village, opened her face, looked after the retreating houses and threw a handkerchief in which “all her sorrows were collected”, the groom periodically stopped the train in order to inquire about the state bride, whether something happened to her during a dangerous journey. At the same time, the friend read a prayer-conspiracy throughout the journey.

Wedding.
The wedding was a marriage ceremony in the Orthodox Church, which was combined with legal registration in the parish registers. The ceremony was performed in the church by a priest and included betrothal, in which the bride and groom agreed to marriage and exchanged rings, and the wedding, that is, the laying of marriage crowns on their heads, which symbolized the imposition of the Glory of God.

During the wedding, prayers were read for the purpose of God's blessing of the couple. The priest gave instructions. In the Christian tradition, the wedding acted as a kind of sacrament, symbolizing the union of a man and a woman into an indestructible Divine union that existed even after death.

The wedding ceremony connected a number of ritual and magical actions that provided protection from evil forces, a happy marriage, healthy offspring, economic well-being, and longevity. It was believed that it was at this moment that the young were more vulnerable, according to the then ideas of the villagers, sorcerers could turn them into stone, animals, leave them without offspring in marriage. To protect against this, the wedding train was not supposed to stop, following the wedding, the trainees could not look back. The ringing of bells attached to wagons was considered a kind of protection against dark forces. For a talisman, pins were attached to the clothes of the bride, sometimes the groom, needles were stuck, flaxseed or millet was poured, garlic was placed in the pocket, etc.

Some ritual actions were aimed at preventing adultery by the young. For example, it was forbidden to stand or pass between the young. It was believed that during the wedding ceremony it was possible to ensure the health of the young, for which, at the moment the priest circled the couple around the lectern, special conspiracies were quietly pronounced.

To ensure the economic well-being of the future family, before the young people approached the church, they spread a new white cloth in front of them, threw money under their feet, showered them with grain, and during the wedding, the bride hid bread in her bosom, poured salt into her shoes, attached a piece of wool to her clothes. It was believed that the objects in the hands of the bride and groom during the wedding ceremony had magical properties. For example, wax of wedding candles and water from a blessed icon were used in the treatment of babies, a wedding shirt was used to relieve pain in a woman during childbirth. In some villages, the owner of the house put on a wedding shirt on the first day of sowing to ensure a good autumn harvest. The wedding ring was used in divination at Christmas time. After the wedding, the newlyweds in the northern provinces of European Russia and in many villages of Siberia and Altai went to their parents' house for a wedding feast. There, at the end of the feast, their wedding night also took place.

And in some southern Russian villages, after the wedding, everyone returned to their home, but in the evening the groom came to the bride, and their wedding night took place there. The wedding feast began only after it was announced that the young had become husband and wife. If a couple lived without a wedding, they were not recognized as husband and wife, and their children were considered illegitimate. Meanwhile, according to popular notions, one wedding was not enough to recognize marriage. It was necessary to carry out the established ritual actions, according to tradition.

Prince's table.
Prince's table (wedding or red table) - a wedding feast, which was held after the wedding in the house of the groom's parents. By tradition, tables were placed along the floorboards and benches with the letter "G" and only in some areas - across the floorboards. According to tradition, guests were seated in a certain order, spectators - “gazers” were also placed, food and drinks were served, and songs were sung. The bride and groom were called only “the young prince” and “the young princess”, they sat in the front corner of the hut. The guests were seated in order of kinship: the closer the relatives, the closer they were to the bride or groom. Guys, neighbors, girls from the village were usually invited to the wedding feast, but they did not sit at the table, they acted as spectators. The wedding tables were covered with white tablecloths. At first, bread and pies were laid out on the tables (middle). Along the edge of the table, in accordance with each place of the guest, a slice of rye bread was placed, and an oblong pie was placed on top. Two loaves of round bread were placed in front of the newlyweds, laid on top of each other and covered with a scarf. As soon as the guests took their seats, drinks and food were served. Dishes alternated with drinks, while the number of dishes had to be even (a symbol of happiness and good luck).

The beginning of the wedding feast is the ceremony of opening the "young princess". After the wedding, the wife who took place entered the house, while her face was covered with a scarf. Usually the groom's father held a crust of bread or a pie in his hands and lifted the bride's handkerchief with it, after which he took it in his hands and circled it around the heads of the newlyweds three times to the exclamations of those present. This ceremony acted as an acquaintance of the groom's relatives with a new family member. The bride and groom during the wedding feast did not eat or drink anything, it was forbidden. As a sign of the prohibition, the bowl in front of them was empty, and the spoons were tied with a red ribbon and placed with their handles towards the center of the table, and the drinkware was turned upside down.

The end of the wedding table was the departure of the young to a special room, where they were served dinner. In some localities, the young woman was "wrapped" after supper or put on a woman's headdress. The second part of the wedding feast was the mountain table, on which were the "young prince" and the "young princess" in women's headdress and smart clothes. At that moment, the parents and relatives of the bride and groom came and sat at the same table with the relatives and parents of the groom. The mountain table was expressed in the gift of the bridegroom's relatives, from close to the most distant. The gift was placed on a special dish, the young woman approached her husband's relative and bowed low. Taking a gift, he put a gift on the dish: gingerbread, sweets, money. It was during the mountain table that the “young princess” for the first time called her father-in-law father, and her mother-in-law mother. After that, the young people took part in a common meal. However, they were served certain dishes: porridge, eggs, honey, butter, bread, pies, milk. At the same time, young people drank milk from one glass, ate with one spoon and from one cup, ate bread from one piece. This confirmed the unity of the young, their inextricable bond. At the end of the mountain table, a ceremony of dividing the loaf was held.

The end of the princely table was the departure of the young to the place of the wedding night, accompanied by the singing of the guests. Feasts were also held on the second and third days, but in a slightly different form. Their essence was the symbolic acquaintance of the husband's relatives with a new family member and the distribution of gifts.

The wedding night.
Wedding night (basement) - the physical and legal marriage was held in the groom's parental home. In the southern Russian provinces, after the wedding, the newlyweds each returned to their home, she was escorted to the house of the bride's parents until the main wedding feast. Usually, a bed for the newlyweds was made in a cold room (a crate, a closet, a hayloft, a bathhouse, less often a barn or a sheepfold), while a bed from the bride's dowry was used. With the help of various devices, a high marriage bed was built: sacks of flour were placed on the boards, then sheaves of rye, a couple of hay mattresses, less often a feather bed and many pillows. All this was covered with a white embroidered sheet to the floor and a beautiful blanket.

The bed was made by the bride and groom, as well as the mother or sister of the groom. After that, a poker, several logs, a frying pan were placed under the bed, and then they went around the bed with a branch of mountain ash or juniper. The branch later stuck into the wall. They believed that all this would protect the newlyweds from evil forces, and bags of flour and rye sheaves would ensure their well-being. Logs acted as a symbol of future children: the more of them on the marriage bed, the more children in the family will be.

The newlyweds were escorted by a friend, matchmakers, less often by all those present at the feast to laughter, noise, jokes, erotic instructions, songs. According to tradition, the friend entered the room with the marriage bed first and beat the bed with a whip a couple of times in order to scare away evil spirits. In some places in Russia, the custom was also widespread, according to which the friend paid a ransom to the bed-makers (those who made the bed). The door of the room was locked from the outside and placed outside the cage or, in our opinion, a guard who guarded the newlyweds from evil spirits and roaming guests. Left alone, the newlyweds, before going to bed, were supposed to eat bread and chicken in order to secure a consonant married life, wealth, and healthy offspring. The newlywed was supposed to demonstrate humility and humility by removing her husband's boots. This ancient rite is mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years. The newlywed, on the other hand, demonstrated his position as the owner of the family, forcing the bride to ask him for permission to go to bed with him. During the wedding night, a boyfriend visited the young couple several times and was interested in whether sexual contact had taken place. According to the custom, which was common in almost all areas of Russia, if everything ended well, the friend informed the guests about this, but after that the young people were either taken out to the guests or not disturbed until the morning. After such news, the guests sang erotic ditties, which talked about what happened between the young.

The next morning, those who accompanied the young to the bed came to wake them up, in order to check the girl's premarital chastity. They could wake up in different ways: they used knocking on the door, screaming, ringing bells, smashing pots on the threshold, pulling a blanket, pouring water over them. Notification of parents, guests, and the whole village about chastity or lack of it in the bride took place through ritual and game actions. For example, in the villages of the Perm province, if the newlywed was a virgin, towels and tablecloths with red embroideries were hung at the newlyweds' house, their friend tied horses to the arcs on the way to the bride's parents. In the Vladimir province, the wedding sheet, hung in the front corner of the hut, spoke of the honesty of the bride. In some villages, guests, led by a matchmaker and a friend, with shouts, ringing and noise, drove around the village and waved the newlywed's shirt.

If it turned out that the young woman had lost her virginity before marriage, then her parents were put on a collar around her neck, her father was served beer in a holey glass. The matchmaker was also humiliated. The obligatory innocence of the bride, and in some villages of the groom before marriage, came from the peasants' notions that the transformation of a girl into a woman, and a boy into a man could only occur in the course of certain rites and only if observed in a certain sequence. Violation of order was considered a violation of the course of life, an encroachment on its foundations.

It was also believed that a girl who lost her innocence before marriage would remain barren, become a widow early or leave her husband a widower, and the family would wallow in hunger and poverty.

Twisting young.
The twisting of the young was also a wedding ceremony, in which the bride changed the girl's hairstyle and headdress for women's. The ritual was held immediately after the wedding on the church porch or in the gatehouse of the church, in the groom's house in front of the prince's table, in the middle of the wedding feast, after the wedding night. The groom, his parents, friends and matchmakers were always present at this ceremony. All this was accompanied by singing. Instead of one braid, two were braided and laid around the head, after which they were covered with a kokoshnik.

In the Russian villages of Altai, twisting was carried out after arrival from the crown. The bride was put in a corner, covered with scarves on each side, two braids were woven, laid around her head, put on a samshur and a scarf. Then they showed the young woman to the groom and asked them both to look in one mirror in order to "live together." The songs that the svashki sang when changing their hairstyle and headdress sounded differently in different areas, but the essence was the same: the girl’s affirmation in a new status.

Khlebiny.
Khlebiny (outlets, outflows) completes the sequence of wedding ceremonies. This is a feast that was arranged for the young in the house of the parents of the young woman. Her parents prepared treats in advance for their arrival. The mother-in-law treated her son-in-law with pancakes or scrambled eggs, while he showed his attitude towards her. If he bit off a pancake or ate scrambled eggs from the edge, then her daughter retained her virginity before marriage, and he is grateful for this, but if the son-in-law bit off a pancake or ate scrambled eggs from the middle, then the young woman turned out to be “dishonest”, that is, she did not save chastity before marriage. Then he complained to her about the poor upbringing of his daughter. Then the young people went home. With a successful outcome, the la feast in the parental home of the young woman continued.