First my host sister, host mom, and I went to the neighboring village Aygezard to the family of the bride's house to sit and chat with all her female relatives before the ceremony. My sister and I sat with the bride and her friends while we waited for the groom’s family to come over. After about an hour we could hear music coming from outside and we all went down stairs where the groom’s family was coming marching down the street with a four-piece traditional Armenian band and gifts for the bride.
The women from the bride’s family came out of the house and took the gifts from the groom’s family and everyone danced in the street. Then all the women from both families went inside to give the gifts to the bride. The gifts were baskets of fruit and candies. One basket had the bride’s veil, wrap, bouquet and one of her shoes in it. Now you may be wondering why in the world the groom’s family had one of the bride’s shoes…well many of the Armenian wedding traditions involve the giving of money for various things, including one of the bride’s shoes which the groom’s family stole earlier. The women then began to sing and prepare the bride – putting on her shoes, her veil, and her wrap. Then they threw some of the candy from the basket at all of the women and girls watching. My host mom handed me a piece and told me to put it under my pillow that night while I slept and I would have a dream about my future husband. After the bride was ready the groom came up stairs and presented her was a basket of flowers. The bride and groom went downstairs and outside and we all followed. Once we were all outside there was more dancing, this time around the happy couple.
The next stop was the church – they ceremony was at Khor Virap, a beautiful church about twenty minutes from my village. Khor Virap is a 7th century monastery and it is where Saint Gregory the Illuminator (the patron-saint of Armenia) was imprisoned in a dungeon for 13 years. According to legend the King became very ill and began to go mad and his daughter convinced him to release Gregory who then healed the King and converted him to Christianity.
The ceremony was quite short compared to the rest of the festivities and after the priest finished the ceremony the groom’s parents stood at the front of the church with the couple and the wedding party for the receiving line. All the guests went through the line giving their congratulations to the couple. Everyone lined up for pictures outside the church after the ceremony and then doves were released.
After the ceremony everyone headed to the groom’s house for celebratory toasts and dancing. In Armenia it is tradition that when a couple is married the bride moves into the groom’s house with his parents. So when everyone was at the groom’s house the bride and groom arrived with a suitcase symbolizing the exchange of the bride to her new family. After some more dancing the party head to the reception, which was at a restaurant on the highway between Artashat and Yerevan, for more dancing, toasts, food, and drinks. At the restaurant there were large family-style tables full of olives, cheese, bread, fruits, and bottles of wine, vodka, and cognac. There was a three-course dinner 1) pork khoravats (Armenian barbecue); 2) kufta (this weird meat trine); 3) fish. The reception had a MC, tons of dancing, and many long toasts. The bride and groom went around the room and toasted every person at the reception. The bride and groom were presented with gifts from their families, mostly gold jewelry. They cut the cake around 11pm and then did the garter and bouquet toss. The bride and groom went around the room and handed out little plaster statues of hearts and flowers to all the single people in the crowd. Later the bride danced for all the guests and people came up and gave her money. The reception wound-down around midnight, but by the time we got home it was past 1am.
It was interesting to experience a wedding a culture that is very different for the United States. All in all I can say that an Armenian wedding is an exciting fun time, but it is not for the faint of heart because it is a marathon of toasts, eating, drinking, and dancing.
http://armenianchat.info
ReplyDelete