Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1874-07-02
ORIENTAL. MATKIMONY.
4" Armenian" Wedding i" Turkey.

I was well oft, having two houses nlld 20,
q 600 Turkish lircs ($1OO, 900 us a mar
d riaGc portion. This w;,s all given owe
o to the bridegroom, who, strt,,gc to say
il did not seem to feel a bit grateful. y
l. should, II some one gave me two house
with all their furniture, inclutlin,
I slaves, AMI $$lOO, 600; but then, I am
1 heather, andnot an orthodox Armenian
When / arrived the bride was ius
dressed, and 1 was invited into the bed
room where she was, to sec her in III
r the glory of her attire. She stood i,
1 the centre Of the room, and all til,
y slaves and old women stood off to Civ,
: nc II better view IF her magnificence
L walked around her twice before
could see"wherc icr face was, or which
> was tho front Of her. S. c was covered
with IL most curious veil made If lone
slips fgold tiuscl, which reached to he
} feet. Through this you could not acc
|; except the bottom Of her dress. Tho
t Armenian women are generally vcr,
pretty, but perfect fools in manners ant
| expressions SO much SO that when on.
man wishes to offend another he says
i, "Prctty Armenian - which reall,
!, mcansafou The women dress like Eu
i, ropcans in general. Thewomcn, aftcl
, ] had twice made the circuit of the veil
lifted it III front and separated the long
/ strings Of tinscl, till couldscc that thu
bride was dressed in white silk, bro
catcl with silver anil pearls, and thai
around her waist was wide belt coli
tanning II fortune in precious stones.
Her cheeks were painted a bright Grim
son, laid OH III hcartshape, and another
heart WAS artistically put on tho chin,
while the rest of the face was as white
as the luminous cosmetic could bring it.
The eye brows met, and also stretched
to the hair on both sides of the temples,
and were black Us they could he painted.
The inside Of her fingers ends and fin
ger nails were stained deep crimson.
Her hair which was long and thick,
though coarse, was braided full of little
|jingling coins. The outlines of her form
were, rs usual, totally hidden by the
clumsily made clothes. I admired her
to my hearts content, and even went so
far as to take up fold of her dress to
zee if the pearls sewn on so lavishly
were real ones, to the evident pleasure
of all present; for what would be the
height of i'll breading among us is con-
sidercd delicate tlattery among these
women. forgot to look ut her feet,
andwa about TO go and sit down, when
| she stuck out first one and then the
other, TINT j might sec that they were
shotl with velvet slippers embroidered
with pearls, and showed me her ear
rings, which were large solitaire dia-
monds. She had on no breach or neck
lace, and one of the women interpreted
for me AMI told ME the bridegroom was
togivethcmafter the ceremony. Wcthcn
all sat down and coffee was brought in
little cups about the size of an cggshell
and carried in little gold fillagrc holders.
l would like to immortalize the coffee
| they make here. even rs Lamb did his
vanity, but I feel Inadequate to the
task. It is the sublimated essence of
spirit of coffee. Of which VIC get but the
material in America. I shall bring u
Turk with me, with all the apparatus of
coffee making, when return t. Amer
lea. Swcctmc:.ts arc handed round,
contained i'll glasses, while two moro
arc for the spoons. l took spoonful
Of something into my mouth, and when
L got it there found that it was fla
vorcd with anise-sccd or mastic. It
tastes just like parcgoric, anil I hate it.
This would not dissolve, and would not
go down, do the best could. I
would have given anything to have
been able 10 get to the window, but rs I
couldn't, 1 hcroically determined it
must 20 down, and reached for glass
of water on the tray. 1 had on loose
sleeves, and i'll taking the glass man.
aged to upset both glasses of teaspoons,
which went on the floor with horrible
clattcr. I ut last swallowed the lump
of condensed paregoric, mentally VOW
ing never to touch Turkish swectmcats
again. After this episode, ill the lady
guests went into another room to see
the trousseau, which was laid out for
their inspection. Many Of the dresses
were very elegant, but found it very
tlrcsome, us [ must examine every arti-
Gle, being the mnssufara, or guest of
the guests or foreigners: Ihal arrived
ut 6 o'clock, and, before the things were
all examined tile mother of the bride
entered and called us out to the larger
room, telling us that the table was
spread for the marriage-feast, and VIC
must come and look at it. We travcrseu
a long cold s"llc to tho upper-room,
which looked really very handsome,
but it was bitterly cold, there being no
appliances for fire. We went then to
the parlor. to await the arrival of tho
bridegroom and the priests, four Of
whom were to perform tho ceremony.
The bride was seated upon sort of
chair without back, and her veil ar
ranged carefully SO as to completely
hide her. The rooms in all the houses
here arc furnished very simply, this ono
having but one table and one chair
There were div:.ns all around the wallis,
and i'll the centre of the room a foun-
tain very handsomely carved. The
floor was covered with all elegant Per
sian carpet, and the ceiling fairly fes-
tooncd with lamps, think we fur
nish our houses too much generally, and
they, none of them, look so really eIc-
giant us do the houses here. The bride
groom and his friends arrived ut about
8 o'clock, and other friends and ac-
quaiutances began to arrive, but the
priests did not conc. We waited and
waited. Ten o'clock! IL! and still
no priests. Tho father of the bride
went to see what was the reason of the
delay, and soon returned to say that
they were 1T another wedding, and
wonld be here soon. So We had coffee
anu more swectmeats (Which I left
alonc), and the gentlemen drank mastic
to sharpen their appctitcs, and
smoked cigarettes to enlivcn the mono
tony. wanted to go home, hut those
who had brought me would not hear to
it, and was compelled to remain,
though moro tired than ever before in
my life, I think. Twelve o'clock came
and llalf-paSt, ANA then and no priests.
Finally IL boy came aud said the priests
would be along directly, and he spread
piece of carpet in the middle Of the
room and retired. The people did not
seem to mind the delay, but feltsorry
for the poor bride, who sat erect all this
while on hcr chair, speaking to none,
not even moving. had the corner
divan, and, with I'LL the cushions, was
pretty comfortable, and I an not quite
sure that didn't go to sleep, for l
found I mixed things little after
ward. At l,alf-past the priests arrived,
preceded by IL crowd of boys bearing
ccnscrs, and lumblcbeeing some sort
of IL thing suppose they called sing
ing. 1t was worse than the car-split-
ting torture had submitted to ut the
christening. The priests were deco
rated with gold embroidery from head
to foot, and the chief priest wore II
sort of mitrc on his head literally hlax-
ing with jewels. The carpet that had
been laid 10y the boy was now covered
with one fur more elegant, and having
tAsscls of pearls ut ench corner. The