Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1874-07-02
ORiEN"AI. MATKIMONY.
\" Armenian Wedding in Turkey.

; WAS welt oft, lutvinS two llo'lScs;.nu 20,
, 600 Turkish iircA (S$lW), 900 as u mar
riagr portion. This WAS I'LL given over
, to the bridegroom, who, strange to say
| did not seem t" feel Il bit grateful.
should, II some one gave me two houses
with all their furniture, including
[ slaves, and SIoo, 900; but then, [ am {:
heat hen, and not an orthodox Armenian
When / arrived the bride WAS just
dressed, and WAS invited into the bed
room where she was, to see her in I'LL
the glory OF her attire. She stood in
the centre Of the room, and all the
slaves and old women stood off to give
me IL better view Of her ma:,nificcncc.
walked around her twice before
could SEQ where i,"r face WAS, or which
was the front ui hey. She WIS covered
with IL most curious veil made If long
slips ofgol'l tiuscl, which reached to hel
feet. Through this You could not sec,
except the bottom Of her dress. The
Armenian women arc generally very
pretty, but perfect fools i'll manners and
expressions SO much So that when one
man wishes to offend another lie says
"prctty Armchair which real1,
means afM'l. The women dress like Eu
ropcans in general. The women, after
! hasl twice made the circuit of the veil
liftc( it in front and separated the long
strings OF tinscl, till | couldscc that til,
bride was dressed in white silk, bro.
calrd with silver ami pearls, and that
around her waist was Il wide belt con.
tanning Il fortune in precious stones.
Her cheeks were painted a bright Grim
son, laid on in heart shape, :lldanothel
heart WAS artistic.lly put on tho chin,
while the rest OF the face was us white
us 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 thcy couldbc painted.
The inside Of her fingers ends and fin.
ger nails were stained deep crimson.
Her hair which was long aud thick,
though coarse, WAS braided full of little
juggling coins. The outlines Of her form
were, as usual, totally hidden by the
clumsily made clothes. 1 admired her
to my hearts content, and even went so
far as to take up a fold of her dress to
see if the pearls sewn on so lavishly
were real ones, to the evident plcasur G
Of I'LL present; for what would be the
height Of i'll brcatling among us is con-
sitlcrcd Il delicate flattery among these
women. forgot to look ut her feet,
andwas about to go and sit down, when
she stuck out first one and then the
other, that l might sec that they were
shol with velvet slippers embroidered
with pearls, and showed me her ear
rings, which were large solitaire dia-
m0ntls. She had on no breach or neck
lace, and one Of the women interpreted
for me and told me the bridegroom was
| togivc thcnlaftcr the ceremony. Wcthcn
all sat down and coffee was brought in
little cups about the size of an cggShcll
and carried in little gold fillagrc holders
] would like to imnlortalizc the coffee
they make here. even us Lamb did his
vanity, but I feel inadequate to the
task. 1t is the sublimatcd essence of
spirit OF coffee: of which We get but the
material in America. [ shall bring IL
Turk with nc, with all the apparatus of
coffee making, when [ return t., Amer
| lea. Swcctmcuts arc handed round,
contained in glasses, while two more
arc for the spoons. L took u spoonful
Of something into my mouth, and when
got it there I found that it was fla
vorctl with anise-sccd or mastic. It
tastes just like parcgoric, and hate it.
This would not dissolve, and would not
go down, do the best 1 could. 1
would have given anything to have
been able 10 get to the window, but us
couldn't, [ hcroically determined it
must go down, and reached for IL glass
of water OF the tray. had on loose
sleeves, and il taking the glass man.
aged to upset both glasses Of teaspoons,
clattcr. ut last swallowed the lump
of condensed parcg"ric, mentally VOW
ing never to touch Turkish swectmcats
again. After this episode, i'll tho lady
guests went into another room to sec
the tro1lssc,u, which was laid out for
their inspection. Many of the dresses
were very elegant, brt L found it very
tircsomc, ls must examine every arti-
Gle, being the mlssufara, or guest of
the guests Or foreigners: Illal arrived
ut & o'clock, and, before the things were
all examined the mother of thcbri.lc
entered and called us out to the larger
room, telling us that the table was
spread for the marriagc-fcast, and VIC
must come AMI look at it. We tr,vcrscd
II long cold sale t." 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 the
bridegroom and the priests, four of
whom were to perform tho ceremony.
The bride WAS seated upon Il sort of
chair without Il back, and her veil ar-
ranged carefully SO as to completely
hide her. The rooms in I'LL the houses
here arc furnished very simply, this ono
having but one table and one chair.
! There were liv;.ns all around the walls,
and in the centre of the room u foun-
tain very handsomely carved. The
floor was covered with an elegant Per-
sian carpet, and the ceiling fairly fcs-
tooncd with lamps, think VIC fur
nsh our houses too mrch generally and
they, none of them, look SO really Gle
giant us tlo the houses here. hclri.(c-
groom and his friends arrived ut about
8 o'clock, and other friends and &C
quai,lt;,nccs began to arrive, but the
priests did not come. We waited and
waited. Ten o'clock! IL! and still
no priests. The father of the bride
went to see what was the reason of the
delay, and soon returned to say that
they were ut another wedding, and
would he here soon. So We had coffee
nlonc), and the gentlemen drank mastic
to sharpen their appctitcs, and
smoked cigarettes to cnlivcn the mono
tony. wanted to go home, but those
who had brought me would not hear tc
it, and I was compelled TO remain,
though more tired than ever before i,
my life, l think. Twelve o'clock came
and l,nlf-paSt, ana then Land no priests
Finally !, hoy came and said the priests
would b" along directly, and he sprca,
IL piece OF carpet in the middle Of til,
room and retired. The people did no,
seem to mind the delay, but fcltsorr,
for the poor bride, VIII" sat erect all thi:
while on her chair, speaking to none
not even moving. had tho corner
.liva,, a,d, with all the cushions, L was
pretty comfortable, and am not quit.
sure that didn't 80 to sleep, for
found mixed things II little after
ward. At l'aIf-past the priests arrived
preceded by II crowd of boys bearing
,r,,scrs, and bumblcbccing some s,r
of !. thing suppose they called sing
ing. 1t was worse than the car-split
ting torture had submitted to ut til,
christening. The priests were deco
rated with gold embroidery from hca,
to foot, and the chief priest wore
sort of mitr' on his head literally hlaz
ing with jewels. The carpet that ha,
been laid 10y the boy was now c'vcrc,
with one fur more elegant, and havi,:
. t;,ssclS of DcNrls Mt cNch corner. III.