The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1875-05-26

A lady living in Constantinople give
very interesting account of Turkish
or rather, an Armenian wedding. The
bride, although the possessor of wohouse!
and 500, 900, was to marry a poor clerk
The bride was dressed very prettily, ano
was covered with a most curious vail
made of long slips of gold tinsel which
reached to her feet. Through this you
could not see, except the bottom Of heI
dress. She was dressed in white silk
brocaded with silver and pearls, and
around her breast was a wide belt con-
tanning fortune in precious stones.
Her cheeks were painted deep crimson,
laid on in a heart shape, and another
heart was artistically put on her chin,
while the rest of her face was as white as
the luminous cosmetic could bring IT.
The eyebrows met and also stretched
to the hair on each side of the temples,
and were is black as they could be paint
ed. The inside of her fingers lends and
tinger-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, as usual, totally hidden by the
clumsily made clothes. Her feet were
encased in velvet slippers, embroidered
with pearls. Large solitaire diamonds
constituted her earrings. Four priests
performed the ceremony, and the we'd
ding company waited from A. NJ. till
nearl y p. NJ. for them to come. The
priests were decorated with gold embroid-
cry from head to foot, and the chief
priest wore a sort of inter on his head,
literally blazing with jewels. The car
pet was now covered with one far more
elegant, having tassels of pearls at each
corner. The chief priest took his place
on the centre Of this and the other three
behind. The father of the bride took
her by the hand and led her forward to
the bridegroom, and the two then
stepped before the priest. Two boys
brought cushions, with a green wreath
on each, for the bride and bridegroom.
The brides was kept in place by the
tinsel vail but that of the unfortunate
Haskar kept sliding forward or back
ward all the time, making him very I'M
comfortable. The bride was under, rath-
er than over, the ordinary height for
women, and the bridegroom a very tall
man, and they were obliged to stand with
their foreheads touching each other du-
ring the whole ceremony, which took
certainly an hour. 1t seemed to consist
mostly Of swinging of the censers and
singing by the boys and sort of monot-
onous chant by the three priests. At
last it was finished by Haskar handing
plain gold ring to his bride and receiving
one from her in exchange, and then
both kneeled for few moments while
the priests chanted and the boys swung
the censers around very close to the heads
Of the unfortunate couple. They then
rose and the priests departed, after hav-
ing RECALLED themselves in the supper-room
alone. The party then adjourned to the
supper-room; the bride was lifted by
the men and seated astride a small barrel
of wine, and the feast commenced. She
had to sit there till all the wine was drank
out of that barrel, which was nearly two
hours. She was tired enough before all
was over, for she got nothing to eatat all.
The Armenians are good eaters, and it
was daylight before the feast concluded
and the guests allowed to depart.