Port Royal standard and commercial. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1876-10-05
THE HARVEST FESTIVALS.
How the Germans About Now York Cele-
brate the Event of n Bountiful Harvest.

brate the Event of Bountiful Harvest.
Every year when the harvest is in the
German people about New York hold a
harvest gathering on Union Hill, New
Jersey. At these gatherings the festi-
walls of the Fatherland are INDUCED in.
At the festival this year the chief event
of the day was a rural wedding in
Plattdeutsch country style, the bride
groom being Alfred Dehmcke, news
dealer of Hoboken, and Minnie KONG,
blooming maid, born in Philadelphia,
but for some time residing on her
fathers farm in Jersey. Three gaily
decorated wagons, containing the bridal
party, and set of household furniture,
made the circuit of the grounds, pre-
ceded by band of music and messen-
ger on horseback, dressed in a velvet
coat with silver buttons, velvet knee
breeches, top boots, and stiff hat orna-
mented with ribbons and gold lace.
This messenger was the wedding in
viter," and as in the old country, sum
moned the guests. His horse was deco
rated with ribbons, and the two made
gay spectacle. In the bridal party were
the parents of the groom and bride, the
groomsmep, Capt. Aery and Mr.. Duer.
kopf, and twelve bridesmaids, with caps
of gold cloth and velvet bodices in the
North German countly fashion. The
bride was similarly attired. The bride
groom was dressed as German farmer,
in velvet coat and breeches and a three
cornered hat decorated with flowers and
ribbons. The Rev. DR.. F. I. Schneider,
of the Lutheran church, resident of
New York, was the officiating clergyman.
The nuptial tie was adjusted in front
of the North German farm house, red,
high-roofed structure built in exact imi-
tation of the German article. A real
wedding ceremony was performed in the
same house at the festival last year, and
a bouncing boy lives to-day to serve as
a reminder of it. The bridal couple
stood on a platform before the house.
A table set with flowers, and bearing
two candlesticks, which could not be
lighted on account of the wind, stood
beside them.
The clergyman preached short ser
mon, the bridal pair answered questions
about the same as those in vogue here,
and they were pronounced man and
wife. The twelve bridesmaids kissed
the bride, and friends and relatives
proffered their congratulations. After
singing by the Lyra Singing Society of
Hoboken and the Jersey Schuetzen
Liedertafel the party entered the farm
house, and banquet, dancing, singing,
and music followed. The president OF
the Plattdeutsch Association gave the
bridal couple fifty dollars, Capt. Avery
gave complete kitchen outfit, and a
clock was presented by some other
friend. Numerous minor gifts were re-
ceived.
The interior of the farm house was
one of the most interesting spectacles on
the grounds. The main room was the
spacious kitchen, with its big brick
oven, over which the huge chimney
hung like q porch to receive tee smoke.
Overhead was a partial ceiling of wood,
between which and the rafters was a
store of hay. At one side, separated
from the room only by paling. were
stalls for the horse and cow. Hams
and saussges hung from the beams, and
brightly secured pewter dishes adorned
the walls. The kitchen opened into two
rooms, in one of which was huge, CID
fashioned peat stove, that was imported
from Germany. The festival lasted
four days. There was real christening
in the farm house.
On the harvest day last year fifty
thousand persons were on the grounds.
The attendance was fully as large this
year. The whole country around was
filled with gaily decorated wagona and
teams, emblematical of the Doubtful
harvest