The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1883-01-11
WHOLE NO. 1911.
A Greek Wedding in London.

Last week was present st an inter-
esting ceremony in the beautiful Greek
| church at Bayswater, which in itself is
| study of byzantine architecture and
| elaborate decoration. A Greek maiden
| was to wed one of her own nation, and
| to make her future home in classic
| Athens among his people. But very
few young women, excepting the brides
maids, were present, and / noticed that
the men and women sat on different
sides of the church, as in our own very
high churches. As the bridal party
walked up the center of the church, two
golden doors above the altar steps were
thrown open. and two priests appeared,
gorgeously robed, wearing curious hat
like coverings to their heads, much like
those worn by Jewish rahbis. One of
these, the Archimandrite, is hand
some man. They descended, each hold
ing cross in his hands, and proceeded
with the ceremony in language quite
unknown to me, and found it was
equally unintelligible to distinguished
Greek scholar who was with me, who
explained that the pronunciation of
modern Greek differed so much from
that of the ancient Greek of the univer-
sity schools, that though he could read
1t tolerably, he could in no way under
stand or converse in it. 1t was noticea-
BILE that no instrumental music enters
into the service of the Greek Church,
but the voice alone chanting or inton-
ing the prayers and responses, conducts
the whole service.
was curious to know why I had
two wrpathS tho ahla fhiply-
ing perhaps that two birds were expect
ed, but found that in this verd SYM
bolical ceremony the bridegroom is
crowned with flowers as well as the
bride. This is solemnly done by the
priest, and the wreaths are crossed and
exchanged above the heads of the pair
in wonderful way, until, with them
supported as we'll as possible in position
by an attendant groomsman, the bride
groom is led by the priest, intoning as
he walks, still holding his bride by the
hand, in a sort of procession round the
center table of the church, followed by
the bridesmaids and the assistant mat
ron, and by two young men of the par
ty, each holding large wax candle,
about six feet high, lighted, and wreath
ed with white flowers and satin ribbon.
1t must have been trying position for
the young man, and certainly neither
dignified nor solemn one to an outsider,
looking more like the performance in
cotillon than a religious service. but I
was told that in the Greek Church
much is symbolical, and appeals only
to those who can estimate the signfi-
cance of each little ceremony. This
professional march indicated Joy and
rejoicing, as by a dance.
The sign of the cross was very con-
stantly made by the congregation, as in
a Roman Catholic service, and the thick
gold wedding ring was used for that
purpose by the priest on the forehead of
both bride and bridegroom before it
was placed on the lady's finger The
pair parlook of the bread and wine uu-
der the same symbol. Of course, the
by the registrar at an early period of tho
day, and Greek lady told me that the
ceremony we witnessed included both
betrothal and marriage, hence its length
and variety.
In such classic society as this we
scarcely expected ordinary food, but l
found that good English roast beef
agreed admirably with preserved rose
leaves and delicious honey from Mount
Hymettus, where the bees of to-day still
extract luscious fragrance from luxuri-
ant and perfumed flowers, under the
sunny skies of Attica, as they did in the
ancient times of classic story. The
honey cakes we had for lunch on this
occasion l shall not soon forget. They
were q dream of flowers and ambrosial
sweetness, and were washed down by a
rich wine which tasted to me like nectar.
-LiUerpOoI Courier.