Wichita eagle., 1890-02-11
AT A WEDDING In SITKA.
DESCRIPTION FROM Alaska OF AN
EVENT Or THE GREEK CHUkCH.

and Other Details Of the Pretty Core
mony.
Immediately north of and adjoining
Sitka is one Of the largest and most at
tractive Indian villages in Alaska. In
summer, when employment at the sal
mon canneries is abundant, nearly ali
the able bodied men and their families
are off some one hundred and fifty miles
engaged in fishing, leaving, perhaps, not
more than four hundred of all ages and
sexes behind at the village. About the
1st of October they begin to flock back
for the winter.
Fully one-half of the adults have been
brought under the influence Of the
Greco-Russian church, which is MAIN
tanned in Alaska by money paid from
the imperial treasury at st. Petersburg,
and which church and its property are
protected by the terms of the treaty of
cesSion.
JUST LIKE ROYALTY.
| Last night the people of Sitl1a witnessed
a Ute ceremony in the Cathedral of St.
Michael's fully as interesting as the mar
riage of the Duke of Sparta and the
Princess of Germany. The bride and
groom were pure blooded Alaskan Indi-
ans of the adjoining village. 1t is inter-
esting to know that while the influence
of civilization has wiped out the practice
of buying and selling young girls as
wives among these people, in common
| with the practice among the North
American Indians. whom these people re-
semble in only a few respects, still a
valuable consideration enters into the
transaction in all cases now, which
shows the origin of the latter. The Alas
kan Indian has no ponies for gifts to the
parents of the bride, but as blankets here
are badges of wealth, as ponies are
among the plains Indians, he bears gifts
of blankets as the consideration for the
bride.
The Cathedral Of st. Bfichael's, though
wooden structure erected over fifty
years ago, is in an excellent state of pres
ervation, and its interior is arranged and
embellished with all the gorgeous appur-
tenances which belong TO the churches
of that communion. The wedding took
place at 6 o'clock, nearly three hours
! after dark. The church was brilliantly
lighted by nearly a thousand candles,
the windows and the lantern Of the Gu
pola being studded with them.
According to universal custom the
bride must be given away by some rela-
tive. The groom, a rather good looking
young Indian, plainly and decently
dressed, entered the w est door Of the
church and took position In the center
of the floor about ten feet from the door.
Ia about half an hour afterward knock
was heard at the same door, when it was
opened by an usher and the bride ell
tered, dressed in pure white, with a
wreath of artificial flowers as sort of
chaplet. The complexions orboth are as
brown as chestnut. The person who
gave the bride away placed her on the
left of the groom.
In the meantime the gorgeous altar
screens were thrown open and the priest,
in heavy robes, incrusted with gold and
silver lace, was observed celebrating that
part Of the mass pertaining to that part
of the ceremony. Large lighted candles
were then placed in the hands of the
bride and groom, and the priest, bearing
a lighted taper and the missal, came
from behind the altar, and from the
brilliantly lighted sanctuary, which no
woman Is ever allowed to enter, ap-
preached a small desk in front of the
altar screen and read a portion of the
ritual in Russian, and again repeating it
In English and Thinklet. This portion
concluded, in which the choir overhead
joined in singing, he proceeded to the |
spot where the expectant couple stood,
and crossing his hands with theirs. and
each holding their tapers SO as to form
cross, he continued his recital of the |
ritual, the choir making responses.
At this point the bride and groom
placed their rings in his hands, and keep
ing the hands of all three in the form of |
a cross, he led them forward to small
dais in front of tie desk. The bride was
attended by two women dressed in white, |
and the groom by like number OF |
young men Of his own race. While the |
procession thus advanced to the dais the |
ritual was chanted by the priest, the
responses being made in the choir. The
priest took his place behind the desk /
and for half an hour intoned the words
Of the ritual, first in Russian and then
from an English translation made by
Bishop Vladimar, of San Francisco.
UNDER TEE GOLD CROWNS.
Two heavy gold crowns were then
placed upon the heads of the bride and
groom, and the rings which had received
the blessings of the priest before the
bride and groom were conducted to the
dais were restored to the latter, the ring
worn by the bride when she entered the
church being placed ON one of the fingers
of the groom, and the one worn bv the
groom placed on the appropriate finger
of the bride. The information of the
ritual proceeded for another half hour,
the massive and beautiful golden crowns
being held above the heads of the bride
and groom by the attendants, each tax
ing turns.
AT last the bride and groom passed
around the outer altar three times and
halted again in front of the reading desk.
Now the groom saluted the bride, and
the ceremony was at an end. and the
parties were so inseparably united for
life that no divorce recognized by the
church can sever them. The church was
tiled with people. There are no seats
or pews in the cathedral, and all stood
during the entire ceremony. About
dozen white gentlemen and ladies were
spectators. and the rest. about 200, were