Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1890-08-23
AT A WEDDING In SITKA.
DESCRIPTION FROM ALASKA OF AN
EVENT OF THE GREEK CHURCH.

Golden Crowns Held Aioft-The Cross Of
and Other Details OF tho Pretty Ccre-
mony.
Immediately north OF and adjoining
Sitka is n of the largest and most at
t~ractive Indian villages in Alaska. In
summer, when employment 1t the sal
mon canneries Is abundant, nearly all
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
LIST 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 / X ROYALTY.
Last night thepeople of Sitka 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-
n 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. Michael's, though
a wooden structure erected over fifty
years ago, is in IN excellent state of pres
ervation, and its interior il arranged and
embellished with all the gorgeous appur-
tehances which. belong to the churches
of that comnunion. The wedding took
place at 6 O'Clock, nearly three hours
after dark. The church was brilliantly
lighted by nearly n 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 10y solne rela-
| t;va Tha y~nC,, IN ratl.e ,rx1I lsll.s..
young Indian, plainly and decently
dressed, entered the est door of the
church and took a position ia the center
of the floor about ten feet from the door.
In about half an hour afterward q knock
was heard at the Same door, when il was
opened by I'll usher and the bride en-
tered, dressed in pure white. with a
wreath of artificial flowers rs 4 sort of
chaplet. The couIplexions Of both are as
brown as q 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 aiId the priest,
In heavy robes, incru5ted with gold aud
silver lace, was observed celebrating that
I pas Va tHS LitSo lNi IbalisAts W S.itN DttA
of the ceremony. Large lighted candles
werc then placed in the hands OF the
bride and groom, and the priest, bearing
a lighted taper and the missai, came
from behind the altar, aad from the
brilliantly lighted sanctuary, which no
woman is ever allowed to enter, ap-
preached q small desk ia front Of tie
altar screen and read a portion OF the
ritual in Russian, and again repeating il
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 a
cross, he continued his recital of tie
ritual, the choir making responses.
At this point the bride and groom
placed their rings in his hands, and keep
ing the hands OK ali three IN the form of
a cross, he led them forward to a smaIl
dais III front of the desk. The bride was
attended by two women dressed in white,
and the groom by a like number OF
young men Of his own race. Willis the
procession thus advanced 10 the dais the
ritual was chanted by the priest, the
responses being made in the choir. Tho
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 VladimGr. of San Francisco.
UNDER THE 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
by the bride when she entered the
church being placed IN one OF the fingers
of the groom, and the one worn by the
groom placed on the appropriate finger
Of the bride. Tho 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 salutcd the bride, and
the ceremony was at an end, and the
parties were 80 ~inseparably united for
life that no divorce recognized by the
church can sever them. The church was
filed with people. There are no seats
or pews in the cathedral, and all stood
during the entire ceremony. About a
dozen white gentlemen and ladies were
spectators. and the rest, about 200, were
native men, women and children.-Sitka
Letter in Washington Post.