Norwich bulletin., 1914-07-04

This story of a true Hebrew we'd ding in Russia, represents weddings usually held in small cities. This ac- count is absolutely true for l my self was married in the same way.
 Before the engagement the father of the bride agrees to give the bride groom a certain sum of money. This l is the custom and is usually paid be- fore the wedding and is called nodan. When the nodan is paid arrangements are made for the wedding.
 A wedding always begins on Sat urday and stretches over three or four weeks. These three or four weeks in clude the week of preparations for the wedding.
 About a week before the wedding two women are hired to make the diff ferent pastries and other things nec- eSsary for the wedding.
 On the Friday before the wedding two lady friends of the bride go to the other lady friends and invite them to the wedding. In the same way the janitor or shomis of the church in vites the men; but he issues invita- 1 tions. The invitations announce the parties to be married and beg the gentleman to be present with his en- tire family.
 The parents of the bride and groom, l the groom, and those invited to the wedding all go to church together on i the morning of the day the wedding commences. This is the day after the l wedding invitations are issued. The i bride stays at home.
 In the middle of the praying, the father of the young couple and also. l the president of the church, get up on 1 the altar and call to the altar every 1 man invited to the wedding and give i each a prayer to say. This is an l bride and groom.
 After the prayers are said, the moth i CT of the bridegroom distributes among the ladies of the congrega-
 ton nuts, confetti, raisins and small 1 bits of cake. Un these churches i there are two rooms; one for ladies i and one for the men.) The door be- 1 tween the two rooms is opened by the l janitor, and the ladies standing in the doorway-they do not enter the room shower the groom with the goodies l Naturally, everything falls on the f1ool 1 and the children have a merry time l scrambling for the goodies. The one i who is the strongest gets most. 1 It is now noon and all the guests SC | to the groom's house where the tables are set with the best things. They
 eat and drink till night, and ther 1 dance all night. The groom has hired a band of music which plays all night
 The groom, or his mother, pay fol 1 the music to play one dance for eacf 1 guest. After each guest has had hi: | II lie Sllll WISHES lO udIICe ut must pay for the music. So that wher
 a guest comes to wedding he mus
 bring plenty of money if he wishe:
 to dance.
 If the couple live in one town th' groom sends a band of music to pIay for the bride for an hour or two a l night When it returns the friend!
 of the bride go to the bridegroom'' ! home where they dance all night. Or the way to the groom'S house the mu
 sic goes before the guests. playing This time is called 'forspiel" for tn
 bride, and off refen for the groom These words mean beginning.
 The day before the ceremony a part, is held at the brides house, wher they have dancing, music and refresh ments. This party begins about fiv l o'clock The bride is dressed in he | to be married. She calls all her gir
 friends to her and says good bye t them and to her girlhood- A heart
 supper is eaten at midnight. Tn | couple then fast and pray until tn
 ceremony is performed on the mex
 day This time is called "husen- -mah
 (In small cities there is no hall, S
 in winter Q large house Is hired for
 wedding. and in summer large ten
 is raised near the brides house.)
 About a half hour before the cere mony the bride sits down in a larg
 chair in the middle of the house O
 tent, as the case may be. Then man called a "bodken" (speaker
 comes in. He makes a living by
 speaking at weddings. His speech
 made in such away that it make
 every one cry Except himself)
 When his speech Is over the groor
 comes in with his father and friends
 To the groom is given a cover O
 velvet, trimmed with fringes and gold l The name of the synagogue (church is sewed on in gold letters for tn