The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1915-07-30
RACE FOR A WIFE.
GETTING Married Is a Strange
Game In Frigid Kamchatka.
AN ORDEAL FOR THE GROOM.
After Working Hard For q Few Years
For the Girls Father He Finally Wins
Her In . Public Chase, In Which He
Gets HE Skin Well Tanned.

UbVU III y S0ssS SssoOO sU
Gets HE Skin Well Tanned.
1t gets too hot for the Siberian only
once in a lifetime. The native Koryak
Of Kamchatka, far up in the peninsula
that is washed by the Boring sea. a
sleep comfortably in a room four feet
high with six by eight feet Of floor
space and have a fire smoking near all
night while the doors are tightly closed,
and then does not object IL three 9th
ers share his apartment with him. To
morrow he will have chance enough to
breathe more cold, fresh air than he
cares for. His picture Of the happy
hereafter is q snug, coy place where
every cell of his body can perpetually
| enjoy warmth and where neither ears.
| fingers nor toes shall be frozen.
Once In his life, however, things get
q little hotter than he a honestly en-
Joy, and that once he cannot escape If
he is to be q man Of importance In the
community, for it is his marriage cere-
mony. AS Don as the youth falls in
love in dead earnest he calls on the
maiden's father to find out what dow
ry she can bring in a 8 of eventual
marriage. Since reindeer is the KOr-
yak's. medium Of exchange, the dowry
usually consists of reindeer. II the IA
Their consents to the engagement and
the dowry pleases the young man he
interviews the girl, and If she recipro-
Gates his affection he enters her IA
Tiers service. Chopping wood, tend
ing the herds, cultivating the garden
and all other kinds Of farm work fall
to his share. The period Of service
lasts from two to three years.
The marriage ceremony begins about
6 in the evening. There is a building
in the village into which the villagers
crowd at twilight. A large hall runs
through the center of the building on
| either side of which are from ten to
| fifteen little rooms called pologs. Each
polog is separated from the next by
heavy reindeer curtains, and the en-
trance from each polog into the hall
is closed by similar curtains. Nowhere
in all that building except in the hall
could a good sized man stand upright.
After considerable eating and some
drinking a brass drum begins to beat.
At the same time q solemn faced 10
ryak passes from n polog to another,
dropping willow sprouts and alder
branches in each Enclosure. Presently
the beaten Of the drum begins to sing.
to accompany his slow performance on
the drum. Gradually he accelerates his
beats and his song. Faster and faster
he smites his drum; louder and louder
he sings. until within thirty minutes
he has worked himself into a state of
| frenzy-a consummation that Is not
without its effect upon the villagers.
The stolM calm with which they enter
| ed, suggestive of an impending funeral,
| gives place to smiles, to tossings Of the
head. until by and by the whole crowd
is as excited as its leader.
At this point, the front curtain Of
each polog goes up, and two or three
women appear inside. In their hands
are willow sprouts and alder branch
es. In a moment the father of. the
bridegroom enters the building, leading
the happy coun|e by the hand. The
noise, the shouting and the whirling
now become indescribabl dc At a sig
nal from the groom's father the bride
dashes into the first polog to the right.
The women that are within lift the
curtain for her, aLd she passes quickly
from one compartment to the next.
Not so with the groom. He dashes
after her, but no sooner has he entered
the first polog than the women begin
to beat hin with the willow sprouts
and alder branches. He seizes the r.
tain to enter the next polog, but one or
1.-TWO women hold it down. and IT he
finally succeeds there is q hot applica-
| ton of branches on that part Of his
anatomy that remains longest within
the polog.
Meanwhile the women in the next
polog are ready to receive him with
equal warmth. They ply the switches
energetically and do MOI hesitate to
/ thrust out a foot also in order that the
.'happy groom" may stumble and at
ford a more enduring target for their
blows.
There is no escape from this expert.
ence until the groom has entered and
passed through every n Of those
twenty or thirty pologs. The front +
tains are raised. so that the public has
q clear chance to enjoy the spectacle.
OF course he never catches the bride.
She has reached the last pol0g before
ha IA halfway through. II she passes
out of the last polog he must work an
other year at her fathers house and
pass through the same ordeal once
more. But she usually awaits him In
the last polog. and when they meet
there the wedding ceremony is finished
and they are man and wife.-Youth's
Companion.
Over the Telephone.
rs this Mr.. JonesT"
ut is."
mhA SA1