The Rathdrum tribune. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1903-1963, 1915-06-25
RACE FOR A WIFE.
Getting Married Is a Strange
Game In Frigid Kamchatka.
AN ORDEAL FOR THE GROOM.
After Working Hard For Few Years
For the Girls Father. He Finally Wins
Her In a Public Chase, In Which He
Gets HE Skin Well Tanned.

For the Girls Father. He Finally Wins
Her In a Public Chase, In Which He
Gets His Skin Well Tanned.
1t gets too hot for the Siberian only |
once in lifetime. The native Koryak |
Of Kamchatka, far up in the peninsula
that is washed by the Bering sea, can |
sleep comfortably in room four feet |
high with six by eight feet of floor
space and have fire smoking near all |
night while the doors are tightly closed. |
and then does not object If 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 a snug, cozy 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
a little hotter than he can honestly en-
Joy, and that once he cannot escape II
he is to be q man Of importance in the
community, for it is his marriage cere-
mony. AS soon 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 case Of eventual
marriage Since reindeer is the Kor-
yak's medium OF exchange, the dowry
usually consists Of reindeer. If the ia
ther 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
theirs 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
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
e 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 good sized man stand upright
After considerable eating and some
drinking brass drum begins to beat.
At the same time a solemn faced Ko-
ryak passes from one polog to another.
dropping willow sprouts and alder
e branches In each inclosure. Presently
q the beater of the drum begins to sing,
to accompany his slow performance on
i, the drum Gradually he accelerates his
u beats and his song. Faster and faster
U he smites his drum; louder and louder
he sings, until within thirty minutes
he has worked himself into state oi
% frenzy-a consummation that is no
>, without its effect upon the villagers
" The stolid calm with which they enter
= ed, suggestive of an impending funeral
I. gives place to smiles, to tossings Of th'
" head, until by and by the whole crowt
"A Is as excited as its leader.
At this point, the front curtain o
4 each polog goes up, and two or thre
II women appear inside. In their hand
are willow sprouts and alder branch
es. In moment the father of th
,c bridegroom enters the building, leadin
the happy couple by the hand. Tn
VI noise, the shouting and the whirlin
IA now become indescribable. At sis
of nal from the groom's father the brid
v dashes into the first polog to the righ
- The women that are within lift th
y curtain for her, and she passes quickl
Vi from one compartment to the next.
or Not so with the groom. He dashe
cy after her, but no sooner has he entere
ro the first polog than the women begi
TO beat him with the willow sproui
u and alder branches. He seizes the GU
Gu tain to enter the next polog. but one
he two women hold It down, and If b
n finally succeeds there is hot applies
tn ton of branches on that part of b
20 anatomy that remains longest with
the polog.
Meanwhile the women in the ne1
polog are ready to receive him vii
equal warmth. They ply the switch
@ energetically and do not hesitate
~ thrust out a foot also in order that Il
nd "happy groom" may stumble and q
ot ford a more enduring target for the
blows.
Inv There is no escape from this expe
ence until the groom has entered al
ws, passed through every one of tho
ms. twenty or thirty pologs. The front c,
IN tains are raised, so that the public h
n clear chance to enjoy the spectacle
= OF course he never catches the brit
ME She has reached the last polog befc
i've he is halfway through. If she pass
airy out of the last polog he must work
frs. other year at her fathers house a
~ pass through the same ordeal or
''"' more. But she usually awaits him
DID, the last. polog. and when they m'
mel, there the wedding ceremony Is finish
and thew are man and Wife.-Yout