ARMENIAN WEDDINGS.
In Armenia everybody has a good i time at a wedding except the bride- I groom. First all the friends gather, | and an entertainment, with dancing j takes place. The bridegroom is expected to arrive after the entertainment is at its height, and it is considered good form for him to appear with his face covered with powder to simulate pallor induced by the solemnity of the occasion. Friends of the bridegroom then give him a public shave, and then fall upon and strip him of all his clothes, after which he is supplied with a new set of garments and completely dressed again. While they are performing the offices of valet to the groom the young men present are supposed to hold lighted candles in their light hands. The day after this opening marriage feast the bride rides to church and the bridegroom walks. The priest who receives them in the porch reads to thorn a short sermon on the!!' duties in the matrimonial state and then the wedding party proceeds to the altar, where the foreheads of the high contracting parties are bound together with gold chains. The wedding festivities continue for at least three daysafter this, and the couple are not regarded as really married until the ceremonies have all been concluded. The social celebration of the wedding is gone through as conscientiously as the religious part.
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Bibliographic details
Star (Christchurch), Issue 10753, 26 April 1913, Page 4
Word Count
232ARMENIAN WEDDINGS. Star (Christchurch), Issue 10753, 26 April 1913, Page 4
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