Each nation has its own customs and traditions that relate to literally all aspects of life. The gypsy people are no exception. Moreover, the Roma observe their own customs and traditions very strictly, trying not to adopt anything from the outside. This also applies to the wedding ritual. So how does a gypsy wedding happen?
Early marriage is common
Roma marriages are concluded early enough. Parents believe that this is necessary so that young people do not spoil. At the same time, gypsy boys and girls do not go on dates, do not attend discos. Therefore, they get to know each other at other people's weddings. There, the parents of young people look after their future sons-in-law or daughters-in-law.
Often a wedding is prepared with the help of the so-called "gypsy mail". For example, a guy's parents find out that a beautiful girl is growing up in some city. Then they come and hold a kind of bride.
Although these are not the old days, gypsies usually agree with their parents' opinion about the choice of a life partner.
If the question of the wedding is resolved, the groom's parents must pay the ransom to the bride's family. If the elders do not approve of the choice of the young, the boy and the girl can run away. Then the bride's family not only does not receive the ransom, but also has to bear all the costs of the wedding itself.
How is a gypsy wedding
The celebration lasts three days. On the first day, the bride and groom must be kept separate. The bride is in a beautiful dress, but not white. By tradition, a symbolic bargaining takes place between the senior members of families. When it ends, colorful ribbons are woven into the bride's hair, and the groom's parents take her out to dance. This is a sign that from now on the girl belongs to their family.
On the second day, the groom calls in for the bride, dressed in a white dress. Traditionally, she is braided in a pigtail in the morning, as a sign of goodbye to girlhood. Young people go for a drive around the city. They are accompanied only by their peers. As a rule, there is no ceremony at the registry office.
After skating, the young go to the banquet hall, at the entrance to which water and sweets are poured under their feet as a wish for a clean and sweet life. Then they are blessed with an icon or a loaf of bread. The matchmaker leads the young people around the table three times, and the banquet begins. Men are seated separately from women. Late in the evening, the bride's braids are untwisted, and the matchmakers take the young to the bedroom.
It is still customary for gypsies to present guests with a sheet with traces of blood as proof of the bride's purity.
The third day is called "re-call". The meal starts with lamb broth. Guests are shown the bride's dowry. Everyone should make sure that she does not leave her father's house empty-handed. Guests, if they wish, can also give something from themselves. Then the dowry is put into the cars, and the young wife drives off to a new house with her husband.
