Oleksander and Victoria's Wedding in Dovhe Pole

The wedding of Etela Vasko's grand-niece Victoria took place on Saturday. The wedding starts at the bride's home, where all the guests are waiting for the groom to arrive with all his friends. The groom's party brings with them some rushniks, and a very beautifully decorated round loaf of bread.

click on video below:

                                        

There are lots of little traditions involved; I'm not sure what they were, so in describing them I'm only guessing. First, the best man brings several bottles of champagne and liquor, and must first pour some before the groom can enter the bride's home.

                                      

  The groom is then shown a piece of paper, with a dozen lipstick impressions on it, and has to guess which is the bride's. 

Next, the groom must hammer 2 nails into a board, attaching it to a stump. 

The bride comes out of the house:

                                          

and the groom kneels on a rushnik, and asks the bride to marry him:

                                         

The bride and groom, and wedding party all leave for the Church for the first of two wedding ceremonies - one religious, and the second civil.

At the church, I set up my computer and microphone in the Choir loft, to make an audio recording of the wedding ceremony. Below, the man on the right in the white shirt is the father of the bride. I was talking with him later, and he told me that one of his brothers has been living in Chicago for 25 (?) years. 

After the church service, we all drive back to the bride's home for a quick lunch. We were met by Etela, playing the mother of a very ugly bride. I think that they are supposed to be Verka Serduchka characters.

The wedding luncheon:

The civil ceremony at the town hall:

From the town hall, the wedding party went to the Uzhgorod Castle and the outdoor Museum of Folk Architecture, for a small picnic. There were several other wedding parties there also.

 

We returned to the bride's home for eating, drinking, music and dancing.

The party ended with a performance by fire jugglers:

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I just walked to the little store nearby, to get some beer. By now, even people in the village I don't know and have never met, know who I am and are calling out to me by name!