Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 1, 1890.djvu/443

Rh months to work. A thick candle, and several thinner ones, have also been made ready for the occasion. The bridegroom’s father lights the smaller ones before the holy pictures, but sets up the large one on the threshold. It is called “the house candle”, and such a one is used in every home at family prayers. He then turns towards the pictures with a prayer to God to bless the bridegroom, and after that, turning towards the large candle, he exclaims:

The bridegroom now gives a loaf to his father, who cuts off a piece with three slashes, takes it to the threshold and places it near the candle. With a loaf and a holy picture he gives a blessing to his son, and then makes the signal for departure. The party then mounts into vehicles and drives to the bride’s house, but always by a circuitous route through the forest and across fields, unless it happens to be in the same village as the bridegroom’s dwelling. After driving for a short distance the cortège halts, and the best man walks round it, slashing all the time with a