Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 1, 1890.djvu/452

446 with him a forty-pound loaf, from which the “god’s portion” has already been cut off at home, groats, 100 or 200 pancakes, two or three pork pies, about fifty omelettes, and the quantity of spirits agreed upon. All these are placed on the table, and become the property of the mistress of the house, with which the bride’s parents—not the bridegroom’s—entertain the guests. After a family prayer, the bridegroom’s father pays the kalym to the bride’s father, and all sit down to eat and drink. At the same time, a long stake is brought in, one end of which is stuck in between the tie-beam and the roof, and from the other end of which are suspended the presents to be given by the bride to the guests. When all is ready, she shows herself from behind a curtain, and begins lamenting her misfortune. With tears in her eyes, she then presents shirts, handkerchiefs, etc., for the most part made by herself, to her parents, her parents-in-law, and to her other relations. During this time she is not in full dress, but only in a white skirt, girt with a girdle, and a cloth on her head. She does not receive gifts in exchange, as her object is to show how diligent she is, and what a treasure her parents are losing in her. Her girl friends praise her diligence in songs, narrating how she could sew for a hundred persons; how Vedyn azyr ava had helped her from her great love for her. “When the bride span, the old woman (i.e., the goddess) span; when the bride wove, the old woman wove; when the bride sewed, the old woman was sewing. Just let the bridegroom find himself such another worker; just let him look for one. He certainly won’t find one, for the old woman loves her; the old woman helps her.”

After this giving of presents, the bride retires behind the curtain to be fully dressed, and in place of her comes forth from behind it an old woman, in bridal attire, and wearing a fur coat, turned inside out, who dances before the company, twists herself about, and exhibits all sorts of quick, dexterous movements. She naturally excites laughter; and this is her object, for she announces that