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Article A MARRIAGE IN THE GRESSONS IN 1792. ← Page 3 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Marriage In The Gressons In 1792.
tions ; the same fashioned petticoat and boddice , the same cut coat and p laited breeches descended from father to son , from mother to daughter . The only ornaments observable among them were gold crosses , common in most Catholic countries , and the curious bodkins which formed the head-dress of the latter class ; the poorer dames I observed , wore only a necklace of rough garnets with a gilt medallion in the centre . A few hours made me excellent friends with the farmers and their wives , and I was allowed to examine their cottages and dairies at my leisure .
At last the wedding morn arrived , and as an especial lavour l was permitted to be present at the completion of the toilette of the bride who had been roused from her last maiden slumbers by the discharge of fire arms under her window , a mark of gallantry from the young men of the neig hbourhood . On my entering the room I found her female companions had divided her long tresses into three equal braids , her mother approached , ancl sprinkling salt upon her brow ( in most countries considered an emblem of barrenness ) bade her be fruitful ; a silver bodkin
, was then placed horizontally across the crown of her head , ancl the centre braid wound tightly round to keep it firmly m its place ; two filagree balls at each end prevented its being drawn out , twelve others were then passed through the side braids their ends meeting in the cushion or knot of hair formed upon the centre of the first ; the name of one of the Apostles being pronounced as each was inserted , the whole formed when finished an escalope or shellstill to be seen in the head-dress of the
, peasantry in the neighbourhoods of the Splugen ancl Chiavena ; a gown of home-spun linen , with a velvet boddice laced with silver , completed the ^ costume of the Swiss bride- As she left her chamber her mother threw a veil of muslin over her head , and bade her remember that iu the eyes of her husband , modesty was a wife ' s first virtue . On descending into the principal room below , I found the bridegroom ancl the guests assembled . These consisted chiefly of the farmers of the
village , and one or two visitors from Coire . Poor Peter looked very impatient to be gone ; and wondered to me , in a whisper , when they would give the signal . I naturally replied , that I supposed that would depend on him ; when I learned another peculiar custom of the Gressons , that the bride and bridegroom , on their wedding day , are not permitted even to speak to each other till after the ceremony , or to give the least direction in the affair , which depends not upon the principal
persons , but their friends ; for , in a Swiss marriage , like a pagan sacrifice of old , those who are the victims have the least power in the matter . The vehicle in which they were to pass the short distance between the farm and the sacred edifice at length arrived , and the train set forward ; the bridegroom in his gaily decorated car alone , the bride conducted by her father . On their return , this order , however , much to Peter and Lissette ' s satisfaction , was reversed , and he gallantly dashed through the assembled villagers with his bride , who followed them with loud cheers , and the firing of guns .
After a substantial dinner , to which the chevreuil and the generous wines of Chiavena were not wanting , the party occupied themselves with amusements suited to the occasion ; the ring of the new made bride was placed in a bowl of meal b y her single companions , each alternately plunging in her hand to find it , the successful maiden being assured by the omen of a husband within the year ; but this , as it excluded the men , was soon abandoned for a more social game . Nuts were next roasted in the hot ashes by the youth of either sex ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Marriage In The Gressons In 1792.
tions ; the same fashioned petticoat and boddice , the same cut coat and p laited breeches descended from father to son , from mother to daughter . The only ornaments observable among them were gold crosses , common in most Catholic countries , and the curious bodkins which formed the head-dress of the latter class ; the poorer dames I observed , wore only a necklace of rough garnets with a gilt medallion in the centre . A few hours made me excellent friends with the farmers and their wives , and I was allowed to examine their cottages and dairies at my leisure .
At last the wedding morn arrived , and as an especial lavour l was permitted to be present at the completion of the toilette of the bride who had been roused from her last maiden slumbers by the discharge of fire arms under her window , a mark of gallantry from the young men of the neig hbourhood . On my entering the room I found her female companions had divided her long tresses into three equal braids , her mother approached , ancl sprinkling salt upon her brow ( in most countries considered an emblem of barrenness ) bade her be fruitful ; a silver bodkin
, was then placed horizontally across the crown of her head , ancl the centre braid wound tightly round to keep it firmly m its place ; two filagree balls at each end prevented its being drawn out , twelve others were then passed through the side braids their ends meeting in the cushion or knot of hair formed upon the centre of the first ; the name of one of the Apostles being pronounced as each was inserted , the whole formed when finished an escalope or shellstill to be seen in the head-dress of the
, peasantry in the neighbourhoods of the Splugen ancl Chiavena ; a gown of home-spun linen , with a velvet boddice laced with silver , completed the ^ costume of the Swiss bride- As she left her chamber her mother threw a veil of muslin over her head , and bade her remember that iu the eyes of her husband , modesty was a wife ' s first virtue . On descending into the principal room below , I found the bridegroom ancl the guests assembled . These consisted chiefly of the farmers of the
village , and one or two visitors from Coire . Poor Peter looked very impatient to be gone ; and wondered to me , in a whisper , when they would give the signal . I naturally replied , that I supposed that would depend on him ; when I learned another peculiar custom of the Gressons , that the bride and bridegroom , on their wedding day , are not permitted even to speak to each other till after the ceremony , or to give the least direction in the affair , which depends not upon the principal
persons , but their friends ; for , in a Swiss marriage , like a pagan sacrifice of old , those who are the victims have the least power in the matter . The vehicle in which they were to pass the short distance between the farm and the sacred edifice at length arrived , and the train set forward ; the bridegroom in his gaily decorated car alone , the bride conducted by her father . On their return , this order , however , much to Peter and Lissette ' s satisfaction , was reversed , and he gallantly dashed through the assembled villagers with his bride , who followed them with loud cheers , and the firing of guns .
After a substantial dinner , to which the chevreuil and the generous wines of Chiavena were not wanting , the party occupied themselves with amusements suited to the occasion ; the ring of the new made bride was placed in a bowl of meal b y her single companions , each alternately plunging in her hand to find it , the successful maiden being assured by the omen of a husband within the year ; but this , as it excluded the men , was soon abandoned for a more social game . Nuts were next roasted in the hot ashes by the youth of either sex ,