The end of the article on the topic of Ukrainian юж.wedding traditions, through the eyes of a modern wedding photographer. Previous part Wedding traditions and rituals.
Probably, the most decisive part of the wedding ceremony was the first wedding night. It took place in the groom's house under the close supervision of the elders. In the morning, the newlyweds' bed was carefully examined and God forbid if traces of the young wife's innocence were not found on it - this was a disgrace to the entire family of the unfortunate woman and, in fact, the end of a family life that had never begun. The shameful clean sheet was hung on the highest tree in order to emphasize the girl's dishonor.
The young brother had to take this cloth down, but his task was far from easy, because the neighboring guys kept watch at the tree, hindered him in every possible way and mocked him.
If everything went as it should, and the wedding bed "met all the requirements," the festivities continued for several more days. Further, the wedding tradition included songs, dances, games and dressing up, a celebration for adults only, children and young people did not participate in the post-wedding festivities.
Modern weddings differ from the wedding traditions and rituals of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers. They are imbued with new fashionable wedding trends, sometimes logical, sometimes simply profitable. Like, for example, the tradition of announcing an engagement or giving the future wife a ring with a precious stone worth at least six months of the future husband's income. But, nevertheless, many attributes of wedding traditions are still alive and loved, and rural weddings retain 70-80% of the national wedding ceremony.
How interesting it would be for a modern wedding photographer to get to such a colorful wedding two or three hundred years ago. It's a pity this is impossible, but there are many things in modern weddings that were sorely lacking then. I'm talking about my own, of course - about a wedding photo album or a wedding video.