The propitious moment has at last arrived, and the legalized husband may ascertain for himself the measure of charms to which he is allied. While the agitated maiden sits, oppressed by shawls and tinsel, and internal anxiety as to the effect she may produce upon her future lord, he slowly approaches, pale and tottering—for he has sworn to have her, blind or hump-backed. With such alternatives, even a moderate share of good-looks, or the mere absence of actual deformity, would almost constitute beauty.
The attendant bridemaids exultingly raise the veil, and the new husband ventures to take one look of love and admiration, in return for which he places a valuable ring on her finger, and slowly retreats to muse upon his fate, which is not often so deplorable, for the Armenian girls are generally pretty. At all events, he submits with the best grace, for, unlike his Mohammedan compatriots, he has no retrieve or door of escape, but must abide by his bargain “till death us do part.”
The veil is again dropped, and the bride left to her own meditations.
She receives presents from all the guests, so that the tickets of admission to an Armenian wedding are no trivial affairs to one’s pockets.
Three days after the ceremony, the newly married couple are at length left to a better acquaintance, unmolested by veils or spectators.
The Sunday following, the bridegroom proceeds to his father-in-law’s house, to acknowledge his gratitude for the possession of such a charming treasure, etc., all which is expressed by the ceremony of kissing the hands of the parents of the maiden, and this Sunday is called, par excellence, the “Kissing Sunday.”
These are the real Armenians; but about a hundred and fifty years ago there was a secession in favor of Catholicism. The Catholic Armenians, of whom there are about fifteen thousand in the metropolis, and seventy-five thousand throughout Turkey, although distinct from the Roman Catholics, have assimilated themselves, in many respects, to European habits; forgetting their nationality and language, and aping customs and usages they do not even understand; so much so, that a very amusing work has been written in Armeno-Turkish under the title of Acaby, as a burlesque upon such inclinations. They are not, therefore, to be confounded with the orthodox Armenians.