The modern Greeks fully deserve the praise they receive for the virtues that distinguish their family life, the harmony of which is seldom disturbed by the troubles and dissensions caused by illegal connections, acts of cruelty, or other disorders. Incompatibility of feeling in unhappy unions is wisely settled by separation. In more serious cases a divorce is appealed for to the bishop of the diocese, who submits it to the council of the demogerontia, which, according to the merits of the case, gives a decision, or refers it to the Patriarch at Constantinople. Thus the scandal of an open court of law is avoided, and the offspring, innocent of all participation in the crime (should there be any) are not made to suffer from its unjust stigma.
MARRIAGE AMONG THE BULGARIANS.
Fourteen years spent among Bulgarians afforded me the opportunity of witnessing many marriage ceremonies, which were very peculiar and interesting. Especially curious are those of Upper Macedonia, as presenting remarkable traces of Dionysian worship.
The matrimonial negotiations are carried on by the stroinichitsita and stroinitcote, persons commissioned by the parents to find a suitable parti for their marriageable daughters; the proposal, among the peasants, being addressed by the man to the parents of the girl, who accept it on the promise of a sum of money, ranging from £50 to £300, according to his means. The sum is offered as purchase-money for the labor of the hardy maiden, whose substantial assistance in field and other work to the paterfamilias ceases on the marriage day, when her services pass to her husband.
Wednesday or Thursday evenings are considered most propitious for the betrothal, which takes place in the presence of witnesses, and consists in the exchange of marriage contracts, certifying on one side the promised sum of money, and on the other stating the quantity and quality of the trousseau the bride will bring. The interchange of contracts is followed by that of rings between the affianced, offered to them by the priest who asks each person if the proposal of the other is accepted. A short blessing follows, and this simple betrothal is concluded by the bride kissing the hands of her affianced husband and of the rest of the company.
These engagements, never known to be broken, are often prolonged for years by selfish parents, who are unwilling to part with the services of a daughter who is valued as an efficient laborer. This unjust delay gives rise to clandestine associations, tolerated, but not acknowledged, by the parents, and finally ending in matrimony. Runaway marriages are also of frequent occurrence in cases when there is difficulty about the payment of the portion. The young couple elope on an appointed day, and ride to the nearest church, where they are at once united. On returning home the bride usually hides herself in the house of some relative, until friends intervening obtain her father’s forgiveness.
The principles of good faith and honor are sacredly kept among these simple people, who are never known to break their pledged word under any circumstances.
How curious would an English girl think the preliminary customs that a virgin in this fine, but now neglected, country must observe before entering upon the state of holy matrimony. And yet, rude and primitive as these customs are, they well deserve our attention as having once belonged, in part at least, to a wonderful civilization, now lost, but never to be forgotten.
Preparing the house for the coming festivity, washing with ceremony the bride’s head, exhibiting the trousseau for the inspection of the matrons, who do not spare their criticism on its merits or demerits, while the young and thoughtless are busy putting a last stitch here and there amid gay songs and cheerful talk; the ornamentation of cakes sent round to friends and relatives in lieu of invitation cards,—all these are old customs which ring in unison with the peaceful and industrious habits of a people whose life in happier times reminded one of the Arcadias of the poets.
Nor is the marriage ceremony itself void of interest. I was present at one of these while staying at a large Bulgarian settlement in Upper Macedonia. The village, buried in a picturesque glen, looked bright and cheery. Its pretty white church and neat school-house stood in the midst; around were the farm-houses and cottages, roofed with stone slabs, standing in large farmyards, where the golden hay and corn-stacks, the green trees, and small flower-beds disputed the ground with a roving company of children, pigs, and fowls.