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Wedding: the most important event of the life-cycle customs

The most important event of the life-cycle customs is the wedding, a rite of

passage too,the stages of which happen here, on the earth, at thesocial level. The

two young people who make, by marriage,a newfamily belong totwo different kins

(Rom. neamuri). The bride is the one who suffers the passage for according to the

rule of residence, she must leave her family and move into a new house, a new

house hold, that of her husband. Although in terms of traditional hierarchy the

husband΄s family, his parents are held in greater esteem – during the wedding party

they are the ”great-in-laws” (Rom. socri mari) ,to a large extent the whole ritual is in

the benefice of the bride. When the groom΄s emissaries come to the bride΄s house

asking for her, they present their request in avery protolic way, reciting a long poem

(Rom.oratie, from. Lat oratio,-onis) in which the groom is presented as a ”young

emperor”who sent them to take ”the flower” away from her gardenand plant in the

emperor΄s one.

The most dramatic moment of wedding is the separation of the two young

people from theirs fellows, girls and boys of the same age. The groom is ritually

shaved, for the last time as a lad, a bachelor, and urged to take farewell of his friends

of the life he had as anunmarrried man. When he is dressed up in the traditional

wedding dress, the girl sing ”the bride song”(Rom. Cântecul miresei), a fare well song

full of sadness and sorrow, for she leaves her parets house and goes over the

mountains, into other courtyards, to unknowns parents.

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Of course, in order to overcome the sadness of separation, the weddings is

strewn with merry moments, songs and dances. Some of these have a ritual function,

as hose mentioned above; others are meant to contribute to the atmosphere of joy

and cheerfulness expected at such moents, like the ”Song of the Hen”

(Rom.Cântecul găinii), a vivid dialogue between the one who sings it and the most

important personage of the ceremony – the best-man (Rom. nunul mare).

In the same way, besides the ritual or ritualise dances, like the Bride΄s dance

(Rom. Hora miresei) or the Sponsors΄ dance (Rom. Hora nunilor or Nuneasca), the

wedding party is one of the best occasions for non-ritual dances, the whole repertoire

of the village dances being now performed. Love songs and jolly songs are sung,

humorous quatrains (Rom. strigături) are loudly shouted, and in olden times the

fiddlers were asked to say anold one, an epic, heroic song, a folk narrative telling the

story of a brave man and of his deeds.

Unsually the entire village takes part in such an event, as most of the villagers

belong to related families or kins and all are interested in the wellbeing of the new

couple, from now on a new social cell in the inextricable web of social relation of the

community. One week after the wedding, the young family will make its first

appearance in the village lanes, paying a protocolary visit to their best-man or to the

young wife΄s parents.