Social Life in Russia.

Te Aroha News, Volume VIII, Issue 394, 17 August 1889, Page 3

Social Life in Russia.

The Russians generally marry quite young in the upper classes, _aud amongst countny people even at an earlier age ; and, to the honour of this society .be ib-said, love, marriages are the rule and marriages for money are very rare exceptions. Dowry-hunting and marriages of interest have not yet made their appearance in Russian manners. Girls of high social position readily marry young officers of the Guard, who furnish the largest contingent of dancers to the balls of Petersburg. During the carnival totes the two armies, the army. in, petticoats and the army that wears epaulettes, learn. to know each other thoroughly. Friendships spring up the young man pays court, and one day, without having consulted anybody, two fiances come to askof the parents a blessing, which is never' refused. The' Church does nob marry during Lent, so they have to wait until Easter week, fashion demands for v the '-celebration of tlie ceremony Jkhe t chapel, of ' some private house, if the cbuple hav'o hob sufficiently lofty relations 'to' secure the chapel of the : palace. A family that respects itself ought' to have at its wedding as honorary father and honorary mother, if not -the Emperor' and the Empress, at least a Grand Duke and a Grand -Duohess. 'The honorary father gives. tbe .holy -image, " which some little child related"ts the families carries in front of the fiaittefe., They, enter the church followed by all their friends in gala uniform. The ceremony begins ; it is very long, and complicated, with many symbolic rites; a small' table— a sort 'ot moveable altar — is placed in the middle ot the oratory ; the coi\ple are separated from it by a band of rose-coloured satin ; when the priest calls, they must advance,' and the first who sets" foot on the band, whether husband or wife, will be the one who will impose his or her will in the household. This is an article of faith for all the matrons, who vvatcli th^m-at that moment. . On the table is placed the liturgical formulary, the candles which they must hold, the cross they will kiss, the rings which they will exchange, the sup of in which they will moisten 1 1 , and which is called in the Slavonic " tual ' the cup of bitterness.' Pages ( elieve each other to carry with outstretched arms two heavy crowns, which must oe held above the heads of the fiances- while the ceremony continues. At. She- decisive moment, when the priest is pronouncing the words that bind them together, the couple walk three times around,. the_ altar., followed by the crown-bearers ; \jntil.the third burn is completed there i 3 time to' turn back ; after that the die is cast, the couple are united for life. Thereupon the' 'singers strike up in their most strident voices the joyful hymn, 'Let Isaiah rejoice.' The bride and groom then, prostrate themselves before the Virgin of the Iconostase, and kiss her filigree robe, after which they pass into the neighbouring salon, where they gaily clink .glasses of champagne, while the invited guests receive boxes of sweetmeats marked with the monogram of the young »c.ouple.. In the villages the marriage ceremony, is celebrated in a simpler and, mo,re , expeditious . manner, especially when the mujiks have only a few roubles to give^ to , the. priest. A, simple gesture, a few words^ and a few minutes suffice to bow beneath the yoke of her who is about to begin \\qy hard apprenticeship of ' wife and mother in her humble peasant's home. In the evening the young people assemble iri a barn or some shed; the fiddler scrapes his bow over an instrument which he has made with his own hands, girls and boys join hands and dance around. In the middle of a circle the young man dances the kazatclwk, or Cossack dance ; he bows his legs, rises with- a bound, strikes the gx*ound loudly with his boot heel, iind then suddenly he springs forward to the girl of his choice and kisses her, whereupon she steps into the_ circle, and mimics with her whole body, .a dance similar, to thab of the altnehs ot the East. And now from this nuptial dance let .us pass to death. Amongst this .fatalist people death does not a,waken lugubrious . ideas. The departed soul has a right during a few days still to the society of his friends. At Petersburg it is usual to have printed in the newspapers in a special column the decease of one's relatives Bnd, the hour of the pant' chidias — the funeral prayers which are recited twice every da.y over the body of the deceased, during the time it remains exposed in the. saloiij with the face uncovered, between candles and flowers. On the day of the funeral the cortege proceeds towards the Laure of St. Alexander Nevsky or the Convent of the Virgins. Families of position have their burial- places in one of the two cloisters. At a funeral, as at a marriage, a member of the imperial family is cle riguezir. Each one tries to catch his eye while the songs of splendid sadness rise around the catafalque, smothered* in a mass of green shrubs. No emblems of mourning sadden the walls of the church. After the absolution the parents come and kiss for the last time the hand of the deceased ; the followers disperse, impregnated with the special odoutf of death in Russia — an odour composed of incense and-burning wax I—and1 — and compliment each other on the fact of a man of so distinguished a rank having departed from this world with all the honours due to his tchine. '* ■ ■ • . Let us return to the village now as we did attend the wedding. This time again it is simpler. Marsh fever has carried off the peasant ; the body is placed on the table from which -the dinner has just been removed ; it is washed and dressed ; the carpenter nails together four planks, not very good ones ; the Pope is sent for, and arrives with his old silver cross, and bargains for the price ; If the family has means, hired weepers ho'wV all • along the road 'to the 1 - church ; the cortege -comes out again' after. a summary benediction. 'The last funeral that we sa*w was one September evening, at. the hour when the flocks of .the commune wereretur?iingfr,omthe pasturage. . Theoxen and horses paused a cloud of, dust to ri^e over the high road, all gildecL with the ob,lique rays'jOf the' setting "sun. The corpse departed amongst 'those familiar animals aa if it were returning to the fields ; the cloud of dust formed a radius nimbus arouncl it ; the air was'ioalm, the peacetulness' of the evening indescribable; the verses- of the psalmist carried to a great distance in this limpid atmosphere j it seemed as if they must have been audible to the very extremities of the steppe. The group of peasants ascended the hill, and left their burden in one of those cemeteries so badly kept in Little Russia, without fences, without flowers, and indicated, only by a few broken crosses which lie on the leprous grass. The 'ceremony was finished so quickly that it was still day-light when the followers met in the isba for the funeral repast around the barley cake and the raisins. — " Harper's Magazine."

Not on the maps — Emm Bey. ' • The canned article that goes the quickest is a dog's tail. What kind of ships are most like scissors ? — Cutters. Write your love letters with the newest fad — white ink— and use wiiite paper. You will have less to regret" when it comes to a breach of promise suit. I iThings Best Left Unsaid. — Hostess : * Miss Brown has no partner for this waltz, you will not mind dancing with her instead of with me.' He : *On the contrary I shall be delighted.'