A Gipsy Wedding.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 414, 26 October 1889, Page 6

A Gipsy Wedding.

( Ock Vienna correspondent writes : ' One day last week a troupe of gipsies halted in front of the "Bohemian Mill," a snuglooking inn, situated in the Viennese . suburb of Nußzdorf. An old man with a , (lowing white beard got down from one of the carts belonging to the company and . inquired of the host whether a gipsy wedding could take ptace there, adding that they Mould pay well. At the same time he ! exhibited a paperestablishing his identityas ! Butura Simi, captain of a gipsy tribe, mus- ( tering forty souls. The party were invited , to take up their quarters in the garden ( attached to the premises. Presently the , hostess ventured to inquire in which church , the ceremony would take place. *'Thy gar- ; den will be our church," replied one of the band, "and our captain is our priest.",, In a short time the gipsies got comfortably settled, and tho mon with little trouble t erected seven tent?, two. . of; them being pitched a short distance from the five others. In these two tents the bride and bridegroom resided prior to their wedding. The tive others , accommodated the remainder of the t party, which consisted in all of twolve men, fifteen women, and thirteen children. The , first evening was spent in carouting at the inn. The next morning the wen ;«ur- . rounded the bridegroom's tent and drank his health with brandy. The women as- , sembled at the. bride's quarters ' and ate sweetmeats, with- her. On a signal given by the captain the whole party withdrew to . their tents. At midday they'turtfe^d out \ again in holiday attire for thd'marnage 'cere- ' mony. Captain Simi wore a dark green dolman thrownoverhisshouldere, and red waistcoat with large silver buttons. He advanced slowly towards the tent?. Two young men fetched' the bridegroom, while the bride was assisted by two old women. Two fiddles and two bassoons struck up a Zigeuner melody, sung in chorus by all present. The bride and bridegroom were then led before the captain. Yemra, the bride, is a hand&ome girl of seventeen, with eyes and hair as black as jet. She wore a red gown with white trimming, and patent leather laced boots. Katilu Gyefan, the bridegroom, is a well-built youth of one-and-twenty, with a pleasant face, .a black moustache, and bushy hair. A yellow scarf wes handed by an old man to the captain, who bound it lightly round the wrists of tho happy pair, raying as be did so, " Man and wife must be bound together.*' Ho then took an earthenware jar and poured the contents — a small quantity of wine- over their heads, reciting words to this effect: "Sometimes wine is sour : co is lifr. Sometimes wine is sweet ; so is life. The existence of Zigeuners is a mixture of sour and sweet." He thon took off the yellow scarf and said : •' Ye are now a true Zigeuner couple." This brought the ceremony to a close. The young people were congratulated by their companions, and afterwards they all adjourned to the public room of the '• Bohemian Mill, "where feasting and merrymaking occupied tha rest of the day. The company left .three days later, the newlymarried couple travelling in a commodious new cart, a wedding present from Captain Simi."