Marriage Customs Birth – Baptism
Fig. 75. Incense burner. 19th-20th centuries, from the Church of Agios Antonios, Lefkosia.
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very birth is celebrated with the drinking of wine – a bottle of which is opened for the family and friends to toast the coming of a new life into the world. At the baptism of the infant numerous elements such as the new dress, bathing (or christening), anointing or confirmation, as well as the new name, are the familiar elements of re-birth and of the new life of the newly-initiated. The Great Sacrament of Marriage – marriage customs The wine, therefore, is transubstantiated into the blood of our Saviour, who comes to save men and to offer purification or cleansing. This is precisely the water of purification (which is found in the six stone jars containing the “water of separation” that formed part of the Jewish ritual of purification) that Jesus turned into wine at the Wedding of Canae, thus beginning his miracles with a symbolic act, a presage of the drama that he was about to engage in: “Drink of this all of you, for this is my blood that is shed for the many for the remission of sins”. With her words “They have no wine”, the mother of Christ urges Jesus on to perform the miracle and through this to reveal his public persona, or ‘baptism’ (God demonstrates his presence and power through miracles: ones such as the “ephemeral vines”, which bear fruit in a single day, fountains gushing wine and milk instead of water, and empty sealed containers that fill with wine).
Fig. 76. The Wedding at Canae. Church of Agios Ioannis o Theologos, Lefkosia, 1736.
“they crowned your servants taking olive branches and palm leaves and pomegranates from Paradise and a bunch from the vineyard, and pearls from the sea, holy stone from the desert and you placed a plaited wreath upon their heads” Blessing, Wedding Service From a Codex 19th century, 54
Fig. 77. Wedding wreaths-Wreath box.
Sometimes you cast a glance at the icons next to the wreaths with their waxen lemon blossoms “OÈ °ÂÚfiÓÙÈÛÛ˜ Î·È Ë £¿Ï·ÛÛ·“ (“The old women and the sea”) Giannis Ritsos, Kedros editions.
In the sacrament of marriage, a little before the familiar circular dance (the ‘dance of Isaiah’), a glass of wine is offered to the married couple. This custom at wedding ceremonies is attested in antiquity as well as in the Greco-Roman world. In the Old Testament, in the Song of Songs, the bridegroom offers a dinner and calls upon the guests to drink and become ‘inebriated’.
The decoration of the ‘manassa’ (a kind of nuptial bed) of the bridal chamber was with wreaths bearing ritual symbols such as grapes, apples, snakes, leaves and raisins – elements of nature, of the life-force and of abundance. The newly-weds would drink and eat together from the sweet wine (‘Nama’) and loaf (‘prosforo’) of Holy Bread during the sacrament of marriage. The holy bread that they partook of in the sacrament of marriage had the shape of the ‘koulouri’ (circular bread with a large hole in the middle), that is, like the shape of the wreath, symbol of marriage.
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So many weddings in the village have my eyes seen, With people being offered wine from the pumpkin vessel. The bridegroom breaks the pomegranate and takes hold of the cradle, Cuts off the head of the cock and throws it away. On the sofa the newly wed bride bows her head coyly, And the lamp opposite her was shining, hanging from a hook. Full of two sorts of thyme and people seated round, With a violinist in the corner, hair combed, wearing the vraka. The dancer bends, raises his heel and taps it, With silver censer dish in hand the bridegroom goes round calling on All the houses of the village for them to wish him a good life. All sit in the living-room and have fun: Here some sing, there others smash plates. On Tuesday all the relations will gather again And sing a song suitable for the couple. May the newly-wed couple live long, grow old, Make beautiful children and marry them off well. The newly-wed bride with plaited hair and decked out in style And with a garland of gold coins spread out over her breast.
Fig. 78. “Manassa”, bridal chamber.
Village weddings in the old days Giorgos Tofkia, “°ÚÔ˘ÛÔÏ˘ÛÈÒÙÈη ΔÚ·Ô‡‰ÎÈ·“ (“Golden Songs of Lysi Village”), p. 19. Library of Cypriot Folk Poets, No. 52, edited by Dr. K.G. Giagkoullis.
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