Table of contents:
- Protection from the evil eye
- The bride who dies and is resurrected in her husband's house
- Protecting people, livestock and crops: what a woman's gaze could do
- Echoes of a Jewish wedding
Video: Why did the bride need a veil, and what it symbolized in Russia
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
We associate a wedding with rings on a velvet pillow, an excited groom, smiling guests, a beautiful white dress on the bride, and, of course, with a veil. Rarely does anyone ask the question - why do we need a veil at all? It is so customary, and the girls are happy to place a light, flying piece of fabric on their heads. In fact, this custom came from antiquity, when the veil was considered not just an element of wedding clothes, but also carried a certain meaning. Read how they protected themselves from the evil eye with the help of this object, how a veil could help not fly away to the world of the dead, and why she protected pets.
Protection from the evil eye
After the show and matchmaking, a wedding was played in Russia. The bride became a wife. It was a certain transition from one state to another. In Russia, it was believed that at this moment a person becomes more vulnerable. A veil was used to protect the young woman from the envy of her friends and from sorcerers who could be hired for the purpose of causing damage. Initially, a veil was thrown over the head of the young. And it should not subside, so that illnesses and misfortunes would not be brought on the girl.
The veil protected youth and beauty, which less fortunate women wanted to profit from. She hid the young face from the rivals of her future husband. It was a kind of amulet that guarded the bride. Covering the bride's face with a veil, people tried to protect the girl from evil spirits and prevent them from using their evil spells.
Over time, the veil turned into a veil, which became more and more light and ephemeral. The way she is today.
The bride who dies and is resurrected in her husband's house
In ancient times, people associated life and various rituals with nature, with birth and death. This also extended to the wedding customs of the ancient Slavs. The young woman seemed to be dying, leaving her family, from her relatives and was resurrected in a new status as a “wife” in the house of her chosen one.
So that she could make this symbolic transition painlessly, white bedspreads were used. In fact, they were "relatives" of the white sheets used to wrap the dead. The bride's face and body were covered, trying to protect her from evil spirits. The spirits could kidnap the girl at the moment of transition to a new life and take her to the terrible world of the dead. Therefore, they took a veil on which special ritual patterns were applied. Some of them were supposed to awaken fertility in a woman, activate her vitality. Others were guards of sorts. This did not end there - the girl's hands, neck and head were decorated with amulets and amulets.
The Slavic bride did not take off her veils until she was at her husband's house. When this happened, a man could open his wife's face, which meant that she was born again, becoming his official half.
Protecting people, livestock and crops: what a woman's gaze could do
Some ethnolinguists have some interesting opinions about veils. For example, studies show that among the Eastern Slavs there was a belief about the exceptional possibilities of the bride's gaze. It was said that she was capable of many things, for example, destroying crops, spoiling and even causing the death of a person. Especially dangerous were considered "dishonest" brides, that is, those who had a premarital relationship. Their gaze seemed to have incredible power and could cause natural disasters, crop failure, death of livestock. This explains the custom of covering the bride's face.
The head and organs of vision among the ancient Slavs were sacralized. Most likely, it was believed that if you look at an object for a long time, then it begins to belong to the beholder. And he is able to do anything with him, both good things and terrible. Example: in the Bryansk region, a girl who considered herself too thin had to stare at the dough for a long time. The look, as it were, absorbed the properties of the dough, and the girl gained weight, gained weight. Pregnant women were not supposed to look at sick or ugly people, so as not to harm the unborn child.
Echoes of a Jewish wedding
The Christian custom that exists to this day to cover the bride's head with a veil came from Judaism. When a Jewish wedding took place, the right to cover the head of the beloved was given only to the groom. This was the so-called inuma rite. And opening the face, that is, nisuin, could only be done by a newly-made husband.
In Judaism, the veil was figuratively supposed to deprive a woman of her sight. This was done so that the bride could not appreciate how expensive the ring bought by the groom for the wedding was. It was believed that a ring that costs one rod (corresponds to a small coin having a value equal to the fortieth part of a gram of silver) was enough for marriage, but witnesses had to take an oath that the ring was worth no less.
Today, if a couple gets married in the Russian Orthodox Church, the bride can wear a veil or cover her head with a white veil. It is also a symbol of purity, both mental and physical. Not long ago, after the wedding, the mother-in-law removed the headdress from the bride. After that, she had to tie a young white handkerchief to show her obedience to the Lord and her husband.
Today the veil is rather a design element of the bride's costume. We are talking, of course, about weddings that take place according to worldly rules: a registry office, a restaurant. Young girls rarely study the history of wedding dresses and are guided only by their appearance. But the main thing is what a person has in his soul: if the bride loves her chosen one and is ready to make every effort to make her life together be happy and long, this is great.
But there were also so-called wedding riots. When Russian peasant women polls refused to marry.
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