How matchmakers cheated suitors to marry a girl

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Matchmakers in Russia very often engaged in the "attachment" of brides who found it difficult to find a mate. It is clear that it was much easier for a beautiful woman with a rich dowry to arrange her personal life. And what to do, for example, for an ugly womanless woman? So matchmakers went to the most different, sometimes not very honest tricks to help the girl become a married woman. Read how in Russia they deceived gullible suitors, using substitution, make-up and a variety of tricks that Copperfield himself would envy.

How an ugly bride was replaced during the show

In Russia, there was a funny wedding ritual - a change of the bride. Instead, another woman came out, sometimes an ancient old woman, and the groom had to notice this and go in search of his beloved. Well, or get off with a ransom.

A similar method was used by the matchmaker during the show. When the bride was not too good, or, to put it mildly, ugly, another woman came out for the show instead. Sister, relative, it doesn't matter, the main thing is to be pretty. Sometimes the deception surfaced immediately after the wedding. It all depended on how ugly the bride was. What flaws she had. Sometimes the suitors turned a blind eye to them, preferring the old wisdom “endure - fall in love”.

If the deception was too big, then the parents of the unlucky groom could turn to the authorities. An investigation was carried out, and if the evidence was irrefutable, the fraudsters were flogged. The newly made husband could beat his wife in the future, or even forced her to go to a monastery.

Little hair - horses will help, and how skillfully used cosmetics

Good hair in Russia was a sign of female attractiveness. But not everyone was lucky. What to do when the scythe is thin and grows poorly? There were folk methods, but they did not always work - not everyone was helped by herbal decoctions. Some girls resorted to magic: they put a rope under the pillow, stood in the rain, but such methods took time and patience. And the suitors won't wait. What if there are a few days left before the show? Various tricks came to the rescue. For example, you could braid horse hair. The main thing is that the shade matches. Or take a wide ribbon and use it instead of a few strands. This helped create the illusion of thickness.

Hair wasn't the only thing that mattered. In the old days there was also cosmetics, though not the same as today. The face was smeared with lead whitewash, the eyebrows were made thicker with a mixture of oil and antimony, and a cinnabar blush was applied to the cheeks. Sometimes the groom could not even recognize his betrothed after she washed all this beauty from her face. But what to do, some resigned themselves to the appearance of their wife. After all, this is not the main thing, there are other advantages - tenderness, homeliness, good character.

Skinny? Rather wear a heap of clothes and padding on your thighs

Too thin girls were taken into marriage reluctantly. Stoutness, curvaceous forms were considered a sign of health and fertility. In addition, thinness could signal that the girl is malnourished, that is, the family is poor. Who needs such a bride, alas. Matchmakers tried to rectify the situation. Skinny brides were dressed up in a large number of clothes to make them seem thicker. Several shirts, a spacious sundress, a couple of skirts. Upstairs a warm, thick, voluminous shower jacket. If this was not enough, linings of rags or hay were placed on the chest and thighs. And here is a well-fed young lady in front of you, radiant with health.

Brides of men were not attracted by beauty alone. What mattered was her dowry. The chest filled to the brim with things made the daughter-in-law more attractive. The dowry was demonstrated to show how a girl can sew, spin, embroider. After all, it was a custom to prepare your wealth with your own hands, in advance. But what if the girl has absolutely no talent for manual labor? The matchmaker gave parents this advice: put in the chest things that were bought at the fair. Then the groom will definitely be pleased! And when the wedding is played, it's too late. It was necessary to examine the dowry more closely. And the wife may eventually learn everything that should be done - to sew and knit, and to embroider beautiful patterns on her husband's shirts and towels.

How physically handicapped brides were imprisoned against the light, and the old were passed off as young

It was incredibly difficult to find a place for a girl with serious handicaps (lame, deaf, oblique, etc.). There were also very capricious grooms who could abandon the bride because of an ordinary mole or a runny nose. Therefore, there was a practice when the matchmaker moved to the bride's house before the bride, and told her parents to look after her properly. No hard work (suddenly cut yourself), no strict diet (to rule out indigestion). Existing scratches and bruises should be hidden under clothes, and moles should be carefully covered with flour or chalk.

Of course, there were physical disabilities that were very difficult to hide. The matchmakers showed miracles of ingenuity. The main condition was that the groom did not get too close to the bride before the wedding. When he was very suspicious, they agreed to a bride, but in a crowded place (for example, a church). There you will not stare at the girl. There was another option: the girl was seated near the window, against the light. The groom could not see her properly.

There were other cases as well. The beautiful bride was too capricious and refused the suitors so many times that they simply stopped wooing. At twenty, such a beauty became overdone, it was considered indecent to send matchmakers to her. Matchmakers helped even in this situation. One way is to underestimate the girl's age. Usually deception surfaced at the moment of entering data in registers. The grooms rarely fought for this reason, because the chosen one is still good, albeit five years older.

Well, when the marriage has already taken place, everything along the lines of the husband and wife becomes a family. But it's hard not to get confused what kind of relatives were called, and who was in charge of the house.