Well, I suppose I could plead insanity or something - but actually I've been away. I have a fair bit to report on so I'll start with our first ever Polish wedding.
The last weekend in June was not only the end of classes, but we had a trip up to Lodz - definitely not for sightseeing!! My cousin's niece - so my 'sort of' second... or is it third..or second removed... was getting married. Here weddings generally start at about 6:00pm, with the church ceremony, and then are followed by the party.
So what I'll do is describe is as I remember..... My cousin picked us up from our hotel and we drove to the church. There we made slight detour to a florists to buy flowers - very traditional. You buy either one or three - NEVER two! Plus, it seems that it's always the man who carries the flowers! Aussie he-men take note!! We gathered outside the church and spoke to people in our sort-of Polish and English. Meantime the parents of the bride (my cousin and wife) were dashing around talking to everyone. No one was n church at this point. After all, there was a Mass going on!
Just before 6:00pm we wandered into the church and sat anywhere. People who had been at Mass stayed to watch the wedding too. First real surprise - parents have nothing to do with the church side! Father of the bride was sitting with his wife at the front of the church. Normally there is the one priest, but on this occasion there were three - because two of them were Dominican Brothers, friends from Lublin of the bride and groom. The other was the Parish Priest.
Music began and the priests walked up to the door to welcome and invite the couple in - and they walked to the altar, the bride on the groom's arm. The wedding ceremony was interesting. Prayers, no hymns, readings, the bride's sister sang, the priests talked to the couple. Then the actual marriage was quite short. As it was in Polish I hadn't expected to follow it but it was pretty self evident.
At the end the priests walked away, and then when the wedding march began the couple got up and walked out, followed by family then the rest of us. Strangely, the music sped up - but of course there was another ordinary Mass about to start!! So hurry up people - get out!!
I found out afterwards that the couple had probably already signed the legal marriage documents before the ceremony so were in fact married before the church. This can be done up to a month before the actual church ceremony! The couple stood outside church and we all congratulated them, handed over the flowers and presents/money, and then we went to a hotel for the party.
We had to wait for the new husband and wife to arrive - and he had to carry her up the stairs and into the room where we all sang 'Sto lat!" (100 years). great song - see link! It is used for any celebration - E.g. my family sand it to us the first time we visited Poland. http://www.polishamericancenter.org/StoLat.htm
After that it was tuck-in time. There was so much food and drink but no one was drunk! We ate lots then had to dance. The couple had been practising and started it all off with two dances. The first was traditional... but then! They did a wonderful Bollywood feature! Bollywood is really popular here.
OK - so heaps of dancing and Poles can dance! Note to self - dancing lessons when back in Australia!!!!! Even the real oldies were fantastic dancers. Periodically we'd go back to eat more, then sing songs and dance again. This went on till midnight, and just after that there was another ceremony -the throwing off of the veil. First, the bride sat and we sang to her, while her sister removed the veil and she threw it down to show she was no longer an unmarried girl. Then all the unmarried girls walked slowly round her while a song was sung. At the end she took her veil and threw it. The girl who caught it was to be next to get married! Then the process was repeated with the groom. His best man removed his tie and after the men walked round him he threw it. Again whoever caught it would get married next.
But we weren't finished. The parents stood in front of the couple while they spoke to them, a speech in which they thanked their parents for everything they'd done for them. It was a really lovely touch.
By this time it was nearly 01:30!!! We were not the first to leave - by the way - but we left shortly after this. Sometimes the party goes on till 5 or 6am. All in all - a fantastic experience. We spoke to lots of people and everyone had a great time. And after that we fell into our little hotel bed before falling into a train and back to Krakow for one last day's work on the Monday.
I'll stop here 'cos the next installment will tell you all about our Turkish adventures!
Yes - I know. This was supposed to be about Turkey, but I wanted to show you that summer does come sometimes to Edinburgh! We just popped across for a few days and for the first time saw my ma-in-law's house in summer!!
