50 years in the modern world – is an entire era, during which dozens of times the fashion is changing, traditions are transformed, rituals are modified, worldview and attitude change. 50 years is a time that influenced the wedding ceremony, but at the same time left a lot of customs that determine our national identity and uniqueness till now. About how they were preparing for the wedding and celebrated it in Zhytomyr region 50 years ago, the edition of Zhytomyr.Travel
Wedding dress 50 years ago
Actually, it was impossible to buy a wedding dress in Zhytomyr: the assortment was very poor, and the goods in it – poor quality. That is why almost all the brides bought a cloth for wedding dresses (sometimes ordered from their relatives abroad) and sewed him at the studio. The facts of the case were even worse, so most of the girls “rented” it to former brides who at one time were lucky enough to find and buy this wedding attribute. Festive shoes were ordered on special bases (in Zhytomyr, this function was in the street of L. Kachinskyi in the premises of the Jesuit monastery, which was erected in the XVIII century, transformed by the Soviet authorities into a prison, and later on the base). The bride was easier to buy a suit – demand met the Berdychiv factory.
On the left: the Kartashovs family. Right: photo from the author’s archive
Wedding accompaniment 50 years ago
There was a musical factory in Smolianka – from there a group of musicians was invited to accompany the wedding ceremony. However, not everyone was able to order the services of the musical team, and therefore the less prosperous Zhytomyr people were invited to the wedding accordionists and drummer. In the musical community there was almost always a man who accompanied the wedding ceremony, performing the functions of the tamedi. But there were alternatives: frequent guests were simply entertained by communicative creative people, for example, musicians with bayan.
50 years ago, the hosts conducted the same competitions that they entertained at the wedding at weddings: they offered to raise money for slippers for the first time, jump with balloons, hid from the participants of the festive performance of these brides, instead they presented a couple of newlyweds of their own production.
50 years ago, the bride, like today, was abducted, the mother-in-law washes her mother’s legs to wear new boots, and her mother-in-law took off her hair from the head of the daughter-in-law and covered her head with a scarf.
Photos from the archives of the Sazonovs family
Wedding fun 50 years ago
At that time, the festivities were larger and longer. Up to 200 guests were invited to the festive event. Celebrations on the occasion of the holiday could take from one day to a week (their duration depended on the wealth and place of the wedding).
Well-known towns, as a rule, celebrated the solemn events in one of the four restaurants of the city: Smolensk, Mykhailovgrad, Zhytomyr or Yalyntsi. The workers celebrated the wedding in the canteens, which functioned at the productions (at the Linen Factory, “Khimvolokno”, “Promavtomatyka” factories). In the preparation of wedding dishes, not only chefs who worked in canteens at factories, but also relatives of the bridesmaid participated. Those inhabitants of Zhytomyr who lived in the private sector themselves or had their parents in a suburban area, for weddings set huts in the yard, which during the week performed the grain-sowing function.
50 years ago, the wedding began with the traditional ransom of the bride: the cousins of the young tried to earn as much money as possible on her “sale”, and the guests on the part of the bridegroom tried to save on this process, for which they had to throw the plate of money as quickly as possible to complete the “buyout procedure” . The next stage is the receipt of parental blessings and the accompaniment of newlyweds to the wedding administration, during which they were rusted with rye, wheat and all kinds of arachnids and flowers. Cossacks and candies were not yet sold by the bridegroom. The entertainment also began after lunch, and sometimes ended at dawn.
50 years ago, most of the newlyweds did not marry, because it threatened them with an exception to the institutes or a loss of work.
Photos from the archives of the Rukomeds family
“Stop for a moment”
50 years ago, photographers did not serve wedding ceremonies, and therefore at that time the newlyweds did not have albums with hundreds of wedding photos. However, there was a photo studio in the city, in which photographs were taken not only by Zhytomyr citizens, but also by newlyweds from the surrounding villages. Especially for this purpose – to keep happy moments – they hired buses that carried them and their honor in the city (for the most part, newlyweds ordered 2 kinds of photos: their couples and the general – in the circle of loved ones). The most popular photo studios in Zhytomyr were near the Accounting Chamber and on Mykhailivska Street.
Photos from the archive of the Kartashovs family
Customs that go away to nothingness
50 years ago, one week after the wedding, the relatives of the bridegroom drove to the relatives of the young, in order to “incite” from them a dowry. Walking along the road, the guests took with them some kind of food, for example, boiled beets, potatoes, carrots.
Crossing the threshold of the home, where once lived young, they showed the “dish” that they had on the plate, and were hurrying that there was nothing else. The bride’s parents invited guests for a well-laid table, but they did not hurry, because they had to fulfill their mission – to “shake” the dowry. In the course of humorous “trades”, the bride’s parents presented what would give their daughter, and relatives of the bridegroom – demanded more. The mother of the young enumerated the items in the “arsenal”: for example, carpets, blankets. However, the guests did not have enough.
Then the woman promised to provide a newly created family with pillows, forks, spoons and other household items. But the “shoots” did not end there: the young parents were planted on a chair and threw them to the ceiling until they “shook” from them all that was desired. Often, the poor woman had to promise all the best of what she had, for example, half of the house. In the case, however, if the dowry did not fit the liking of those who came after them, they could and pump it up: for example, otkolupnut a piece of whitewash from the coarse. After the “shake-up procedure” was completed, a feast and a boot “shaken” on the transport that would follow the young couple began.
50 years ago, on the second day of the wedding, the baptisms were “taken” to the shop at a shop, so that they would buy beverages for honeymoons – snacks and snacks. Sometimes they made holiday attributes – wreaths of flowers. To the store the road was heavy: the baptists were driven so that they felt each hole on the road own bones. If, however, they succeeded in expediting their horsemen with good things, they were back with honors. If the carts felt dryness in the mouth and void in the stomach, the return path for the baptized was covered with thorns: they were turned around with a cart, poured water, put them under the feet of the nettle. Escaping from these initiations was impossible – all the “post” overtaken the fugitive and put in a visa.
Photos from the archives of the Sobchyshyns family
Time is flowing like water, changing the shapes and silhouettes of everything that touches, but the desire to celebrate the happy event unforgettable remains unchanged.
Translated by Aliona Matushevich
