Russian Wedding Traditions
The
Christianity became official religion of Kievan Rus in the end of IX
century. And from that moment the forming of a traditional Russian
wedding ceremony began. The process continued for seven centuries.
With the introduction of Christianity the marriage ceremony took
shape of a church wedding. Though the Christian Church has been
struggling with paganism for centuries it couldn’t eradicate it
completely. As a result, the Christian traditions are closely
interwoven with pagan beliefs in Russian wedding ceremony.
It
was the XVI century when the wedding ceremony clearly defined stages,
wedding paraphernalia, clothing and refreshments finally formed.
The
wedding has always been a some kind of performance with a kind share
of improvisation that is why it could be different eve in two
neighboring towns. Yet, despite these differences, there was a
certain order of wedding ceremony that repeated from village to
village, from town to town.