Russian brides by tradition

Traditionally it was accepted in Russia that girls should marry young "so that they would not spoil". The age of a typical fiancee would be from 12 to 13 years. Early marriage was completely natural, the fiance and the bride did not know each other until the marriage. The morals of that time did not make it possible for young people to talk to members of the opposite sex freely. A boy could not even mention that he wants to marry someone, everything was conducted by the relatives. The father and the mother of the boy usually chose the girl themselves and told their son about it when wedding had already been negotiated.

But sometimes the first step was made by the parents of the bride. Wanting to sell their daughter, the parents sent a match-maker to the parents of fiancé. If they agreed, match-making was carried out as usual. Sometimes, when the girl who was chosen was too plain, another daughter or even a servant were substituted for her. Until the wedding, the young men themselves could not see the Russian brides. If a fraud concerning the bride was found out, the marriage could be canceled, but this almost never happened. Sometimes the fiance insisted on seeing the bride, and only money could affect any further actions.

After the screening process, the agreement took place, the first part of the marriage celebration. The arrangement day was set by the parents of the Russian bride. The parents were seated in front of each other and kept silent for several minutes, as was the convention. A document was written and signed, where the wedding time and the bride's dowry was specified. Dowry was always an important condition of Russian wedding. Bed linen, clothes, domestic utensils and adornment, people, money, immovable property were included into it. Nothing was required from the fiance. This agreement had legal value. If the bride was from an impoverished family and could not bring dowry into the house, then the fiance himself "made the dowry" or transferred a certain sum of money to the parents of the bride - the ancient custom did not make it possible to take a bride without a dowry.

On the morning of the celebration day (sometimes the day before) the match-maker of the bride left for the house of the fiance to prepare the marriage bed. It was believed that sorcerers and witches could put an evil eye on the house. Different measures were taken against this. A straw mattress was introduced so that there would be no earth on the floor and the bedroom would not resemble a grave. Chests with grain and barrels supported the straw mattress. Before the wedding the guests and the newly-weds were invited to the table, but even there the future husband did not see the face of the bride - there was a thick cover on it, a prototype of today's veil. After 4-5 dishes, the father of the groom usually turned to the father of bride and asked for his permission to allow the young people to marry.