Our Kitty’s breasts are like knolls,
Our Kitty’s legs are like oak trees,
Our Kitty’s small hands are like a child’s,
Our Kitty’s body is like a lime tree,
Like a lime tree it does not bend,
Like a lime tree it does not break.”
§ 5b. In some places, on the day fixed for “the girls’ feast”, the bride must go off to say good-bye to her relations and friends. She is accompanied by two near male relations, usually her brothers. Her legs are so enveloped in bandages that she can scarcely walk, and she is in her every-day clothes. As she leaves the house she must courtesy three times to the ground, saying: “O earth, earth, take me! O wind, wind, carry me!”
After this she takes mould from under the threshold with her finger tips, and thrusts it into her bosom. With her head sunk upon her breast, the bride now starts off to visit her relations, says farewell to all, and thanks them for having enjoyed their goodwill. She announces her marriage, and bitterly bewails her lot which forces her to leave them, and begin the new life of a slave. Her two companions then take her up, and hurriedly transport her out of the room. They go to the next house, and the same scene is renewed. In the evening the future father-in-law, bringing with him a barrel of pure, pays a visit to the bride’s parents. He offers the first ladleful of this to the bride, with the words:
“As pure is good, may thy life be also good. As pure is strong, may thy love be also strong. As pure conquers, conquer grief. As pure is clean, be thou clean. As hops are rich in leaves, may thou be rich in children. As pure is rich in hops, may thou be rich in cattle.”
Then he dips his finger in the pure, besprinkles the bride, and offers her a ladleful, which she must drink empty.[1]
- ↑ Among the Erza of Nizhegorod this visit of the father-in-law takes place three days before the wedding. On the eve of the wedding
