Wedding Traditions

[Cheryl Crisler]

Hi Eneko, Mirari, Marta, Mila, Aintzane, Mikel, friends old and new,

I'm one of the less vocal members of this list, mostly because I subscribe at
work and barely have time to read the volume of mail, much less
contribute. Also, this is my only source of info about affairs in Euskal Herria
making it tricky, at best, to form a coherent opinion, but I certainly don't
hesitate to express an opinion when I am inclined. That being said, I will
now ask a favor:

I am to be married August 3, in Boise - (it should be about 112 degrees
farenheit if we get a cool breeze), and I am interested in learning about
traditional Basque weddings. I plan to include local Basque music in the
reception, but if anyone would like to share with me, and with the rest of
the list, information on weddings they have attended or participated in that
were traditional Basque weddings or honor Basque culture, I would
appreciate hearing about it. We were going to have the celebration at the
Basque Center but they are putting in new floors in August :-(.

Thanks,

Cheryl Crisler
Boise, Idaho, USA
cris...@slrmc.org

[Egunkaria]

At 14:36 2/06/96 -0700, Chreyl wrote:

>I am to be married August 3, in Boise - (it should be about 112 degrees
>farenheit if we get a cool breeze), and I am interested in learning about
>traditional Basque weddings

ZORIONAK!

I havent got much experience getting married. But from a basque point of
view you should not let the groom kiss you in front of the priest (or judge,
or whoever). Thats definitely american movie style, not euskal estiloa...

>Cheryl Crisler
>Boise, Idaho, USA
>cris...@slrmc.org
>

Luistxo
(dont take me seriously, please)

[Tim Nicholson]

Cheryl Crisler wrote:

>I am to be married August 3, in Boise - (it should be about 112 degrees
>farenheit if we get a cool breeze), and I am interested in learning about

>traditional Basque weddings.

Until relatively recently (about 30 years ago) it was still quite normal for
Basque brides to dress in black instead of white, but somehow with those
sort of temperatures I wouldn't recommend it.

Best of luck with the wedding.

Tim Nicholson

[Mikel Susperregi]

On Sun, 2 Jun 1996, Cheryl Crisler wrote:
>
> I am to be married August 3, in Boise - (it should be about 112 degrees
> farenheit if we get a cool breeze), and I am interested in learning about

> traditional Basque weddings. I plan to include local Basque music in the
> reception, but if anyone would like to share with me, and with the rest of
> the list, information on weddings they have attended or participated in that
> were traditional Basque weddings or honor Basque culture, I would
> appreciate hearing about it. We were going to have the celebration at the
> Basque Center but they are putting in new floors in August :-(.
>

That's wonderful Cheryl!! Zorionak, lots of congrats..

I don't know whether this will be of much help to you, but I'll tell you
about a traditional (or pretty much so) Basque wedding I attended in 1993
-- it took place in St Etienne de Baigorri (Iparralde). In my opinion the
whole thing was quite Basque & traditional, but considering the guy's
family is Swiss, it was a bit of a mix.

The religious ceremony was held in a little limestone parish chuch (catholic),
with poxpolinak in the entrance. The music played inside was
Haendel/Purcell, which are not quite Basque as far as I know, but one
can't have it all. Then the bride wore a white embroidered dress,
hand-made in one of these family-run embroidery firms in Lapurdi
(Mila talked about those a while ago, I believe), the groom wore a
fine long-tail high-collar suit, & all the formal-wear jazz; inc.
a velvet red bowtie, --I'm told however that the bowtie is not
a big thing in the BC, ppl usually go for long ties.

Then flowers partout, garlands & so on.. The bride had lilies out of
every orifice of her body, if you allow me the expression, which I
thought was quite inapprop since lilies are supposed to be denote
purity..

Anyway, after an OK ceremony in Basque, with a dull priest that
reminded me of the slumberous Richard Head lectures at St Peter's
& was accompanied by a background of four noisy little bridesmaids pinning
& unpinning their ribbons & laces, we set off to their house,
a typical Basque house that used to be a baserria, but is now
a pretty country house, & there was some ezpata dancing there
(sword dance). The dancers wear red berets, white trousers & shirt,
"alpargatak" & red ribbons in their ankles with little bells hanging
there, as well as red cummerbands. They dance in a sort of melange
between a fertility dance & a gladiator fight, with a few head-high
arabesques a la zortziko. When the dancers finished they lined up at the
entrance of the house, crossing their swords in pairs, arch-wise,
so that the troupe, led by the newly-wed, enters house, & then off
we went out again to the garden, where luncheon was ready.

Lunch was good --lamb-- (I don't know how typical that is, but lamb
it was, or rather "zikiro", i.e. castrated ram, which is pretty much the
same when it comes to taste). Then a bit of violin in the background
for a start, trikitrixak to follow, & it all ended with folk dance,
I think. Then, it got dark & they made a little fire for the mulled
wine & we sang -- or those who were sober enough did. The ezpata dancers
were really nice btw, & surprisingly inclined to a more risque style
of dancing. Anyway, a typically Basque thing to do at the end of the
night I think is to get together at the entrance of the house, & bid
the couple night-night -- they walk in the house hand-in-hand (not
that sort of cheesy oh take me in your arms until you drop), & again
they're welcomed by the ezpata dancers crossing swords. I'm afraid that
I missed that however.. The mulled wine..

I don't know if this is of any use Cheryl, & perhaps someone who
knows more about traditions than I do or is more observant of them
can add to this. All the best for your wedding,

Mikel