After the banquet gave the procession beginning accompany the bride to her new home . A ceremony in which, yet, you can see traces old ways reminiscent attenuated early, when the departure of the bride to the husband's house was a real abduction . In this regard, the use of the word ἀ γωγ ή , transfer is significant. The bride was delivered to tears and refused to go with implying the husband and the pain that caused him separated from his family. While the boyfriend took her by the wrist, the father gave reciting the ritual formula: in the presence of witnesses to give you the procreation of legitimate children ( Menander, frag. 720) From here, the Bride behave as a captive to his arrival at the house of the husband .
The procession was composed of the relatives and friends of the couple, some of whom had a specific role : headed the procession, as a guide herald the προηγητ ή ς , bringing the κηρ ύ κειον (caduceus own heralds), symbol of his function, while π ά ροχος , friend's boyfriend who had acted as his godfather, was driving the car carrying bridal newlyweds. again present the ἀ μφιθαλ ή ς πα ῖ ς, which represented prosperity and good luck for the couple and symbolized the future offspring, and νυμφε ύ τρια which was escorting the bride . They followed behind parents of the bride, the mother carrying the bridal torches ( Δ ᾷ δες νυμφικα ί ) attesting that the marriage was celebrated as a legitimate union. Marched behind the rest of family and friends and children crowned with myrtle (πα ῖ δες προπ έ μποντες ) They closed the procession of pipers and harpers harp accompanying songs Hymen .
Women carried baskets and vases containing items such as quince, roses, violets and fruits, which would be thrown into couples as a symbol of prosperity and fertility therefore can not be ignored, as explained A., Avagianou ( Sacred Marriage in the Rituals of Greek Religion, 12), sexual content attributed to apples and flowers by the ancient Greeks . Thus, the procession could compared to a φυλλοβολ ί α, victory procession held on the subject of the triumphant return of the victors in the Panhellenic games. The wedding would have the same meaning for the bride who had victory for the winner would be the female version of this ritual. The bride wore other objects that symbolize her new status and the role it was expected: a grid, a sieve, pestle and various grains, reminding Demeter, a link between agriculture, fertility and life social .
The main source for such processions constitute representations vessels. regard, the glass Bloomington 72.97.4 offers a possible wedding procession: the image shows a procession in the car and observed a multitude of people. Each party is organized somewhat differently, but the A side shows a woman, slightly veiled, set in the center of the composition and symmetrically surrounded by four other participants who watch.
also Homer describes the scene of a procession the shield of Achilles ( Hom. Il. 18491-96):
ἐ ν τ ῇ μέν ῥ a wedding section e like to I lapinai tech,
nymphs d e k booths Dedan Y PR lampomenaon
supply or make a n a Ah sty, very Y As d Y menaios the rorei;
Mr. Y Conditions d the rchist the hours e gives ἐ ν δ ᾽ ἄ ρα το ῖ σιν
495 α ὐ λο ὶ φόρμιγγές τε βο ὴ ν ἔ χον· α ἳ δ ὲ γυνα ῖ κες
ἱ στάμεναι θαύμαζον ἐ π ὶ προθύροισιν ἑ κάστη.
When the couple reaches the groom's house, the procession sings a Paean to celebrate the successful end of the tour. The groom helps lower the car to the bride and at the door, his parents are waiting to receive them and to, well, welcome your new daughter in his or her new home. According to Plutarch in Boeotia , before entering the house , bride burning truck axle that had brought, which implied that there would be a return trip to old home.
The bride is the subject then a ritual καταχ called ύ σματα , a sequence of rites designed to ensure the future prosperity and fertility of the union and set to the bride in her new home : once driven inside Received the τραγ ή ματα , dates, walnuts and figs and, according to Plutarch, tradition that, before entering the bridal chamber, the bride ate a quince, a fruit that symbolizes fertility.
The couple then retired to the bridal chamber, under Aphrodite protection and Peitho , which would bring harmony and pleasure and, ultimately, the offspring . The door remain guarded overnight by a friend of the groom doing the functions of a θυρωρ ό ς. The friends of the bride spent the night out singing epithalamium ( ἐ πιθαλ ά μια ) to reassure in transit to femininity and encourage couples in their attempts to breed a male . From time to time, bang on the door of the chamber , κτ ύ πημα , to scare away the spirits of the underworld .
(ν ύ μφη ) . παρθεν ί α, παρθεν ί α, πο ῖ με λ ί ποισα ο ἴ χηι;
(παρθεν ί α). ο ὐ κ έ τι ἤ ξω πρ ὸ ς σ έ , ο ὐ κ τι έ ἤ ξω.
(Wife). Virginity, virginity, where do you go after leaving?
(Virgin). And not return to you, and not return. ( Sappho, fr. 114. Epithallus )
next day takes place last of the rituals of the wedding ceremony the Ἐ παυλ ί α. It is the day when the young couple receives gifts , δ ῶ ρα ἐ παυλ ί α, offered by the father of the bride to match to which his daughter received after the banquet . In the morning, the bride delivery to the husband a χλαν ί ς , a kind of cloak of fine wool compiled by itself. According A. Avagianou ( Sacred Marriage in the Rituals of Greek Religion, 18 ) , this act symbolizes one aspect of the rite of initiation is marriage to the girl, the initiative provides the initiator a gift . In addition, Reeder suggests ( Pandora: women in Classical Greece, 128 ), the χλαν ί ς symbolized his future contribution to the household through the female work par excellence the weaving.
Sending gifts was made not without some fanfare. Suidas has left us a description of the procession and the relationship of objects that was traditional to give the newlyweds : led the procession a young man wearing a white chlamys and carrying a lighted torch, was followed by a canephora and other girls were behind with gifts: clothes, combs and other toiletries, alabaster, shoes, boxes, perfumes, nitro and useful gifts suitable for a wife. Closed the procession a young woman playing the flute.
Finally, the bride alone starred the last of the rituals : the dedication of a loutrophoros a nymph. South of the Acropolis , a shrine dedicated to the nymph , archaeologists have recovered a large number of fragments belonging to this type of container ( Dillon, Matthew , Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion, 219 ). It was an action to acknowledge the marriage ceremony as a whole and was a prayer for the future.
0 comments:
Post a Comment