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And Haneli – that’s how they called Ilonka [Ilona Schonberger, one of the daughters of the maternal grandmother’s sister who lived in Szatmarnemeti]by her Jewish name – said: ‘Now I’m going to take you to a Hasid wedding.’ And they related me the story as well.
The wedding was nearing, but they [the bride and the groom]didn’t see each other yet. And they told me that the men, the fathers were negotiating about what the bride, respectively the groom would add as a dowry. The two fathers were negotiating as if it was an object. But they had never seen each other. They were a very young couple, the boy was virgin as well, the Hasid boy with his big payes. At the wedding they had a kippah above their head too.
The kippah was installed in the yard where the synagogue was. And the guests were there too. I don’t remember in what language the ceremony was conducted, in Yiddish or in Hebrew, maybe in both languages, but maybe in Hebrew.
Two women led someone wearing a thick veil under the kippah, and they brought there the boy, he broke the glass. They [the grooms]break a glass by stepping on it, so that they would live happily for as many years, as many splinters result.
Men tried to crush it as much as they could, to have many splinters. Then Haneli told me that they would go home, and the boy would take down that dense thing from the girl’s head, and they would see each other only then. We don’t know how this marriage ended. But Haneli told me stories, for example about a bride who had jumped out from the entresol, when she had seen the groom, she had found him so repugnant.
The wedding was nearing, but they [the bride and the groom]didn’t see each other yet. And they told me that the men, the fathers were negotiating about what the bride, respectively the groom would add as a dowry. The two fathers were negotiating as if it was an object. But they had never seen each other. They were a very young couple, the boy was virgin as well, the Hasid boy with his big payes. At the wedding they had a kippah above their head too.
The kippah was installed in the yard where the synagogue was. And the guests were there too. I don’t remember in what language the ceremony was conducted, in Yiddish or in Hebrew, maybe in both languages, but maybe in Hebrew.
Two women led someone wearing a thick veil under the kippah, and they brought there the boy, he broke the glass. They [the grooms]break a glass by stepping on it, so that they would live happily for as many years, as many splinters result.
Men tried to crush it as much as they could, to have many splinters. Then Haneli told me that they would go home, and the boy would take down that dense thing from the girl’s head, and they would see each other only then. We don’t know how this marriage ended. But Haneli told me stories, for example about a bride who had jumped out from the entresol, when she had seen the groom, she had found him so repugnant.
Period
Location
Romania
Interview
Alice Kosa