WEDDING
GUESTS |
THE MOLOKAN
CHURCH
It is a large barn-like structure with hardly any
embellishments. The services are attended by hundreds--almost all in
peasant costume. Sunday mornings are very colorful as the people
converge here from all parts of the hill. After the services they move
slowly away, exchanging greetings, and talking in small groups. |
A WEDDING is
always
a community affair. A great throng, led by the bride and groom,
moves slowly from the bride's house to the church singing traditional
songs. The actual ceremony is long and tedious with solemn chanting and
exhortation. |
THE HOLY
JUMPERS' CHURCH
It is an ordinary small house with hardly a thing to
distinguish it. During the services the small congregation stands in a
circle, or rather, an oval with the men on one side and the women on
the other. A patriarch reads, prays and leads the chanting and singing.
All take part in a slow stomping during the chanting and singing--
thence the name of the sect. |
AT THE
WEDDING
RECEPTION which follows the ceremony there is simple peasant
feasting--but with no drinking or dancing. An incongruous not is struck
when the bride and groom break away in a shining new car (generally)
festooned with the usual tin cans and old shoes. The old people remain
with their teas and cakes while the younger ones drift off to celebrate
in a more American manner. |
A MOLOKAN
FUNERAL
has little of the lugubriousness attendant upon the
ordinary funeral. Brightly dressed little girls bearing flowers lead
the procession. The casket is open and the cover borne above the heads
of four men. The relations and friends stay close to the deceased while
the whole colony follows along informally. There is dignity but very
little evidence of grief and the only funereal note is in the
intermittent chanting. Just previous to interment the procession
follows the route most frequented in life by the departed. |