Carsic Wedding

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Thursday

The celebrations begin on Thursday evening. The groom offers his friends a bachelor party dinner in Repen. The bride gets together with her friends for a hen party in Col. After the respective refreshments, the bride and groom and their entourage gather in the Repen square and dance one last time, as unmarried couples.

This type of pre-wedding celebration belongs to more modern times (second half of the 20th century). In fact, it is such an established and popular custom among the Karst people that the organisers considered it unique and therefore worthy of inclusion in the pre-wedding festivities.

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Friday

Friday night is the turn of the serenade. It is an ancient Slovenian custom of marriage and evening socialising for young people. The groom-to-be sings to his fiancée in front of the window in the company of his friends. The girl in the room listens attentively to the boys’ song echoing through the village and naturally wishes the chosen one would come to her. The groom tries to get closer to her with the help of a ladder, but sooner or later he has to face his future mother-in-law, who is implacable and repels and hinders him in every way.

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Saturday

Saturday evening, the eve of the wedding, is dedicated to the transport of the dowry. The bride’s family and the young bachelors gather at the symbolic house number in Col to organise the arrival of the dowry. The youngest brother of the bride sits on the cart. Two boxes are placed on the wagon, which is decorated with embroidered bales with the names of the bride and groom.

When the wagon arrives in Repen in the courtyard of the groom’s house, it is the child who assumes a key role. At first the parents evaluate and check the newly arrived dowry, then the bride’s little brother refuses to hand over the hen before it is well fed. The mother-in-law has to redeem the bird by giving the little boy some kind of compensation in food and drink. Only then is the dowry handed over and she can proceed to unload it.

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Sunday

It is Sunday, the day of the wedding, and in the early hours of the morning the bride and groom and their procession arrive at the bride’s house. At home, the groom, dressed in a black suit, with a red ribbon on his shoulders, is presented with cakes and snacks, and the most important task awaits him: putting on the groom’s shirt. The groom makes his way to the bride’s house and the day is filled with touching moments.

From the centre of the village, the groom’s in-laws arrive at the bride’s house with the gifts (scarf and stockings) and make their way to the bride’s house, from where they make their way to the church. There, the unmarried girls and young men fight over the wedding potion. After returning from the wedding (the bride’s father takes the oath), a feast for young and old starts in Repen. The wedding ceremony ends with a dinner, feasting and revelry that lasts until the early hours of the morning.

Register of the married