Traditional Olympian wedding

22 august 2019Olympos, Hellas

Traditional Olympian wedding in Olympos, Karpathos island, Greece.The beginning of the wedding place a couple of days before the wedding day and has to do with the transportation of the groom's dowry to the bride's place, where they are going to live for their new life as a couple. Like everything in Olympos, the event starts with music in both places. Traditional music and on-the-spot made lyrics, known as 'Mantinades' praise both the families. The instruments are the lyre, drum and bagpipe. Traditional wedding in Olympos is a custom that is not taking place too often. It takes a lot of preparation so it not easy to perform. The family starts preparing a couple of weeks before, making many treats to offer to the whole village. Most of the people in the village are invited and since it is August, the village is quite full.The bride to be is getting ready inside her home which takes a few hours, because she has to put on her traditional dress. This consists of three layers of clothing and many accessories, being the scarf and a lot of jewelry. She gets help by her relatives. The girls are really peculiar about wearing the scarf properly. They will make the one helping them untie and tie again many times. I honestly couldn't see any difference in each version.The groom is getting dressed up in his place and gets a lot to drink by his friends and family. In both houses there is a lot of music and singing, which is not always happy. There will be a lot of emotion and tears as with all Olympian customs. When the bride has got ready, she will go to the room where all the men are, singing "Mantinades", songs with on-the-spot made lyrics praising members of the family and remembering passed away relatives. The musicians will escort the groom to the church and then leave to go and pick up the bride.

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