Paper wedding flowers made by Odarka Iakivna Panchenko, age 93, village of Domantovo, Chornobais'kyi region. The flowers are not carried by the bride but by the svitilka, the groom's sister or cousin. There are two wax candles inside the bouquet which are lit during the wedding banquet. One candle represents the bride and the other the groom. Which candle burns down first predicts which of the spouses will be the first to die.
The cathedral of St. Volodymyr in Kyiv, a popular place to hold weddings.
The bridal couple is greeted by the groom's parents when they arrive at his home. Photograph taken in the village of Krut'ky, Chornobais'kyi region, August 15, 1998. Please note that the parents greet the couple with special wedding breads called shyshky which the hold on ritual towels called rushnyky.
Many brides wear traditional dress which has red and black embroidery on natural linen and many wear western-style dress. The salon in Cherkasy which appears in this photo offers western style wedding gowns. The interesting red dress on the right is a wedding gown. The color red is a compromise between western-style white dress and traditional red embroidery.
A wedding salon in the city of Kyiv. Please note that it, too, stocks red dresses as well as white ones. In addition to the dress, an important part of the wedding is the ritual cloth or rushnyk. Not only are ritual clothes used to greet the couple, as above, but the couple stands on a cloth to take they vows.
Another view of the wedding salon in Kyiv. On the left are more ritual towels. In the middle are icons. It is traditional to give the couple two icons to bless their marriage. These are carried on ritual clothes during the wedding and hung over the couples' bed, surrounded by a rushnyk, in the home.
A street vendor selling wedding rushnyky in Kyiv. The ritual cloths can be bought in a wedding salon. They can be purchased on the street. Many street vendors sell hand-made rushnyky, often their own work. Rushnyky can also be ordered from the many professional embroiderers in each city.
During the wedding banquet held for the couple in Krut'ky. This group sat in the corner because they wanted to sing old wedding songs, many of which had an openly erotic content.
Ritual breads baked for the wedding in Krut'ky, August 15, 1998. The breads on the left are called shyskky and the squarish bread on the right is a korovai. The korovai is equivalent to a wedding cake; it is THE ceremonial pastry.
A vendor at a bazar in Kyiv selling a very fancy korovai, along with other baked goods.
The foods being prepared for the wedding in Krut'ky. Between the relatives and guests of the groom and the relatives and guests of the bride, some 400 people attended this wedding. This explains the huge pots of food.
Odarka Iakivna Panchenko, age 93, village of Domantovo, Chornobais'kyi region, August 13, 1998. Odarka Iakivna is very active. In addition to wedding bouquets and wreaths, she makes paper flowers to decorate icons. She gets on public transportation, no mean feat in the Ukrainian countryside for anyone of any age, travels to cities like Cherkasy and Kyiv, and sells her wares.
One of the interesting features of a Ukrainian wedding ceremony is that the groom's
side and the bride's side party separately, even after the taking of vows, whether in
a church or a civil ceremony.