Ploieşti, Romania

2019-11-11, 15:02, JASON

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Out in rural Ploieşti, a Romanian couple prepare for their marriage. We were lucky enough to be groomsmen.

We start out getting ready with the gentlemen for a day of festivities.

An eager groom is often calm

The bride gets ready at her father's house with the help of her bridesmaids. As the groom procession goes to meet the fiancee, he is blocked by the bridesmaids, and has to politefully request to enter. They don't accept the request, and asks the groom his intentions (and to do some embarrasing things).

There is no Romanian wedding without a "hora" - a circular dance in which participants join hands and move in and out of the center, usually in steps of three. The live music blares, with a player on the synth generating what can only be described as loud Europop with riffs. The singer sings passionately and quickly to the beat. His tongue flickers swiftly. I asked a Romanian about the hora, and he said it's "not so much a cultural thing as it is a trance." The trance of the hora overcomes you as you engage in this routine dance, lasting 20+ minutes. We dance outside while we wait for the bride to ready herself.

In the bride's house, the godmother -- a previously wedded couple who the couple goes to for advice -- breaks the ceremonial bread over the bride, reciting her blessings for their marriage. People onlook quietly with tears, the bride herself wiping her makeup occasionally. The groom looks on with a bright smile.

We approach an old art museum to take some pictures prior to heading to the wedding ceremony.

When we finally reach the church, there is another wedding before. Apparently, it's bad luck for brides to see each other on their wedding day, so they try to avoid contact. Meanwhile, outside, a few gypsies ask for donation so that they do not pester and continue to stay on the church grounds.

An Orthodox wedding is like a Christian one, only with a few more ceremonies rituals. It's pretty dramatic. There's a choir call-and-response, fire burning, crown wearing, head-to-bible touching, communion taking, among other things. I want to be respectful and stand there and observe, but also can't help but take pictures at the cultural mystery that is unfolding in front of my eyes. My intrigue gets the better of me.

After the marriage, the reception starts in a tent outside. There are drinks in the foyer and a MC and his performance troup run the show inside with dance performances scattered in between speeches. After the planned events, the dance floor opens. more horas ensue, some that get as big as 40-50 people. The smaller horas get engulfed by the bigger horas until everyone on the dancefloor is dancing. You can't duck out as a means ot save face. That is the trance of the hora.

The groom once again has to work. The bride is not going to be given to him that easily. She stands on a stage, and in order for the husband to get her, he has to do some embarrasing things. They make him do a silly dance or two, and also ask him to formally state his vows and intentions. She gives in (now would be too late to back out anyhow!) and they are united. They share their first dance together. Then, more horas.

The last tradition is that, the wedding party (bridesmaids, groomsmen) will steal the bride and groom away from the entire reception and so somewhere to party for a bit. While everyone is in a hora, we quietly sneak away in our cars and take the bride and groom to a dive bar. The bar's pretty much someone's backyard, but people there are cheering, and the bartender buys us a round of shots to celebrate her special day. No pictures from this portion - by this time I am sufficiently drunk.

The next day, we wake up at 10:00 to go to the bride's house to drink hangover soup. It's this wonderfully delicious tomato based sour soup, with god knows what in it (I think chicken kidneys or something?). Whatever it is, it is working and delicious. There's a bunch of bread to soak up the alcohol too. There is also more alcohol. So, we continue to drink visinata (their homemade alcohol) while we drink the soup. The bride's father - a large man with a handlebar mustache but a gentle soul - gives us a tour around his garden and his house, which he had just finished building himself. He offers us tomatoes grown from his very own backyard.

The day ends at about 13:00 whereby we go to the train station, catching a train to Brasov for a day trip. Congratulations, Andreea and Alex. Thanks for having us and inviting us to the wedding party.