I cannot resist some sentimental and cultures related impressions following the grand event of the Church Wedding of my niece Zosia with Pierre

 which took place on 27^th June 2003

 

Grandmother Wanda had her first granddaughter married!

For the first time She is a mother of a mother-in-law.

For the first time I myself am a sister of a mother-in-law and a godmother of a Frenchman’s wife and also of an imported nephew with whom I cannot communicate but in a foreign language (for the time being).

All our children, i.e. the remaining number of Granny Wanda’s grandchildren have got an imported brother-in-law or first-cousin-brother/brother-in-law.

 

The event was unique and unprecedented. The ceremony was very elegant and gave the feeling of the awareness of sticking to good traditions.

As it happens, our new fragment of in-married relatives are Roman Catholics who are practising worshippers. This seems rare in today’s France. Therefore I would dare state that Zosia followed her father in the matter of choices of partners for life (which certainly is not true for her godmother).

 

Prior to the arrival at church, the fiances couple were given a traditional blessing from the Parents and both Grandmothers. Granny Wanda gave them a picture of the black Madonna of Częstochowa as a souvenir of a holy mass ordered by her for their benefit which was being held exactly at the time she was blessing them.

 

Then a white balloons decorated vintage Volkswagen Bug cabrio with a driver wearing white gloves arrived to take them to church (thanks to Tomek and Grzegorz Dobrowolski).

 

The church ceremony was marked by beautiful decoration in terms of garments mainly. All French ladies were prolonged upwards while our domestic ladies happened to be prolonged downwards. It was owing to superb hats in the first case and full length dresses in the second. As I was told by the groom’s father, in France, it is a tradition to wear dress matching hats to church on such occasions. It was only my sister who combined both those culture-based elements wearing a hat and a long dress. Besides, next to the young couple there sat two identical dresses in colour ecru with small bunches of yellow roses wrapped in the dress material: two bridesmaids Ania and Magda.

 

The marriage itself was held bilingual. Only the very oath was solely in French which the priest announced to us in Polish so we knew what was going to happen. The priest spoke so clearly that all non-French speakers understood everything and were perfectly convinced that the young couple swore their true love, even our German friends who had also been invited to come. They made yet another European group of Roman Catholics.  However, I leave it to everyone’s imagination to interpret the meaning of dropped wedding rings while being handed by the altar-boy to the priest...

 

The Bible reading in Polish was done by my brother-in-law Grzegorz Dobrowolski who is experienced in this kind of activities, and the French verses were read out by Pierre’s brother Gaëtan, the was-to-be priest. Later, the same brother and his Father sang a French song accompanied by their guitar.

 

The wedding reception was held in a restaurant not very far from the church. It was a new place with large dance floor and splendid cuisine.

 

Once all the traditional forms of welcoming the newly married couple into the premises were complete, still before soup was served (broth with kołduny), Granny Wanda took matters in her hands (as usual), i.e. the microphone, and addressed her new grandson and his Family (included in this web site) both in French and Polish (my thanks go to my other goddaughter Hania Janosik for emergency translation).

 

In the course of wedding party events we presented a historic show, worked up by Grzegorz Dobrolowlski (a specialist in social activities): the Polish-French Celebrities Couples, which somehow was an obvious summary of this marriage. The pictures included in this www show how it looked. What it sounded was a tri-lingual comment and music in the background. Olga operated the tape recorder, Grzegorz read out the Polish comments to suit the name plates held up by the two bridesmaids followed by my (clumsy) French version and followed by the German version read out by Kasia. It is worth noting that my sister Kasia does not speak any  German at all (despite her German classes at the University for two years) I only ‘gave her an audition’ on the phone a day before. The show was a complete surprise to everyone, the organisers including.

 

Just after midnight Zosia and Pierre underwent the traditional treatment that must be applied to every newly married lady: giving up her maiden veil for a married woman’s bonnet, which in this case was an apron embroidered by Granny Wanda herself. The action involves many funny rituals concerning both the bride and the bridegroom accompanied by respective songs. Once Zosia was dressed in the apron, a piglet in flames arrived on a table so she was able to serve it to all the Wedding Guests with no fear of staining the white dress.

 

The dancing and festive atmosphere went on to about 3.00 in the morning.

 

Next day my co-god-parent showed up. The godfather of Zosia had thought the wedding was held on a Saturday and not Friday, which is very unlikely in Poland for such an occasion. Yet he came just right for the Repetition Party held in the garden at a Double Family Size Grill with beer and French wine. All colleagues, friends, neighbours and mates came. A real reinforcement and consolidation meeting! It was fun.

 

Olga, my daughter was the cameraman so the film is due in a bout a six-months time.....

All the presented pictures were taken by me

Barbara Thun

 

 

<<<<