|
MARRIAGE & WEDDINGS
OF OUR ANCESTORS
Published at DVHH.org by Jody McKim Pharr
In the past, the rosemary, as
a symbol of friendship, love, and faith accompanied the
entire wedding. The persons going around to invite the
appropriate people to a weeding carried a stick decorated
with rosemary. The richly decorated hat of the groom
contained branches of rosemary, while the myrtle wreath of
the bride, the honour crown of virginity, was worn on the
wedding day for the last time. The large Danube-Swabian
bridal wreaths and bridal crowns were artistic confections
of pearls, leaves, and flowers – all made of wax – but also
incorporated branches of myrtle and rosemary. Branches of
myrtle made from wax and ribbons were part of the bridal
crown in Mramorak (Serbian Banat). On the left lapel of
their jacket and blouse, both the groom and the bride wore a
little bouquet of rosemary branches. The wedding guests also
wore a branch of rosemary: the men in the buttonhole of the
jacket, the women mostly in their hands.
When leaving the parental home, where first
the parents and then all guests wished the bridal pair faithfulness in
marriage and a happy married life, the rosemary branch
passed from hand to hand as a symbolic expression of this
ritual act. Even during dinner the rosemary remained among
the guests. When serving the roast, the waiters presented
each guest, amids great cheering, with a glass of wine
decorated with rosemary. This was followed by “Hauben” – the removal
of the bride’s myrtle bouquet and its replacement by a
woman’s bonnet, while singing matrimonial songs – all
acceptance rituals for the bride into the group of married
women.
Because the authorities generally only permitted immigrants to enter the country as families, many of those who were not yet married found themselves forced to marry before departing or, by the latest, somewhere along the way. Records for many such marriages can be found at churches in Danube ports and places such as the Wengen Church in Ulm. During the first decades of settlement, a remarkably large number of widows and widowers were among the couples to wed this way. For example, only one third of the marriages performed in communities of the Bóly (Bohl) estate were for two persons who had never before been married. It was part of the settlers’ survival strategy related to the high mortality rate: Widowed persons could not run a farm alone, so it was often necessary to remarry within just weeks of a spouse’s death.
For many men, marrying a widow was the easiest way to get residency. Young women, too, profited from marrying an older widower, thereby gaining a secure livelihood. It was thus quite common to find significant age differences between spouses. All of this resulted in unusual family structures where children from different marriages lived together. Children who had lost one or both parents stayed in the new family or were placed with foster parents. Their mortality rate was nonetheless exceptionally high, especially among infants and toddlers.
|
"The Wengen Kirche (Church)"
(submitted by Hans
Kopp)
Single men were not
allowed to become
colonists, so they had
to find a bride among
the many young maidens
and be married before
they could board the
barges at Vienna to
continue their voyage
down the Danube to their
destination. If
your ancestors were
Catholic and married
there, their marital
records will be found at
the Wengen Kirche in
Ulm. The church was
destroyed during WWII.
There is a new church
erected in its place.
Painting in the office
of the parish. |
|
Weddings
in Semlak, Banat
by Rose Mary Keller Hughes
Wedding
Customs
by Dr.
Viktor Pratscher
At Weddings
by Peter Lang
Marriage and Divorce Laws
1867-1906 for:
Austria
/ Hungary
/ Croatia and Slavonia
Civil Marriage Bill 1894: During 1894
Austria-Hungary was much troubled with religious questions.
Pressure from high quarters finally induced the Hungarian House
of Magnates to pass a Civil Marriage Bill similar to the laws of
other countries in Continental Europe. The long wrangling of
parties over this and kindred questions which agitated the
Austro-Hungarian Empire finally led to another Ministerial
crisis at the very close of 1894; whereupon Dr. Wekerle, the
Liberal Austrian Prime Minister, was forced to resign. (The
Standard History of the World, Vol. 7 Edited by John Herbert
Clifford)
WEDDING PHOTOS
(various contributors)
Wedding Cakes made in Fibisch (1967) & the Hochzeits (Wedding) of Fibisch
~ Thomas & Altenbach Family / Natalie Schreiber Thomas
Fibisch Wedding
~ Thomas & Altenbach Family / Natalie Schreiber Thomas
Fibisch Wedding
~ Thomas & Altenbach Family / Natalie Schreiber Thomas
 |
Fibisch Wedding
~ Thomas & Altenbach Family / Natalie Schreiber Thomas
 |
My great grandparents Ana Hörl and Andreas Gärber on their wedding day in Cernik 1910 ~ Dan Larson
Kristina Konrad and John Theiss - Wedding Photo in Vizejdia, Timis, Romania. ~ Linda John-Theis
I'd like to share a photo of my Buck (or Buk) family, which came from Čajkovci (Tschajkowzi) in present day Croatia. My GGrandmother Maria Krapfenbauer and her husband Anton Buck came to Detroit in 1910 or so. Pictured is a wedding of his brother Frank Buck. Looking for any information I can get, or suggestions on how to proceed to get said info. Family Search church books have produced no hits, from Virpolje. ~ Richard Robbins
My Oma & Opa's wedding picture - Anna Brettl & Lorenz Karch. Others in this photo are Oma's cousin Peter Dittrich, Carolina Dittrich, Susanna Dittrich Brettl, cousin Magdalina Dittrich, Maria Karch (Opa's mom) ~Rebecca Melillo
Marriage certificate from Kingdom of SCS.
~ Mike Patzek IV., Column Explanations Translated by Stefan Gužvica:
|
1st: number of the document (23).
2nd: "Place and time of marriage: Brestowatz, 18th January 1919." (at least I think it's January, that's the torn part of the document).
3rd: "First and last name, occupation, religion, age and residence of the groom: Mihailo Pacek (Michael Patzek), Day laborer, Roman Catholic, (DoB is torn, but it looks like 1893 or 1895), Brestowatz. First and last name of parents: Mihailo Pacek (Michael Patzek), Klara R (last name unreadable)."
4th: "First and last name, occupation, religion, age and residence of the bride: Elizabeta Fogl (Elizabeth Vogel), Day laborer, Roman Catholic, 14th April 1897, Brestowatz
First and last name of parents:
Florijan Fogl (Florian Vogel), Klara Mu (also unreadable)"
5th: "First and last name and residence of the witnesses: Jozef Hajm (Joseph Heim), Brestowatz
Florian (last name unreadable), Brestowatz".
6th: I can't read the handwritten text but it only says the name of the state registrar who performed the wedding. His last name ends in "berger", so I'm guessing he is also a German. |
|
I have been working on trying to find where or what village my Great grandparents are from. Their last name Long it and Kubovic. Although GGM spellings have been shown as Kubovic, Kubowitz. I have a paper that states czecho/Slovakia, and then Austria/Hungry. Since borders changed so much not sure where to start.
This is their wedding picture. I love it. ~ Carla Rissie
My in-laws wedding, Deronje 1928. Sophie Reiter Schaeffer and Anton Schaeffer. ~ Barbara Anne Teves Schaeffer
|
