,,In our family, all the weddings had a lot of knights...'' It is how the family Șteau-Bogat explains one of the most important moments of the wedding in his village. In the village of Călacea, located at 25 kilometres from Timisoara, weddings cannot begin without a step that apparently seems unimportant, compared to the splendour of the other moments of the Romanian weddings. It’s about the moment when the relatives and friends are invited to the wedding... Those who make the convocations are neither the couple who is getting married nor their family!
Those who have to carry the invitations are the knights...
Everything is prepared some time before because there are rules that must be followed: 1.Only unmarried boys can be knights; 2.The young couple who is getting married have to call a few days before the wedding the boys and ask them if they agree to have this burden; 3.After receiving the assent of the boys, the couple must begin the preparations for the decorations of the horses and riders.
To know more about how this tradition works, we spoke with Șteau-Bogat family members who described in detail how the wedding invitation has to be done in their country:”There is a tradition well preserved. It is very moving and very nice. On the day planned to invite the friends and relatives to the wedding, the knights come to the family's home that organizes the wedding. Young girls help riders to dress similarly.
The family provides the decorations of the horses and of the cart: the fabric pieces are put on the boys’ chest, the flag on which there are fixed flowers ... everything. After finishing the preparations, the riders start to go to those who are on the guest list. They are heard by the entire village because they have also a musician with them and sing very joyfully, offering plum brandy to the people they meet on the street. All people come out to see them...
If some guests are not in our village, we don’t take the cart but the car... For all the rest, it takes place in the same way. When they end up doing all the invitations, they return to the house of the family that organizes the wedding and they participate to the party organized for them. The larger the number of riders, the more beautiful the invitation to the wedding. The role of the boys continued nowadays for the wedding feast, where they brighten the atmosphere, dance with the girls, etc.
It is an awesome tradition... ''
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