Woman of the Forest 04
Rite of the First Night - The Countess Devana
"Lada, who with her husband Lado, make the marriage of our People sacred and good, accept our humble and poor gifts."
The young couple knelt, heads bowed, in the grove sacred to their gods. Knelt, but not together. At opposite ends of the grove. Their voices carried through the trees and joined in the center of the grove.
Both were barefoot, as was proper on sacred ground; both were otherwise fully clothed, dressed from ankle to neck, wrist to shoulder, as prescribed by the laws. Their heads were uncovered. Both wore their hair long and unbound, as a symbol of their purity.
Their birds of offering flew to the center of the grove...to mate...the birds were joined now for life.
Watching, seeing from her tower far above, but unseen by the young people, the Countess Devana, thought to herself, "this is a good omen, these are good omens, their voices join in the sacred grove, their offerings find each other and mate. Tonight, will be a proper joining of two for the continuation of their people."
After the ceremony in the sacred grove, the betrothed bathed, separately in the sacred pools. The maiden in the Pool of the Maidens. The young man (our people have no name for an unmarried male, but all others are husbands, or father, grandfather, or uncle) in the Pool of Lado.
The maiden is attended by her female relatives, the male, by his male relatives. This occasion is not as solemn as the rite in the grove, it is for frivolity for jesting for imparting of what wisdom the others have to the betrothed.
Neither female nor male, ever saw another person naked. Their people, while not prudish, were very modest. The wedding bathing party, for so it was a party, was a legitimate time for communal nakedness.
Zora was embarrassed, yet her excitement overrode her shyness. According to custom, her sisters disrobed her prior to the bathing, then the sisters disrobed their mother, and then removed their own garments.
Her eldest sister, Myrene, was several years older than Zara. She had been married for several winters and had one little girl.
Olenna was the youngest of the daughters of Verka, the mother of the three daughters.
The only other woman present was Verka, but she was never spoken to by that name, not even by her husband Janko; at least, not in public. What couples call each other in private is their business.
To her daughters and all others, she was Matka Córek, Mother of Daughters.
Verka was a stern but loving mother; her daughters were all diligent workers. Like Verka, Zara and Myrene were lean, small breasted, long limbed, supple and wiry. Their buttocks were well rounded, but otherwise, they were not the ideal female of myth.
No goddess-like breasts or narrow waists. Their noses were long and their cheeks hollow. While not humorless, their demeanor exuded loyalty, duty, and order.
Olenna, by contrast, was very like her father, Janko. Where he was a bull of a man in stature and lust, Olenna was large and rounded, firm and voluptuous. A saucy tongue and a careless nature were her way.
Olenna, except for her somewhat frivolous nature, appeared to an outsider to be more mature than she actually was. Verka's eyebrows rose in consternation, as she observed Olenna spending entirely too much time bathing her abundant pubic hair and washing for an indelicately long period between her legs.
The Mother of Daughters was relieved, by Myrene's bawdy remonstration of Olenna. "Olenna, we know you, it is not your time of the month, and you have no need as a virgin to wash a man's seed from your pussy, so you must be pleasuring yourself."
It was out of character for Myrene, or any of Verka's daughters to speak thus, but it was a tradition of the bridal bath to speak frankly about such things. Myrene, as the eldest daughter, had broken the ice and the scene descended into one of indecent storytelling and joking.
Illarion, the virgin male (the local vernacular for his status literally translated) was technically correct in this label. In some ways, he was more like Janko, his bride's father-- a robust young man, stoutly built but in no way fat; he was apprenticed to his father Dragomir, the expert blacksmith of the county, along with his brothers, Miroslav, and Casimir.
Illarion was the youngest of the brothers, his elder brothers both married. It was tradition that the eldest siblings be married before the younger. In some families, this was a cause of strife, but not with Ilarion's or Zara's.
There was no ceremony about the disrobing for the men's bath, they all stripped off and jumped into the pool. Except that Illarion hesitated. The tenting of his robe gave away the reason why.
"Save that for Zara, you will have no use for that stiffness here." That was from his father who had just emerged from the pool, sputtering and dripping water all over the stones that encircled the pool.
"Besides, once you enter into the pool, it will shrink anyway," joked Miroslav, who had also just emerged from the icy waters and laughingly displayed his shrunken male parts.
"Oh get over yourself, and get in," grumbled Casimir.
And Illarion did, still wearing his white robe which floated to the surface after his deep dive. Illarion was by far the best diver and swimmer of the family, maybe the county. The pool was nothing compared to the deep, wild river swimming that many of the county enjoyed for sport...but not usually this early in the season.
Dragomir listened to this, and other foolishness mostly in silence. He was not a melancholy man, but he was respected as a serious man, whose few words were worth listening to. This day, he was grateful to the gods that Illarion had made it to a wedding day without disgracing himself, his family, or the maiden, Zara.
For the wedding itself, the ceremony was simple. After the bathing, each party to the marriage, separately, were anointed with the sacred oil of the People, usually an oil scented with balsam for the male and a floral scent for the female, but this was not necessary or obligatory; the oil was, that is, but the choice of scent was entirely personal.
