Die Sitten der Volker, Volume 3

This picture is titled “Choosing a Bride on Christmas Eve”. The text reads: “In some Russian villages it is a custom, that young women who wish to marry go to the house of the oldest person in the village on Christmas Eve. They all take a seat next to one another and are covered with a large cloth. Then, the young men of the village who wish to marry enter the house one at a time. If they bow before one of the young women, the elder raises the cloth and the young couple are considered engaged. However, the young couples usually arrange a sign of some sort in advance, so that the young man can recognize the women he wishes to select before the veil is raised.”