Katrina Thomas Ethnic Wedding Photographs

A guest performs the halling, a display of male physical prowess by kicking a hat off the end of a pole. This folk dance for couples originated in Hallingdal, the men executing difficult leaps, kicks, and other acrobatic stunts to demonstrate vigor and virility., Katrina Thomas's notes: Although Norwegians are the most numerous of the Scandinavian immigrant groups, many starting in the 1800's to settle the upper Midwest, weddings that keep customs are difficult to find. However, at a strictly Wasp reception, I photograph a bride of Norwegian descent, who shares kransekake, the traditional wedding cake. Eventually, in 1999, a Norwegian museum in Iowa informs me that a bride in California will borrow its copy of a 19th century wedding crown. She is of Norwegian ancestry whereas the bridegroom is of Scottish mix. I fly west to photograph the nuptial rite, performed in a Lutheran church, and after it, a potluck reception. In combining the two ethnic traditions, Norwegian musical instruments lead the procession to the nuptials, and a bagpipe leads the newlyweds to the reception.

During the wedding the feast, women dance in the bride's family house, celebrating the marriage, while the men remain outdoors in the yard eating and drinking, where children play on swings and seesaws., Katrina Thomas's notes: Sikh culture is based on a distinctive religion, founded more than 500 years ago by a mystic in the Punjab, a region of the northwest Indian subcontinent. It is a monotheistic creed which bridges the gap between Hinduism and Islam. In the 19th century many Sikhs emigrated, specifically to California, looking for work in lumbering and railroad construction. Their temples, known as gurdwaras, are centers of religious, communal, and political activities. Many couples are matched. They have faith in the wisdom of their families, who match them, and tend to stay together because of the parental support they receive in times of marital trouble. I photograph first in Richmond Hill, Queens, NY, where many Sikhs reside, and later in Yuba City, CA, where there are three gurdwaras. The course of a wedding includes the arrival of the barat/the groom's party, the milni/the greeting of the two families, the anand karaj/the nuptial rite which is followed by lunch and dancing in the bride's home or rented hall, and the doli, being the sad departure of the bride, leaving her family for her husband's home.

When the bride price is established and paid, the wedding is celebrated the next day by honoring the families and ancestral spirits. One of See's messengers, holding the umbrella representing her, calls out names of her family, both living and dead. Toua and his best man respond by falling to the floor, kowtowing twice to each of her relatives., Katrina Thomas's notes: Originally inhabiting the mountainous regions of southern China and northern areas of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, a few Hmong began to emigrate from Laos starting in 1975. Due to devastation and loss during the Vietnam War, an estimated 145, 000 came to the U.S. The first wedding I photograph is Hmong Christian in Minneapolis in1986. Later weddings, photographed in Fresno, CA, retain their animist traditions, heeding the spirits and demons of nature, and honoring ancestors. The couple meet when playing a courtship game of pom pov during a festival held in late December and if a boy and girl like each other, he kidnaps her and sends a message to her family that he wants to marry. In preparing for every wedding four "messengers, two from each family, negotiate her bride price, which is preceded by a tie hand" rite, designed to facilitate a favorable outcome. The wedding itself is feasting and ritual drinking by men, according to many rules, while the bridegroom and best man genuflect constantly to honor living and dead members of both families. As the Hmong have become integrated into mainstream society, many of their marriage customs have disappeared.

The barn, in which the Holy Breakfast is held after Nadya and Mike's nuptial rite, is a temporary structure of plastic, stretched on hoops, similar to many greenhouses, erected for growing early-season vegetable seedlings in this agricultural community., Katrina Thomas's notes: These dissenters refused to accept liturgical reforms imposed on the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th Century and were forced to flee persecution. Seeking to preserve their religion as a way of life, they moved first to outlying regions of Moscow, eventually fleeing Communism in both the Soviet Union and China to colonize countries around the world. In the 1960's, several groups reached Oregon and have remained. Although they are reclusive, with luck and persistence I manage to photograph unique customs at two weddings of a people who live much as they did in Old Russia "as God made them" without using make-up, or cutting their hair, or shaving. They wear peasant dress and play no musical instruments. Their music is liturgical chant, sung in unison in church by both men and women. At receptions, wedding guests dance to singing by women. No photographs are permitted in their churches. Nevertheless, despite faithfully honoring centuries-old customs, they cannot withstand completely the influences of U.S. wedding culture.

To comply with the custom of a bride circling the central hearth, when she arrives at her new home, Julie is led by the best man three times around a candle set on the carpet because there is no central hearth in the bridegroom's apartment. Some members of her husband's family are present, but he is not. His aunt, her matron of honor carries her train., Katrina Thomas's notes: An Albanian wedding in the Bronx, NY in 1986 retains unique customs based on tribal culture which signal that a bride is joining another clan. Marriages are arranged but a matched pair may refuse the partner. On the morning of the wedding, while the bride dresses, her family entertains guests at a large celebration. When she is ready to go to church, they say farewell to their daughter because they will not attend either her nuptials or the bridegroom's reception in the evening. In fact, after the wedding she is not permitted to see her family or return to her childhood home for a specified number of days. When she does visit, she is no longer treated like a daughter but as a guest. For a year after marriage, she is considered to be a bride and when her own sisters enter a room she stands in respect. As Albanians have become Americanized many of these customs have been dropped.

Jackie and John cut two cakes, an American wedding cake and a traditional Carpathian wedding bread, baked by John's mother, who decorated it with three masts representing the Holy Trinity and two dough birds representing the couple. Their guests divide it, wrapping it in periwinkle, a Carpatho-Rusyn custom which assures fertility in the marriage., Katrina Thomas's notes: The homeland of Carpatho-Rusyns is located on the slope of the Carpathian Mountains where the borders of Ukraine, Slovakia and Poland meet. Never having had their own state, they have lived since the sixth century as a national minority in kingdoms whose borders frequently change. And yet they manage to keep their traditional customs, marrying under gilt crowns in the tradition of Eastern Rite Christianity, accompanied by Carpathian plainchant. I photographed two weddings observing various traditions, the highlight of both being the Rjadovyj, during which everyone dances with the bride, ending with the bride's mother placing a silk matron's cap, a cepec, on her daughter's head, while guests line-dancing shoulder to shoulder close in around the new wife, forming walls through which the bridegroom must fight his way to capture her and carry her away.

Michele and Bob entertain their wedding guests with a traditional flirtation dance, Kozachko Vikruchenka, during which the bridegroom shows off his acrobatic ability and the bride her graceful, intricate footwork., Katrina Thomas's notes: The homeland of Carpatho-Rusyns is located on the slope of the Carpathian Mountains where the borders of Ukraine, Slovakia and Poland meet. Never having had their own state, they have lived since the sixth century as a national minority in kingdoms whose borders frequently change. And yet they manage to keep their traditional customs, marrying under gilt crowns in the tradition of Eastern Rite Christianity, accompanied by Carpathian plainchant. I photographed two weddings observing various traditions, the highlight of both being the Rjadovyj, during which everyone dances with the bride, ending with the bride's mother placing a silk matron's cap, a cepec, on her daughter's head, while guests line-dancing shoulder to shoulder close in around the new wife, forming walls through which the bridegroom must fight his way to capture her and carry her away.

Rather than banging on glasses, bridal attendants, toast the newlyweds in song and provoke them to kiss by singing traditional words, Negerai, negerai pabuciavai meaning "Not good, not good, you did not kiss well, which encourages the couple to kiss again., Katrina Thomas's notes: Perhaps one million Lithuanians now live in the U.S., the greatest number in Chicago, and have been emigrating since the 19th century. Most are Roman Catholic; some are Lutheran. The first wedding I photograph keeps the most traditions, the bride wearing national dress which was woven, embroidered, and sewn especially for her. The newlyweds enter the feast under traditional handwork, a bridge of embroidered sashes, held by their attendants. For them, special dances are performed, and there are customs welcoming the bride to housewifely duties. They share a spikey wedding cake, baked over a fire. Recalling the past in the old country, the bride may carry a symbolic flame from the hearth of her childhood home, which after her marriage she might never ever visit, to the conjugal home where she will live as a wife. The newlyweds leave their celebration through gates formed by the wedding guests, exchanging kisses as they pass.

During their wedding reception, Kathleen and Philip eat from the same bowl. Sharing their first food is a marriage rite, practiced by brides and bridegrooms in many cultures around the world.

Music is provided by guests playing native instruments, all handmade with metal strings. The drum surfaces are cowhide, stretched over five-gallon plastic oil cans. Some instruments are hooked up to an amplifier., Katrina Thomas's notes: A coastal province on the Red Sea, Eritrea, with a mixed population of Christians and Muslims, annexed by Ethiopia has had an ongoing struggle for independence, which has induced many to migrate to the U.S. since the 1960's. Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia following a 30-year war, lasting from 1961 to 1991. I photograph weddings for two newly arrived Christian couples, who are educated but poor. Brides dress in western wedding gowns while women guests wear native dress with a shawl of white hand woven cotton, known as abesha kemis. Men in western suits often grab a woman's shawl, a netela, to wrap around their waists or hips when dancing. The music at these weddings is provided by handmade native instruments. The food is distinctive, eaten in the hand from a common plate and fed to one another. Drink is barley beer and mes, fermented honey. Most photographable is the custom of dancing around the newlyweds, honoring them by tucking money into their clothing or plastering it on their faces.