The Wedding Party ©

Their eyes met across the small village square and immediately felt the connection.
Throughout the rest of the night they floated around each other, not speaking directly but silently making inquiries about the other from friends and relatives.
They learned each other’s names and where they live which was in different villages but not far apart.
Over the next few weeks he made the short journey almost daily by foot to the next village to quietly meet her.
They quickly fell in love and wanted to be together but this is rural Greece and there are rules and traditions to be followed.

At the dinner table he looked at his father and told him that he had found a woman he wanted to marry.
His father looked at his son with a stern look.
This was a hard man.
Like those before him, hunger, blood and hardship were his brothers and family was his pride.
He was a cold hard man with a stone look where a smile rarely creased his face.

He asked his son who the woman was and was informed of her family and whereabouts.
His mother sat in the corner silent with his mentally handicapped older brother listening intensely to the conversation and the desires of her youngest son preparing to go out into the world to start his own family.
His father asked him if this was what he truly wanted.
He told him it was and that was good enough for his father.
As tradition dictates, he sent word that they desired getting together to discuss the possibility of their children getting married.
Normally there wouldn’t be a problem if both parties involve wanted for this to happen but her father refused to hear of it and sent word back to that effect stating that he didn’t want anything to do with their family.
The boy was devastated and the father insulted.
This caused a lot of trouble in the house because the boy was in love with the girl but his father now for bid him to speak of her or her family because they had insulted them.
He was insulted that her father didn’t think his family was good enough for his daughter to marry into.
Pride causes much stress and violence and retribution is swift here where there is no police and the law is meant to protect the guilty rather than the innocent.
Justice and vengeance in this section of the country is common and the police learn about it up to a week later and no one talks.
Over the next few months the young couple still met without anyone knowing, then one day he decided they should leave from here and start new somewhere else.
Upon his return home that day his father asked what he was doing and he told him he was leaving to be with her.
His father was furious, one for disobeying him and still see the girl and secondly for abandoning his family for her.
He whipped the boy relentlessly and almost to death then leaving his son’s limp body bleeding on the floor.
His mother and brother ran to him then carried the boy to the bed to tend to his wounds.
He caught a fever a few days later and it wasn’t known if he would live.
For a week he lay in bed before the fever broke and he started getting better again.
His father came in one night and his son looked at him and told his father that as soon as he was well he was leaving to get the girl like he had planned and he could kill him now if he didn’t approve.
The father just stood there looking down at his son expressionless and without a word turned and left the room.

In the morning when the boy woke up standing right there in front of him at his bed side was the girl.
During the night while he slept, his father road his horse to the next village and found the girl.
He asked her if she wanted to marry his son and she said that she did.
He took her onto his horse and left with her without telling anyone.
They rode straight back to the farm without stopping any where so that they wouldn’t be caught.
In the morning the father sent word to her parents so that they wouldn’t be searching for her and informed them that they will be getting married on the up coming Saturday and no one was going to stop it.
Saturday was 3 days away.
They received a message from the girl’s family forbidding the marriage and demanding her return.
Now you have to remember, the police are days away out here and there are no phones at this time.
The girl was sent to stay with some of the boy’s relative as was proper, until they were married.

Saturday morning arrived and preparations for the wedding were complete.
They went to the church for the ceremony.
As the priest and the couple were inside the church doing their vows, outside were 20 men and boys armed with shoot guns waiting if anyone showed up to protest this wedding.
As it was no one showed up to stop it and it went off without a hitch but the girls family wrote her off and never spoke to her again and still haven’t.

That was 28 years ago and they have 3 grown kids today.
The father, my uncle and mother’s brother was murdered 2 years ago and they finished the inquiry last week and it was concluded that they don’t know and will probably never know who shot him.
It was probably a settling of accounts by the looks of it.
His mother who BTW is my father’s sister is still alive and his brother lives with her for now.

This was one of the stories we shared last night with some of the younger adults at the Bbq I was at last night.
There were four generations sitting there to share some of the stories to be passed on to the next generation and keeping our past alive for the future.
It was quite the feast and there was enough food left over for 20 more people.
I myself will not be eating today that’s for sure.
Each person got a steak, a chicken breast and a pork tenderloin.
There was a bean salad, tomato salad, spinach and cheese pie, fresh breads, Caesar salad, 8 different cheeses and jumbo shrimp.
The dessert table had Black Forrest cake, lemon chiffon pie, apple cheese cake, BAKLAVA, chocolate fudge cake and various other home made pastries.
I am stuffed stuffed stuffed.

I think I will go lay down for a bit.
I hope your weekend is going as great as mine is.




Walker