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DANA'S STORY
Dear friends,
I haven't written any article
for a while, as I've been quite busy lately. You may guess what the occasion
was-if you just look at the picture. Vladimir asked me to write the
"whole story" about Juraj-my husband and me.
It all begun on October 14,
1995. One of my cousins was getting married and I was invited to come for the
wedding. The party was wonderful and we-young people were really enjoying
ourselves. Those who know me personally surely understand why the video camera
was constantly pointing at me. You know it’s unbelievable how crazy I can
get when dancing. And who was behind the camera? It was he-Juraj, my husband.
None of us could tell that day that meeting each other and spending some time
together talking and dancing at my cousin's wedding would once result in our
own one ...
Since then we started seeing
each other more and more. He became a frequent visitor of the university where
I work and I traveled to Martin, where his family lives, more often. I learned
more about video cameras, about making and editing films from him, more about
dancing-Juraj used to dance rock and roll professionally. On the other hand I
led him into beauty of folklore-and that was something new for him. I
literally made him love Slovak folk songs and dance, "pulled" him to
each folk festival and performance. We spent three wonderful summers in
Portugal with different folk groups. Finally, after more that 3 years of
"careless life" we came to this big decision - spend the rest of our
life together.
Saturday January 23, 1999 was
the Big D.
Although everything was
well-prepared, I felt absolutely nervous! My first steps in the morning led to
the hairdresser. She did a perfect job, thanks, Jarka! Then we all went to
Budca,
near Zvolen, to my grandmother's, where "odobierka" was going to take place.
odobierka nevesty– that's a Slovak tradition when the bridegroom comes to
the bride's house together with his family and "starejsi." Starejsí is
usually a man who asks-in the name of the bridegroom-the bride's parents and
family to let their daughter get married and leave the house. It's a lovely
tradition, it is very touching, and parents usually do a lot of crying while
wedding songs are sung, music plays, and "their children" are
kissing them goodbye. It was the same with us with one exemption: starejsi
was not a man, it was a girl, my friend who I used to play with in the folk
band Valaska at university in Banska Bystrica-Lubka Tumova. We were
expecting them to come at about 2 PM and by that time I had already been
dressed up, prepared and waiting for my future husband, hidden in front of the
eyes of the other people. Only a mother and a close friend can see the bride
before odobierka starts, that's what the tradition says. So, Juraj, his family
and Lubka together with Slavka, her sister. Another surprise came at 2.
Odobierka was wonderful, then we sat down for a while and had a talk, but soon
it was time to go...
The wedding ceremony was
planned for 4:30, so at 4:20 we were already standing in front of the City
Hall of Banska Bystrica. I couldn't believe my own eyes! There was the whole
children’s folk group Maticiarik coming from the town, members of folk
groups Hronka and Urpin waiting inside, as well as my colleagues from the
university, some of my students and, of course a lot of our friends and
relatives. I was amazed, what can I say? About a hundred people came to see
our wedding ceremony. It went on smoothly. My former conservatory students
prepared a beautiful program for us (they played and sang during the ceremony)
and after the newly appointed mayor of Banska Bystrica proclaimed us husband
and wife, we went out to the corridor where "my children" from Maticiarik
started dancing, playing and singing wedding songs. It was like a real
performance! The dancers asked the newly married couple for one dance and then
we were given a lot of flowers, gifts, and congratulations.
People who watched this
"cultural event" told us later that Banska Bystrica's City Hall
has never experienced such a wedding ceremony.
My husband and I went to the
photo studio to have some official wedding pictures shot and then the party at
the restaurant could start. We again followed the tradition. Lubka, as a
starejsi, dropped a plate on the floor and it broke to a million pieces.
Juraj was supposed to clean it all with a broom. As I was trying to help him,
all my relatives were kicking the pieces to different corners of the room.
Finally we managed to put everything in order and Juraj carried me to the
table in his own arms! We had dinner and after that we started dancing. To
tell the truth, we didn't plan to have any dancing and we didn't expect any
musicians to come. But ... they didn't tell anybody, just appeared there at
the party, and started playing. So we really had fun, six of my
colleague-musicians came and guess what? When I heard them playing, I simply
had to take my viola and play with them! Everybody was laughing.
The party only lasted four
hours, but it seemed to us as if we had been dancing and singing all night.
Everybody enjoyed it, I can tell. Thanks to my family, friends and colleagues
we had a wonderful wedding.
I would like to say thank you
to my parents and to my family for everything they’ve done for me. Special
thanks to my mother because she is the one who never says NO to me, she is the
one I will always love and respect.
Thank you all, my friends,
for your congratulations, for beautiful flowers and gifts, for all those
wonderful wedding cards. Thanks to you, Vlado, for the chance you gave me to
tell about this beautiful day in my life to the whole world.
Yours Dana
Dana Hodulova
A. Bernolaka 2
962 12 Detva
Slovakia
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BACK TO PEOPLE STORIES
Published in the
Slovak Heritage Live newsletter Volume 7, No. 2, Summer 1999
Copyright © Vladimir Linder 1999
3804 Yale
Street, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5C 1P6
The above article and photographs may not be copied, reproduced,
republished, or redistributed by any means including electronic, without
the express written permission of Vladimir
Linder. All rights reserved.
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