Second Trimester (Winter)

WEDDING ARC

Pt 22A: It’s Settled Then

CAPTIONS AS TEXT

– Today had been a productive day. It made Agron look forward to a bright future indeed. Everything had been taken care of:

– His mother and cousin had visited the village market, where finery could be bought, sold, and traded. Special orders could be crafted to perfection.

– The shops had everything one could ask for, and soon everything was purchased to tide the family over for the days ahead.

– Saxon delivered the animal sacrifices to the local Temple of Freyja.

– Though the ceremonies were best held in summer, when honey for mead and ale was plentiful, time was of the essence. This had to be done before Spring.

– Sigga, the High Priestess, was very accomodating of their needs. There was adequate room and provisions she could make ready for the week of feasting.

– Agron and his uncle Awun made the long trek up the hills to the family burial grounds. Not only did Agron want to see Duro’s grave, but there were family heirlooms needed.

– Nasir made the necessary ablutions and purification preparations, nestled in a cocoon of bliss. It was settled: tomorrow he would make for the Temple with Agron….

– And be wed.

– Agron wanted to legally give Nasir his name, his heart, his life. Though not one to make big gestures, with such a proposal the little Syrian couldn’t help but scream. YES.

MY THOUGHTS

My babies are getting married! ^0^

In light of recent events, with gay marriage finally being legal in the
US (*epic fistpump*), I decided to alter my storyline a bit so Nagron
could get hitched earlier. (Originally I was gonna have them get married way later, cuz reasons – you’ll see, eventually *chuckles sinisterly*.)

In the captions, Agron’s feeling particularly good one morning, because with his family’s help he got a lot of important stuff done: His mom and cousin were sent out to buy all the wedding clothes and stuff, then Saxon paid to rent out the Temple venue to hold the ceremony, while Agron and his uncle went to the family grave, to give ritual prayers and collect some heirlooms that get passed down or whatever.

I was inspired by some Norse wedding traditions. It’s still gonna be anachronistic as EFF, since it’s a sims’ wedding and unfortunately there’s no hand-fasting, or even hand-fasting CC or poses. But ah well, suspend your belief a bit. 😛 

WEDDING TRIVIA 101

Some important steps before Norse/Germanic marriage are:

– SACRIFICES AND PRAYERS: typically to either Freyr or Freyja, the Norse gods of love and fertility and marriage and all that good stuff. Nagron’s going to get married at the Temple of Freyja, because I say so. Even though it feels way too much like a church, and in circa 70 BC Christianity didn’t even exist yet, and the northmen pagans weren’t converted for at least another half-millennium. >_< Just pretend it’s a pagan temple, okay!?

Honeymoons: Usually the Norse would get married outside, during the summer or autumn because honey was key for all the mead they drank, as well as whatever was going on with the Bridal Cup and other symbolic rituals. Plus, as they usually had week or month-long feats afterwards, people had to be fed, and the food was more plentiful in the nicer seasons. That’s where we get the term honeymoon, people. Honey – Moon, at least a full month (or moon cycle) or feasting and drinking honeyed mead/ale after the wedding. 😉 Thank you, paganism!

Legal Claims: But I figured Agron decides to ask Nasir now, because he doesn’t want the baby to be illegitimate, so Agron can properly pass down the family name and wealth and titles to the child. If they wait for summer the baby would be born already, so ain’t nobody got time for that! It’s not a religious thing; it’s a practicality thing. Agron has a lot of male relatives, and he wants to make sure it’s HIS Little Man and HIS baby that get first dibs. 8)

– LIFE-DEATH-REBIRTH: the groom would have to go into the family grave and collect the sword of a male ancestor buried there, to symbolically take on the role as the next head of his household, able to wield a sword to defend his family. Plus, the northmen were all about honoring the dead ancestors, and life-death-rebirth ceremonies. The groom enters the tomb, the land of the dead, as a bachelor, and emerges reborn as a family man.

Old, New, Borrowed, Blue: The Victorian something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue stems all the way back to these ancient rites – getting the old sword, family members passing on the bridal crowns and circlets to the bride, and Blue was back then the color of purity, and brides would often wear blue, not white. They didn’t have a ton of Clorox bleach back then anyways.

So whatever, naturally Agron had to go to the tomb to say hi to Duro, and his dead father. He didn’t get a sword though; he got a ring. Cuz as I said: anachronistic. >_>

– RITUAL PURIFICATION: the bride would have to go through all sorts of fasts and cleansings, to make sure she was pure or whatever. Nasir’s already knocked up so pfft, but really, Agron didn’t want Nasir doing any hard labor so close to the due date. Just soak in the nice tub and get all pretty and soft and sweet-smelling, cuz by the end of the night I’m gonna wreck you – heeheehee.

Anyways!

So yeah, they’re gonna get hitched.

Sorry for drowning y’all with wedding tradition trivia. 😛

(See the Yule post for Yule tradition information.)