Why in Russia girls sometimes drowned themselves after their wedding night
Our ancestors lived by different rules and sometimes it is difficult for us to understand their actions. The further into the depths of centuries, the more mysterious and terrible the customs were. What seems insignificant today was vital in the old days. In ancient Russia, girls after the first night with their spouse, sometimes went and drowned themselves. What was the reason for this?
It should be clarified right away that the cases when the young wife went to drown in the morning were not massive. This happened rarely and special circumstances were needed for such a decision. First you need to know how they got married in Ancient Russia and what preceded it.
In Russia, in rich families, the parents chose the bride for the guys. Very often, the bride and groom did not even know each other before the wedding. Things were a little better in small villages, where future spouses could communicate before the wedding. But in any case, the older generation carefully controlled the communication of the young before marriage.
Parents also monitored the observance of all customs during the wedding, as well as on the wedding night of the newlyweds. In the Middle Ages, the chastity of the bride was valued very highly. The girl had to marry a virgin without fail. The parents of the bride and groom stood at the door of the young couple's bedroom on their first night and were the first to make sure that the sheet was stained with blood.
The loss of innocence before the wedding was a terrible shame. The bride was immediately returned to her parents' house and her chances of getting married again were rapidly approaching zero. The stain fell not only on the girl, but also on the reputation of all her relatives. If there were other daughters in the family, it was no longer easy to find a groom for them. And it wasn't very pleasant to live when neighbors pointed at you on the street.
To avoid disgrace, some cunning girls stocked up in advance with chicken blood, which was poured on the bed. It's hard to say how often this number was held. It is possible that the guys of that time, who were not particularly sophisticated in intimate life, did not notice the forgery and family happiness developed.
But the lack of innocence is not the only obstacle to marital happiness. It was much worse if the young husband could not copulate with the newly-made spouse. It doesn't matter if it was due to a heavy libation at the wedding table, inexperience or physiological problems. In any case, it was not the man who was blamed, but the woman.
In Russia, it was believed that if the husband could not fulfill his marital duty, then only the wife was to blame. But the worst of all were the cases of male impotence that happened on the wedding night. It was said that if a young woman could not ignite passion in her beloved in such a case, then she is a completely useless wife.
It was in such cases that the girls left the marital bedroom in the morning and went straight to the nearest pond to take their own lives. Fortunately, such a tradition existed only in the pagan era. With the advent of Christianity, suicide turned into a great sin and gradually stopped drowning because of impotent husbands.