Festive Croatian Wedding - Marriage united two young Croatian hearts
So. Chicago, III. ? Our colony had a wonderful Croatian party recently. Our young Mr. Jakov Radja married very nice and kind Miss Draga Marasovic. The wedding ceremony was held in Croatian church of our Lord Jesus. The couple came to church by a car, with their family, friends and guests. The church was decorated for this occasion. Before they entered the church two young girls like angels walked in with bouquets of flowers. After the girls, the young couple came in, first the bride with the best man and then groom with the maid of honor. Following them was a young lady from a very important family in St. Louis, Ana Hartman (She owns a goldsmith?s shop on 1420 So. Broadway, St. Louis, before it was the company of Momcilovic brothers.) Behind them were girls, dressed in fancy costumes, with bouquets of flowers in their hands. They followed the couple to the altar and the statues of our Lord Jesus where they were greeted by our reverend, parish priest, O. Fra Bono Andasic who performed the ceremony. After the ceremony, he said a few very nice words and advice about married life.
After they received the holy sacrament of marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Radja and their guests went to the photographer to take a picture for the long memory on this day. After that, they all went to the apartment of Mr. and Mrs. Marasovic, on 10732 Avenue O, where they were greeted by many people, especially women and children, who threw on the young couple rice and flowers. Some people from the wedding party saw that they will not get rid of the kids so easily so they threw on them some pennies and that caused a fuss. "Look now many chins broken as are heads and noses by chasing pennies."
After that they all started yelling and the music started playing. Then the couple went in and after them the wedding party. They drank and made a lot of toasts, and more friends and people came by. Among them were those ladies who presented miss Draga with many gifts after the engagement. Among them were also Mrs. Marija Cavka and Mrs. Nedjeljka Kapovic who were also there for the engagement party but our reporter omitted their names.
Guests took their place around the decorated table to have dinner. Wide varieties of dishes were served which were very tasty. It was a very rich dinner and there was enough of everything. Only there was a shortage of water and that was because Chicago mayor Dever had proclaimed ?water ? meters? in the 10th Ward so we have to save on water. However, Mr. and Mrs. Marasovic took care of drinks and served wonderful prosek.
After dinner and drinks young Dalmatian cousin Josip Melvan held a short speech in which he thanked the couple, in the name of everybody there, for preparing this dinner at their cost and not expecting any contributions. He also thanked everybody in the name of the couple. He finished his speech with: "Long live our married couple and may they be happy!" The rest of the wedding party hailed and clapped their hands for a long time!
Translation by Helena Strugar of Zagreb, Croatia
Please provide corrections as needed....
Researcher::
Jim Radja
Vienna, Virginia, US of A
