Off to the Gala

Guests invited to a village wedding in Transylvania must wait until the groom, his friends - and the band - arrive to lead them to the church.

Tonight guests at our Partner Church gala won't be ushered in by a band, but they will see an authentic Transylvanian wedding costume (modeled by a willowy dressmaker's mannequin.) Through a long chain of circumstance, our Partner Church Committee received the wedding dress a number of years ago. It was assembled in the 1920's by an expatriate who wanted a costume for his daughters, and it was one of the daughters, then in her 80's, who gave it to us.

Transylvanian wedding costumes are made up of many pieces. The basics are a plain white long-sleeved blouse and full skirt. Embroidered bands of varying widths go around the neck, the wrists and the waist, and the bride wears not one but two aprons. The costume is finished off with a crown head-dress, trimmed in dangling ribbons.

Every stitch of the costume is made by hand. Ours has deep rows of dark-red silk lace, like that trimming the apron in the picture. It's beautiful work that now is almost a lost art.