The first wedding night in Rus' was arranged in a special way and had a lot of differences from the similar tradition of other nations. Among the peoples of Africa, Europe and India, the right of the first night meant the intimate contact of the bride with an outside man. Often it was the elder of the tribe, a noble gentleman, or even just the first person he met.
In Rus', the right to deprive a girl of her virginity traditionally belonged to her future husband. According to church canons, a married marriage is sacred and any attempt on someone else's marriage bed is a great sin. Later, the feudal lords often neglected this law and enjoyed the right of the wedding night, but the church did not welcome this.
Time spending
The wedding ceremony in Rus' was a very complex sacrament that combined Christian and pagan traditions. The timing of the wedding has always been very carefully chosen. For many peoples of the world, the first intercourse of newlyweds could occur on the third or fourth day, or even later (some Muslim countries, India, etc.).
For Russians, the first wedding night took place during the wedding celebration, so it was very important to schedule the wedding on the date allowed by the church. According to Orthodox laws, one cannot have sexual relations during fasting and on church holidays, therefore weddings were not scheduled for this time. The date of the celebration was carefully chosen, in accordance with the church calendar.
wedding night ritual
For the Russian people, the wedding night was called the basement for a long time. This is due to the fact that the bed of the young was always arranged in a cool place: in the basement of the hut, closet, barn or bathhouse. This always happened on the territory of the groom, since the girl after the wedding went to live with him.
For the newlyweds, a high bed was prepared on a strong wooden base. He was covered with bedding, which was taken from the girl's dowry. The preparation of the bed for the bride and groom was done by female bed-makers from among the matchmakers. Also, the mother or sister of the groom could prepare the bed.
Many ritual objects were laid on the bed, which were supposed to protect the newlyweds from damage and provide them with a comfortable existence in the future. Such amulets included small rye sheaves, bags of flour, mattresses, and feather beds. From above the bed was covered with a snow-white embroidered bedspread.
Several logs, a frying pan, a poker, and a juniper branch were placed under the bed of the bed. These items were supposed to protect the couple from all evil spirits. Logs symbolized future offspring, so they had to be put more.
Seeing off the newlyweds
A whole crowd of guests accompanied the newlyweds to the “bedchamber” prepared in this way: friends, matchmakers, relatives, and in general anyone who wanted to take part in a noisy and cheerful action. The farewell was accompanied by songs, obscene jokes and advice. Druzhka beat with a whip on the box, driving out evil spirits. He then had to pay a ransom to the bed-maids.
Alone
After all these rituals, the newlyweds were finally left alone. The door was locked, and a cage guard was left near it. He also had to protect the newlyweds from evil spells and various evil spirits. But the guests often remained at the door and simply spying on the young.
Left alone, the bride and groom first treated themselves to bread and chicken. This food was supposed to give the couple fertility. After eating, the girl was obliged to remove the boots from the guy's feet. Thus, she demonstrated humility in front of her future husband and showed her readiness to obey him in everything. Also, the girl had to ask her husband for permission to lie with him.
Then there must be a sexual intercourse. A friend came to inquire about this several times. As soon as the girl lost her virginity, the marriage was considered physically confirmed, which was loudly announced to all guests. The young could again be taken to the feast and delighted with songs of the most obscene content, or the guests themselves came to the cellar to the newlyweds and remained there with them until dawn.
Innocence as the main attribute
The most important moment in this whole ritual was the demonstration of the bride's shirt with blood stains. If the bride kept her virginity before marriage, she was considered honest. Otherwise, she brought shame not only on herself, but also on her parents. A collar was hung around the neck of the matchmaker and the parents of the dishonest newlywed. Father was brought a glass of wine with a hole in the bottom. The girl could even be returned to her father's house.
The loss of virginity on the wedding night was symbolically celebrated by hanging towels embroidered with red thread and breaking pots. After that, the girl became "young", and the guy - "young". After the wedding night, the young woman was dressed in the clothes of a married woman and put on her appropriate headdress. The whole ritual had to be strictly observed, otherwise the new family was threatened with infertility and poverty.
The first wedding night of the Russian autocrats was subject to a set of rules. Absolutely everything was regulated: from the clothes that the newlyweds put on to perform the sacrament, to the arrangement of amulets from the evil eye and icons to bless the union of husband and wife.
Some of the autocrats unconditionally fulfilled the prescribed traditions, while others, like Peter the Great, considered them a relic of the past and openly laughed at them.
Faktrum tells about the wedding customs of Russian tsars and emperors.
Klavdy Vasilievich Lebedev "Boyar wedding", 1883
To begin with, it should be noted that the traditions according to which the first wedding night of the Russian rulers was to be held were constantly changing. Culture developed, old beliefs left, new ones appeared, and as a result, each new king did everything in his own way. But, nevertheless, there were details that remained unchanged.
In the pre-Petrine era, relations between the newlyweds were regulated by a special document called the “Wedding Rite”. According to him, for example, it was customary to arrange the first wedding night in a cold and damp room - so that the young would more readily throw themselves into each other's arms. Horses and mares were tied outside the windows so that their neighing would provoke the king and queen and arouse a love desire.
The arrangement of the bed for the newlyweds was described in great detail. For example, rye sheaves in the amount of 27 pieces were placed in the base. They were supposed to symbolize wealth in the house and served as a talisman that would provide the queen with an easy birth.
A dense carpet was laid on top, on which up to ten featherbeds were laid. On top of them - a silk sheet, pillows and warm fur blankets made of sable or marten.
To protect against evil forces and the evil eye, an arrow was pierced into the floor at each corner of the wedding bed, and icons were hung on the walls. Also, a tub of wheat or rye grain was placed by the bed.
Mikhail Zichy "Wedding of Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna" Fortunately for the Russian tsars, the "Wedding Order" did not go into the most secret, limiting itself to the phrase: "In bed, the bride and groom do whatever they want." But the preparation was detailed. To begin with, the groom got rid of his festive attire, and the bride did the same with the help of matchmakers and girlfriends. Then the wife, wearing a special outfit for the wedding night, consisting of a quilted jacket and a high fur hat, went to the king, who was already waiting for her on the wedding bed.
After some time, the king called the bed keeper on duty at the door to call the “near lady”, whose duties included examining the sheet, confirming the king’s masculine strength and the innocence of his now officially wife.
Then, after the ritual bath, the young people remained in the bedchamber and waited for a fish or chicken pie to be brought to them, because during the wedding, traditions forbade them to touch any food.
Hundreds of years later, after Peter I became tsar, these traditions began to be eradicated. According to the emperor, the “Wedding Rite”, along with other customs, was a barbaric relic of the past, which should be got rid of. And the king himself helped this, sometimes throwing funny weddings, at which he ridiculed the weddings of the past. A fact is known when Peter forced a couple to retire in winter in an unheated hut, ridiculing the tradition of arranging a marriage bed in a cold hay.
G.K. Groot "Peter III with Catherine II and son" Since then, the newlyweds have not been touched and have not painted their every step, just leaving them alone with each other at night and hoping that they will figure everything out on their own. However, old traditions were quickly replaced by new ones. For example, clothes for the first night began to be inherited - heavy, brocade, embroidered with silver.
It also became a tradition to instruct the young emperors in advance in order to avoid all sorts of mishaps. It was solved each time in its own way. For example, Catherine the Second simply ordered one of the court ladies to “educate” her grandson, the future Emperor Alexander I. The far-sighted empress was afraid of repeating her wedding night with Peter III, when the tsar never touched the bride.
Relatives and doctors told other kings about the intricacies of intersexual relations. So, for example, Alexander II was instructed by the life physician Velyaminov, who left detailed memories of this in his diary, and palace doctor Nikolai Zdekauer spoke with Alexander III on delicate topics.
"For a sensitive girl who had the good fortune to receive the right upbringing, ironically, the wedding day is the happiest and most terrible day of her life. The positive side is the wedding itself, in which the bride becomes the center of attention in a beautiful and inspiring ceremony, symbolizing her triumph, when the man guarantees providing for all her needs for the rest of her life.The negative side is the wedding night, during which the bride must, so to speak, pay for the music with what she is forced to experience for the first time the whole horror of sex life.
In this regard, dear reader, let me tell you one stunning truth. Some girls meet the ordeal of their wedding night with curiosity and pleasure. Beware of this attitude! A selfish and lustful husband can easily benefit from such a wife. One should never forget the main rule of married life: Give little, Give rarely, and, most importantly, Give reluctantly.
Otherwise, what might be a true marriage may become an orgy of sexual desire. On the other hand, the terror exercised by the young wife should not go to extremes. Since sex life is at best disgusting and at worst very painful, women are forced to endure it and have done it since the beginning of time, which finds its reward in a monogamous home and children, by means of those brought into the world.
Of course, that husband would be ideal who approaches his wife only at her request and only for the purpose of conceiving offspring, but such nobility and disinterestedness cannot be expected from an ordinary man. Most men, if not denied, would demand sex almost every day. A wise wife will allow at most two short intercourses a week during the first months of marriage. Over time, she will make every effort to reduce this frequency. The wife is best served by imitation of malaise, desire to sleep and headache.
Arguing, whining, grumbling, arguing can also be very effective if resorted to late in the evening, about an hour before the husband usually begins his molestation. A wise wife is always ready to find new, better methods of rejecting her husband and discouraging his love endeavors. A good wife should strive to reduce intercourse to once a week by the end of the first year of marriage and to once a month by the end of the fifth year.
. Most men are quite perverted by nature, and given the slightest opportunity, they use it in all sorts of disgusting ways. These methods include, among others, when a normal act is performed in abnormal positions, and also when a man licks a woman's body and allows her to lick his nasty body.
Nudity, talking about sex life, reading stories about it, looking at photographs and drawings depicting and showing sex life, are harmful activities that men easily become a habit if they are allowed to. A wise wife will make it a rule never to let her husband see her naked body and never to let him show his naked body to her. Sexual intercourse, if unavoidable, should be done in total darkness.
Many women find it helpful to have thick cotton nightgowns for themselves and pajamas for their husbands. They should be changed in separate rooms. They do not need to be removed during intercourse. Thus, only the minimum of the body turns out to be open. When the wife puts on her nightgown and turns off all the lights, she should lie still on the bed and wait for her husband. When he gropes into the room, it should not make any sounds that could indicate to him in which direction it is. so that they do not serve as a sign of approval for him.
She should let him find his own way in the dark. There is always the hope that he will stumble and get some minor injury, which can be used by her as a completely excusable excuse for refusing to copulate with him. When he finds his wife, she lies as still as possible. Any movement of her body can be interpreted by an optimistic husband as sexual arousal. If he makes an attempt to kiss her on the lips, she should turn her head slightly so that his kiss falls harmlessly on her cheek instead.
If he tries to kiss her hand, she should clench it into a fist. If he picks up her nightgown and tries to kiss somewhere else, she should quickly yank her nightgown down, jump out of bed, and announce that natural need compels her to go to the toilet. This will usually dampen his desire to kiss where it is forbidden. If a husband seeks to seduce her with voluptuous talk, a wise wife should suddenly remember some ordinary non-sexual question, which she will immediately ask him.
Over time, the husband will understand that if he insists on sexual contact, then he should go to him without erotic dressing. A wise wife will allow her husband to raise her nightgown no higher than her waist and allow him to open only the fly of her pajamas in order to make intercourse through it. She will be completely silent, or she will babble about her household while he struggles and puffs.
The first wedding night in Rus' was arranged in a special way and had a lot of differences from the similar tradition of other nations. Among the peoples of Africa, Europe and India, the right of the first night meant the intimate contact of the bride with an outside man. Often it was the elder of the tribe, a noble gentleman, or even just the first person he met.
In Rus', the right to deprive a girl of her virginity traditionally belonged to her future husband. According to church canons, a married marriage is sacred and any attempt on someone else's marriage bed is a great sin. Later, the feudal lords often neglected this law and enjoyed the right of the wedding night, but the church did not welcome this.
Time spending
The wedding ceremony in Rus' was a complex sacrament that combined Christian and pagan traditions. The timing of the wedding has always been carefully chosen. For many peoples of the world, the first intercourse of newlyweds could occur on the third or fourth day, or even later (some Muslim countries, India, etc.). 
For Russians, the first wedding night took place during the wedding celebration, so it was very important to schedule the wedding on the date allowed by the church. According to Orthodox laws, one cannot have sexual relations during fasting and on church holidays, therefore weddings were not scheduled for this time.
wedding night ritual 
For the Russian people, the wedding night was called the basement for a long time. This is due to the fact that the bed of the young was always arranged in a cool place: in the basement of the hut (pictured), closet, barn or bathhouse.
This always happened on the territory of the groom, since the girl after the wedding went to live with him. For the newlyweds, a high bed was prepared on a strong wooden base. He was covered with bedding from the girl's dowry. The preparation of the bed for the bride and groom was done by female bed-makers from among the matchmakers. Also, the mother or sister of the groom could prepare the bed.
Many ritual objects were laid on the bed, which were supposed to protect the newlyweds from damage and provide them with a comfortable existence in the future. Such amulets included small rye sheaves, bags of flour, mattresses, and feather beds. From above the bed was covered with a snow-white embroidered bedspread. Several logs, a frying pan, a poker, and a juniper branch were placed under the bed of the bed. These items were supposed to protect the couple from all evil spirits. Logs symbolized future offspring, so they had to be put more.
Seeing off the newlyweds
A whole crowd of guests accompanied the newlyweds to the “bedchamber” prepared in this way: friends, matchmakers, relatives, and in general anyone who wanted to take part in a noisy and cheerful action. The farewell was accompanied by songs, obscene jokes and advice. Druzhka beat with a whip on the box, driving out evil spirits. Then he had to pay a ransom to the bed-maids.
Alone
After all these rituals, the newlyweds were finally left alone. The door was locked, and a cage guard was left near it. He also had to protect the newlyweds from evil spells and various evil spirits. But the guests often remained at the door and simply spying on the young.
Left alone, the bride and groom first treated themselves to bread and chicken. This food was supposed to give the couple fertility. After eating, the girl was obliged to remove the boots from the guy's feet. Thus, she demonstrated humility in front of her future husband and showed her readiness to obey him in everything. Also, the girl had to ask her husband for permission to lie with him. Then there must have been sexual intercourse. A friend came to inquire about this several times. As soon as the girl lost her virginity, the marriage was considered physically confirmed, which was loudly announced to all guests. The young could again be taken to the feast and delighted with songs of the most obscene content, or the guests themselves came to the cellar to the newlyweds and remained there with them until dawn.
Innocence as the main attribute
The most important moment in this whole ritual was the demonstration of the bride's shirt with blood stains. If the bride kept her virginity before marriage, she was considered honest. Otherwise, she brought shame not only on herself, but also on her parents. A collar was hung around the neck of the matchmaker and the parents of the dishonest newlywed. Father was brought a glass of wine with a hole in the bottom. The girl could even be returned to her father's house.
The loss of virginity on the wedding night was symbolically celebrated by hanging towels embroidered with red thread and breaking pots. After that, the girl became “young”, and the guy became “young”. After the wedding night, the young woman was dressed in the clothes of a married woman and put on her appropriate headdress. The whole ritual had to be strictly observed, otherwise the new family was threatened with infertility and poverty.
The wedding night was the final and most important part of the wedding ceremony, serving as a milestone in the transformation of a girl into a woman, and a youth into a man. In order for this initiation ritual to take place without harm to the newlyweds, it was necessary to consistently conduct a series of protective rites that dictated their prescriptions and prohibitions.
Basement
In the Russian wedding tradition, following the wedding and the festive feast, the first wedding night was called the basement. Usually it took place in the groom's parental home, however, in the Vladimir province and on the coast of the White Sea, it was customary to hold it before the wedding, moreover, on the territory of the bride. Of course, such an order was rare, but it also took place in other parts of Russia, provided that after the wedding the husband moved to live in his wife's house.
But in any case, a cold room was necessarily chosen as a room for the first intimate date of the newlyweds, for example, a room, a sennik, a crate, a bathhouse, a cellar, a closet, and sometimes a sheepfold, a pantry or a barn. To equip the marriage bed in such prosaic places was dictated by superstition, according to which the newlyweds should not enter into the first intimacy "under the ground", which meant the earthen flooring of the ceiling of an old house.
marriage bed
In the old days, it was impossible to spend the wedding night on a bed that was not properly prepared for this important event.
The ceremonial assembly of the wedding bed was entrusted to the beds, this cohort included women, among whom could be both relatives of the bride and the groom. But in the southern Russian lands, as well as in the region near Moscow, this mission was often carried out by men who were called drones or fodder.
They laid the marriage bed either on the floor or on a specially knocked together high boardwalk, but in any case they used bedding and linen taken only from the bride's dowry.
To ensure a prosperous life together for the newlyweds, sheaves of rye and sacks of flour were placed under the mattress. Logs were also placed there, the number of which symbolized the number of future children, money so that the family would not know the need, bricks and a collar so that the marriage ties were strong.
In order to protect the newlyweds from the influence of evil spirits, amulets were placed on the marriage bed, which in the Arkhangelsk province were considered a poker and a tong, and in other places in Russia a frying pan. Covering a very rigid base with mattresses stuffed with hay or feather bed, and laying a few pillows, the beds covered the bed with a wide white sheet that hid all their tricks.
At the final stage, the women checked to see if anyone, out of malicious intent, had put swept cat and dog hair, bones or broken needles into the bed, and then went around the bed with a sprig of juniper or mountain ash, which, in their opinion, had protective power.
On top of all the pagan rituals, the Christian rite of sprinkling with holy water was added.
Uladina
After seeing the young people into the bedroom, it was impossible to leave the door of their bedroom unattended. In order to drive away evil spirits, tipsy guests, and also to inquire about the affairs of the newlyweds, a special guard was assigned to the room, who carried honorary duty all night.
One of the important elements of the wedding night was a joint meal of the young in the bedroom, without which it was forbidden to go to bed. Usually, bread, representing wealth, and baked chicken, symbolizing the fertility of the family, were served as treats. The church, protesting against pagan prejudices, could not eradicate these traditions from folk practice for a long time. In this regard, her only significant victory was the ban on the use of the demonic Old Slavonic rite, in which the newlyweds, taking the chicken by the paws, tore it in two, as if depicting the deprivation of innocence.
Alone
In some areas of the Slavic world, there was a ban on the performance of marital duty on the wedding night, which could be postponed for three nights. In the Vologda province, it was believed that the violation of this rule would lead to the death of sheep, and in the vicinity of Brest, sex was not allowed until the first joint visit to the church after the wedding.
In the Russian North, on the wedding night, the bride was not supposed to meekly submit to the groom, but, on the contrary, her duties included the active defense of her maiden honor, coupled with pushing, scratching and undressing her betrothed. But with all this, she had no right to go to bed without the permission of her husband, who was obliged to put her to bed, only throwing her over herself.
In other areas, on the contrary, it was unsuitable for the bride to show her arrogance, and as proof of her humility before her husband, she had to undress him.
Islamic traditions
In Islamic tradition, the first wedding night usually took place on the day the bride moved to the groom's house, and could not be postponed without good reason. So the intimacy between the spouses was postponed to a later date if the newlyweds did not know each other until that day or because one of them was not feeling well.
According to Muslim customs, in the bedroom of the newlyweds there should not have been not only peeping third parties, but even animals. To make the newlyweds less embarrassed, it was impossible to turn on bright lights in the room, so the lighting was either turned off or made as dim as possible.
In the performance of marital duty, it was strictly forbidden to leave an open Koran in the room; it had to be either taken out of the room or wrapped in a blanket.
It was forbidden for a man to be rude towards a woman, and before entering into intimacy, it was supposed to touch the forehead of the bride with his palm and ask for the blessings of the Almighty.
Dagestan customs
The first wedding night was somewhat unusual in some Dagestan villages, where the central action was the single combat of the bride and groom. According to an ancient tradition, before sharing a marital bed with a betrothed, a man had to defeat her in a duel, for which she had been preparing since childhood. The longer the groom could not break the resistance of the bride, the more the moment of first intimacy was delayed, sometimes time was measured not in minutes, but in days.
The whole difficulty for the man was that on the eve of this marital fight, the bride was shaved off her hair, smeared the open areas of the body with oil, put on her an outfit with a lot of knots, over which they tied a cord that protected her chastity.
During the “battle”, the groom had to untie all the knots with his bare hands, without using a dagger, in order to take possession of his wife, who was allowed not only to keep the defense, but also to inflict bodily harm on the opponent.
