I want to write a story my uncle told me. A man went to help to either someone he knew or his friend to the neighboring village. After work had been done, they stood him a drink – I don’t really know how much he drank that moonshine.
He was offered to stay over, but he decided to go home, although it was late. It was 7-9 km between villages and one should go through beeyards. However, for all one knows there are houses in the beeyards. The man getting through a beeyard saw people feasting in the house. Charivari, songs, dances. There the frazzled wanted to make merry and he came into the house. He told to my uncle: “I looked and saw a Mari wedding”. Who doesn’t know what does it mean, I explain. Crowd makes merry dressed in national costumes singing national songs. But, with a Mari custom. And our man broke into a dance, they wined and dined him with all the trimmings. Don’t know how much time had elapsed, but according to tradition relatives and guests are given gifts at the end of wedding (as a rule, these are clothes). He was given a shirt.
However, in the course of the wedding he noticed that festivity was kind of strange, uncommon, sort of non-Christian: there were neither blessings, nor mentions of the God. Then they said him to try his shirt right here. “God bless me!” he said and started to put the shirt on, but suddenly it dawned on him there was no wedding at all. Silence was all around, rope tightened around his neck, all he needed to do was a step. It would happen if he had put the shirt on without a prayer. And then he understood he had eaten manure instead of pies. That’s why people say: “If something seems - bless yourself”.
