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Betrothal

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Betrothal 

a ceremony of marriage engagement. Among Russians in the past, the betrothal (variously called pomolvka, zaruchen’e, rukobit’e, and predsvadeb’e) was one of the rituals in the wedding cycle, following the matchmaking and courtship. At the betrothal ceremony, the parents gave their final agreement to the marriage of their children and set the conditions of the marriage. The contract, sometimes in writing, was usually sealed by a symbolic striking on each other’s hands (rukobit’e) between the fathers of the couple. After the betrothal, it was no longer possible to reject the marriage; if one side broke the agreement, it was obliged to compensate for damages—“to pay for dishonor” (zaplatit’za beschest’e).
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The betrothal of Rosa grew out of the soothing of his year of mental distress by his fast friend and old college companion, Drood: who likewise had been left a widower in his youth.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Dickens, Charles View in context
No betrothal ceremony took place and Natasha's engagement to Bolkonski was not announced; Prince Andrew insisted on that.
War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo View in context
To it she had come back joyfully after all her absences; at its window she had knelt through that night of bitter agony when she believed Gilbert dying, and by it she had sat in speechless happiness the night of her betrothal.
Anne's House of Dreams by Montgomery, Lucy Maud View in context
 
 
 
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