Re: flying poultry

[Joe Kurland <ganeydn...>]

Shlogn Kapores is a ritual of atonement for sins. It is performed on 
the day before Yom Kipur, but could be performed at other times and 
as in some badkhn songs, a wedding day is compared to Rosh Hashana 
and Yom Kipur, the wedding day would seem to be appropriate.  You 
want to enter the marriage purified, with a clean slate, free of the 
sins of your life before being consecrated to each other. I don't 
think I'd ever heard of it being used for weddings, but it makes 
great sense.

While the text Alan Falk quotes below describes it as an act to ward 
off evil spirits, this was probably true only in the sense that 
atonement wards off God's punishment. In the words of the High 
Holiday liturgy (b'rosh hashono)  "useshuvo, usefilo, utsedoko 
ma-avirin es roa hagezeyro"  [but repentance, prayer and 
justice/charity avert the evil decree]. It is not superstition at all 
(except perhaps when performed by people who just copy the rituals of 
their ancestors without learning what they were about) but a ritual 
of deep moral and religious significance.

According to the Artscroll sidur (Ashkenazic version, p.772):
        There is an ancient custom to take a white rooster for males 
and a white hen for females on the day before Yom Kippur and perform 
the Kaparos [Atonement] ritual.  Money may be substituted for the 
fowl, and the ritual may be performed before Erev Yom Kippur if 
necessary.  It is most important to realize, however, that the 
atonement results from giving the bird (or its value) to the poor. 
Only that, as part of the repentance, gives meaning to the ceremony.

In my family's custom, we take some money, tie it up in the corner of 
a handkerchief, and swing it around over our heads as a physical 
substitute for the chicken.  The money is then given to charity.  I 
don't know where swinging the bird or its substitute around over the 
head comes from, but it does help make the ceremony more dramatic by 
giving it a physical dimension, and therefore helps it to make a 
bigger impression.  I'm sure it helps children remember it better.


L'shono toyve (May you be inscribed for a good year),

Yosl (Joe) Kurland
The Wholesale Klezmer Band
Colrain, MA 01340
voice/fax: 413-624-3204
http://www.WholesaleKlezmer.com


At 8:40 AM -0400 9/8/00, ALANEFALK (at) aol(dot)com wrote:
>In a message dated 9/8/00 1:01:50 AM, winklerh (at) hotmail(dot)com writes:
>
><< I know you can't believe everything on the net, so wanted to get some
>opinions on the custom described below of throwing a hen and a rooster over
>the heads of a newly married couple(and what would the klezmorim have played
>for this ceremony?): >>
>
>(There are more learned folk out there who can explain this better).
>The action in Yiddish is called "shlogging a kapores" - it was not just used
>in wedding ceromonies  (in fact, in some orthodox groups it's still in use).
>The act is to ward off evil spirits - The chicken (or rooster) is held by
>it's feet above a persons head and spun around several times. I don't believe
>it has any religious (biblical) root, just Eastern European superstition.
>Don't know about the music music? A klezmer version of 'The Chicken Dance"!
>

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