Stop in the Name of Love

It is Saturday, a joyous day in villages all over Slovenia. It is time for a wedding.

The groom visits the bride's home as she says goodbye to her family, leaving her village for good. 

Then, the groom takes her away to be married. But there is trouble on the horizon. 

As they pull out of her driveway, they can't continue. There is an obstacle on the road. 

He alone has to tackle the challenge, otherwise the wedding will not take place.

In the middle of the road, there are logs, wagons, even tractors, and young, unmarried men from the village, waiting for the pair and preventing them from leaving. 

In the previous days the men had started devising an ingenious plan – to put up a šranga for the bride and the groom. 

With this centuries-old tradition they are playfully thwarting the groom's plan to take the bride from her village. 

After all, the village men had taken care of her wellbeing all her life. Somehow, they will have to be compensated for their trouble.  

As it is absolutely shameful to avoid šranga, the groom is now faced with an ultimatum: pay the men if he wants to pass. 

The ransom is in place. If the groom wants to marry the girl, he will have to prove financially that he really wants her and will be able to take good care of their family. 

The wedding is (seemingly) hanging by a thread. Now, it's the groom's time to prove he is worthy of the bride. 

The village men don't want to let her go easily. 

The requested ransom is ridiculously high. But the villagers offer the groom a way out of the mess.

If he will be able to perform an array of chores, the ransom might be significantly lowered. 

Now, the groom, in his formal attire, has to do the dirty work. If he has a lime tree leaf in his pocket, his ransom is significantly and automatically lowered. 

Otherwise, he has to manually saw through the thick log and chip wood with a painfully blunt saw and axe. 

He has to manually sharpen the scythe and cut the grass. 

However serious the negotiation, this is by all means an extremely festive event. 

The wedding guests are enjoying the show, as šranga offers great entertainment and an abundance of good food and drinks, provided by villagers.

By judging the groom's performance, the men decide on a feasible ransom. It can't be too high, but it also has to »hurt« the groom a little. 

In the old days – the tradition of šranga goes back a long time – the ransom was not necessarily monetary. It was in sync with the groom's capabilities, as is today, when the sum is usually predetermined and arranged with the groom in advance. 

The event is just for show and for the sake of having fun.

Altogether, the whole collective performance might take up to an hour or even two.

Then, the groom pays, šranga is removed, and he is free to take his bride to the church and the registry office. 

And what about the village men? They don't take all the money for themselves. Out of the sum earned, they cover the šranga costs, they buy a handsome gift for the newlyweds and they organize an after party. 

And just like that, everybody is happy. The village gets a good laugh and a free party, and the newlyweds get their happily-ever-after, driving though a spruce-held inscription above the road, wishing them luck. A total win-win for everybody. 

In the only country with “love” in its name, this is of course not the only custom associated with love. Every year at the beginning of spring, Slovenians celebrate Gregorjevo - when the birdies marry.