Juan Van Halen y Sarti (1788 – 1864) was a Spanish military officer and adventurer who had a rather colorful life. During the Peninsular War (1808-1813) he initially supported the French and served King Joseph Bonaparte of Spain, helping him escape to France in 1813. He then defected to the Spanish side but was investigated for his role during the war and sentenced to death. In 1817, he avoided death by escaping from prison and fleeing to Russia, where he was accepted into the military service and appointed a colonel in the Kavkazskii Dragoon Regiment deployed in Georgia. In 1819, Van Halen traveled to Georgia where he stayed for over a year and served under the leadership of General Alexey Yermolov. In 1821 Van Halen returned to Spain to support the revolutionaries who rebelled against King Ferdinand VII. After the revolution failed, Van Halen had to flee once again, traveling to the Caribbean. In 1830, he returned to Europe supporting the Belgian revolutionaries against the Dutch monarchy. After the new kingdom of Belgium was established, he moved to the Iberian Peninsula where he first supported Portuguese Liberals against King Miguel I and then fought against the Carlists during the First Carlist Wars in Spain.
Van Halen died in El Puerto de Santa María (Cadiz, Spain), at the age of 76, in 1864.
In the late 1820s, Van Halen wrote (in Spanish) an interesting memoir describing his imprisonment in Spain in 1817-1818 and later service in the Caucasus in 1819-1821. The memoir was later translated into English and published in London in 1830.
The pretensions of the Georgian nobility, respecting their ancient origin, are as absurd as any in the world, and most of them claim their descent from David. This is the reason why the majority have a harp in their coat of arms. They are generally very proud, though they shew themselves so only to the natives, for they seldom venture to boast of such ridiculous pretensions to foreigners : the old men among the aristocracy being too well aware of their inferiority in point of education, and the young men knowing that whatever they have acquired in this respect, they owe it to the Russians. Among the Georgian princes the feudal system is still in existence, and, as was formerly the custom in Europe, their vassals follow them to the wars.
The Persian language is spoken among the higher class, as the French is in Europe. There are two dialects commonly used in Georgia; the one by the ecclesiastics in their religious performances, and the other by the civilians. The former is derived from the Greek and the Armenian, and. the latter from the Persian and the Turkish languages. As it invariably happens when one nation passes under the dominion of another, many Russian words have already been introduced into the Georgian dialect. The Georgians and the Armenians, unlike the rest of the Asiatic nations, write from left to right. Their literature, though it dates its origin from Tamar, has no claim to that appellation, and is confined to a few ballads; but the calamities in which Georgia has been involved by the frequent invasions of the Persians and other barbarians, account for the slow progress of learning. During the reign of Heraclius [king Erekle II of kartli-Kakheti, late 18th century] a new grammar was composed, which is still in use. Several classic works were also translated, and various schools established...
Although the Georgian weddings are similar to the Russian, as far as regards the religious ceremony, they differ in other respects, particularly among the nobility. The marriages in this class are always contracted with a view to family interests, and very rarely through love and esteem. It was formerly the custom for the parents to betroth their children from the cradle, and their union often took place at so early an age, that the united years of the bride and bridegroom did not amount to twenty-four. It was by this means that the unhappy parents eluded the tribute both of girls and boys whom the Tzars of Georgia were obliged to send to the Mahometans [Muslims] when they were tributary to them.
Another indispensable part of the etiquette was, that the betrothed persons should not have previously seen each other, a custom which, since their intercourse with the Russians, is not so much adhered to. The ceremony to which I alluded above, however, remains unchanged, such being the attachment of these people to their ancient customs.
The bride proceeds to the church covered with a thick veil, in which are two holes for the eyes, and the bridegroom leads her by the hand to the altar with the anxiety natural to one who has not the remotest idea of the physical or moral qualities of his bride.
When the religious ceremony is concluded, they are conducted to the house of the girl's parents, amidst the firing of musketry, where the couple are placed in the middle of a saloon, the bride still covered with her veil; and all their friends sit around them, for several hours remaining in the same attitude, without uttering a single word, or taking any refreshment; whilst the bride and bridegroom, by their immobility, appear more like two figures on an altar than two human beings, the latter probably praying Heaven for a favourable denouement of this matrimonial drama. After this long penance, the bridesmaid lifts up the veil of the bride. It may be easily conceived the different impressions which this act must produce in the bridegroom, who, however, folds his wife in his arms, of course more than once, if his prayer has been listened to; and thus often love begins where etiquette ends.
Soon after my arrival at Teflis, General [Akhverdov], commandant of the artillery of the Georgian army, whose house I had much frequented, died in the flower of his age. Although I have always been of opinion, that some better means than funeral processions and parade might be devised to evince our regret for the loss of those we love and esteem, the friendly terms on which I had been with the family obliged me to accept an invitation to attend the funeral.
I therefore repaired to the house of General [Akhverdov] at the appointed hour, where I found the body lying in state. The officers most attached to him acted as pall-bearers, and the military ceremony was in every respect similar to that used in Europe; but immediately after the corpse, the widow and children of the deceased advanced on foot in deep mourning. On our arrival at the church, [the widow] was led to the steps of the funeral monument raised in the middle of the church, where she remained during the long Greek requiem, offering the most afflicting spectacle imaginable ; and, as if this were not sufficient, the wretched lady and her children were conducted to the top of the monument, to take their last farewell of the mortal remains deposited in the coffin. The scene of distress which followed was of a truly heart-rending nature.
The Georgians observe the same rites in their funerals as the Russians; but some of their ceremonies differ. Thus the horse of the deceased (and there are very few men in Asia who do not possess a horse) always precedes the corpse, carrying the saddle invertedly. Behind the coffin come his relations, bearing his arms lowered almost to the earth ; and in the rear follow his whole family, mother, wife, brothers, sisters, and children, uttering at every moment the most lamentable cries.
In the church the women remain prostrate on the coffin for several hours, and immediately after the interment the funeral procession returns to the house in the same order as before. The men then withdraw, and the women seat themselves on the ground around the widow, all observing the most profound silence ; until one of those who is reputed the most eloquent among them, enumerates at intervals some of the good qualities that adorned the deceased, when the clamorous lamentations, groans, shrieks, and tears commence. The widow, whether she be inclined or not, scratches her face, tears her hair, and does all in her power to disfigure herself. This ceremony is repeated every day for several hours during the space of six weeks ; and thus the disconsolate relict undergoes a Lent of affliction. What artifices must be resorted to in order to cause their tears to flow for such a length of time ! But absurd as is the custom, it is very difficult to alter the usage here detailed.
In some of the provinces of the Caucasus, where the Christian religion is not professed, the same custom is observed. Our surprise, however, lessens respecting these long and weeping mourning, when we are informed that the women in this country are not allowed to marry a second time; for when they do so, they bring upon themselves the execration of their friends: a custom which is perhaps no less absurd than the former.
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