WEDDING ODDITIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 258, 30 October 1926, Page 38

WEDDING ODDITIES.

CURIOUS BRIDAL CUSTOMS.

SUPERSTITION STILL SURVIVES

(By J. MORGAN-DAVIES.) Although the old saying, "Happy is the bride that the sun shine- upon," is still very popular, we have reason to believe that there are an increasing number of brides who are just as happy in placing their faith in the moon. The ever-increasing popularity of evening weddings is ample proof of this. But it is curious how the ancient. customs and superstitions concerning marriage are still being adhered to. From time immemorial certain days have been considered luckier than others, and even to-day with all our advanced learning and wisdom we are hardly less credulous than our ancestors, as, for example, in our dislike for May weddings and our preference for June as the month par excellence for the marriage bells. "Marry in May aud you'll rue the day," was among the first of such proverbs to gain currency. It was quickly followed by that other one, "Marry in Lent and you'll live to repent," and this in turn was followed by a multitude of others all bearing more or less on the same point. In Scotland it was formerly considered unlucky for a bride to have the banns proclaimed in one quarter of the year and to be married in another. She, therefore, took good care to be "cried" early in the chosen quarter and married and "kirked?' well before it waa out. In addition to months and days, a sentimental importance was formerly attached to the hours as welL In one of the Victorian poets we find an allusion to the bride on her wedding-day as "the bridal flower that must be made wife ere noon." The explanation of this is that under the old canon laws marriages were solemnised between the hours of eight in the morning and twelve midday, and a custom which was voluntarily maintained until within quite recent memory. But those were the days when clandestine marriages were common, when a father never kntw the moment his daughter might inform him of her marriage the night hefore. These clandestine marriages were almost invariably performed with much haste and apprehensive-ess in the middle of the night. But pious folk shook their heads disapprovingly at those irregular unions, and that is how the old proverb quoted in the first paragraph came into vogue. The Bride's Attire. It is not generally known that prao- ; tically every item of a bride's attire has a symbolic meaning. In olden days this symbolism was both emphasised and appreciated in a way that no longer maintains in modern society. The | Anglo-Saxons derived it from the ancient Romans, and it remained popular with all classes until at least the beginning of the last century. Nowadays we hardly think of it at aIL With the Saxons, however, it was a kind of religion. They would sooner have buried -heir daughters than allowed them to approach the- marriage altar in anything but a white bridal gown. This was due to no mere caprice of fashion, or to any passing fancy. It was decreed, not only by custom,'but by the Church as well, and in those dark ages, as we now call them, the Church was the law-giver and her rulings were supreme. The ecclesiastics accepted the colour, white, as the emblem of innocence, and they refused point-blank to officiate at any marriage where the maidenly bride was otherwise draped, the explanation of their insistence being simply - that their ecclesiastical code required every bride to bear this public witness to the purity of her character. The bridal veil was introduced by the Saxons when their womenfolk started putting up their hair. Before that the custom was for brides on approaching the altar to wear their long flaxen locks— for which they were famous —hanging over their face, the privilege of appearing with the face uncovered being reserved for royalty alone. When fashion decreed that the hair should be worn in coils, the veil was substituted as the necessary face-covering. When the ceremony was lover, the hair, and afterwards the veil, was thrown back, exactly as the veil is worn by the bride of to-day. The bridal wreath has a somewhat similar history. Saxon brides wore a garland usually composed of stalks of corn woven by their married relatives. It was an emblem of fruitfulness, and was greatly cherished by all who were privileged by i the goddess of love to be the proud wearers of it. At a later date it was composed of myrtle and roses, the timehonoured symbols of true love. At another time it consisted of the leaves and blossoms of rosemary, the reputed symbol of this being its power of strengthening the wearer's memory. For a still later brief period we find that a gilt chaplet was the;vogue, flowers and foliage being entirely dispensed with, and thus the bridal wreath has passed through many strange vicissitudes, until, still following the samei old tradition, we come to the modern bride with her pretty wreath of orange blossom. The Wedding Sing. The wedding ring is, of course, an emblem that is as popular to-day as ever, and yet one whose origin is lost in the mists of antiquity. The ring serves many purposes besides signalising betrothal and marriage. They are often found in uncommon places, and the varied use 3of the ring make a very interesting study. In Westminster. Cathedral, a building of great historical interest, Ja good example. Around the interior of the tabernacle in the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament there are beautiful white silk curtains, and surprisingly few people are aware that these curtains are suspended from wedding rings bequeathed to the cathedral by devout ladies, whose, names are engraved upon them. In certain European ■ countries men commonly wear wedding rings as well as women, and an effort has more than once been made to introduce this system into Great Britain. The practice waa by no means rare in England in Elizabethan days, although the man's ring had no part or lot in the marriage solemnities. Certain leading jewellers in London recently stated that brides-elect are buying more men's rings than ever before, the assumption being that the old custom is reviving; but, nevertheless, it would seem that the taste for it has definitely passed. It should be noted, however, that the custom is scrupulously i observed by the. male members of the. Royal Family, from the King downward. Where we have shown most of our conservatism in the matter of bridal attire is probably in our continued observance of the.old custom whereby a bride always contrived to wear— ■■■ '& "Something old, something saw, Something borrowed, something Moe."