THE BARTERED BRIDES OF,TODAY

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 47, 24 February 1934, Page 18

THE BARTERED BRIDES OF, TODAY

' Members of the younger- generation in Southern- Serbia are in revolt against the.old custom of buying and soiling brides, but their-efforts are, making little headway against the peasant conservatism of their ciders. Nor have efforts of the authorities to' abolish the practice met with greater success, for such 'transactions are carried on secretly and no one but the strojnik, or xnarriago 'broker, arid tho families interested nooi be tho wiser, says the "Now. York Times.".

The supporters of the old order, cannot see/anything wrong or immoral in the custom; they .consider.:it right and just.- Parents hold that in bringing up a' daughter they have been put to a' great expense, and that: when she marries her husband gains a labourer for his household and should therefore compensate them for the lass. .-: '•;,■' The strojnik approaches; the parents of-the young people in arranging the transaction. Prices vary ; T ; greatly. Sometimes a girl fetches as- much as 30,000 dinars (£120) and.sometimes; as little as 2000 dinars., If .the suitor cannot put up all the money at once, he pays on the .instalment, plan. . . If hie should fail to meet the payments; he may lose both the maid and his money, being put aside quickly,in favour of a ■wealthier husband.

When considering the value, of a| bride her hoalth and "strength-and her knowledge of household affairs and farm work are the most . important; items, since the suitor is seeking ;a hard-work-ing assistant;rathertthan .a, pretty wife. Beauty^ .however, increases 'tho bride's

value. Most of the bartered brides are in their early twenties, as are the husbands.

Sometimes very young girls are betrothed, to be claimed'by their bridegrooms when they reach marriageable age. The marriage of the former King Nicholas of Montenegro and Queen Milona was arranged when the two were children.

- The custom of marriage by barter often leads to abductions and these in turn to blood feuds and vendettas. A disgruntled lover, rejected by .his sweetheart's parents becauso his own pcoplo cannot or will not pay the required price, is sometimes tempted to take the law into his own hands and with a gang of relatives and friends to steal his bride from, her parents. To have a daughter thus snatched away\'is considered . a "burning disgraco and humiliation which nothing but; blood can lyipo out. Murder follows murder, andf the dosire of two young peoplo to follow their hearts and not bo forced apart by their elders brings about a series of tragedies. ■ .Sometimes these- feuds go on for generations. An ironical story illustrates the queer consequences of the marriage custom. In a certain village there was a man in poor circumstances who.had two children, a girl arid an elder son. The youth:. fell in love' with a girl whose parents asked 'a sum which his father could not raise. Bather than see his son deprived of the girl he loved, the father sold his daughter . to another man to obtain the price needed-for his son's bride. , . . ■