AN ABYSSINIAN WEDDING.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXXI, Issue 10314, 5 April 1894, Page 2

AN ABYSSINIAN WEDDING.

The most striking feature of an Abyssinian wedding is the absence of the bridegroom from tho preliminary part of the festivities; the second is the colossal amount of raw meat, prepared with rod pepper,which is consumed. All day long the bride’s father’s hats are fall of acouaintances, all eating as hard as they can, to tho accompaniment of an orchestra which produces thv most heartrending sounds over heard by mortal ear. Not until evening does the bridegroom appear to fetch'his bride, who baa. been sitting ■ in' one of tho ' huts, concealed by a curtain, and attended by ail her female friends the whole day. When he at last., appears, the oddest part of the whole ceremony takes place. The gates of the enolosurG are shut so that he cannot enter, and for fully hall'-su-hour the unhappy young man is kept outside, while those inside continually ask him what he wants, and he "aa continually answeyn, . “Hy bride 1” “Go thy way I”, they say to him, “nearla are not thrown before cuch swine as" thou ! 'Who-art thou, and wbat dost thou" bring with thco f ” The bridegroom humbly replies that his name is co-and-so, and repeats a long list.of all the gifts he. has brought for the bride and for her father. “Little enough!” they say,scornfully, “but, however, let us see them!” The bridegroom la then let ia. JJeantiroe, the bride’s lather, one of hia relations, and two friends;, haye taken fcbeir places in a sort of platform in the courtyard. The bridegroom’s followers bring forward numbers of pota full of iioacy, butter, and money, as well as horses and donkeys. One of the dignitaries oa the platform next objects that these things avo very well, but they aro only for tho father; what is there for the bride ? Tho bridegroom tells over tho lands tho king has given him, hia herds and flocks. A royal* official then.asks the bridegroom if sus will: take co-and-so (mentioning tho brldf/a name) as hia wife ; to which ho answers, "Yes, by tho head of tho king ! ” A priest then mutters a prayer, tho father descends from his platform, and tha bridegroom Lurries to the hut where his bride is conoi alad. Hera ayain he is received with scorn end jests, “What dost thou want here?” “My bride!” “ Dost thou know her ? ” “ Yea, indeed !” “Am T shs?” and » pair of bright eyes and a laughing faco appear between the curtains. “No” "Then am I she?” Another, and another, and another pair of eyes and a laughing face in the folds of tho curtains. All the bride’s friends take this opportunity of shewing their face?. At last, the bride herself appears, and, amidst a chorus of shouts and laughing, the feasting is begun anew, and continued until morning dawns, when the newlymnrriod husband is finally allowed to carry off hia young wife to bis own home.