QUEER MARRIAGE SUPERSTITIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14787, 16 September 1911, Page 5 (Supplement)

QUEER MARRIAGE SUPERSTITIONS.

Despite the fart that the large majority of people in this ago believe in few superstitions there are still a number of beliefs concerning love and marriage which are given credence. , Some of them are pretty, a great many are silly, but'all are interesting in relation to how they could have arisen. *

Have you ever seen a girl stumble upstairs and laugh as if she enjoyed the spill? Well, this fall means that her marriage day is near at hand, and is considered an infallible sign. Have you over seen a pretty girl bowing three times to a new. moon? She does so in the belief that the little ceremony will bring her a new sweetheart.

. Every girl knows that it is unlucky to marry a man whose surname commences with the same letter as her own. The old couplet " Change tht name not the letter, marry for worse and not for better," holds as good to-day as in bygone ages, though why ; it should be considered unlucky is beyond the comprehension of the unsuperstitious. However, there is many a girl who has refused a man for this very reason. > ' • - . There is another superstition which a girl in love does not dare defy. It is the belief that her sweetheart must not bo watched out of sight, for this portends that the meeting will be a last one. If she has several admirers and wishes to learn which she loves best, she must pluck a rose and name each petal after an admirer. Then the petals should be thrown into, a stream and the one which dieappears last is the favoured suitor.

.There, are no end of superstitions concerning the wedding day itself. , One is that the bride" who sees herself in the mirror fully arrayed in her bridal finery, will be unhappy all her married ife. Another concerns the ring. If it is dropped by the nervous bridegroom, matrimonial misfortune will result. The wedding day itself ■ must be favourable as -to weather, for " happy is the bride the sun shines on." And rain nortends evil. "In Germany, however, the bride prays for rain, for." every drop brings a new joy." •

If the bride sees her bridegroom before he sees her, she will rule through life, and vice versa. ■',■■:.« •.'..■,