The Marriage Month

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23061, 11 June 1938, Page 6 (Supplement)

The Marriage Month

Pagan Customs and S the June Bride

By WHETURANGI

WITH the advent of the merry month of June there comes another outcrop of marriages, for this, the midmonth of the year, has always been the most popular lor "tying-up." At "home" in England this seems perfectly natural, for June is the midsummer month of long sunny days fragrant with the scent of roses, and nights that are bright as day with tho shining moon. It is a romantic month of flowers and laughter, of midsummer gaiety and freedom from carc —certainly an ideal month in which to be married; and we in tho Dominions have followed the old tradition and still keep Juno as a favourite month for marriages, even though it is usually for us the dreariest time of tho year. Yet thero is more to tho month of Juno than tho fact that on the other side of the world it is tho summer month and tho sweetest of the year. In ancient Roman days, when all the world centred round that great city, and Britain was as remote anil difficult to reach as tho Arctic to-day, June was tho month in which tho Romnn girls were betrothed, and tho time was even more propitious if the day chosen was at the date of the full moon. May, the Romans considered particularly unlucky, and no self-respecting couple would dare tho gods' vengeance and be plighted in May. We find much the same belief, probably carried into that wild country by tho early Roman legionaries, held by the ancient Scots, who would never begin anything of importance in tho week in which the 3rd of May fell. Pagan Superstitions Persist These pagan ideas were, of course, very much in evidence at the time of the founding of tho Church and its laws, and the early bishops, like the missionaries of to-day, absorbed many of the contemporary beliefs and superstitions and transmuted them into Christian ideas. So we find that Mav was still held a most unlucky month for marriage by tho early Church, and this idea was even more sternly enforced by the Church'B absolute rule

forbidding marriage between Rogation and Whitsunday—which brings us again to tho beginning of June. There was, too, an ancient custom, so old that it became almost a law among tho country folk, that "none should choose to marry in January or May or to have their banns published in the end of one quarter of the year and to marry in the beginning ol the next." Easter, like June, is a general period for rejoicing after solemn days of fasting and mourning and is equally popular for brides. "Marry in Lent, you're sure to repent," went tho old rhyme; and its supplement for tho Juno bride was: "Marry in May, you'll rue the day." J3ut there are other things to bo considered beside tho month. There is. for instance, tho day, and each has its own special significance. Monday for wealth. TucsdHy for health, Wednesday for tho best day of all. Thursday for crosses, Friday for losses. Saturday no luck at nil while Sunday, from time immemorial, has been held of particular virtue, if a priest will find time to perform tho Borvice on that day. The "Best Man" as 'Groom Ring lore and tho meanings of various stones aro too well known to bo repeated, but there is an earlv Christian custom connected with tho wedding ring, an Anglo-Saxon rice repeated at tho altar that is not so well known, but is one of the most simple and beautiful in this connection. Before a man placed the ring on the wedding finger of his bride he touched each of the fingers in turn with it, saying at tho first: "ln'the namo of tho Father"; at the second, "In tho name of tho Son;" at the .third, "In the namo of the Holy Ghost," and at the little finger, "Amen," before he finally slipped the ring into its honoured place.

There is another rite that a bride should remember before the altar — though not for worlds should she lot her husband know of it!—and that is to stand with her right foot a little ahead of her husband's throughout the ceremony, since thus she will be able

to "get the better of him" through all their wedded life! This is a Norwegian custom and in Norway the wedding festival is still much mingled with tho barbarous past. Tho "best man" in Norway is not the good friend and helpmeet of the 'groom, but becomes tho husband himself! This originated from the fact that in olden times, if a man wanted a bride, he would wait until a rival had wooed and won her, and the bridal retinue was 011 its way to tho church. Then he, with his chosen baud of warriors, would swoop down on the party, would probably put the rival to rout, and then as "best man" would ci\rry tho brido on to the service. Significance of the "Shoe" Throwing the shoe after tho wedding car is also fraught with a little-known significance—it symbolises the renunciation of authority over the bride bv her father. First he used to tap her on the head with tho shoo and then hand it to tho 'groom, with a gesture equivalent to washing his hands for good and all of the girl. In some counties in England throwing tho shoe meant tli« bride's renunciation of all links with her younger life. Tho shoe was thrown after the departing couplo by tho chief bridesmaid, usually tho bride's best friend, anil tho other 'maids and single girls would race after it. The first to claim the shoo would bo next to bo wed. Tho veil, too, has its symbolism and is found in every service, from the ancient Jews to the present day. It is held now as a relic of tho olil-timo "care-clotli" once held over tho head of both bride and 'groom. In some countries the veil falls over the. face of the brido, to bo lifted at the appropriate time by tho 'groom to denote his acceptance of her.

Tho marriage service of to-day is, in fact, a conglomerate affair of customs ancient and modern. Did you know, for instance, that tho fourth' finger of the left hand was chosen by tho ancients as the ring finger because from there the vein leads directly to tho heart, that organic seat of romance P Customs ancient and modern are gathered round the altar from every corner of the earth, from countries foreign and strange and glamorous to us, as in the case of the wearing of orange blossom, which is tho Chinese emblem of good fortune.

So at a service -wrapped in beauty and hallowed by tradition, the June bride passes from her old life to the new, to share the trials and the sorrows, the burdens and the happinesses that have been the lot of women since timo was.