MARRIAGE CUSTOMS

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4407, 13 July 1901, Page 4 (Supplement)

MARRIAGE CUSTOMS

Manv customs and superstitions connected with the very important event of marriage. handed down from the-Olden times, while still observed, are little understood as regards origin, etc. The wearing’' comes from tho Anglo-Saxon^wed, which represented the securities placed by the groom in the hands of tho trustees as a dower for the future protection ct the young girl leaving the tender care of par-, enta for a new and untried life. The amount was in accordance with the financi. al circumstances of the groom’s family, and in addition a gift was bestowed, generally consisting of jewels. . A wedding ring m early days "as considered so necessary to make marriage vows binding, that-parties too poor to buy it rented it tor the occasion. Great antiquity surrounds the little circlet, as Henry Swinburn, in the seventeenth century, maimed that “it was designed by Prometheus fashioned from iron and stone by Tubal-Caiu, and given to Adam that witn it he might bind unto himself a wite. .Rings made from rushes find later mention but, alas! must have been too otteu tvnical of ’the love vows they sealed—quickly broken. - Silver rings succeeded them, and some still preserved, aro ot-d and pretty, with devices pf clasped hands, arrow-pierced hearts, and inscribed with little sentiments then quaintly termed "posies.” Gold soon became the accepted metal, and th e plain hand the universal form of the marriage Ying then as now. Of Danish origin is the “bridal favour end the “true lover's knot.’’ which has been such a craze in ornaments ‘and decorations recently. ■ How sweet and musical the- 1 word “truefola.” from which it comes, meaning “I nlightThee my troth. The throwing of the slipper for good luek undoubtedly cam© from a more serious and less nloasing ceremony. . In past ages the shop "'as an emblem pf authority and marriace—to woman a sort of slavery—: herme the father, in transferring hisk-iehts to the husband gave the shoe. Modern fathers would hesitate to countenance alliance that held possibilities *of rule or sever itv for their indulged, idolized daugi ters.

In Die fair hands of Roman brides of the long j ago were held three heads of wheav, and centuries later chaplets of grain encircled the brows of English girls at the alter of Hymen. Showers of grain and bits of cajce afterwards succeeded this bust-pun and then the “bride's loaf” was broken over the heads of the newly-wedded pair. Finally, in the eighteenth century, came the “podding J cake.” very much ip its present form, and cut and at» at the marriag. feast then as mow. In England this cake is a tower of magnificence in its proportions and ornamentation, those at Royal weddings being especially beautifnl and fabulous an price.