DUTCH MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 4770, 22 January 1887, Page 2

DUTCH MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.

It is curious to remark how differently marriage, which as a fact is common to all people, ia managed in the various countries and nations of our little planet. Take, for instance, the many such unions that are brought about in Holland. November is the marrying month in the land of dykes, damp, and iticessant imbition of thimblef ula of excellent tea, oftered to every visitor as a matter of course, as in other countries a hoßtess offers a chair. Each Sunday of that foggy month has its own place in the marriage system, and its own explicative name, being called respectively "Review Sunday," "Decision Sunday," "Purchase Sunday," and ''Possession Sunday." On the first Sunday in November the girls of the locality, dressed in their best, promenade all day long, in order to be passed in review by the unmarried members of the inferior sex. The various candidates go home as evening comes on, and ponder for a week over the image which has caught his or her fancy. On the second Sunday the male ponderers are permitted to bow to the objects of their choice. If their bow is returned with a pleasant smile their hearts palpitate with joyful expectancy. If returned cojdly or not at all, they have to wait a year before they can again conceive a hope of a happier fate. The swain whose bow haa elicited a smile interviews the parents of the smiling fair one on the third Sunday, and if his bank account, family, and position are judged to be satisfactory the matter is regarded ss settled and the wedding comes off on the fourth, which gives him possession of the desired bride.