Throwing the Slipper.

Southland Times, Issue 19036, 2 May 1903, Page 1 (Supplement)

Throwing the Slipper.

The pretty custom o£ throwing a slipper after a bridal pair is accounted for in various ways, but it seems to have originated in France, and tho following pretty story is told in connection with it. A poor old woman who was among tho crowd watching King Louis XIII. drive from the church after his marriage, took off her shoe, and flinging if, at the Royal coach, cried : " It's all I have, your Majesty, but the blessing of God ko with jt ! " In Germany, as in many puvU of England, there is a superstition against May marriages. In Scotland the lii.«t day of the year is often chosen as the we.ldir.g day, so that the young folk may leave their u'n\ life with the old year, and lic^in their married life with the new one. In snnie parts of nual England it is customary to uour hoi water over the threshold after the i*e iarture of the newly-wedded couple in order to keep it warm for another bride. Slips of myrtle, ei,e., from the bridal bouquet, are much sought nfter by the bride's girl friends, for they know that if they can coax them to take root, they themselves are destined to many. It is quite usual for the bridesmaids to draw lots for the bouquet, and the one who draws the prize,, not only has the pleasure of dividing up the bouquet among the rest, but she knows that, according to popular belief, before the year is out she, too, will be wed.