SAVAGE CUSTOMS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 152, 30 June 1932, Page 2

SAVAGE CUSTOMS

OUR MARRIAGE LAWS. We pride ourselves on being a Christian people, and yet most of our marriage customs are relics of paganism. Now and then we hear of some protest against what are regarded as heathen survivals, but such objections carry little weight, and there are many today who would not consider themselves properly married unless orange blossom, rice, and an old shoe had played their usual parts in the ceremony. Tho idea of the bride wearing a wreath of flowers —often rosemary, myrtle, or corn—is to be found among the Romans and persisted right through our history. When the use of orange blossom began it would be difficult to say, but the flower is a Chinese one and is considered as emblematic of good fortune and fruitfulness. It is said by some people to havo been introduced by the Crusaders, w T ho obtained it from the Saracens, but these unfortunate warriors have been blamed

for many things for which they certainly ought not to be made the scapegoats. The very unpleasant habit of deluging the bride and bridegroom with confetti has rather an interesting history. Confetti is the modern substitute for rice, and rice again is a product of China, and was employed at weddings in that wonderful country quite 1500 years before the Christian era. It is intended to signify the wish of the throwers that good luck and plenty may follow the newly-wedded couple. In parts of Devonshire (England) today a present of hazel nuts is made to the bride as she leaves the church. The hazel nut was the symbol of life, and in tho Roman classics we find mention of its use at weddings. It must havo been very unpleasant, not to say painful, to be greeted with a hailstorm of nuts.

Tho placing of the wedding ring on the third finger is another pagan custom. This finger was chosen because it was popularly supposed that in it there was an artery which proceeded directly to the heart, writes a correspondent in the Afanchester Guardian. Tho use of the wedding ring can bo traced through tho Romans to the ancient Egyptians. The use of tho ring as a bond to some agreement was not restricted by the ancients to marriage.

Perhaps the most interesting ceremony is that of throwing an old shoe after the newly-married pair. To-day we do it in order to express our good wishes, but formerly it had quite another meaning. The bride’s father threw it in token of tho fact that he thereby renounced all authority over his daughter in favour of her husband. Among tho Jews wo find that, when land was sold the renunciation over it was confirmed by the gift of a shoe (see Ruth iv. 7-8). We still havo an echo of this custom in our expression “Stepping into someone’s shoes.” Cinderella’s slipper is probably not unconnected with this custom.

There is one marriage custom of a very interesting nature which seems to have fallen into disuse. This consisted in forcibly depriving the bride of her garter. The idea lying behind this was that when a girl married out of her tribo she could only do so in face of the resistance of the youths of her tribe. The seizing of the garter — or its later substitute, a ribbon—symbolised tho capture of the bride by the b ridegroom. Every part of our marriage ceremony has its symbolism —the bridesmaids and the best man —and nearly all are pagan. The bridal veil deserves a short mention. It was called the care-cloth by the Anglo-Saxons and was held over the bride and bridegroom so that their blushes might not be seen. Tn tho case of widows it was. and still is, dispensed with for obvious reasons.