A CATEGORY OF WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 83, 8 April 1933, Page 13 (Supplement)

A CATEGORY OF WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES

TWENTY-ONE CAN EE CELEBRATED IN 75 YEARS OF WEDDED LIFE Recently in England Lord and Lady Luke celebrated their “pearl” wedding anniversary. 'What is a pearl wedding anniversary? With silver weddings and golden weddings everyone is familiar, innumerable married couples have celebrated their silver wedding and most families can boast, in some branch, a Darby and Joan who arc approaching, or have already been felicitated upon, the completion of a halfcentury of wedded life. But a pearl wedding, though more common than a diamond wedding, is levs frequently talked about. In fact, many married couples must have attained a pearl wedding without knowing it. The pearl anniversary is the thirtieth says the Daily Alail. Here is a list of the wedding anniversaries that Darby and Joan may celebrate from the first to the seventvfifth: First. Cotton (or papeiri. Second, Calico (or paper). Third, Aluslin (or leather'. Fourth, Silk. Fifth, Wood. Sixth, Iron. Seventh, Copper ( <•:■ Eighth, Bronze. Ninth, Pottery, Tenth, Tin. Twelfth. Silk ami Fine .'/;■ u. Fifteenth, Crystal. Twentieth, China. Twenty-fifth, Silver. Thirtieth, Pearl. Thirty-fifth, Coral. Fortieth, Ruby. Fiftieth. Gold. Fifty-fifth, Emerald. Sixtieth and Seventy-fifth, Diamond. This is the list generally accepted in England to-day. Last century however the first anniversary was called the iron wedding; the thirtieth, cotton; th? thirty-fifth, linen; the fortieth, woollen; the forty fifth, silk. How these changes came about no one knows. And no one seems to know how the first arbitrary sequence of ma terials and gems was formulated. But the object of the list is preUy obvious. It is a complete guide to the presentation of gifts suited to the oe casion. Obviously, the earlier list was the more economical.