CURIOUS MARRIAGE CEREMONIES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XV, Issue III, 20 July 1895, Page 71

CURIOUS MARRIAGE CEREMONIES.

The subtle attacks waged by Cupid upon the human heart are propably much the same in character and potency all the world over, but the ceremony attending the consummation of his. victim’s felicity varies very much indeed, according to their nationality as the following interesting particulars prove. In Germany the wedding is preceded by the * Polterabend, ’ a night devoted to great festivity. The marriage, which is generally regarded as a civil ceremony, is celebrated the next day; first at the * Staudes Beamte ’ or registrar’s office about noon ; next at the church where the service is short and simple. Prior to the close of this service the young couple hand each other a ring, which each is expected to wear as a pledge of love and loyalty. In North Germany the rings are worn on the right hand ; in other parts, upon the left hand. In Norway no man may marry until he can show that he is able to support a wife. Both parties must be confirmed before marriage. The bride comes to the altar wearing the wedding ring. The pastor, attired in black, with Elizabethan ruff round his neck, asks a few questions, and the happy couple join bands, and are then solemnly pronounced to be man and wife. The festivities, consisting of eating, drinking, and dancing, last for three days after the wedding. The people of Roumania are unconventional enough to hold what is called a * Marriage Fair,’ at which all families who possess sons and daughters of a marriageable age meet together, and negotiate in public. When the fair commences, the father mounts his waggon and cries : ‘ I have a daughter to marry. Who has a son to wed ?’ Someone who has a son to dispose of will then reply. The parents then meet in solemn concave to discuss the dowry of goods to be given with each. If everything proves satisfactory to both sides, and a bargain is arranged, the young folk speedily collect their household possessions and drive merrily and hopefully to their new home.

In Borneo the marriage ceremony is both simple and peculiar, though regarded by the people as sacredly binding. The whole tribe assemble with pomp and

solemnity, and the bride and bridegroom are brought before them and seated side by side. Then the medicine man cuts a betel nut in two parts and hands a piece to each of the happy pair. While they are demurely masticating the morsel he mutters a certain incantation over them and knocks their heads together. They are then declared to be one.

In Hindostan the ceremony of marriage is extremely primitive and unique, and is not preceded by the tedious and expensive custom of courtship. Everything pr'or to the ceremony is arranged by the relations on either side. On the day of the marriage the bride and bridegroom meet, often for the first time, in the presence of the assembled relations. They are placed side by side, and after a few mystical words the priest ties a corner of the bride’s veil to the bridegroom’s shawl, and the ceremony concludes. In Northern India a cow and calf are always required at a marriage. The animals are driven into a narrow running stream, in which the priest and the betrothed couple also take their places. Then each of the couple catches hold of the cow’s tail, and someone pours water from a glass vessel over their joined hands, during which performance certain prayers are mumbled by the priest, and joined in by all present. The happy brace are then declared man and wife, and the priest claims the cow and calf as his fee for services rendered. The peaceable and industrious inhabitants of the Island of Banquey have a most peculiar marriage service. The officiating priest takes a sharp knife and makes a small incision in the right leg of the bride and bridegroom, aud taking a few drops of blood from each, transfers them to the leg of the other. This operation, together with a short religious formula, constitutes the legal ceremony, and the twain are one.

In Persia, the bridegroom is obliged to give a certain sum of money in addition to other presents. If he is in moderate circumstances he gives his bride two complete dresses, a ring, and mirror. The marriage ceremony is a simple one, but binding. If the bride is well-to-do, a procession of priests meet her at her home, and accompany her to the temple. There, with a few questions asked of parties by the officiating priest, the blissful

twain proceed to their new abode, amidst the plaudits of the friends and by-standers. Perhaps the most simple and suggestive form of marriage in existence among uncivilised people is that observed by the Cherokee Indians. In the presence of the whole tribe the persons to be married clasp hands over a running stream. In this fashion they pledge mutual and life-long fealty, in the anticipation that their hopes, joys, desires, and experiences shall flow in the same channel.