BRIDAL CEREMONY. H 



next twelvemonth the betrothal is dissolved, unless both \\isli 

 otherwise " (Gragas, i. 310). 



The wedding generally took place at the home of the bride ; 

 very seldom at the bridegroom's : on the wedding-night the 

 mund became the wife's personal property. 



After the marriage the bride and bridegroom were hjon, a 

 word which means man and wife ; and then the wife became an 

 eiginkona (own woman, wife, spouse) and Tiusfreyja (housewife), 

 and enjoyed the rights belonging to that position. 



" Illugi lived at Holm in Akranes. He was tall and strong 

 and wealthy ; he went on a wooing-journey to Olfusvatn, and 

 asked for Thurid, the daughter of Grimkel by his first wife. 

 Grinikel answered favourably, for he knew Illugi ; the betrothal 

 was performed there ; Hord (Grimkel's son by Signy) was not 

 present at this. In the tvimanacl (September) the wedding-feast 

 was to be at Olfusvatn, and when the appointed day came 

 Illugi made ready to go with thirty men" (Herd's Saga, ch. ii.). 



No rings were exchanged or given either at the betrothal or 

 the wedding. That the bride had a special dress for the 

 bridal ceremony seems to be certain, though in no Saga have 

 we a description of a bridal dress ; but from several passages 

 we see that the bride was livit-foldud (white-folded), and lin- 

 bundin (linen-bound, enveloped in linen), which implies that 

 the bridal dress was white. 



" It is told that the first evening of the wedding the brides 

 (King Svein's, and that of Sigvaldi, Jarl of the Jomsvikings) 

 had their head-dress (fold) low down so that their faces could 

 not be distinctly seen ; next morning they were very merry 

 and did not wear any skuplas." * 



This bridal linen was a long wide head-dress hanging down 

 the back from the top of the head, or a kind of veil. In 

 Thrymskvida the bride wore such a head-dress, which was 

 fastened on the head with an ornament. At the waist a 

 bunch of keys was placed to show her authority as mistress 

 of the household, and on her breast she had an ornament. 



The jotun Thryrn had got Thor's hammer and would not 

 give it back, unless Freyja were married to him. Thor was 



1 Skupla = a woman's hood hiding the face. 



