AMONG THE TRANSYLVANIAN SAXONS. in 



it is considered a bad omen for the married life of the young couple if 

 the wife be separated from her husband on this occasion ; therefore it 

 is customary for the young husband to take his stand close by the 

 church-door while his wife is praying within, and then be ready to 

 catch hold of her as soon as she steps outside. For greater precau- 

 tion, the man often holds her round the waist with both hands during 

 the dance which immediately takes place before the church, and at 

 which they assist merely as spectators, taking no active part, as it is 

 not considered seemly to dance in the church attire. 



As commonly several couples are married at the same time, it is 

 usual for each separate wedding-party to bring its own band of music, 

 and dance thus independently of the others. On the occasion of a 

 triple wedding I lately witnessed, it was very amusing to watch the 

 three wedding-parties coming down the street, each accelerating its 

 pace till it came to be a sort of race up to the church-door to secure 

 the best dancing-place. The ground being rough and slanting, there 

 was only one spot where anything like a flat dancing floor could be 

 obtained, and the winning party at once secured this enviable posi- 

 tion, while the others had to put up with an inclined plane or a few 

 hillocks accidcnting their ball-room floor. The ten to sixteen couples 

 belonging to each wedding-party are inclosed in a ring of bystanders, 

 each rival band of music playing away with heroic disregard for the 

 scorched ears of the listeners. " Polka ! " calls out the first group ; 

 " Wether ! " roars the second, for it is a point of honor that each party 

 should display a noble independence in taking its own line of action ; 

 and if, out of mere coincidence, two of the bands happen to strike 

 up the self-same tune, one of them is sure to change to something 

 totally different as soon as aware of the unfortunate mistake the 

 caterwauling effect produced by this system baffling all description. 

 " This is nothing at all," said the worthy pastor, from whose garden I 

 was overlooking the scene, laughing at the evident dismay with which 

 I endeavored to stop my ears. "Sometimes we have eight or ten wed- 

 dings at a time, each with their own fiddlers. That is something 

 worth hearing indeed ! " The rest of that day is spent much in the 

 same manner as the former one, only this time in the house of the 

 bridegroom's parents. 



Among the customs attached to this first day of wedded life is 

 that of breaking the distaff. If the young matron can succeed in 

 doing so at one stroke across her knee, then she will be sure to have 

 strong and healthy sons. If the reverse, she has only girls to expect. 



The third day is called the finishing-up day, each of the two fami- 

 lies assembling its own friends and relations to consume the provisions 

 remaining over from the former banquet, and at the same time to 

 wash up the cooking-utensils and the crockery, restoring whatever has 

 been borrowed from neighbors in the shape of plates, wine-jugs, etc., 

 the new-married couple joining the entertainment, now at the one, 



