MARRIAGE. 



695 



most, perhaps all, Oriental nations, and perhaps we 

 might say, all nations living in a state in which 

 the natural feelings are unchecked. After the suitor 

 has obtained the consent of the girl ana her guar- 

 dians, the betrothinent takes place with certain 

 ceremonies. The bridegroom pays (or, at least, 

 formerly paid) a morning gift, so called a remnant 

 of the custom of buying the daughter from the 

 father. The wedding is not allowed to take place 

 on Saturday (Sabbath), and was usually performed 

 on Wednesdays, because Thursday was a day of jus- 

 tice, and the husband would immediately go to court, 

 and ask for a divorce, in case the signs of virginity 

 liiul been wanting. At present, the marriage takes 

 place sometimes on Friday. The eve before the 

 wedding, the bride goes into the bath, accompanied 

 by her female friends, who make a great noise. The 

 ceremony of the wedding generally takes place in 

 the open air, seldom in a room. The couple sit 

 under a canopy, generally carried by four boys. A 

 large black veil covers both, besides which, each of 

 them has a black cloth (taled), with tassels at the 

 four corners, upon the head. The rabbi, the pre- 

 centor of the synagogue, or the nearest relation of 

 the bridegroom, offers to the couple a cup of wine, 

 and says, " Praised be thou, O God, that thou hast 

 created man and woman, and hast ordained matri- 

 mony." Both drink. The bridegroom then puts a 

 gold ring, without a stone, on the finger of the bride, 

 and says, " With this ring I take thee as my wedded 

 wife, according to the custom of Moses and the 

 Israelites." Then the matrimonial contract is read 

 (see Jewish Lau), and the bridegroom shakes hands 

 with the parents of the bride. Wine is brought once 

 more, in a vessel easily to be broken ; six prayers 

 are spoken ; the couple drink of the wine, and the 

 cup is thrown violently to the ground, according to 

 some, in remembrance of the destruction of Jeru- 

 salem ; according to others, to admonish the com- 

 pany to orderly behaviour. The company then 

 proceeds into the dwelling of the bridegroom, where 

 they sit down to dinner, and he chants a long prayer. 

 After the meal, men and women perform a certain 

 dance, each sex separate. In presence often persons 

 of advanced age, another prayer is pronounced over 

 the bride, and she is led into the bridal-chamber, 

 from which moment the marriage is considered to be 

 complete. 



Of the multifarious ceremonies accompanying the 

 wedding, with the latter Greeks, the germs are to 

 be found as early as the time of Homer, viz. the 

 leading of the bride veiled to the shoulders, from 

 the house of her father to that of her husband, with 

 torches, the singing of joyous songs, playing on the 

 flute and harp, dancing, bathing of the bride, orna- 

 menting her, conducting of the couple to their 

 apartment by the thalamepolos, a female guardian of 

 the bride chamber. At later periods, the ceremonies 

 of the festival were more extended. The day before 

 the wedding, which was celebrated particularly in 

 the month Gamelion, or on the fourth day of each 

 month, the betrothed parties each cut off a lock of 

 hair, and dedicated it to all the patron gods of 

 matrimony (Jupiter, Juno, Diana, the Fates); the 

 bile of the victims was thrown away ; the entrails 

 were observed. The ceremonies were, properly 

 speaking, nothing but a mimic repetition of the first 

 marriage of the gods (games hieros). On the day of 

 Che wedding, the couple put on wreaths of flowers 

 or leaves, sacred to Venus, or having some other 

 relation to marriage. The house was also orna- 

 mented with wreaths. Towards evening, the bride- 

 groom took the bride from her father's house, 

 generally in a chariot, accompanied by a para- 

 nymp/ios. If he had been already married, the 



paranympkos alone conducted her, anrt was then 

 called nymphagogos. The bride, (who carried a 

 vessel containing barley, and called phrygetron) 

 was preceded by torch-bearers, music and song, 

 also by females who carried symbols of domestic 

 life, as a sieve, a spindle, &c. When the couple 

 arrived at home, fruits were poured over them, as 

 a symbol of plenty ; the axle of the vehicle in which 

 they had ridden was burnt, to indicate that the 

 bride could not return, after which the meal fol- 

 lowed, in apartments adorned for the occasion, for 

 which friends and relations assembled, dressed in 

 festival dresses. In Athens, a boy appeared during 

 the meal, crowned with thorns and acorns, holding a 

 basket, which contained bread, and calling out, "1 

 left the bad and found the better" (i<fvy< KO.X.OI, 

 !/ apuyov) an allusion to the life of the primitive 

 inhabitants of Attica, without bread and matrimony. 

 Dances and songs diverted the guests. After the 

 dance, followed the procession into the bride chamber, 

 where the bed was generally covered with a purple 

 cloth, and strewed with flowers. Another bed was 

 also placed in the same room, for the bridegroom, in 

 case evil omens should prevent the consummation of 

 the marriage. Here the bride washed her feet 

 (in Athens, in water from the fountain Callirrhoe), 

 served by the luthrophoros (a boy always the 

 nearest relative). In Athens, the pair also ate a 

 quince, probably in allusion to Proserpine. The 

 bride was now placed in the bed by her nearest rela- 

 tives, particularly by the mother of the bride, who 

 wound the fillets of her own hair round the torch, 

 and, whilst the bridegroom unloosed the zone of the 

 bride, which was consecrated to Minerva or Diana, 

 boys and girls danced before the door, stamping and 

 singing songs (epit/ialamia, choruses, praises of the 

 young couple, good wishes, &c. (See Theocrytus, 

 18th idyl.) A thyroros (door-keeper) prevented the 

 women from entering to assist the bride. The 'next 

 morning, the same boys and girls sung epit/ialamia 

 egertica (awakening songs). The festival lasted for 

 several days, each having its proper name. 



Very different from all this was the custom of the 

 Lacedaemonians. They retained the ancient form of 

 carrying off the bride by force. After the bride- 

 groom had carried off the girl, a female paranymph 

 cut the hair of the bride, put on her a male dress, 

 seated her in a dark room, upon a carpet ; the bride- 

 groom then came clandestinely, unbound the zone, 

 placed the bride upon the bed, and, soon after, stole 

 away to the common sleeping room" of the youths, 

 and repeated these visits several times before the 

 marriage was made known. After this, the solemn 

 conducting home of the bride, accompanied by sacri- 

 fices, took place. 



The Romans had, in a legal sense, three different 

 ways of concluding a marriage coemtio, confarreatio, 

 and usus of which the confarreatio was the most 

 solemn and most conclusive. At the betrothment 

 (sponsalia), the day of marriage was settled, great 

 care being taken not to fix upon one of the atri dies 

 (unlucky days), viz., the month of May, the calends, 

 nones, and ides, and the days following them, the 

 feast of the Salians, the parentalia, &c. On the 

 other hand, a peculiar predilection was entertained 

 for the second half of June. The day before the 

 wedding, the bride sacrificed the virgin-like toga 

 prcetexta to the Fortuna birginalis ; her bullu aurea, 

 her strophia and toys to the Lar familiar is, or to 

 Venus, after she had first sacrificed to Junojugo, the 

 goddess of marriages, and after her hair had been 

 divided with a lance (ccelibaris) into six locks (in 

 allusion to the rape of the Sabines), and arranged 

 according to the fashion of matrons. On the day 

 of the wedding, the bride was ornamented. She 



