MARRIAGE MARS. 



697 



signed before a cadi, in a solitary place, so that en- 

 chanters may not deprive the bridegroom of his 

 vigour. , 



As it is considered, with all the Mohammedans, a 

 matter of the greatest importance to find the signs 

 of maidenhood in the bride, and as the whole relation 

 between the two sexes is such as not to enable the 

 bridegroom to take the bride's virtue upon trust, it 

 is often made a point of the marriage contract, that 

 the marriage shall be null if satisfaction is not re- 

 ceived on this point. So- much attention is paid to 

 this subject, that, in case an accidental injury, as by 

 a fall from a camel, &c., might bring it in question, 

 fathrs not unfrequently have an attested record 

 made of the cause of the accident. The Circassians, 

 r?ho sell their daughters to the Turks, use mechani- 

 cal means to prevent the loss of their virginity, from 

 tlie age of puberty. 



With the heathen Hindoos, any one who marries 

 out of his caste, loses its privileges, and becomes 

 liUle better than a Paria (q. v.). The Hindoos be- 

 iroth their children very early, often in the seventh 

 year. When the marriage is agreed on, gifts are 

 sent, with song and music to the bride. Similar 

 ones are returned to the bridegroom. On the day 

 before the marriage, the bridegroom, adorned with 

 a crown and flowers, proceeds through the city, 

 accompanied by music, and attended by the young 

 men of his own occupation, in palanquins, carriages, 

 and on horseback. The bride does the same, on 

 the day of the wedding, attended by her young fe- 

 male acquaintance. In the evening, the wedding 

 takes place. A fire is lighted between the couple, 

 a silk cord wound round them, and a kerchief, folded 

 up, is placed between them, after which the Bramin 

 pronounces a certain formula, the purport of which 

 is, that the husband ought to give sufficient support 

 to the wife, and that she ought to be faithful : the 

 blessing follows. The Buddha religion prescribes 

 vther ceremonies and rules. 



In Pegu, the women are bought, and generally 

 only for a certain time. 



In Siam, the husband may have, besides the legi- 

 timate wife, others, whose children, however, are 

 not legal, and are sold as slaves. 



In China, the wife is bought ; poor people ask 

 wives from the foundling houses. The young 

 couple do not see each other before the contracts are 

 exchanged. The bride is then conveyed, with music, 

 torches, &c., to the husband. She is carried in a 

 chair, securely enclosed, the key to which is given, 

 on her arrival, to the bridegroom. Here he sees her 

 for the first time. Formerly, the wife was sent 

 back immediately, but at present this is generally 

 prevented by the contract ; the relations also con- 

 trive to get a pretty accurate description of the bride 

 beforehand. The bride is then led into the house, 

 where she bows low before the family idol. Enter- 

 tainments then follow, each sex being separate. 

 After marriage, the wife sees only the husband, and, 

 on particular occasions, the fattier or some other re- 

 lative, unless express provision is made for more 

 liberty in the contract. 



In Japan, the bridegroom awaits the bride in the 

 temple of Fo, where the bonze blesses them, during 

 which ceremony the couple bear a torch or lamp. 

 The festival then lasts for seven or eight days. 



The Parsees, or worshippers of fire, consider ma- 

 trimony a holy state, conducive to eternal felicity, 

 and betroth children very young. Matrimony be- 

 tween cousins is most esteemed. Betrothment is, 

 with them, a ceremony entirely binding. At the 

 wedding, the priest asks the parties whether each 

 will have the other ; if they say yes, he joins their 

 hands and strews rice over them. Weddings 



among them are celebrated with much public fes- 

 tivity. 



Among the Indians of North America, the wed- 

 dings are very simple. See the article Indians. 



Among Christians, marriages, of late, are cele- 

 brated with much less ceremony than formerly. In 

 England, among the wealthier classes, it is custom- 

 ary for the couple to go, in a morning dress, to 

 church, and, immediately after the marriage, to set 

 out on a journey. With the Catholics, matrimony 

 is a sacrament, and dissolvable by the pope only. 

 With Protestants this is not the case. In Scotland 

 and the United States of America matrimony in 

 the eye of the law is a mere civil act ; justices of 

 the peace may perform the ceremony ; yet such in- 

 stances are rare. Marriages concluded by clergy- 

 men simply are valid also, and, in so far, the law 

 differs from that in the former French republic and 

 empire, where the contract, in the presence of the 

 civil officer, could not be omitted. 



MARROW. See Bone, and Medulla. 



MARS, MAYORS (with the Greeks Ares) the 

 god of war. According to the oldest poets, he was 

 the son of Jupiter and Juno ; according to later ones, 

 of Juno alone, and the fiercest of all the gods. Ares 

 or Mars is, originally, a Pelasgian deity, whose wor- 

 ship was first celebrated in Thrace, and afterwards 

 transferred to Greece. In the earliest times he was 

 the symbol of divine power, and with the Greeks, 

 the symbol of war, so far as regards strength, bravery 

 and fierceness, or, in other words, was the god of 

 battles. Minerva, on the contrary, as the goddess 

 of war, was the symbol of courage joined with wis. 

 dom and military art. In later times, he is always 

 represented in the human form, and is the protector 

 of innocence. The Romans early adopted his wo>-_ 

 ship from the Greeks. According to tradition, 

 Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were 

 the fruit of his intercourse witli Rhea Sylvia. Sev- 

 eral temples in Rome and the Campus Martius were 

 dedicated to him. His service was celebrated by 

 particular flamines devoted to him, and by the col- 

 lege of the Salii, whose duty it was to preserve his 

 shield (ancile), said to have fallen from heaven. 

 The month of March was sacred to him, and his 

 festivals were celebrated on the 1st of March and 

 12th of October. He was likewise the god of spring. 

 Among the Romans, soldiers, and gladiators, and 

 fire were sacred to him ; also horses, birds of prey, 

 vultures, cocks, woodpeckers, and wolves ; the 

 suovetaurilia were also in honour of him. In peace, 

 they called him Quirinus ; in war, Gradivus (the 

 striding). They considered Bellona as his wife and 

 sister. The Greeks, on the other hand, assigned 

 him no wife, although he had children by Venus and 

 several other mistresses. His intrigue with the 

 former was betrayed to Vulcan by Sol. Vulcan im 

 mediately made a fine iron net, which he threw over 

 the two lovers, whom he found in bed together : he 

 then called together all the gods, and exposed his 

 captives to the scorn of Olympus. He was the father 

 of Harmonia, by Venus ; Deimos (Terror) and Pho- 

 bos (Fear) were his sons. Simonides also calls Cupid 

 the son of Mars and Venus. Phobos is his constant 

 companion in war ; Phobos and Deimos harness the 

 steeds to his chariot, and guide him to the fight. 

 Enyo, the destroyer of cities (Bellona), and Eris, 

 always hover around him in battle. The fables relate 

 many of his exploits. He is mentioned in the account 

 of the war of the giants only by the later poets. Ac- 

 cording to Claudian, he was the first who attacked 

 the giants : he slew Pelorus and Mimas. But he was 

 compelled to flee, with the other gods, before Typhoe- 

 us, and, to escape his fury, changed himself into a 

 fish. In the fight with Otus and Ephialtes, the H>US 



