THE PARSIS 



''pichori" or waist-band of one of them, between 

 the happy pair to screen them from each other's 

 sight, but their right hands were clasped underneath. 

 Meanwhile the priest was chanting and put rice 

 over them, then he took some raw twist and wound 

 it round the pair seven times, all the time repeating 

 short prayers. 



The twist is then tied seven times over the 

 joined hands of the couple and the curtain is 

 dropped. They are married. 



The bride moves to her groom's side and facing 

 us, and for hours now the priest prays, blesses and 

 preaches to the two. All these apparently little 

 things have their meaning, the holding of the veil 

 and sitting opposite signify they are separated ; 

 joining hands and sitting side by side that they are 

 made one ; raw twist twined many times is strong 

 and unbreakable, and so must the love of husband 

 and wife be ; seven, too, is a significant number with 

 the Parsis. 



After the actual marriage ceremony, and before 

 the recital of blessings and sermons, the brother of 

 the bridegroom suggested to us English that we 

 should have some refreshments, and as we left the 

 hall the band played " God save the King ". We 

 went to a building with a long table set out with 

 ordinary English refreshments, including ices, bis- 

 cuits, sweetmeats and champagne. We passed a 

 row of chairs in the garden on which were odd- 



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