84 SEX-LORE 



the little finger of the man's right hand is tied to 

 the little finger of the woman's left hand. Again, 

 the couple about to be married merely sit together 

 on one seat and receive their friends, to whom they 

 give a dinner or feast. Among the Veddahs of 

 Ceylon, the bride ties a thin cord round the bride- 

 groom's waist, and they are then husband and wife. 

 The Hindu bride and bridegroom have their hands 

 bound together with grass. All these customs prob- 

 ably account for the phrases " the nuptial tie " 

 or " the knot tied." A quaint method of indi- 

 cating the union of the couple exists in Japan. Here, 

 when the bride crosses the threshold of her new home, 

 the wicks of two candles are tied or twisted together 

 by some near relative of the bridegroom, and are lit. 

 This symbolizes the union of bodies and souls in 

 marriage. 



The religious aspect of marriage first finds expres- 

 sion in magical rites. Crawley points out the preva- 

 lent belief that spirits seem particularly active at 

 marriages, so that precautions must be taken to drive 

 them away. In Russia all doors and windows, and 

 even the chimneys, are closed at a wedding, to pre- 

 vent malicious witches from hurting bride and bride- 

 groom. The practice of throwing rice at a wedding 

 originated in the custom of giving food to the spirits 

 in order to propitiate them. In the county of Dur- 

 ham and in Cleveland, guns were. fired over the heads 

 of the newly wedded pair all the way from church, to 

 ward off the evil spirits. There still exists in Ger- 

 many the institution of Polterabend, when people 

 break pottery outside the bride's house on the eve 

 of the wedding. 



