MARRIAGE 87 



bridegroom until the ceremony is over. In Morocco 

 the bride has to keep her eyes closed until after the 

 ceremony, and she also wears a veil over the face. 

 Among the Jews the bridegroom was forbidden to 

 visit or see his bride until after the wedding. Crawley 

 attributes the origin of the bridal veil to the aversion 

 of primitive people to seeing dangerous things; and 

 bride and bridegroom were considered taboo because 

 they were dangerous to each other until after the 

 marriage ceremony. Others, again, explain the 

 bridal veil as a token of sexual shyness and the timi- 

 dity of the bride. Wreaths were originally worn by 

 the priest during the sacrificial rites, and so became 

 symbolical of holiness. The bride wears one at the 

 ceremony because marriage is considered a sacra- 

 ment. Later on, with the insistence Christianity 

 laid upon purity, the wreath became the emblem of 

 virginity in the bride, only virgins being allowed to 

 wear it. A similar idea is implied in the custom we 

 find in Norway and other places, where a nuptial 

 crown is worn by virgin brides (Fig. 31). These are 

 hired from the Church and worn by the bride on her 

 wedding-day. The " best man " is a reminiscence of 

 the times when he was the chief abettor in the pro- 

 curing of the bride. 



Of late, secular marriage had been instituted once 

 more in all advanced countries, giving people the 

 option of either religious consecration or civil regis- 

 tration. In fact, there is a tendency to make mar- 

 riage more and more a mutual agreement between 

 the parties entering matrimony, based upon true 

 understanding and love. 



