MARRIAGE CUSTOMS 149 



prevent her bringing evil influence with her. She is 

 now conducted over a floor, covered with red carpet, 

 to her room, and is there met by the bridegroom. 

 Both simultaneously seat themselves, side by side, on 

 the edge of the bedstead, each trying to get a portion 

 of the other's dress under him or her. Whoever can 

 do this will, it is thought, have to submit to the other. 



After sitting thus in silence for a few moments, the 

 bridegroom takes his departure and waits in the 

 reception-room for the reappearance of his bride. When 

 she comes they worship together heaven and earth and 

 the ancestral tablets, and this worship is the essence 

 of the wedding ceremony. A table is placed * before 

 heaven ' in the front part of the reception-room. Two 

 lighted candles and a censer containing lighted incense 

 are put upon it. There are also placed upon it, ias 

 omens of prosperity and harmony, two miniature white 

 cocks made of sugar, five kinds of dried fruit, money- 

 scales, a bundle of chopsticks, a foot -measure, a 

 mirror, and a pair of shears. 



The bride takes her place by the table on the right 

 side of the groom, and both of them kneel down four 

 times, each time bowingi their heads towards the earth 

 in silence. They then rise up, change places, and 

 again kneel down four times, bowing their heads as 

 before. The ancestral tablets are now placed upon 

 the table, and the bride and bridegroom kneel down 

 and worship these eight times, as they did ' heaven 

 and earth.' On rising, two curiously shaped goblets, 

 connected together by a red silk or red cotton cord, 

 and containing wine and honey, are held to the mouths 

 of the bridegroom and bride, and then changed so that 

 the bride sips out of the one just used by the bride- 



