From these games, when thus taken together, we have evidence of the existence of customs obtaining in primitive marriage, and the fact that these customs, namely, those of marriage by capture, marriage by purchase, marriage by consent of others than those principally concerned, in other words, marriage between comparative strangers, occur in games played in line form, a form used for contest and fighting games, tends to show that the line form is used for the purpose of indicating the performance of customs which are supposed to take place between people living in different countries, towns, and villages, or people of different tribes or of different habits and customs. The more imperfect games of this type, though they have lost some of the vigour, have still enough left to show, when placed with the others, a connection with customs performed in the same manner.
In “[Lady of the Land],” for instance (vol. i. pp. 313-20), the words indicate a lady hiring a poorer woman’s daughters as servants, and, no doubt, originates from the country practice of hiring servants at fairs, or from hirings being dramatically acted at Harvest Homes. The old practice of hirings at fairs is distinctly to be traced in local customs (see p. 319), and is a common incident in folk-tales. In this game, too, actions would be performed suitable to the work the players undertake to do.
It is not necessary to mention in detail any of the remaining line games, because they are fragmentary in form, and do not add any further evidence to that already stated.
In considering this group of games it is obvious, I think, that we have elements of custom and usage which would not primarily originate in a game, but in a condition of local or tribal life which has long since passed away. It is a life of contest, a life, therefore, which existed before the days of settled politics, when villages or tribal territories had their own customs differing from each other, and when not only matters of political relationship were settled by the arbitrament of the sword, but matters now considered to be of purely personal relationship, namely, marriage. While great interest gathers round the particular marriage customs or particular contests indicated in this group of games, the chief point of interest lies in the fact that they are all governed by the common element of contest.
I will now turn to the circle games. Like the line games, this form contains games which show marriage custom, but it is significant that they all show a distinctly different form of marriage. Thus they all show courtship and love preceding the marriage, and they show that a distinct ceremony of marriage is needful; but this ceremony is not necessarily the present Church ceremony. The two best examples are “[Sally Water]” (vol. ii. pp. 149-179) and “[Merry-ma-tansa]” (vol. i. pp. 369-367).
In “[Sally Water]” the two principal characters have no words to say, but one chooses another deliberately, and the bond is sealed by a kiss, and in some instances with joining of hands. The circle of friends approve the choice, and a blessing and good wishes follow for the happiness of the married couple, wishes that children may be born to them, and the period of the duration of the marriage for seven years (the popular notion of the time for which the marriage vows are binding). I have printed a great many versions of this game (about fifty), and note that in the majority of them “Sally” and “Water” are conspicuous words. In fact they are usually taken to mean the name of the girl, but on examining the game closely I think it is possible, and probable, that “Sally Water” may be a corruption of some other word or words, not the name of a girl; that the word “Water” is connected, not with the name of the maiden, but with the action of sprinkling which she is called upon to fulfil. The mention of water is pretty constant throughout the game. There are numerous instances of the corruption of words in the game, and the tendency has been to lose the sprinkling of water incident altogether.
The sitting or kneeling attitude, which indicates a reverential attitude, obtains in nearly all versions, as do the words “Rise and choose a young man,” and “Crying for a young man.” This “crying” for a young man does not necessarily mean weeping; rather I consider it to mean “announcing a want” in the way “wants” or “losses” were cried formerly by the official crier of a town, and in the same manner as in games children “cry” forfeits; but, losing this meaning in this game, children have substituted “weeping,” especially as “weeping” with them expresses many “wants” or “woes.” The incident of “crying” for a lover, in the sense of wanting a lover, appears in several of these games. I have heard the expression they’ve been “cried in church” used as meaning the banns have been read. The choosing is sometimes “to the east” and “to the west,” instead of “for the best and worst.” Now, the expression “for better for worse” is an old marriage formula preserved in the vernacular portion of the ancient English Marriage Service, and I think we have the same formula in this game, especially as the final admonition is to choose the “one loved best.” Then comes the very general lines of the marriage formula occurring so frequently in these games, “Now you’re married, we wish you joy,” &c.
In “[Merry-ma-tansa]” the game again consists of a marriage ceremony, with fuller details. The choice of the girl is announced to the assembled circle of friends by a third person, and the friends announce their approval or disapproval. If they disapprove, another choice is made. When they approve, the marriage formula is repeated, and the capacity of the bride to undertake housewifely duties is questioned in verse by the friends (p. 370). All the circle then perform actions imitating sweeping and dusting a house, baking and brewing, shaping and sewing. The marriage formula is sung, and prognostications and wishes for the birth of children are followed by actions denoting the nursing of a baby and going to church, probably for a christening. In one version, too, the bride is lifted into the circle by two of the players. This may indicate the carrying of the bride into her new home, or the lifting of the bride across the threshold, a well-known custom. In [another version] (Addenda, p. 444) after the ceremony the bridegroom is blindfolded and has to catch his bride.
These two games relate undoubtedly to marriage customs, and to no other ceremony or practice. They are, so to speak, the type forms to which others will assimilate.