With the Mecks and the Kacharis, the bridegroom, accompanied by his friends, goes to the house of his future bride; he there meets the friends of the latter, and the two troupes simulate a combat, in which the future husband is always victor; the bride finishes by being carried off, and her husband has only to feast the friends of both parties, and pay the father the price of the girl.[247]
With the Soligas, the man carries away the young girl with her consent, and goes, like the Mongols, to a neighbouring village to pass the time of the honeymoon, after which the couple return home and give a feast.[248]
The custom of simulated capture still exists among other aboriginal tribes of India, the Khonds, Badagas, etc.
It is evident that in primitive humanity, to carry off a woman with armed violence was considered a glorious exploit, since in the most diverse races pacific marriage assumes, with such good will, the pretence of violent conquest.
In New Zealand, in order to marry a girl, a man applied either to her father or nearest relation; then, consent being obtained, he ravished his future bride, who was bound to resist energetically. As the New Zealand women were robust, the contest, however courteous it might be, was severe; the clothes of the girl were generally torn to shreds, and it sometimes took hours to drag her a hundred yards.[249]
Sometimes the mother of the bride interfered. Mr. Yate mentions a case of this kind. It relates to a mother quite content with the marriage of her daughter, but obliged by custom to make a show of violent opposition. The newly-married couple, on coming out of the church, for they were converted, met the old woman, vociferating and tearing her hair, and abusing the missionary, but telling him at the same time in a low voice not to mind, for she was not serious.[250]
In certain districts of New Zealand the future husband was obliged literally to carry off the girl. When the marriage was negotiated and, in principle, concluded, all the relatives watched the fiancée with the greatest care, and held themselves in readiness to defend her. The young man had to seize his bride at all costs by force of arms; his honour depended on it, and often he suffered severely in conducting his glorious enterprise to a successful end.[251]
The ceremonial of capture evidently springs from customs of rape, whether ancient or not; it is, therefore, quite natural to meet with razzias among the Bedouins, as among all of their race. With the Bedouins of Sinai, the comedy is played to the life. The bridegroom, accompanied by a couple of friends, attacks the girl when she is leading the flocks home. She defends herself vigorously by throwing stones, and is esteemed according to the amount of energy she shows. At length they finish by taking her to the tent of her father, where the name of her future husband is proclaimed. After this the girl is dressed as a bride, placed on a camel, all the time feigning resistance, and conducted to the encampment. A feast and presents terminate the ceremony.[252]
With the Mezeyn Arabs things are pushed further. The girl, in the so-called capture, evades pursuit and takes refuge in the mountains, where her friends have prepared provisions for her beforehand. The bridegroom rejoins his future wife in her retreat, and it is there that the marriage is consummated. After this the couple return to the paternal domicile, which the woman, unless she is with child, does not quit for a year.
The matrimonial comedy is not always so complicated. With the Amezas the bride only runs from tent to tent, and is at last conducted by several women to a tent prepared at some distance; her bridegroom awaits her there, but he has to force her to enter it; that done, the women retire.[253]