Most commonly a priest is called to perform the religious rite. “The marriages of the Fijians,” Wilkes says, “are sanctioned by religious ceremonies.... The Ambati, or priest, takes a seat, having the bridegroom on his right and the bride on the left hand. He then invokes the protection of the god or spirit upon the bride, after which he leads her to the bridegroom, and joins their hands with injunctions to love, honour, and obey, to be faithful and die with each other.”[2574] This, however, happens principally among the chiefs; among the common people, the marriage rites are less ceremonious, the priest of the tribe only coming to the house and invoking happiness upon the union.[2575] The Tahitians, too, considered the sanction of the gods essential to the marriage contract. The preliminaries being adjusted, the parties repaired to the temple, where the priest addressed the bridegroom usually in the following terms:—“Will you not cast away your wife?” to which the bridegroom answered, “No.” Turning to the bride, he proposed to her a like question, and received a similar answer. The priest then addressed them both, saying, “Happy will it be if thus with you two.” He then offered a prayer to the gods on their behalf, imploring that they might live in affection, and realize the happiness marriage was designed to secure.[2576] In the Kingsmill Islands, the priest presses the foreheads of the young couple together, and pours on their heads a little cocoa-nut oil; then he takes a branch of a tree, dips it in water, and sprinkles their faces, at the same time praying for their future happiness and prosperity.[2577] Among the Kukis, the young couple are led before the Thémpoo, or priest, “who presents them with a stoup of liquor out of which they both drink, while he continues muttering some words in his unknown language;”[2578] and, among the Khyoungtha[2579] and Garos,[2580] a priest beseeches the gods to bless the union. Among the Igorrotes of Luzon it is a priestess that performs the marriage ceremony, praying to the spirits of the deceased in the presence of all the kinsfolk of the couple.[2581] The Jakuts require the shaman’s assistance for their nuptials,[2582] and so did formerly the Kalmucks.[2583]
The religious ceremonies connected with marriage are not limited to prayers, sacrifices, and other means of pleasing the gods; efforts are also made to ascertain their will beforehand. In Siam, the parents of the parties solicit the opinion of some fortune-teller on the point whether the year, month, and day of the week when the couple were born, will allow of their living happily together as husband and wife.[2584] Among the Chukmas, “omens are carefully observed, and many a promising match has been put a stop to by unfavourable auguries.”[2585] The same is the case with other peoples of India,[2586] the Mongols,[2587] some Turkish nations,[2588] &c. In several countries it is considered a thing of the utmost importance to find out the right day for the wedding, by consulting the stars or otherwise.[2589]
Among civilized nations marriage is almost universally contracted with religious ceremonies either with or without the assistance of a priest. The ancient Mexicans were married by their priests,[2590] and so were the Chibchas[2591] and Mayas.[2592] In Nicaragua, the priest, in performing the ceremony of marriage, took the parties by the little finger, and led them to a fire which was kindled for the occasion. He instructed them in their duty, and, when the fire became extinguished, the parties were looked upon as husband and wife.[2593]
By Buddhist monks marriage is regarded only as a concession to human frailty, and, in Buddhistic countries, it is therefore a simple civil contract;[2594] nevertheless, it is commonly contracted with some religious ceremony, and often with the assistance of a lama.[2595] In China, the bridal pair are conducted to the ancestral hall, where they prostrate themselves before the altar, on which the ancestral tablets are arranged.[2596] Among the Hebrews, marriage was no religious contract, and there is no trace of a priestly consecration of it either in the Scriptures or in the Talmud. Yet, according to Ewald, it may be taken for granted that a consecration took place on the day of betrothal or wedding, though the particulars have not been preserved in any ancient description.[2597] Among the Mohammedans also, marriage, though a mere civil contract, is concluded with a prayer to Allah.[2598]
“Les lois des peuples de l’antiquité,” M. Glasson says, “avaient un caractère à la fois religieux et civil; il n’est donc pas étonnant qu’elles aient le plus souvent fait du mariage un acte à la fois religieux et civil.”[2599] In Egypt, at least during the Ptolemaic period, the wedding is supposed to have been accompanied by a religious ceremony.[2600] Among the ancient Persians, the betrothal was performed by a priest, who joined the hands of the couple whilst reading some prayers.[2601] The Hindus used by prayers and sacrifices to invoke the help of the gods at their weddings.[2602] According to Sir W. H. Macnaghten, marriage is among them “not merely a civil contract, but a sacrament, forming the last of the ceremonies prescribed to the three regenerate classes, and the only one for Śudras; and an unmarried man has been declared to be incapacitated from the performance of religious duties.”[2603] In Greece, marriages were generally, though not always, contracted at the divine altars and confirmed by oaths, the assistance of a priest, however, not being requisite. Before the marriage was solemnized, the gods were consulted and their assistance implored by prayers and sacrifices, which were usually offered to some of the deities that superintended the union of the sexes, by the parents or other relations of the persons to be married. For marriage, as Musonius says, “stands under the protection of great and powerful gods;” and Plato teaches us that a man shall cohabit only with a woman who has come into his house with holy ceremonies.[2604] From the Homeric age we have no instances of marriages being contracted with sacrifices and religious rites, but we must not therefore take for granted that they were entirely wanting.[2605] The Teutons, according to Weinhold, looked upon marriage as an important and holy undertaking, about which it was necessary that the gods should be consulted; and offerings were probably in use among all peoples of this branch of the Aryan race.[2606] The Romans, at their nuptials, made a sacrifice, named libum farreum, to the gods, and the couple were united with prayer.[2607] In the mode of marriage called confarreatio, the Pontifex Maximus seems to have instructed them in the formulas, and some modern authorities even believe that he performed the marriage ceremony. But Rossbach thinks that this was scarcely the case in early times, when every house-father himself was a priest.[2608] Besides sacrifices and prayers, auspices formed a very important part of a Roman wedding; and, if the gods were found to be opposed to the match, the nuptials were put off or the match was abandoned. Even Cicero considered it wicked to marry without auspices.[2609]
It has been suggested that, among primitive Aryans, religious ceremonies were requisite for the validity of marriage.[2610] This was certainly not the case in historical times either among the Greeks or among the Teutons; and at Rome such ceremonies were obligatory only in confarreatio.[2611] But this form of marriage peculiar to the patricians, derived its origin from a very early period, and Rossbach remarks that the farther back we go in antiquity, the more strictly we find the religious ceremonies attended to.[2612] In confarreatio they were essential even in the eye of the law, whilst in coemptio and usus sacrifices and auspices were merely of secondary importance.[2613] Later on, when indifference to the old faith increased, they became more and more uncommon, till at the end of the period of the Pagan Emperors, they were almost exceptional, being regarded as a matter of no significance.[2614]
Christianity gave back to marriage its religious character. The founder of the Christian Church had not prescribed any ceremonies in connection with it, but in the earliest times the Christians, of their own accord, asked for their pastors’ benediction. This was not, indeed, a necessity, and for widows sacerdotal nuptials were not even allowed.[2615] Yet from St. Paul’s words, “Τὸ μυστήριον τοῦτο μέγα ἐστίν”[2616]—in the Vulgate translated, “Sacramentum hoc magnum est,”—the dogma that marriage is a sacrament was gradually developed. Though this dogma was fully recognized in the twelfth century,[2617] marriage was, nevertheless, considered valid without ecclesiastical benediction till the year 1563, when the Council of Trent made it an essentially religious ceremony.
Luther’s opinion that all matrimonial affairs belong not to the Church, but to the jurists, was not accepted by the legislators of the Protestant countries. Marriage certainly ceased to be thought of as a sacrament, but continued to be regarded by the Protestants as a Divine institution; hence sacerdotal nuptials remained as indispensable as ever.
It was the French Revolution that first gave rise to an alteration in this respect. The constitution of the 3rd September, 1791, declares in its seventh article, title ii., “La loi ne considère le mariage que comme contrat civil. Le pouvoir législatif établira pour tous les habitants, sans distinction, le mode par lequel les naissances, mariages et décès seront constatés et il désignera les officiers publics qui en recevront les actes.”[2618] To this obligatory civil act a sacerdotal benediction may be added, if the parties think proper.
Since then civil marriage has gradually obtained a footing in the legislation of most European countries, in proportion as liberty of conscience has been recognized. The French system has lately been adopted in Germany and Switzerland; whilst other nations have been less radical. “Tantôt,” says M. Glasson, “on a le choix entre le mariage civil ou le mariage religieux, en ce sens que l’union bénie à l’église vaut en même temps, d’après la loi, comme mariage civil: c’est ce qui a lieu en Angleterre et en Espagne. Tantôt le mariage religieux est une condition de la validité du mariage civil, comme en Roumanie. En Italie, on peut indifféremment célébrer l’une ou l’autre des deux unions la première. Enfin, il y a des pays où le mariage civil joue un rôle purement secondaire: en Autriche, en Portugal, en Suède, en Norwége, il est subsidiaire; en Russie il n’a été établi que pour les sectaires.”[2619]