MESH’ALS.
The bridegroom sits below. Before sunset, he goes to the bath, and there changes his clothes; or he merely does the latter at home, and, after having supped with a party of his friends, waits till a little before the “’eshë” (or time of the night-prayer), or until the third or fourth hour of the night, when, according to general custom, he should repair to some celebrated mosque, such as that of the Hasaneyn, and there say his prayers. If young, he is generally honoured with a zeffeh on this occasion: he goes to the mosque preceded by musicians with drums and one or more hautboys, and accompanied by a number of friends, and by several men bearing “mesh’als.” The mesh’al is a staff with a cylindrical frame of iron at the top filled with flaming wood, or having two, three, four, or five of these receptacles for fire. The party usually proceeds to the mosque with a quick pace, and without much order. A second group of musicians, with the same instruments, or with drums only, closes the procession. The bridegroom is generally dressed in a kuftán with red stripes, and a red gibbeh, with a Kashmeer shawl of the same colour for his turban; and walks between two friends similarly dressed. The prayers are commonly performed merely as a matter of ceremony; and it is frequently the case that the bridegroom does not pray at all, or prays without having previously performed the wudoó, like memlooks who say their prayers only because they fear their master.[[293]] The procession returns from the mosque with more order and display, and very slowly; perhaps because it would be considered unbecoming in the bridegroom to hasten home to take possession of his bride. It is headed, as before, by musicians, and two or more bearers of mesh’als. These are generally followed by two men, bearing, by means of a pole resting horizontally upon their shoulders, a hanging frame, to which are attached about sixty or more small lamps, in four circles, one above another, the uppermost of which circles is made to revolve, being turned round occasionally by one of the two bearers. These numerous lamps, and several mesh’als beside those before mentioned, brilliantly illumine the streets through which the procession passes, and produce a remarkably picturesque effect. The bridegroom and his friends and other attendants follow, advancing in the form of an oblong ring, all facing the interior of the ring, and each bearing in his hand one or more wax candles, and sometimes a sprig of henna or some other flower, excepting the bridegroom and the friend on either side of him. These three form the latter part of the ring, which generally consists of twenty or more persons. At frequent intervals the party stops for a few minutes; and during each of these pauses, a boy or man, one of the persons who compose the ring, sings a few words of an epithalamium. The sounds of the drums, and the shrill notes of the hautboy (which the bride hears half an hour or more before the procession arrives at the house), cease during these songs. The train is closed, as in the former case, by a second group of musicians.
In the manner above described, the bridegroom’s zeffeh is most commonly conducted; but there is another mode, that is more respectable, called “zeffeh sádátee,” which signifies “the gentlemen’s zeffeh.” In this, the bridegroom is accompanied by his friends in the same manner as before related, and attended and preceded by men bearing mesh’als, but not by musicians: in the place of these are about six or eight men, who, from their being employed as singers on occasions of this kind, are called “wilád el-läyálee,” or “sons of the nights.” Thus attended, he goes to the mosque; and while he returns slowly thence to his house, the singers above mentioned chant, or rather sing, “muweshshahs” (or lyric odes) in praise of the Prophet. Having returned to the house, these same persons chant portions of the Kur-án, one after another, for the amusement of the guests; then, all together, recite the opening chapter (the Fát’hah); after which one of them sings a “kaseedeh” (or short poem) in praise of the Prophet: lastly, all of them again sing muweshshahs. After having thus performed, they receive “nukoot” (or contributions of money) from the bridegroom and his friends.
Soon after his return from the mosque, the bridegroom leaves his friends in a lower apartment, enjoying their pipes and coffee and sherbet. The bride’s mother and sister, or whatever other female relations were left with her, are above; and the bride herself, and the belláneh, in a separate apartment.[[294]] If the bridegroom be a youth or young man, it is considered proper that he, as well as the bride, should exhibit some degree of bashfulness: one of his friends, therefore, carries him a part of the way up to the hareem. On entering the bride’s apartment, he gives a present to the belláneh, and she retires. The bride has a shawl thrown over her head; and the bridegroom must give her a present of money, which is called “the price of the uncovering of the face,” before he attempts to remove this, which she does not allow him to do without some apparent reluctance, if not violent resistance, in order to show her maiden modesty. On removing the covering, he says, “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful;” and then greets her with this compliment: “The night be blessed,” or “—is blessed:” to which she replies, if timidity do not choke her utterance, “God bless thee.” The bridegroom now sees the face of his bride for the first time, and generally finds her nearly what he has been led to expect. He remains with her but a few minutes longer:[[295]] having satisfied his curiosity respecting her personal charms, he calls to the women (who generally collect at the door, where they wait in anxious suspense) to raise their cries of joy, or zagháreet: and the shrill sounds acquaint the persons below and in the neighbourhood, and often, responded by other women, spread still further the news, that he has acknowledged himself satisfied with his bride: he soon afterwards descends to rejoin his friends, and remains with them an hour, or more, before he returns to his wife. It very seldom happens that the husband, if disappointed in his bride, immediately disgraces and divorces her; in general, he retains her, in this case, a week or more.
Having now described the most usual manner in which the marriages of virgin-brides are conducted in Cairo, I may add a few words on some of the ceremonies observed in other cases of matrimony, both of virgins and of widows or divorced women.
The daughters of the great, generally having baths in their own houses, seldom go to the public bath previously to marriage. A bride of a wealthy family, and her female relations and friends, if there be not a bath in her house, go to the public bath, which is hired for them exclusively, and to the bridegroom’s house, without music or canopy, mounted on asses: the bride herself generally wearing a Kashmeer shawl, in the manner of a habarah.
If the bridegroom or the bride’s family have eunuchs, these ride before the bride; and sometimes a man runs at the head of the procession, crying, “Bless ye the Prophet!” This man, on entering the house, throws down upon the threshold some leaves of the white beet (“salk”), over which the ladies ride. The object of this act is to propitiate fortune. The same man then exclaims, “Assistance from God, and a speedy victory!”[[296]]
Marriages, among the Egyptians, are sometimes conducted without any pomp or ceremony, even in the case of virgins, by mutual consent of the bridegroom and the bride’s family, or the bride herself; and widows and divorced women are never honoured with a zeffeh on marrying again. The mere sentence, “I give myself up to thee,” uttered by a female to a man who proposes to become her husband (even without the presence of witnesses, if none can easily be procured), renders her his legal wife, if arrived at puberty; and marriages with widows and divorced women, among the Muslims of Egypt, and other Arabs, are sometimes concluded in this simple manner. The dowry of such women is generally one quarter or third or half the amount of that of a virgin.
In Cairo, among persons not of the lowest order, though in very humble life, the marriage ceremonies are conducted in the same manner as among the middle orders. But when the expenses of such zeffehs as I have described cannot by any means be paid, the bride is paraded in a very simple manner, covered with a shawl (generally red), and surrounded by a group of her female relations and friends, dressed in their best, or in borrowed, clothes, and enlivened by no other sounds of joy than their zagháreet, which they repeat at frequent intervals.