FESTIVITIES AT AN EASTERN MARRIAGE.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN BRIDAL COSTUME.
We are told, when Rebekah approached her future home and saw a man walking in the distance, she evinced a curiosity, natural under the circumstances, and inquired about him; and on discovering that it was Isaac, "she took a veil and covered herself." It is still almost universal in the East for a woman, whose face is not concealed on other occasions, to envelop her head and body in an ample veil before she is conducted to her husband, and it is considered an indispensable part of the bridal costume. The details of the home coming are modified by the local usages and religions of the different countries. In Syria, Persia, and India, the bridegroom, in person, brings home the bride; in some other countries this duty devolves on a near relative, and he remains at home to receive the lady on her arrival. From various sources, but particularly from indications in Scripture, we may gather that the Jews employed either of these methods, according to circumstances. Again, in Egypt the bridegroom goes to the Mosque when his bride is expected, and returns home in procession after she has arrived. In Western Asia the procession usually walks, if the bride's future house is at no great distance in the same town. In such cases she is often partially covered by a canopy, and in Central and Eastern Asia it is the rule for her to be mounted on a mare, mule, ass, or camel, unless she is carried in a palanquin. Much, of course, depends on the social position of those married. Music attends such processions, and often dancing; the Jews certainly had the former, and some think the latter also, at least, in the time of our Saviour.
A GREEK BRIDESMAID.
MODERN GREEK BRIDAL COSTUME.
In Halhed's translation of the Gentoo Laws, and in Mr. Roberts's "Oriental Illustrations," reference is made to the custom of marrying the elder sister first, and the same usage is observed with regard to the brothers. When, in India, the elder daughter happens to be blind, deaf, dumb, or deformed, this formality is dispensed with; and there have been cases when a man, wishing to obtain a younger daughter, has used every means in his power to promote the settlement of his future sister-in-law, so as to forward his own nuptials. Fathers, too, will sometimes exert their powers to compass the marriage of the elder daughter, when a very advantageous offer is made for the younger one.