The Evolution of Fashion

by Florence Mary Gardiner

GARMENT FORMERLY WORN BY GREEK BRIDES.
(From South Kensington Museum)

The Greek marriage service is full of symbol, and the sketch gives a good idea of the bridal costume. The bridesmaid is attired in a gold embroidered jacket, a skirt of brilliant colouring, and the crimson fez—the usual head-gear of a Greek maiden. She is depicted scattering corn, an ancient rite always performed at the conclusion of the ceremony. As she gracefully sways backwards and forwards, to the accompaniment of the jingling coins, which do double service as dowry and trimming, it is a pose and dress at once graceful and free. Formerly a wedding garment was often passed down from mother to daughter, and such an example is given in the soft yellow silk robe, lined with white and enriched with elaborate embroidery. Tiny stars in delicate shades of red, blue, and green, divided by black lines form the design and proclaim the industry and skill of the worker. These robes, however, have not been used in Greece since the beginning of the seventeenth century.

In Japan, the beautiful land of the lily and chrysanthemum, the bride usually takes little more to her husband's home than her trousseau, which is ample enough, as a rule, to satisfy even a woman's passion for dress. The nuptials take place in the evening, and the bride is garbed in virgin white robes, figured with a lozenge design. These garments are the gift of the bridegroom, and in them she passes from the home of her girlhood to that of her husband. The household gods of both families are assembled before an altar decked with flowers and covered with offerings. Near stands a large table, with a dwarf cedar; it also holds the Japanese Adam and Eve, and the mystic turtle and stork. The two special attendants of bride and bridegroom are called butterflies, and in their dress and colouring rival these beautiful insects, which in this country are the symbol of conjugal felicity. The most solemn part of the marriage ceremony is the scene of the two-mouthed vase. At a signal, one butterfly fills the vase, and the other offers it to the kneeling couple, the husband drinking first, and afterwards the wife. This draught signifies that henceforward they are to partake equally of the bitters and sweets of the coming years. Rice is thrown from either side, so as to mingle, and the wicks of two candles are placed together, to symbolize the joining of body and soul.

The marriage processions of other Oriental nations have already been referred to, and in India it is customary to perform the ceremony under a species of canopy richly ornamented and lighted by lamps. The bride wears, in addition to the native costume, a curious veil composed of strings of gold beads and tassels. In Hindu marriages the sacred fire or oman (which is constantly renewed by throwing upon it scented oils, sandalwood, incense, and other aromatic perfumes) is a prominent feature, and the union of a couple is consecrated by sprinkling a handful of saffron, mixed with rice flour, on their shoulders. Finally, the husband presents his wife with a little golden image called talee, a substitute for the wedding ring, and worn by Indian women as their symbol of matrimony.

A missionary thus describes a Buddhist marriage:—"The bride, loaded with jewellery, accompanied by women richly attired, entered the room, and sat down with the bridegroom on the floor. A number of candles were then lighted, and the company saluted and congratulated the happy couple, and expressed their kind wishes by blowing smoke towards them, while a band of string instruments discoursed sweet music. Two cushions were placed before the bridegroom, on which a sword was laid, and food was also near them. Next the hands of each were bound together, then the two to each other with silken threads. This act was performed by the nearest relative present, and completed the ceremony." Brief, indeed, are the forms of marriage indulged in by the people of Borneo. Each of the contracting parties chews a betel nut; an elderly woman mutters some sort of incantation, and brings the heads of bride and bridegroom in close contact, after which they are declared man and wife, and are no longer regarded as twain, but one flesh. The Cherokee form of marriage is perhaps the most simple. The two join hands over a running stream, emblematic of the wish that their future lives, hopes, and aspirations, should flow on in the same channel. A peculiar custom of the Lascars is the putting of a ring on the great toe when they marry. Mrs. Bishop, who has explored Tibet and studied the habits and customs of the people, informs us that polyandry is favoured by the women of that country. The heir of the land and eldest son appears to be the only member of the family who can contract a marriage in the legal sense as we understand it, but all his brothers are accepted by the wife as inferior or subordinate husbands. By this means they are kept well under the control of the superior husband, whom they regard as the "Big Father," and, as a matter of form, any children who may be born are accepted by him.

HINDU BRIDEGROOM'S PROCESSION.

Thus the whole family are attached to the soil, and seem to work in concord, and the women have the satisfaction of knowing that in the average course of Nature they can never become widows, and that there will always be someone to work for them and their offspring. "It is the custom for the men and women of a village to assemble when a bride enters her home with her husbands, and for each of them to present her with three rupees. The Tibetan wife, far from spending these gifts on personal adornment, looks ahead, contemplating possible contingencies, and immediately hires a field, the produce of which is her own, and accumulates from year to year, so that she may not be portionless should she desire a divorce."

The African tribes, of course, differ materially in their marriage customs, but some form of exchange for the services of the woman are insisted on, and often take the shape of a present of cattle to the bride's father. On the West Coast, in the neighbourhood of Gaboon, where slavedom is recognised, there is an understanding that a wife may be purchased for a slave bundle, valued at about £6 in English money, and there appears to be no sliding scale as to youth, beauty, form, or degree. A bundle contains specimens of every article sold by a general storekeeper. The most important features of a slave bundle are a Neptune, or brass pan used for making salt, which is a current article of commerce, and a piece of native cloth, manufactured by these people for dress purposes, from a species of palm which grows on the river banks in great luxuriance. Both sexes anoint themselves with palm oil and other greasy substances, and no greater compliment can be paid to an African belle than to say she looks "fat and shining."