CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE CUSTOMS OF MANKIND.—(Continued.)
Marriage Ceremonies of different Nations—Marriage Custom of the Japanese—Bacon Flitch Custom at Dunmow, Essex—On the Origin of Rings in general—Matrimonial Ring—Extraordinary Marriage Custom—Hand-Fasting.
| Tho’ fools spurn Hymen’s gentle pow’rs, They who improve his golden hours, By sweet experience know, That marriage, rightly understood, Gives to the tender and the good A paradise below. Cotton. |
Marriage Ceremonies of different Nations.—Marriage ceremonies vary in different countries, and at different times. Where the practice is to purchase a wife, whether among savages, or among luxurious people in hot climates, payment of the price completes this marriage, without any other ceremony. Other ceremonies, however, are sometimes practised. In old Rome, the bride was attended to the bridegroom’s house, with a female slave carrying a distaff and a spindle, importing that she ought to spin for the family. Among the savages of Canada, and of neighbouring countries, a strap, a kettle, and a faggot, are put in the bride’s cabin, as symbols of her duty, viz. to carry burdens, to dress victuals, and to provide wood. On the other hand, the bride, in token of her slavery, takes her axe, cuts wood, bundles it up, and lays it before the door of the bridegroom’s hut. All the salutation she receives is, “It is time to go to rest.” The inhabitants of Sierra Leone, on the coast of Africa, have in all their towns a boarding-school, where young ladies are educated for a year, under the care of a venerable old gentleman. When their education is completed, they are carried in their best attire to a public assembly; which may be termed a matrimonial market, because there young men convene to make a choice. Those who fit themselves to their fancy pay the dowry; and, over and above, reward the old superintendant for his extraordinary care in educating the bride. In the island of Java, the bride, in token of subjection, washes the bridegroom’s feet; and this is a capital ceremony. In Russia, the bride presents to the bridegroom a bundle of rods, to be used against her when she deserves to be chastised; and at the same time she pulls off his boots. Very different were the manners of Peru before the Spanish conquest. The bridegroom carried shoes to the bride, and put them on with his own hands; but there, purchasing wives is unknown. Marriage ceremonies in Lapland are directed by the same principle. It is the custom there, for a man to make presents to his children of rein-deer; and young women who have a large stock of these animals, have lovers in plenty. A young man looks for such a wife at a fair, or at a meeting for paying taxes. Being solicitous, in particular, to have an eloquent pleader, he carries to the house of the young woman some of his relations. They are all admitted except the lover, who must wait till he be called in. After drinking some spirits, brought with them for the purpose, the spokesman addresses the father in humble terms, bowing the knee, as if he were introduced to a prince. He styles him the worshipful father, the high and mighty father, the best and most illustrious father, &c.
The marriage ceremonies among the Hottentots are of a singular nature. After all matters are adjusted among the old people, the young couple are shut up by themselves; and pass the night in struggling for superiority, which proves a very serious work, where the bride is reluctant. If she persevere to the last without yielding, the young man is discarded; but, if he prevail, which commonly happens, the marriage is completed by another ceremony, no less singular. The men and women squat on the ground in different circles, the bridegroom in the centre of one, and the bride in the centre of another, where ceremonies of a most indelicate nature take place. The ceremonies among the present Greeks are no less remarkable. Among other particulars, the bridegroom and bride walk three rounds; during which they are kicked and cuffed heartily. Tournefort adds, that he only and his companions forbore to join in the ceremony; which was ascribed to their rusticity, and ignorance of polite manners. Marriage ceremonies among the Kamtschadales are extremely whimsical. A young man, after making his proposals, enters into the presence of his intended father-in-law. If he prove agreeable, he is admitted to the trial of the touch. The young woman is swaddled up in leathern thongs, and in that condition is put under the guard of some old women. Watching every opportunity of a slack guard, he endeavours to uncase her, in order to touch what is always the most concealed. The bride must resist, in appearance at least; and therefore cries out for her guards, who fall with fury on the bridegroom, tear his hair, scratch his face, and act in violent opposition. The attempts of the lover sometimes prove unsuccessful for months; but the moment the touch is achieved, the bride testifies her satisfaction, by pronouncing the word Ni, Ni, with a soft and loving voice. The next night they associate together without any opposition.
One marriage ceremony among the island negroes is singular. As soon as preliminaries are adjusted, the bridegroom, with a number of his companions, set out at night, and surround the house of the bride, as if intending to carry her off by force. She and her female attendants, pretending to make all possible resistance, cry aloud for help, but no person appears. This resembles strongly a marriage ceremony that is, or was, customary in Wales. On the morning of the wedding-day, the bridegroom, accompanied with his friends on horseback, demands the bride. Her friends, who are likewise on horseback, give a positive refusal; upon which a mock scuffle ensues. The bride, mounted behind her nearest kinsman, is carried off, and is pursued by the bridegroom and his friends, with loud shouts. It is not uncommon on such an occasion to see two or three hundred sturdy Cambro-Britons riding at full speed, crossing and jostling, to the no small amusement of the spectators. When they have fatigued themselves and their horses, the bridegroom is suffered to overtake his bride. He leads her away in triumph, and the scene is concluded with feasting and festivity. The same marriage ceremony was usual in Muscovy, Lithuania, and Livonia, as reported by Olaus Magnus.
Marriage Custom of the Japanese.—A very singular custom at the marriages of the Japanese, is, that the teeth of the bride are made black by some corrosive liquid. The teeth remain black ever after, and serve to shew that a woman is married, or a widow. Another circumstance is, at the birth of every child, to plant a tree in a garden or court-yard, which attains its full growth in as many years as a man requires to be mature for the duties of marriage. When he marries, the tree is cut down, and the wood is made into chests and boxes, to contain the clothes and other things which are made for the new-married couple.
The Japanese may marry as often as they please: marriages with sisters are prohibited, but they can marry any other relative.
Bacon Flitch Custom at Dunmow, Essex.—Many persons who are so often jocular about a certain “Flitch of Bacon,” with those who are supposed to be in a much happier state than themselves, are not always familiar with the origin of this institution, and with the whimsical rhyming oath to be taken with the flitch. Old Fuller has preserved it, in his very scarce work of the Worthies; and it will probably amuse those who have more wit than reading on this occasion.