This, in all probability, reflects an ancient rite, in the nature of imitative magic, for the purpose of ensuring a fruitful marriage. A similar purpose may be discerned in another custom at Jewish oriental weddings, according to which the newly-married pair leapt thrice over a bowl of water in which a fish was swimming about[326].
Among the Jews of all ages, then, the sacred dance as a wedding ceremony had an important place, and though its purposes may have been entirely forgotten, the rite itself continued.
II
A brief glance at some rites, analogous to those just referred to, as existing among some other peoples will not be without interest. The idea of “royalty” attaching to the bridal pair is seen in Morocco at the present day; the bridegroom is looked upon and treated as a sultan, and his bachelor friends act as his ministers (wazara)[327]. Among the Malays the bride and bridegroom are called Raja sari, “the sovereigns of the day,” and “it is a polite fiction that no command of their’s, during their one day of sovereignty, may be disobeyed[328].” Many similar examples could be given; the underlying idea is that by a change of identity[329],—that it is purely fictitious is no matter—the dangers which are conceived of, however vaguely, as attending those about to be joined in marriage, are mitigated. Westermarck says:
A very large number of marriage ceremonies spring from the feeling or idea that bride and bridegroom are in a state of danger, and therefore stand in need of purification and of special protection against magical influences and evil spirits;
in this class of customs he includes dancing[330]. Why dancing should be supposed to have this effect is another question to which, presumably, different answers will be given. For our own part, we are inclined to believe that at the bottom of it lies a connexion with the original idea and purpose of the sacred dance, viz. the imitation, and therefore the pleasing, of supernatural powers, as already pointed out (see [p. 22]); not that there was necessarily any consciousness of this; but from the earliest times dancing had had this purpose, and the custom continued without a reason for it being assigned. Not but what the rite as a marriage ceremony may, and doubtless did, have other purposes as well; but these may either have been superimposed, or what is quite possible, a different train of ideas gave rise to them. But behind them all lay, in the first instance, this propitiatory act performed in honour of some supernatural power. All festive dancing at weddings may be regarded as having originated from this. To quote Westermarck again:
Ceremonies which once had a purpose may, in course of time, become entirely meaningless, and yet continue to be practised; and ceremonies may also be direct expressions of emotional states, whether combined with a special purpose or not. Just as funeral rites and mourning observances, even when they are intended to protect the survivors against the dead man’s ghost or the contagion of death, are very largely similar to or identical with natural expressions of sorrow or grief, so the precautions taken at a wedding assume the shape of joyful performances, such as dancing, music, singing...[331].
Among these ceremonies which have become entirely meaningless, but are continued as a joyful or picturesque performance, was the sword-dance referred to in the Old Testament. This, as we have already noticed, is in all probability the relic of a rite which had the purpose of averting evil influences; it was a more aggressive means of combating these, the change of identity being a passive form serving the same purpose. But as the sword-dance had this combative purpose, any other weapon might have been equally efficacious; indeed, if, as we have reason to suppose, the sword-dance is but the latest form of a very ancient rite, we should expect to find that in its more primitive forms other weapons would be employed, for the sword was, comparatively speaking, a modern weapon. So that while, on the one hand, e.g. among the Druses of Syria, the sword-dance figures as a necessary rite at weddings[332], and among the Moroccans the bridegroom carries a sword as long as the marriage ceremonies continue[333], we find that in the ancient Indian ritual the bride when formally presented to the bridegroom at the wedding ceremony places a whip or an arrow in his hand[334]. That in some cases the carrying or presenting the weapon is unaccompanied by the dance need cause no surprise; they are but exceptions to the general rule, and it is made up for afterwards. An echo of the primitive rite is doubtless to be discerned among the Malayans; at a royal wedding a performance is given by dancing girls and fencers[335]; and at ordinary weddings during the marriage procession there is dancing and fencing to the accompaniment of music and singing[336].
There are various other wedding ceremonies, some accompanied by dancing and some not, which originally had, and often still have, the purpose of counteracting malign influences at the time of marriage; these influences are, or rather were, partly due to the belief in mysterious, vaguely-conceived dangers which the sexes reciprocally ascribed to each other[337], and partly to the strangeness of feeling generated by the knowledge that a new state of life was about to be entered upon which would bring about new experiences as regards oneself, and new relationships as regarded others. As to the former; it is very likely that the “Henna-dance,” which always takes place at weddings among the Malays, had the original purpose of counteracting the dangers alluded to, e.g., the evil eye, possibly; this dance takes its name from the ceremony of dabbing henna on the centre of the palm of the bride. Skeat, in describing the dance, says:
A picturesque feature of it is a small cake of henna, which is contained in a brazen cup and surrounded by candles. This cup is carried by the dancer who has to keep turning it over and over without letting the candles be extinguished by the wind arising from the rapid motion.