National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1871-03-03
Wedding Customs.

Lubbock and Edward Wood have devo
ted much attention to the subject, and
communicate many interesting facts in
their published works. AT Jarrow
church, Northumberland, England, there
is chair in which oil in the vicinity, be
coming brides set themselves, when the
marriage ceremony is concluded, that
they may be happy wives and the mother
of many children. In Derbyshire and
Wiltshire beehives were formerly deco
rated on the occasion of wedding, the
supposition being that the bees were
knowing to the ceremony, and wished to
participate in the festivities. In one To-
cality of Yorkshire, when newly mar
ried couple first enter their home per-
son brings hen and makes it cackle To
produce good luck 10 the pair. In
the north OF England it is considered
ominous OF misfortune to he married in
green. II there is I'M odd number OF
guests at the wedding, one is sure to die
within the succeeding twelve months
The sneezing OF Il cat was anciently con-
sidered II good omen to the lady who was
married the next day. In the sixteenth
century, wedding sermon was preached
ut the marriage Of almost every person
Of consequence. In the last century
celibacy was frequently punished in some
parts of England. Under the date OF
1889, the parish register of Hilton, in
Dorset, contains the following mandate !;
-" Ordered that all young unmarried
persons above seventeen years OF age,
do forthwith go to service or be proceed
ed against according to law" In the
reign of Edward the Second, toll from
women married at Skipton was exacted.
The order read -" Every bride coming
that way should either give her left shoe
or 3s. 4d to the forester Of Crookryse,
or by way of custom of Gaytcloys.' In
the days of Mary, Queen of Scots, brides
maids carried the bride to the bed-cham-
Der, undressed her, and put her in bed.
They were then compelled to throw away
all the pins taken from her clothing.
"Woe be to the bride if single one is
left about her nothing will go right SO
also to the bridesmaids ii they keep one
of them, for they will not be married be-
fore the Easter following at soonest. y
The Irish peasantry, when too poor to
purchase the wedding rings, hire them
of jewelers. who keep them to loan for
such occasions. Formerly, the Irish girl
presented her betrothed husband with
a pair of bracelets made of her own
hair The natives of the Isle of Man
always carry salt in their pockets when
being married, under the belief that 1t
brings luck. During the last century it
was customary in Prussia to throw bro
l., ~ Tho 1nnva nf naUly
iied people. In ancient times the French
were married on the door step, and not,
rs now, within the church at the altar
few years ago, marriage brokerage was
quite extensively carried on in Paris.
The brokers regularly advertised in the
papers, guaranteeing to suit every taste
and temperament Formerly, a young
man was held III great rcproach i'll Bel
gium who should marry n woman much
older than himself The bride always
wore red gloves with three pieces of sill
yer on each of them. In Genoa, young
man, on becoming engaged, was com
PEELED to present his betrothed with
boquet every morning until they were
married In Venezuela, when a young
man formally asked for the hand of a
girl, her father gave him very hard
stone to pierce On his completing the
task, the lovers request was granted.
Some of the marriage customs of our
Pilgrim Fathers were not less novel than
those of their English ancestors. Mr..
Wood tells us that in 1896 the local au-
thorities of Eastham Mass, voted that
every unmarried man in the township
should kill six blackbirds or three crows
yearly while they remained single, and
that as penalty for not obeying this or
der, he should not get married until he
had destroyed the requisite number III
arrears. IN 1856 the Assembly of Mary
land laid tax of five shillings year
upon all bachelors above twenty-five
years of age who were possessed OF one
hundred pounds. In Malabar, the mar
riage ceremony consists simply in tying
a thread round the neck of the woman
In Bonares, in the East indies some
couple wishing to be united would for
merly wade into a stream along with
priest and a COW, the man and woman be-
ing tied together with their clothes they
then, upon walking around the cow,were
pronounced man and wife. According
to Herne, the Hudson Bay Indians have
been in the habit of wrestling for brides.
The strongest carrying off the fairest.
A weak man, unless he is good hunter,
and well beloved, j. seldom permitted to
keep a wife that stronger man thinks
worthy his notice This custom prevails
throughout all their tribes, and causes
great spirit of emulation among their
youth, who upon all occasions, from their
try their strength and skill IN
wrestling. Among the Chinese and
Abyssinians, lifting bride over a door
step constitutes the ceremony. In Aus
tralia, no man Us permitted to marry
woman whose family name is The same
as his own. Persons bearing the same
family name, although not nearly related,
are strictly interdicted from marrying
each other in China. In Western Equa-
torial Africa, father and sou are frequent
ly married to the same woman. In his
journey to the shores Of the Polar Sea,
Franklin says that among the Indians OF
the far North, it is considered extremely
improper for q motherin-iaw to speak
to or even look at her son-ln-law, and
when she had n communication to make
to him, it is polite for her turn her back
upon him and address him through the
medium of a third person. Among the
Mongols and Calmucks of Asia, woman
is not allowed to speak to her father-in
law. or to sit down in his presence. Some
of our Indian tribes formerly killed one
infant on the birth of twins, probably
on the supposition that one strong child
was better than two weak ones.
A JOKE is told in Washington at the ex-
pence of well-known Senator, who Is