Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1884-04-17
A BRIDE IN RED.
Interesting Description of Moham-
medan Chinese Wedding.
Worcestar 49, SpY.

The following description of Mo
hammedan Chinese wedding is taken
from family letter recently received
bv Mr.. Charles NJ Howe, of this CITY,
from his daughter, Mrs. Grace l..
Roberts, missionary at Kalgan, North
China.
KAI.GAN, Dec. 10, 1888. as Last
week we attended Mohammedan
Chinese wedding, the first ever at
tepded by foreigners, | think. Miss
Garretson and Miss DR. Murdoch were
also there The wedding was on We'd
nesday. On Monday our teacher (the
bridegroom TO be- came over and
brought the invitations to us. snd
promised to send cart for us We'd
nesday noon. Then the question
arose, what should we send for pres
ents2 We thought and talked the
matter over and finally decided to
send two handkerchiefs, some stereo-
scopic views, one or two of my large
views of the Profile House, and Uni
versal History in Chinese by Mr.. Shelf
field. We sent them over early We'd
nesday morning, and prepared our
selves for the wedding. AT about
1890 the cart came, and we went;
they live only short distance from
here. We found DR.. Murdoch and
Miss GaTetson already there We
seated ourselves, and they Immediate
ly brought on some food; this the
children enjoyed immensely, much
more than we did. We we're at
this time in the rooA of the bridal
party, but were told that in a few min-
utes we would be invited to another
room. This was soon done. We were
informed that the next thing would
be the arrival OF tae bride. We had
to wait long time, but were very
pleasantly entertained by the wife of
Miss Garretson's teacher, a brother of
our teacher. At last the bride came,
and we were hurried into a retired
corner where we could see her enter.
She was dressed throughout ia red,
with guilt figures, the clothes being
bound quite tightly about her She
had a brass CD hat, from which was
suspended a little red veil, covering
her face She was supported by two
women, one ON each side. and taken
directly to their room She no sooner
reached the inner door than men and
children jumped forward and smashed
in the paper window to see her. They
said that was kalgan custom, not
Mohammedan. Their the women
shut the inner wooden shutters, while
they should reattire the bride. The
veil was removed, her wedding clothes
were put on and her hair covered with
ornaments Then the shutters We're
opened and we were taken in to see
her. She is supposed not to under
stand ANYTHING that is said TO her on
her wedding day, but must stand or
sit with cast-down eyes all day long
to be gazed at We then came home
to return in the evening. At o'clock
we went over again. We were present
ly taken to a retired room, where we
could see everything that went on.
After a little, our teacher beautifully
dressed. came in and paid his respect
to the Mohammedan priests, six in
number to each one separately. Then
he knelt with bowed head on rug
before them, and the priests began
chanting, one after another, in Arabic.
Just as the last one finished chanting,
they grabbed some walnuts from
the table, and pelled him with them;
and one OF the family pulled and tug
ged at him, but he was immovable
The nuts were thrown at him to drive
Satan away. The boys sprang for the
walnuts Then he, with the priests
in unison. murmured a silent prayer
CD rubbed the hands down the body,
beginning at the head He paid his
respects again and disappeared. We
saw very little of him during the day.
Before this we had seen the marriage
certificate written out in Arabic on
red paper. We We're again seated on
the k'ang, and our feast was brought
in, consisting of twenty-five kinds of
courses. 1t is almost impossible for
me to eat Chinese food, but most of
this was really very nice. You know
the Mohammedahs do not eat swine
flesh, so we had only beef and chicken
for meats, but they we're prepared in
various ways, by one course, | mean
one bowl, from which all were help
ed. We ate and talked, went to look
NJ the bride once more, and started for
home at about $50 o'clock, escorted
by two servants, carrying two large
red lanterns. After this the teacher
bridegroom was allowed for the first
time to see his bride. She had come
a distant of over 300 miles to marry
him; she was very pretty, and only
about Is years old, while he is over
30 She had been in the city several
days, only few doors from his house
bat none Of his family We're allowed
to see her. The Mohammedans are
very neat especially those who are
well-to do. We are going to try to get
up a little feast for them as soon as
convenient
Cuban Troubles.