The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1885-08-01
Strange Bridal Omens.

"Oh, bless you, no; the wedding
will not take place until early June
said society mother in chat with the
fashion editor, who had touched on the
subject of her daughters nuptials.
"But it was supposed to be all fixed
for an earlier date" said the visitor.
$50 it was, long time in advance u
said the mother; "but we discovered
that the wedding would come in Lent,
so we put it off"
"Why7"
"Because it was in Lent. We couldn't
have marriage in Lent, you know"
"Why not? There's no law against
marrying at any time, is there?"
"No; but it would be bad luck"
"Who says SOP"
Everybody. Why, it's as old as
the hills-that superstition. The young
women of over a century ago used to
say, "Marry in Lent, be sure to re-
pent."
kre gpe9dl the say lqI2ps. fthiscegtury
seems"
eyes" said the mother of the pros
pective bride, otis superstition that
one does not like to acknowledge and
vet no one wants to run the risk of in
viting bad luck by violating the rule. ;"
The editress being started on the
tracks of woman's superstitions in re-
gard to marriages, made inquiries and
gathered a surprising number of them.
No girl, for instance, is willing to
make Friday her wedding day.
Away back in the tragic times the
most of these maiden superstitions were
traced. The Romans were superstitious
about marrying in May and February.
The 18th has always been considered
in England peculiarly unlucky for
brides. Why, tradition sayeth not. In
the Orkney Isles the bride selects an
evening for her wedding when there is
a full moon and a flowing tide. In
Scotland the last day of the year is con-
sidered lucky; the BRIDES prospects in
life are supposed to be brilliant.
Sunday is a great favorite with brides
in some parts of England and Ireland.
The French demoiselle, however, thinks
the first Friday in the month particu-
larly fortunate for her nuptials.
In Sweden the bride on her way back
from church has pieces of bread in her
pocket. These she throws away on her
road to her home to insure her good
luck. 1t is ill-fortune to the one who
picks I'D these crumbs. If the bride
lose her slipper on her way from church,
she will lose all her troubles, and the
one who picks it up will gain riches.
In every country it is an unhappy
omen for the wedding to be put of
when once the day has been fixed, and
in England it is believed great misfor-
tune will ensue if bridegroom stand,
| if only for moment, at the junction
of cross roads on his wedding morn. In
England, also, it is thought sign Of
bad luck if the bride fails to shed tears
on her wedding day, or if she turn back
to take a last look at herself in hel
wedding toilet.
Among the English lasses it is bad
luck for a bride to look back or &C
back when once she has started for the
church, or to marry dressed in green,
or to let the ceremony go on while there
is an open grave in the churchyard
When the trademarks undress the bride
they must be sure to throw away all the
pins, to make sure of good luck to
themselves as we'll as for her. If sim
| gle pin be left in the brides raiment,
woe unto her. And if bridesmaid
should keep one of them she will not be
married before Whitsuntide, or the
Easter following. Therefore brides
maids in England are not given to pre-
serving the pins from the bridal COS.
tunes. If the bridal party venture OF
the land they must go up stream. and
the bride, to make certain of good luck,
must on the happy day, wear "Some-
thing old and something new, some
thing gold and something blue" Il
she sees strange cat on that day she
will take it as an omen that she is to be
very happy; and if on the morning o.
her wedding day she steps from her bed
on something higher than the tioor'
and then on something higher still, she
will rise in the world from the time Of
her marriage. To make sure of this,
the maiden has a chair and a table at
her bedside and steps from one to the
other on rising from her slumber on
her wedding morn. On leaving he1
!, home and on starting from the church
to return, she is very careful to step Out
, with her right foot first, and is careful
not to address her husband after they
are wed without first calling him by hi
full name. The break of the wedding
} ring is sign that the wearer will soor
be a widow.
And there are fifty others of the same
sort which are shared by our young
women, who carefully follow many o
these mummeries in the weddings o
to-day. Though they be nineteen cen
fury maids, the graduates of college
of high standing, they are not proc
against the supers:itions of brides iron
time immemorial.