Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-12-02
Marriage Customs ia Turkey.

All weddings in Turkey, among the
Turks, whether in provinces or cities,
are arranged by old women, and are
com plcated, tedious affairs. The bride.
groom holds fete several days at his
home for his men friends, and the pros
pective bride at her home with her
young friends-girls. of course. The
night before the wedding the married
women Of her acquaintance come and
eat the married women's dinner with
her, which consists principally, as Sam
Weller would say, of a ''swarry" of leg
of mutton and trimmings. The next day
the bride is taken to the bridegroom
house in a sedan chair, with a retis
nue. of slaves carrying her wedding
presents on trays on their heads, covered
with colored tarlatan. The procession
is sometimes quite imposing. The
brides female relatives are also there in
the new harem until nightfall, and they
retire to their homes, leaving the bride
sitting on a sort of throne, yelled. The
bridegroom is then admitted, and he is
to throw himself at the brides feet and
offer her. his wedding present of some
handsome jewelry, and beg her raise
her veil and strike him blind by her
beauty. Sometimes he is struck dumb
by her ugliness, for he never looks on
her face until after the Wedding.
When a babe is born in any house
there is great rejoicing if it bs a boy,
less if a girl. The wife is proud for
awhile; but Turkish women are not
good mothers. They are too child.l Ike
themselves. When girl is born to a
Sultan, they fire seven guns; when boy,
twenty-one. The boys die early; the girls
are more apt to live. This is supposed to
be a divine interposition of providence
to prevent too many claimants to the
throne. Babies are dressed like mum.
mics in swaddling clothes for six months;
then the boys are put in trousers, some
times in generals or colonels' uniforms,
regularly made.
When the Sultan takes wife no cere-
mony is considered necessary more than
to present his bride. The new Sultan
inherits all the widows and slaves of his
predecessor, and every year of his
reign, at the feast of the Rlmlzan, lie
receives a new one from his mother,
and takes any other girl or woman to his
harem who strikes his fancy.
Slaves who become mothers are instantly
promoted to the rauk of Sultan. Six
months before the feast of Rtmaz an, the
Valide Sultana orders that all the young
candidates be brought to her, and she
chooses fifteen and sometimes more OF
the lot. These are Immediately put
under diet and training and at the be.
ginning of the great feast she again
chooses, and this time the choice is fiIal.
At the evening Of tho appointed day
the Sultan, upon retiring, finds his new
bride standing nude, with folded hands
and lowered eyes at the foot of his bed.
After he has retired she must lift the
bedclothes at the foot and crawl into
bed that way as sign of subsection.
Girls arrive at legal majority at 9
years of age. and are frequently mar.
ried at 10. Children of II aud l3 are
often seen with babies of their
own. They are old at 25
The old Turkish women have
a hard lot of it. Beyond respect
for age which they contrive to inspire
by tooth and nail among other wives
younger than they, their lives are not
happy. Still, they are provided for, and
as long as q man lives he feeds his fami.
ly, one and all alike.--Brooklyn Naga.
zine.