Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-12-11
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS IN TURKEY.
Some of the Delights OF Being the Wife
of Turbaned Musselman.

of Turbaned Musselman.
All weddings in Turkey, among Turks,
whether in provinces or cities, are arranged
by old women, and are complicated, tedi-
Gus affairs. The bridegroom holds fete
several days at his home for his men
friends, and the prospective 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 woman's dinner with
her, which consists principally, as Sam
Weller would say, of swarry'' of leg of
mutton and trimmings. The next day the
bride is taken to the bridegroom's house in
a sedan chair, with retinue of slaves car
rying her wedding presents on trays on
their heads, covered with colored tarlatan.
The procession is sometimes quite impos-
ing. The brides female relatives are also
there in the new halem until nightfall,
and they retire TO their homes, leaving the
bride sitting on sort of throne vailed.
The bridegroom is then admitted, and he
is to throw himself at the brides feet and
offer her his wedding present of some hand
some jewelry, and beg her to raise her vail
and strike him blind by her beauty. Some
times 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 be d boy, less if a
Girl. The wife is proud for awhile; but
Turkish women are not good mothers.
They are too child-like themselves. When
a girl is born to 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 divine interposi-
ton of Providence to prevent too many
claimants to the throne. Babies are dressed
like mummies in swaddling clothes for six
months; then the boys are put in trousers,
sometimes in Generals or Colonies uni
forms, regularly made.
When the Sultan takes wife no ceremo-
nv is considered necessary more than to
present his bride. The new Sultan inner
its all the widows and slaves of his prede-
cessor, and every year of his reign, at the
feast of the RamaZan, he receives new
one from his mother, and takes any other
girl or woman to his harem who happens
to strike his fancy. Slaves who become
mothers are instantly promoted to the
rank of Sultana. Six months before the
feast of Ramazan, the Valide Sultana or
deIs that all the young candidates be
brought to her, and she chooses fifteen and
sometimes more of the lot. These are i'm
mediately put under diet and training, and
at the beginning of the great feast she again
chooses, and this time the choice is final
At the evening of the appointed day the
Sultan, upon retiring. finds his new bride
standing nude, with folded arms and low.
cred eyes, at the foot of his bed. After be
has retired she must lift the bedclothes al
the foot and crawl into bed in that way as
a sign of subsection.
Girls arrive at legal majority at 9 years
of age. and are frequently married at 10
Children of u and Is are often seen with
babies of their own. They are old at 25
The old Turkish women have hard lot OF
it, Beyond respect for age which they
contrive to inspire by tooth and nail among
other wives younger than they, their live:
are not happy. Still, they are provided
for, and as long as a man lives he feeds his
family, one and all alike.-Brooktyr' Jidga
zine.