Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1889-08-02
MARRIAGE OF zRr srlourAs:s \
Ceremonies PsFfoRmsd By the xadians
of Hrftfah C0lumbfm


Phi. Jacobsen, in letter to his well
known brother, Capt. A. Jacobsen, which
is published In ''Solence." gives the fol.
lowing description Of the marriage cere-
monies of the Bilqula Indians Of British
Columbia. An Indian who intends to
marry calls upon his intended wife's par
ents and arranges with them how much
he Is top pay for permission to marry the
girl. Among people of his descent this
Is done by messenger, sometimes rs
many as twenty being sent to call on the
girls father They are sent by the mans
parents before the young man is Of age.
In many instances both man and girl are
not more than 8 or years old.
The messengers go in boats to the
girls house and carry on their negotia-
tions without going ashore, where the
relatives OF the girl are standing. The
messengers of the young mans parents
praise his excellence and noble descent;
The great exploits of his father, grand
father and ancestors their wars, victories
and hunting expeditions, their Nber-
ality at festivals, etc. Then the girls rela-
tives praise the girl and her ancestors,
and thus the negotiations are carried On.
Finally number Of blankets are thrown
ashore by the messengers, and the girls
relatives protest and maintain that the
number Is not sufficient to pay for the
PERMISSION to marry the girl. In order
To obtain their consent new blankets are
thrown ashore one by one, the messen-
gers continually maintaining that the
price paid is too great. Generally from
twenty to fifty blankets, each of the
value of about so cents, are paid.
After this the boy and the girl are con-
sidered engaged. When they come 10
be grown up the young man has to serve
a yeGr to his father-in-law. He must
fell trees, fetch water. fish and hunt for
the latter. During this time he is called
Nos, which means lone who woos.'
After a year has elapsed the marriage is
celebrated. At this time great festivals
are celebrated. Seven or eight men per-
form dance. They wear dancing aprons
and leggins, trimmed with puftin-beaks,
boots of deers, copper plates and bells.
IL the groom should be wealthy man
who has presented to his wife many
small copper plates, such as are used az
presents to bride, these are carried by
tae dancers. The singing master, Who
"at5 drum, starts a song in which the
& 'nrers join. The song used at the
marriage festival is sung in unison, while
III all other dances each dancer has his
own tune and song.
The first dancer wears ring made of
cedar bark His hair Is strewn with
eagle down, which flies about when he
moves and forms q cloud about his head.
lhe groom presents the first dancer with
u piece of calico. which the latter tears
to pieces, which he throws down il
front of each house In the village, crying
"Holp" In order to drive away evil
spirits. These pieces of calico which he
throws down in front of the houses have
lucky meaning, and at the same time
express the idea that the groom when
he comes to be a wealthy man will not
forget the inhabitants of any house when
giving q festival. The dancers swing
their bodies and arms, stamp their feet
and show the copper plates to the
lookers-on.
Thea the brides father brings great
number of blankets, generally double
the numbeT Of those he had received
from the groom, and gives them to his
daughter. The bride orders few blank
c,s to be spread before the groom. She
sits down and he puts his hand upon her
head. Then the groom is given for each
OF the parts of his body one or more
blankets. Finally he is given a new
blanket. After the brides father has
given blanket to each dancer and to
the drummer, the villagers are invited
to great feast. At this time groom
and bride eat for the first time together