Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1891-07-02
A BED0UIN WEDDING.
AN ACCOUNT or A MARRIAGE AMONG
A WANDERING PEOPLE.

How the Bedouins Celebrate an Engage
ment-How the Bride was Dressed.
Welded without Having Seen Her F1-
ture Lord-A Simple Feast.
A Bedouin wedding, which lately
had the occasion to witness, took place
in Ramleh, a seaside resort near Alexan-
dria, where many houses have a Bedouin
ghafir, who pitches his tent near his
masters house, and lives there with his
family and cattle, if he has any.
The bridegroom was the son of q
friends ghair Previous to the engage
ment the father had obtained three DAYS
leave on the plea Of his going down to
/ Alexandria for the choice Of a daugh-
/ ter-in-law. On the evening of the third
day several shots fired successfully an
nounced to the native Bedouins the CHA
/ frs return and the happy result Of his
mission. The wedding was fixed for that
I day week
Groups of Bedouins FASTENED to an
( swer to the invitation, and after some
/ talking and shouting the men soon
/ formed a ring and began clapping hands,
the body keeping time to the movements
of the hands by going upward and down
ward. Now and then one of the fellows
walled forth a Bedouin song, while the
others chorused. The women sat chat
I ting before the tent and occasionally
4 filed the air with the shrill sound of the
ziraleet No refreshment was offered,
and their sole eclairage was the moon,
whose silvery light gave a weird aspect
to the whole scene. After an hours
amusement the guests retired
The next evening the firing brought
forth all the company of the preceding
night This time the great attraction
was two dancing women, very pictur-
esquely dressed, and their faces covered
with soft black muslin They entered
the ring formed by the men, each Of
them holding long staff-an adjunct
I to the various movements of their figures.
They went round and round, shaking
their hips and leaning at different in
teryals on their stats, while the elapping
Of hands redoubled in whichever part
Of the ring the women approached.
4 observed a young enthusiast take
women had trodden and kiss it re-
peatedly. noticed that the bridegroom
was absent, and, asking for the cause,
was informed that he was too bashful
I to appear Two hours later the company
dispersed to begin afresh at intervals
during the short engagement.
THE WEDDING.
AT last the eventful morning dawned.
A new tent had been pitched for the
Z young couple, while in that of the old
ones several cauldrons full Of rice and
water were boiling When the rice was
done some oil was poured over it, and
/ then very large wooden bowls were
4 brought forward to receive the contents
Of the cauIdrons. This formed the whole
menu Of the wedding breakfast, and was
attended to by the bridegroom's mother
aided by some other matrons. The
ghafir and the young people had gone to
/ fetch the bride. They had taken with
them one of the ghafir's camels, which
they had gaily decorated with red and
blue cloth, and erected a canopy on its
back to receive the bride
4 A large procession was formed, headed
by horsemen and other Bedouins armed
with guns, which they fred frequently.
The bride, completely hidden from sight
by the curtains Of the canopy, and fol-
lowed by the women, brought up the
rear. They went all over Ramleh, stop
ping before every friends tent to dance
fire and sing. AT about A o'clock in the
afternoon the merry party arrived at the
4 bridegroom's place The latter had re-
manned at home.
The father, who was holding the cam
els bride, handed it over to his wife,
who led the animal seven times around
I the bridal tent, each time accompanied
\ by shots, which are the chief feature in
Bedouin wedding. Finally the camel
stopped before the entrance of the tent,
and the bride was carried in by her
mother-in-law-