The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-01-30
ORIGINS OF MRRIAGH.
How the Nuptia1 Ceremony
Was Instituted Hum
dreds of Years B. c.
SOURCE OF PRESENT CUSTOMS.
Weddings in the Anglo-Saxon
Period-0rigin of Giving Gifts
aud Fav0rs-The Bridal
Veil. .

Inc SlRUlUCaDC0 u Ju0 uIdug quuiHt
customs and observances customary at a
wedding celebration is often the cause of
controversy on both sides of the HERRING
pond" Whether the contracting parties
be Christians of this or that denomina.
ton, Jews, Unitarians, or any other sect,
cakes, flowers, a veil. u ring, and presents
are all necessary adjuucts to the cere-
mony, and why2-few persons can COR
rectly explain.
An English clergyman has announced
his Intention of lecturing on marriage
and its origin. and TO begin with he shows
that it is very far from being a Christian
institution as many people seem TO
think. Some fifteen hundred and
fifty years before the Christian era
there lived a certain Egyptian calle d
Cecrops. Some authors have described
him as IL horrible monster, half man and
half serpent. Anyway, he was II valiant
as well as a polished monster. He
founded the City of Athens. and ruled
over the Athenians for more than half a
century. He did his best to improve the
morals of his subjects, and he instituted
the life union of man and woman, which
at first merely took the form OF u solemn
COutEiCU DcIWCGh Al v "a NV
friends of the latter; but certain rites in
connection with this contract were soon
dulv formulated, and the proper cele-
bration Of the nuptial ceremony WAS en-
trusted to tie priests OF Minerva and
Jupiter, in order to render the marriage
agreement more sacred and lndissoluble
in the eyes of the people.
The marriage ceremonies instituted by
King Cecrops were in due course adopted
bv the Romans, but eight centuries had
elapsed since his time before the son OF
Mars and lila had beon taken up into
heaven" and the existence Of the mighty
city OF Rome had become an accomplished
fact. Most. if not all, the marriage cere-
monies prevalent in England and
America were founded originally upon
the Roman ceremony known as Con
farreation." The right hands of the con-
tracing parties were in heather days
joined by one of the five "Pontlfts," or OF
the three "Flamens."
The cake of salt and water was given
them TO taste. hence the modern BRIDE
cake and the mediBval custom Of hand
ing the wedding guests q sop or wafer
dipped In wine, before they left the pre-
cincts of the church, the wine having or
iginated in a libation to the goddess
Ceres. And the set words OF the heathen
ritual, "bv holy confarreatioa and the
ring we deliver in i~ssolubly." can only
answer to the words in Our " marriage
service. with this ring l thee we'd"
BRIDE, BRIDESMAIDS AND BEST MAN.
Our word bride" is derived from the
Anglo-Saxon verb ''bredan." to cherish;
whist groom" or ''grom" is an old
Dutch word, which simply means a young
man, and is quite different from the term
applied to our equine domeStics, which
either comes from the Partisan "garma"
IA keeper of horses), or also from the
Anglo-SaXon word "guma' IA caretaker
nuts rrnsA sGvrrrnrb eln,,1I
really be spelt without the letter "r," for
written ''gome' it was expressive of a
manservant, in use in England, even as
late as the civil Wars of the seventeenth
century. A..
The ''bridesmaids'' and the "best man,"
together with the functionary who gives
away the BRIDE" are merely the modern
representatives of the 'ten Witnesses re-
quisite for the confarreation ceremony.
Among the A~pglo-Saxons the bride was
led by a matron who was known as the
'bridewoman," while the young girls
who followed in her wake were then
called. as they are still. "bridesmaids."
streets, and early English marriages were
not necessarily celebrated within the
precincts of churches. A constitution of
the year 1914 simply enacts that "the mass
priest shall be present at the nuptials, for
he ought to join the parties together with
Gods blessing"
The celebration of marriage, partly In
churches and partly outside them, was
first ordered by Pope Innocent ILL.,, in
1899. All the ancient missals direct that
toward the conclusion of the service the
parties "shell enter the church as far as
the step of the altar" Tue greater pOr-
tion of the ceremony was thus performed
in the south porch, still often called in
country districts the "wedding door" 1t
was only in the reign of Edward vi that
the whole of the ceremony was allowed
to be performed in the middle of the
church. No married person in the Middle
Ages could go a distant journey until it
was publicly known that ne did 80 with
the consent of his wite.
THROWING THE SHOE.
In the Middle Ages the briie was led to
church by the pridegroom's men, the
bridegroom by the bridesmaids; accord
ing to the Sarum missal. sops or waters,
priest and distributed to all the wedding
company at the conclusion of the cere.
mony, as previously stated-au evident
imitation of the Roman ''confarreation."
So also is the custom of scattering
wheat over the bride. in token of fruitful
ness. which originated in the worship
of the goddess Ceres, and which
still fingers among us In the
form of rice. The throwing the shoe
is n relic of an Auglo-Saxon custom.
In those early days the BRIDES father de-
livered her shoe to the husband. who
touched her with it on the forehead, to
denote his authority over her. This GUS
tom was probably founded upon u possi-
BILE misinterpretatiou of Ruth iv. z.
In the middle English period weddings
were scenes of great state and testivity.
The bridegroom presented to all the
guests ~scarfs, gloves, and carriers of his
tavorite colors, and received in return
gifts of plate aud other household goods.
Hence our modern ideas as to wedding
presents.
GARLANDs n FAvoRS .
Nuptial garlands may also be traced
back to the CONTAMINATION" ceremony;
indeed, they were equally employed by
both Jews and Gentiles. The Anglo Sax
Oh garlands were ecclesiastical property,
and did duty. so long rs they continued
k-ag- - +,