The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-03-13


II Of course. But it isn't half 50
M solemn in an Anglo-Saxo coun-
0Vl try, where the parties to the
match have an opportunity for
old-fashioned courtship.
The Chinese have an elaborate we'd
dine~ceremoniaI. 1t begins with pres
ents and the reports Of astrologers.
The parents then correspond. The girls
"a her offers his ugly and ill-favored
c2nd"-for such is Oriental etiquette.
The father of the boy, not to be out
done in politeness, describes his son as
"slothfuI, INDECENT and weak in intel
lect." The brides procession, for which
even a mandarin must make way, goes
to the bridegroom's house and is car
ried over the threshold.
Japanese politeness is like the Chi
nese; female subsection is the same,
but the national good humor makes it
more tolerabIe. There is a beautiful
symbolism in the lighting of the
torches. when the brides and bride
groom's lights are permitted to mingle.
In the room where the ceremonial
sake is drunk there is dwarf fir tree,
a plum tree in blossom, synbolizing the
woman's beauty; a tortoise, signifying
The Persian wedding includes a
torchlight procession of the bridegroom
and his friends to the brides house,
where the groom and his companions Sc
cure her and then return to the beating
Of drums. An Arab wedding lasts seven
days. The husband sees his wife's face
after the ceremony is over. 1t is then
proper for him to cry out in delight at
a. 1or- aG in a
"the friend of the bridegroom, who
standeth and heareth him, rejoicing
greatly because Of the bridegroom's
voice"-the people outside the tent
raise an answering cry. In Turkey the
bride stands behind a screen during
-part of the ceremony, and is first seen
at it's conclusion. A Moorish wedding
as also a seven days affair
There is a clever custom sometimes
followed in Persia. crowd Of young
men rush into the feaSting crowd, cap
ture the guests and shut them up in a
dark room. They pay ransom to get
out and the money is added to the
brides dowry-sometimeS like our we'd
ding present nuisance.
Marriage by capture" is symbolized
in ceremonies all the world over, except
in such places where it is still the
habit to secure a wife by knocking her
down first, as the Australian does with
his 'waddy" or his "nulla-nulla." The
Chinaman, if the parents of his in
tended are obstinate, carries her off;
the. Abyssinian carries his wife round
her own house or to his own, and the
q Kabyle carries his bride across the
threshold, as do also the Chinese and
the Swiss in some parts.
The Druses have a sham fight, in
which the brides party drive the bride
groomS into his own village, and in
some Arab tribes like the Aenezes the
bride runs from tent to tent before she
is caught. Crossing the threshold was
and is the most critical period of the
wedding day with all races, not even
excepting the Anglo-Saxon. The lift
ing Of the bride over the threshold or
her stepping across 1t is the signal in
Persia, Arabia and among the Kopts
Of Egypt for the sacrifice of a goat or
a sheep. Among the Aenezes the bride
groom kills a lamb in front of his
father-inlaw's tent, and the ceremony,
but for the running Of the bride from
one tent to another, is complete
Among the Zezidi, a sect of Kurds in
the eastern highlands of Asia Minor,
we are told that the bridegroom, when
pronouncing the marriage OATH stands
n running water, so as to wash away
II e binding nature of his promise. The
Cherokee bridegroom, after making the
usual presents, takes the maiden to a
small stream, where the two join hands
over the running water.
The Macedonian's wedding cake. a
most important feature of these Greek
weddings, is placed over a bowl OF
water and danced around.