The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-06-20

SpiSl COur is a fOrmallty III Wn2cn their Royal Majesties assemble, togeth- CT with the newly married couple, at a
 card table, which is placed under a
 throne canopy in the Weissen saal (White Hall). Similar tables are proYi- ded in rows, to the right and left, for the suite and wedding guests, who form
 groups of three and four ,and defile in order past the card table of the bridal pair, pay a rsvereIitial bow, or ''cour,
 and then pass on to their tables. In olden times games of cards were played
 during the whole ceremony, but of this ancient custom only the name and the
 card tables have remained.
 A custom more original, and certain
 ly of older origin. is the Faekteltanz
 (tOrchlight dance). It would be a diffi- cult task to say at what period in his
 tory this grotesque ceremony was first
 introduced at court marriages It was
 danced at Hanover in the year 1706, when the Princess Sophie Dorothea was
 united by proxy to the Prussian Crown
 Prince-later Emperor Frederick Will helm l. The brother of the brids, the Kurfurst, played the role of the absent
 bridegroom, and the HanoVerian min
 isters, generals and lords in waiting took part in the torchlight dance on this occasion. Whether this dance was
 performed at that time according to
 tradition, or only as an item in the
 court programme, cannot be strictly as- serted, although the former is generally accepted. That this ''torchlight dance"
 was not a regular dance in the strict sence of the word, need not be said. The dancers were not the torchight
 bearers. The performance may be de- cribsd as follows. After the marriage banquet, which followed the Spiel Cour, the whole company returned to the
 Weissen Saal, and the Kaiser gave a sign to his Court Marshal to begin the dance. The latter, at the head of the
 ministers present, who were formed in
 a column two abreast, the youngest to
 the front, accompanied by the court pages holding the torches (Wax can dles), began the different turns round," namely, first the bride with
 the Kaiser and royal princes, and the
 royal princesses. The guests followed
 up en suite and formed a procession, which was accompanied by the minis
 ters and the torchlight bearers out of [ the hall, in the same order as they had entered it, the procession breakink up on reaching the adjoining apartments.
 The torchiight bearerls then preceded
 the royal bridal couple to the door of
 their private apartments. Nowadays
 the torchlight dance, or the torchlight
 "Polonaise," of the ministers takes place in ths White Hall of the castle.
 The late Prince Bismarck declared the ceremony beneath the dignity of minis ters and refused to take part In it. ~
 The last act of the Prussian court cer5mony is that of presenting the guests of the royal wedding with a
 small souvenir of the event, which con- sists of ''das strumptband" (the garter)
 small strip of silk ribbon or velvet,
 upon which is embroidered a coronet,
 the monogram of the bride and bride-
 groom, and the date of the royal mar
 riage. This is, says the we'll known
 writer Dr. yon WiIke, a remnant of an old custom which has gradually de- clined into the above formallity. As a
 parting gift the young bride presented
 her father with hersgarter or divided it
 into pieces and presented it to her male
 relatives, who, attaching 1t to their
 swords, returned to the festival. ball.. where it was taken as sign that, the
 days festivities were at an end. A complete. collection of such garters, be- longing to all the Prussian princesses
 whose marriags Shave taken place in Berlin, is in the possession of the PriYy Conucil. .
 And so these old customs and man
 ners of their Prussian forefathers will be again revived at the coming wedding | of the Crown Prince of Prussia.-L1on-
 don Daily News. --r -a