Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-29
CHINESE MARRIAGES
PARENTS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL
ARRANGEMENTS.
Man Receives Wife Not for Benefit, but
10 Continue Family Name and Keep
Up Ancestral Worship.


From the Philadelphia Telegraph
In China no marriages are ever made in
heaven, as they are exclusively the product
Of parental interference. The last persons
consulted are the two who are to be mar
-ied A man takes. or rather is given,
wife not for his own benefit, but simply to
continue the family name, to provide de-
scendants TO keep up the ancestral worship
and 10 give daughter-in-law to his mother
to wait on her and make herself generally
useful about the new home So important is
this phase of tn contract that should her
future husband die before marriage, Gus
tom still DEGREES that the unwedded widow
leave her own home to go to her intended
husbands and perform the duties which
marriage would hace enforced upon her.
Though it is now less sternly enforced than
formerly, failure to conform to this rule
subjects the young woman TO the charge OF
impiety. In this state of things 1t Is not
surprising to read of girls in various parts
Of China committing suicide rather than
face the ordeal of an unknown husband or
The power of a Chinese mother-in-law. 1t
IS still the custom for parents TO arrange
marriages between their children before
either is born. The man in the case
usually has no more TO say about 1t than
The woman, though the parents sometimes
permit him to see his prospective wife be
fore marriage, a privilege II would be pre-
sumptuous Tor the bride TO request.
The Ceremony.
Preliminaries are often arranged by a
'go-between" the matrimonial agent being
an old and highly honored functionary
When the terms are complete and the
money agreed upon IN the contract has been
handed over to the brides father she is
taken in a gorgeous sedan chair of glim-
mering red and decorated with kinSfsher's
feathers from her own home to that of the
bridegroom. Her rousseau has preceded
her, and as she departs her sisters and girl
friends lament over her as for the dead.
The bridegroom stands at his house door
with the inevitable fan, aiding the thickly
yelled bride to alight; she is carried into
the house on the back of female servant.
The bridegroom mounts on high stool 10
Indicate his lofty superiority and the bride
kneels before her lord in obeisance. few
brief lamentations follow, then the husband
descends, removing the brides veil, and for
the first time he catches glimpse of his
wife'S face. They then taken 10 the
family altar, where they pour out drink
offerings 10 the ancestors and gods of the
family; thence TO the bridal chamber, where
an orange tree with strings of cash and
burning tapers represent wealth and hap
piness. From the bed stream long strips
of paper bearing such good wishes as May
you have a hundred sons and thousand
grandsons" AS they sit down to the bridal
feast the wife tries hard to get some part
OF the husbands dress beneath her, as this
will insure her having the upper hand of
him, and he does the same with her dress.
An amusing feature of this feast is the or
deal TO which the bride Is put of answering
riddles proposed to her by her husbands
relatives
Importance of Ancestors.
For two days successfully the ancestors
of the family are again worshiped, after
which the young couple pay a visit to the
brides parents, and on her return she takes
up her place In the husbands home. Until
he becomes head of the family she is a mere
drudge. but after that as the principal or
legitimate wife, may repeat the treatment
10 the various concubines and minor wives
who make up the house hold. The existence
of polygamy often presents complication
after the husbands death, as lawsuits for
the property he leaves may occasion bicker-
ings between four or five wives. all claim
ing to DE legitimate. woman can go
through the ceremony have described
but once, but man may take 1t an I'M
limited number of times. There seems to
be little happiness to spare in the usual
Chinese marriage The ceremony has be-
cGisse so hedged about with formal rules
that the individual is lost sight of in the
family. OF so little Importance is the pres
ences>Of the bridegroom that when he is
absent from home and cannot return in time
for tie ceremony his place is taken by
proxy q rooster being substituted to repre-
sent him, and it is not even necessary that
II be sent by the bridegroom. the presence
of the fowl at the wedding feast being
legally sufficient.
Killed Whole Day.
From the Yonkers Statesman.
ogden Armour butchered Thursday