Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-02-02
Forms of Courtship as Prac.
tiCed in AndaIuSia.
NO MARRIAGES IN HASTE
Not an Uncommon Thing for a Man
and Maid to Remain Engaged
for Ten Years.
From the London STANDARD.

"~N-'''h
Spain might be termed the land of de-
liberation, for nothing-especiallv in the
case of courtship and MARRIAGES. done
in haste. Indeed, in the country towns of
Andalusia, a sudden marriage creates
great SURPRISE for. as a Spanish writer
says, there is nothing in which procras-
tination is carried so far in Andalusia as
in the matter of engagements"
The Andalusian peasant considers well
the step he is about TO take and this con-
sideration is a very pleasant way of kill
ing time. and time is of but little value in
the south of Spain. Ii is quite a common
thing for man to be engaged ten years.
There is also monetary consideration to
be taken into account, the marriage fee
in Spain being a high ore-namely. 81 or
SIS
Before coming into the house of his
fiancee a man has to ask permission OF
the father to be his daughters lover. If
he gives it party is given to celebrate
the engagement at which they drink
aguardiente. etc. and eat cakes Girls are
never allowed to walk out with their
lovers. No kissing is permitted between
them. When girl is asked why she
says: I'VE do not belong to our lovers: il
We quarreled he could not say that my
lips had ever been his.
This comes partly from pride and partly
from a wish not to be deprecated in the
matrimonial market, as lovers i'm Spa. n
often prove tickle. \ girl l know mad
been engaged five years when her lover
Tilted her. Six months later she became
engaged again. You see. she had only
chatted with her former lover, so her
matrimonial chances We're quite as good
as before she was engaged at all.
Courtship in Public.
Courtship is so public in Spain that
there cannot be any difficulty in getting
evidence for a breach of promise. \
peasant who is sued for breach OF prom
Use and who has resided in the same
province as his fiancee has to pay SO
much for every year that he has been
aged to her. Nearly all the peasants
are iliterate and have to get friends to
write their love letters for them.
Although they do not kiss each other.
they put ks and O's i'm their letters. the
latter signifying embraces. When girl
first writes to her lover she only ad-
dresses him as. My appreciated John
she does not think it at all correct &c
put My dear John unless they have
| been engaged a very long time.
| In these days engaged couples belong
! ing to the upper classes see a good deal
of each other They meet at mass in
the morning chat together during the
hour Of siesta, see each other in the aft
ernoOn during the promenade. so to the
same party in the evening. and after sup
per see each other and chat together al
the window: and there are nights WHEEL
| they remain once more chatting together,
their faces pressed to the bars. until the
rosy-fingered dawn appears in the east.
| 1t is related that lover getting mar
ried after an engagement of eight
| years soon afterward fell into low spirits
from not knowing what to do with his
time.
In olden days. however according to
fernando Cortez. Spanish girls were kept
almost as secluded and guarded as care
! fully as the ladies in the harem OF
Turk. Therefore. when young man fell
in love. instead of ringing the doorbel
and sending in his card. he often made a
| rope ladder and surveyed the residence
of the young lady with view to aScer-
| tain the best mode of getting upon her
| balcony or into her window.
Making Preparations.
A peasant girls fiance always buys the
| furniture. but the girls family often
takes care of it, which is some guaran-
| tee that the marriage will take place.
T, The girls often spend more than two
years making their house linen and trous-
seauX.
| Spanish men of the lower class do not
| make good husbands: perhaps this is why
| girls appear to care more for their
mothers than their husbands. The devo-
| ton of daughters to their mothers is
| very great Indeed. to be a Spanish
| mother is to be much adored l know
| a girl who was greatly eXasperate1 "ith
| her lover because when he wrote to her
he was always quoting his mother. The
| girl satirically said: 1T was always Mi
madre, mi madre.
The houses of the Spanish poor are
nearly always built round large patios in
which there is a well that has to serve
| for as many as twenty families. Some of
these patios are very pleasant, being dec
grated with plants and shaded in summer
by large vines. The houses are very
small. consisting of one little room and
tiny kitchen. So as there is not much
homework to be done nor much house
keeping. il is no wonder peasant girls are
anxious to exchange domestic service for
matrimony, and become rather aggra-
waited with their lovers elaboration.
If girl is engaged to man who emil
CRATES so as to make a home for her be-
fore going out to join him she is married
by proxy The girls. however. do not like
the now very prevalent custom of emil
grating. for owing 10 il they often lose
their-lovers. The English proverb that
absence makes the heart grow fonder
does not always prove true as regards
the Spaniard He will. indeed. ask his
fiancee to write to him, but she will often
refuse to do soft she believes his tenn
permanent a tickle one, preferring the
chance of a new lover i'm her own neigh
borhood to an uncertain one at a dis
lance.