The Washington times., 1925-06-05

DICE and the Weoulng THIS.
~ the bridal bouquet and the
white gown are 90 natural and
obvious parts Of the marriage
ceremony that we do not often
stop to think about them. Yet
each has 4 little story OF its
own stretching back across the
centuries. How many people
know why rice il thrown AT the
bride, why the bride wears white.
how the wedding ring came to De
or the origin OF the bridal bou-
quet.
The Egyptians were the first to
use the wedding ring. In hiero-
glyphics q circle represents eter-
nifty so 1t is not surprising that
the circular wedding ring should
have been adopted AZ being SYM
bolic Of marriage ties, implying =
union that would be binding
throughout eternity. The ring
was used in marriage among
Christians from $50. From rec
ords Of that time one learns that
when marriage settlement had
been properly sealed, rings bear
Ing the names Of the newly mar
ried couple were handed around
to the guests for examination.
Rings have been Of every con
ceivabie nlateriaI from gold. silver.
iron, brass to rush. leather ana
wood and Of varying sizes acco~d-
ing to the means Of the lovers.
There il one instance of ring
being cut from q brides kid
glove and another Of one being
fashioned on the spur Of the mo-
ment from a piece Of old leather.
Horace Walpole tells the anus
ing ingenuity Of. the Duke OF
Hamilton who decided to marry
Mrs. Cunning one evening at half
past twelve and lacking a ring,
substituted a ring from bc1-cur-
tain.
Orange blossoms have been
worn or carried by brides since
earliest times. The blossoms
portend good luck and happiness
because the orange was believed
to be the golden apple" present.
ed to Jupiter by Juno on their
marriage day.
Long ago a garland Of flowers
was absolutely essential In the
marriage ceremony. 1t was placed
on the brides head and was
known as the ''coronet of the
good girl" Rare old books tell
that it was the privilege only Of
a yirtuous bride who should wear
"a ring on her finger, a brooch
on her breast, and a garland on
her head.
Rice, the throwing Of which IS
a sign of well-wishing and joy at
our highly civilized weddings. has
a far different aspect and place
in the marriage ceremonies among
savage peoples. In Celebes there
Is a belief that the soul OF the
bridegroom unless brjbed is likely
to fly away at marriage and
never return. To prevent such a
dire misfortune, rice is scattered
over him. Thus his soul is in
duced to remain. At Dyak mar
riages the bride and groom first
eat together and \are then
snrinkled with rice. At the Ma
Law wedding faiends put into the
hands of the bride and groom un-
cooked rice and with this they
feed each other simultaneously.
The wedding cake Of today was
the idea of clever French chef.
Previously it had been the Gus
tom among the Ang!o-Saxons for
the guests themselves to bring
to the wedding small richly-spiced
buhs. which were piled IN one
huge mound on the table. Then
the bride and groom would att
tempt to kiss each other over this
mound and If they succeeded,
they were assured lifelong pros
perity. However, the Frenchman
while stopping in London noticed
the inconvenience Of piling hun
dreds Of small spice cakes up in
this manner and he conceived the
idea of icing this mound into one
solid mass. So the wedding cake
was born.
The throwing of the bridal