Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-06-27
The "Handed.Down" Marriage Customs.
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| kitchen shelves, one with linens made
on The hand loom at home, one with d
shiny new pot. They showered her
with their gifts and gave her finer
| dowry than her father ever could.
Many brides-to-be should he grateful
| TO the little Dutch maiden whose
shower set such happy precedent.
Closely related to the shower Is the
wedding present. the survival of feu
| dal times. when tenants were bound to
render aid at the knighting of the
| lords eldest son and at the marriage
of his eldest daughter. During the
| reign OF Queen Elizabeth of England
| the most usual wedding present among
| the middle classes of society was "a
! pair of knives: that is, scissors.
| whose purpose has been thus defined
Fortune doth give these pairs of knives TO
| To cut the thread Of love II 1t be untrue.
Because they cut love in twain ex-
plains why the gift of a penknife or
pair of scissors is regarded as an III
omen.
In the development of gift ma king
| in courtship a certain amount or TO
nance centers around the Hover. Inc
| flower is the gift of lovers. and IN
as a sign of the engagement.Athe full
blossoming flower suggesting love
awakened. The Polynesian men, as
we'll as the women. wear flowers be
hind their ears when they are in love.
The survival of another picturesque
medieval custom centering around
the flower is found in the bride $
flower girls of today. In olden times
these little girls. usually sisters
dressed exactly alike. carried gariahds
of wheat before the bride in the mar
riase procession as a symbol Of fruit
fulness and plenty. The very old ana
universally observed custom of throw
ing rice after the departing bride ana
bridegroom as a symbol OF frult1ul
union had its origin with the ancient
Persians. Rice has always played an
important part in the marriage cefe'
monv Of these people. while the wheat
shower, expressing the same sehtl'
ment. was common among Inc carry
Anglo Sa xons. and certain othef peopie
employed corn. Another interesting
tradition regarding the rice shower is
that rice was thrown after the Dflue
and bridegroom for the purpose or CIV
ing food 10 the evil spirits that were
believed TO accompany newly married
neonle and that il was TO appeaSe
these spirits that rice throwing or1si-
mated.
Throwing the bridal bouquet had its
rise In the old custom OF scramoilns
for the brides garter. In the carry
fourteenth century in France III was
the style for the bride to leave one
garter dangling. At the close OF the
ceremony every guest MADE mao
rush for the garter and, aithousn II
was usually within easy reach, the
, bride was often hurt in the scuff1e.
The garter gave way to the stocking
in the next century and stocking
throwing" was the favorite sport at
| weddings. 1t was found. however,
not to be an easy task TO remove a
! brides stocking and cast II 10 lfiehd
for luck and some clever BRIDE con
ceived the idea of throwing her bou-
quet with the tradition that the
maiden who caught 1t would ne the
| first to get married.
The belief that the bride should
have a touch of blue on her wedding
| costume Is one of the most commonly
observed relics of primitive marriage
customs. This superstition was Dor
rowed from the ancient lsraelltest
who were "bidden to put ribband
of blue" on the border of their gar
ments. Being the symbol of purity,
love and fidelity, blue Is almost al
WAYS included in the brides costume
according to the old saying:
Something old and something new.
Something borrowed and something oiue.
The term something blue is. of
course, more commonly applied to the
going away" dress OF the bride than
| the wedding dress proper for when
a wedding dress in the strictest sense
of the word is employed white Is al
ways used, since in addition to denot-
| ing purity and joy. white has long
been considered the sacred color. The
natives of Central Africa, for example,
/ worshiped the white elephant as
sacred.
The picturesque bridal veil, essen
| TALLY a part of the wedding dress,
calls to mind many contradictory
| statements. Some writer's believe
| that the veil originated in the cover
| ing of the bride in ancient times to
show woman's submission to man,
while others contend the exact oppo-
| site is true. Since it Is well known
| that among various ancient peoples
| the groom was not allowed TO see his
bride from the day of the engagement
| to the day of the wedding, when he
| performed the solemn ceremony Of
uncovering her face, and since this
J old practice was common among the