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Southland Times, Issue 1105, 10 February 1869, Page 3

A Wedding- in Norway. — The following is from the October number of the ' Cornhill' : — On one occasion we were fortunate enough to witness an oldfashioned wedding or bryllup ; the word signifies the race for the bride, and alludes to the custom of marriage by capture, which has been shown to have prevailed in ancient times among all the savage nations in the world. "We thought that we could trace the influence of the tradition in the wedding which we attended, where the shouts and excited rushings, with the firing of guns and pistols, lvn's'M all the din and confusion of a real Lu.ue for the bride. The bii le's father sat outside the house among the elders of the village with a silver spigot in his hand. Ale was served from the barrel at his .side into a massive pegtankard, inscribed with verses in the Hardanger dialect ; and the bride herself smiling through her tears, handed the stronger drinks in finely-embossed cups to all who wished to drink " Skaal" and long life to her. At last the time came for the service in a church across the water. The bridegroom no longer dangled his bonnet, but helped to push off the boats ; the flags waved, the bride was embraced, and amid a parting salute from all our artillery at once, the wedding corteye departed. We had been permitted in the morning, whilst the bride's hair was being plaited in thick coils of a shape fit to receive her crown, to inspect her ornaments, which had been heirlooms in the family for several generations. The most valuable of course was Ihe crown, silvergilt and adorned with garnets, which was of a more massive pattern than those which we have seen in the Bergen shops ; it differed from them, moreover, in being hung with gilt pendants, beads, and tufts of colored wood. A fine breast-plate, filigreed brooches, and a silver marriagebelt, complete the list of her principal adornments. The following description of the belt of a rich lady in Iceland applies exactly to that of the Hardanger bride : — " The petticoat is fastened by means of a girdle nearly five feet in length, composed of a number of oblong pieces of silver about an inch and a half long and oue inch wide, sewed with their extremities close together upon a piece of green velvet, so that it forms a number of joints, and is easily bent round the body and fastened with a buckle ; one end is suffered to hang down in front of the apron and nearly reaches the bottom of it. All the joints are gilt and beautifully ornamented with open work and raised knobs of silver. After the wedding a feast commenced which lasted for nearly three days, as far as we could judge by the succession ot jaded revellers who returned in scattered boat-loads from the bride's new home across the ' water. The king of the lease was her father, who boasted afterwards of the strength of mind and body which had enabled him, like Socrates, to drink down all the boon companions, and to return unconquered by the flow of " Por*- og Punch og Braendeviin." A few nights afterwards we joined a revel of a more pleasing kind, the lads and lasses of the village having been invited to a dance in the kitchen of the chief farmhouse. A fiddle and a wooden blackjack of beer completed the simple preparations of the host, and the company were soon merrily engaged in their favorite iSultan Polka, and the Jenny Lind, which here they call the Hamburg dance. We were much amused at the strangeness of the Hailing dance, which was performed with great success by the most agile of the village lads. He marched round the floor with a solemn face to a soft fantastic tune, casting his eyes now and then upon a large nail which had been driven into the centre of the low wooden roof. Then, at the right note, as he passed beneath the ! nail, he turned a sudden somersault, and struck it with his clouted boot, which brought down great applause at each successful repetition of the feat.