FAREWELL PARTY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 900, 18 February 1930, Page 4

FAREWELL PARTY

DANCING AND COMPETITIONS PASS HAPPY EVENING A large number of neighbours and friends assembled at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. F. H. Miles, of HarrisTitle, last Thursday to bid them farewell prior to their departure for Point Chevalier. Dancing was indulged in and competitions played, the /winners being Miss J. Watson and Miss D. Smith. Mr. Hansen, Miss J. Whitehead and Mr. J. Murray, Miss L. Ruebe and Mr. S. Miles. Items were contributed by Misses J. Whitehead, Cox. T. Gathercole, Messrs. Midgely, Whitehead and Quinn. Mr. Whitehead, on behalf of the gathering, presented Mr. and Mrs. Miles with a dinner service. Miss Miles with a xylonite bedroom clock and trinket case, and Mr. Miles, juni\, with a leather pocket wallet and a fountain pen.

CUPID IN OTHER LANDS

Quaint customs obtain in some countries when a formal proposal of marriage is presented. In some districts of Japan, for instance, the suitor often waits until he gets a chance to toss a bunch of plum-flower buds into his adored one’s carriage. If the man is acceptable, the girl fastens the buds in her girdle. A refusal is indicated when the buds are thrown out of the carriage. If the youth is very shy, he ma - fasten a cluster of blooms above the door of the maide.n's house. In this case the suitor knows he has found favour in his lady’s eyes when the flowers are removed. If they are left to wither, he knows himself rejected. BURMA’S LOVE LAMPS. In the remote parts of Burma, you may still see the “love lamp” of an eligible maiden burning in her window. This is an intimation to the young men of the village that they may come a-wooing. From those who respond, the Burmese girl makes her choice. The unwelcome ones are tactfully induced to retire until only one remains. FLEEING FROM LOVE. Among at least one Arab tribe, the would-be husband has to search for his bride. As soon as a proposal is received, the girl flees to a hidingplace, and unless the young Arab finds her within a certain number of days, there is no marriage. One shrewdly suspects, however, that a favoured suitor is given some clue to the maiden’s refuge. Arab girls are not entirely guileless. SAY IT WHILE DANCING. One of the prettiest customs is practised by a tribe on the ludo-China frontier. These people hold moonlight dances, at which the young men toss coloured balls to the girls of their hearts. If a maid catches a ball, she is considered to be affianced to the thrower: if she deliberately lets it fall, the man is rejected.

MUSICAL PROPOSALS.

The Karens of Burma often gather all their marriageable people of both sexes together, and hold a festival of song. The ceremony starts with a chorus in which everyone joins; then each bachelor in turn sings an offer of marriage to the girl of his choice, to which she replies with a song of acceptance or rejection. A rather similar custom is followed by the Yao Miaos. At the beginning of winter these people hold their great annual feast, when every man who is matrimonially inclined seats himself near to the “desire tree,” and plays a serenade. If the lady he loves gives him a flower, a “marriage is arranged.”

The first day of spring is “proposal day” among the Heh Miaos. On that day a festival is held on a hill-top, and at dusk each amorous young man offers wine to his beloved. If the girl reciprocates his affection, she proffers wine in exchange, and once again “a marriage is arranged.”