WIVES BY BARTER

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 317, 31 May 1913, Page 9

WIVES BY BARTER

STRANGE MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. BARGAINS IN LIFE PARTNERS. Some interesting facts concerning marriage customs in ihe Balkans were mentioned in a lecture at Leeds by Mr. G. B. Howdill, a well-known Yorkshire architect, who lias recently returned from a prolonged tour in the Balkan States. In Macedonia, said Mr. Howdill, the old idea of the exchange of rings between an engaged couple is carried out by a professional matchmaker, generally a woman. The exchange is a most serious affair, as sacred as marriage itself, and on no account must it be set aside. A young man is generally expected to marry a girl from his own village; when she marries further afield in all probability she is marrying one who is the hereditary foe of her own kith and ' kin. , Jll Bulgaria, said Mr. Howdill, wives < are invariably obtained by purchase, the \ price paid to the bride's father averag- ( \ng about £3 (Turkish), as against the j £5 which is paid for a cow in reasonable condition. Wives by barter is, of course, the sur- ! vival of an extremely ancient custom, and obtains in many countries to this s day. In some parts of Uganda the cus- 8 torn is to offer six needles and a pack c of indiarubber for a wife. Some of the Kaffirs sacrifice oxen. The Tartars of € Turkestan give the weight of the pros- 8 pective wife in butter. In Kamskatcha 0 the price varies from one to ten reindeer, t Some savages require a certain amount of labor. > t IN NEW GUINEA. 0 Among one of the tribes of New e Guinea, the Mekeo people, love takes its j share in their lives just as much as it w does in the lives of the civilised peoples c ] of the West. Courtship and marriage s ceremonies are perhaps rather imitative 8] of what the simple folk* see amongst the forest brutes and birds—especially the rr bii'di. J 1 A girl's wooing provides employment 0 for certain worthy men of the medicine R craft, for love charms and philtres are J' extensively used.' Both boys and girls appeal to the rising'sun for help. . The negotiations for the marriage in- M velve substantial gifts by the boy's fam- P ily to that of the girl, inaluding orna- 11 ments. Her value is not counted in jew- A ellery, but in "pigs." A beautiful girl is f ( worth many pigs, but it is not etiquette B to say so. The girl's family, therefore, a after the negotiations have been com- d pleted, makes a mock hostile raid on the T boy's clan and secures the exact number ri of pigs required. The pigs being duly b' stolen, ceremonial dances follow.' 5] In Wie Kamyshin district of Russia a ci suitor has to buy his sweetheart from ni her father. For a pretty girl of good e . family a suitor will pay about £2O. No special sanctity attaches to mar- -y riage m Morocco. Love indeed Scarcely S1 enters into the affair at all, for the con- y traeting parties seldom or never see each jj other before the wedding day, and are r consequently obliged to take everything' , on trust. The father of the bride usually receives the equivalent of four pounds for his daughter, and sometimes ■ a hundred. It -depends upon the wealth ° of the bridegroom. He also provides the various articles for the family of the bride, such as blankets, butter, char- a coal, etc. The bride's trousseau is pur- * chased out of the money paid to the a brideg-oom's prospective father-in-law. 8 n ELABORATE RITES. f . An Arabian 'marriage is generally a 11 lengthy concern, lasting often for about a a week, in which the wedding guests e sing, dance, eat, drink, and invariably have what we would term "a good time * of it." But the Bedouin father puts a r price oh his.daughter's head for all that, fand demands a good round sum for her. v Tiiis may be more than the young lover j inclines to pay, and then ensues between > 1 the two a bit of hard bargain-driving for j t the bride, often ending in the bride- 1 groom getting her for about half the i original price. The opinion of the girl \ is never asked in the matter, and she a passes to her husband just as if she were j so much merchandise. f ' Among North American tribes the wo- e men occupy much the same position as j they do in Arabia. Polygamy is rife, <] marriage by purchase'being the order of j the day. and any arrangements that are made being done through the girl's , father, she herself not being considered ' f at all; should she object, marriage by" capture has to be resorted to. Should, however, a young couple actually fall in . love, and the attachment prove displeasing to their parents, their only resource is to elope; and if they manage to maintain themselves away from their own 1 people until the birth of a child the mar- J rage is legalised. ' p 1 UNHAPPY CHINESE BRIDES. * 1 The little Chinese maid about to be ( married doesn't look forward to the ( venture with enthusiasm. It is a time ] of wailing and lamenting with her. She is looked upon from' her very birth—if, ( indeed, she is not smothered as a babe — ' as something despicable. A girl baby finds no favour in the eyes of the gods . of the Flowery Kingdom; all honour goes to the male child. Hence when the girl' bnbv grows up she is disposed of to the I highest bidder. This is even shown in the marriage service, for at the conclus- 1 ion of the' rites she is received by the austere bridegroom as he sits upon a ; high stool, indicating his superiority, and is made to prostrate herself at his feet! The women of the East, it must be observed. are far more- abject and dependent than the women of the West. 'Tn Korea men of all ages take up the benedict's life. It frequently happens that young boys, scarce 12 years old, are married to girls of the same age. The price of a wife is a bullock, and, needless to say, a good bullock is regarded over there as a thing of much more value than a mere woman. The young Indian bachelor. 011 the other hand, .is apt to wait a long time before purchasing a bride, because the cost is too jreat. Widows, however, are cheap! What does the wily father of the ranidly ageing daughter do in order to make her readily marriageable? ' He marries her to a bouquet of flowers and then throws the flowers into a well! This makes her technically a widow, and as such very cheap in the market. IRISH BARGAINING. To many it will be somewhat of a surprise to ' learn that a considerable nmou'nt of bride-bargaining goes on a little nearer home—in Erin's Tsle, no less. According to Mr. George A. Birmingham, there is no country in the world where marriages, at least in the peasant class, are more a matter of bargain, and yet shows a higher average of stability and content, than in Ireland. Sometimes the man has never seen the woman before they are brought together, the precise number of pounds, cows, or pigs to be handed over having been bv that time settled. This is illustrated in personal recollections recently published by an Irish lady. She was'visiting with an aunt a cottage, in the neighbourhood, and admired" 1 a fine mahogany chest of drawers. "'Twas for'that T was married." said the mistress of the house. A voung farmer had also seen and admired. A bargain was struck. There was 110 money, but the bride was to have a. couple of sheep, a yearling bullock, and the chest. The prudent voung man measured it and then turned and asked: ''And which o' thini little girls is it?" She was the oldest unmarried. "Next the doore." as the phrase was. "An' so T wint," she said, "and was happy ever afterwards."