QUAINT CUSTOMS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 September 1941, Page 2

QUAINT CUSTOMS

MARRIAGES IN INDIA. Quaint indeed, often weird, arc marriage customs in India. Among highcaste Hindus of the Punjab, for instance, the bridegroom, on entering the bridal chamber, finds a sieve hanging on the doorpost. It is put there by the parents of the bride as a warning that the bride has as many faults as there are holes in the' sieve. 1 The bridegroom always carries an iron weapon with him to drive away the evil spirits which haunt him, and with this he cuts down the sieve and throws it away, indicating thereby that he is willing to take the bride with all her faults. Among the many peculiar customs and rules governing marriage in India is that a Hindu cannot wed for the third time. If he wishes to take a third wife, he first marries a babul tree, or an oak. Thus the woman of his choice becomes his fourth wife. Another custom, though now extinct among the educated classes, is that before the marriage takes place the mother of the bridegroom goes to a well and sits there with her legs hanging down into it. It signifies that as her son is going to take a wife, she as mother will bo deprived of the authority in the house. She therefore makes a pretence of throwing herself into the well to escape the humiliation, whereupon the son comes up and begs her not to do it. The mother gives up the idea and accompanies the party to the bride's house.