A DRUIDICAL WEDDING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2037, 9 July 1885, Page 3

A DRUIDICAL WEDDING.

The fallowing description of a marriage in Iho Druidical days is given in SaintinM "Myths of tho Rhine At a place where two roads meet the cracking of a whip is heard; hogs, sheep and small oxen are driven aside to make way for a kind of procession, consisting' of gravo and solemn men and women. It is a wedding. Two young people have just had their union blessed by the priests under the sacra| oak. Tlie bride is dressed in black, airlaears a wreath of black leaves on her heaaV She walks .in the middle of her friends. A matron, who walks on her left, holds before her eyes a white cloth; It is a shroud—the shroud in which she will be buried one of these days. On her right a Druid intones a chant, in which ho enumerates in solemn rhythm all tho troubles and all the anxieties which await her in wedded life. From this day, young wife, thou alone wilt have to bear all the burden of your united household, aYou will have to attend the baking own, to pf-ovido fuel, and go in search of fooa; you will have to prepare the resinous torch and tho lamp. ■ You will wash the linen at the fountain, and you will make up the clothing. You will attend to the cow, and even to the horse, if your husband requires it. 'Always full of respect, you will wait on him, standing behind him at his meals. If he expresses a wish to take you witli him to war, you will accompany him to cany his baggage, to keep his arms in good condition, and to nurse him if lie should be sick or wounded. Happiness consists in the fulfilment of duty. Bo happy, my child, mis still more strange is that this doIoTHO wedding song, but slightly altered, is still in some parts of France at this day addressed to brides by local minstrols.