Mongol Marriage Ceremonies.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 567, 8 January 1876, Page 2 (Supplement)

Mongol Marriage Ceremonies.

Tin? anciont practice of marriage by capture, which has left some traces even in our customs and sports— notably in that popular game of kiss-in-the-Ving, a mimic representation of the great game of marriage — finds many illustrations, says a writer in Jielc/rama, in Mongol life, who visited the hordes of Tartary, and was entertained in the tent of the immediate successors of Yonghis Kahn, describes a Mongol marriage thus : ' Therefore, when any man hath bargained with another for a maid, the father of a damsel makes him a feast ; in the meantime she flies away to some of her kinsfolk to hide herself Ihen the father says to the bridegroom, ' My daughter is yours ; take her wheresoever you can find her.' Then he and his friends seek her till they find her, and, having found her, he takes her by force and carries her to his own house.' This simple form of marriage contract is still preserved among thu Koraks and Tchuctchus, tribes ot north-eastern Siberia. There the damsel is pursued by hor admirer, and hides herself among the pologs, or cabins made of skins, which form the internal compartments of their dwellings. The womankind assist her in her pretended evasion, and not till the bridegroom has caught his bride and left the impression of his finger-nail upon her tender skin is the betrothal completed. The analogous customs in ancient Jbtoman marriages here Btrike one with the myth of the Rape of the Sabines ; but we need not go so far afield. The customs of a Welsh wedding, up to a recent date, included a mimic pursuit of the bride by the bridegroom, both on horßeback ; ano even in our English manners when the bridegroom invariably goes to seek his bride on the wedding morn. But tho value of womankind in a pastoral life, whore there is so much for her to do in the way of milking, cheese and butter waking and so on, brings a further element into the relationship. A price must be paid fur tho future companion, and the kalim or wedding portion enters largely into the question I A more modern Mongol wedding is described by Hue, that moat amusing of Jesuit Fathers. The religious ceremonies are those of Buddhism The marriage is arranged by tho parents who nettle the dower that is to be paid to the father of the bird by m«ans of mediators. When the contract has been concluded, tho father of the bride groomacGotnpaniecJ by hisnearest relative»,carriesthe news to the family of the i bride. They prostrato themselves before the domestic altar and ofi'or up a boiled sheep's head, milk, and aaaßh of white silk During tho repast all tho roliHn q o ' the bride receive a pipco of money, whi^'i they deposit in a 'vase, filled .mvi wino made of formentod iiuK (*o have, or had, a similar custom of hiding a ring or money in tho wedding-cako), tho father of the bride

i 'Irinks tho milk and keeps the money. I The lamas, or prießts, fix an auspicious I day, when the bridegroom Bonds a I deputation to oicort tho bride. Tkortii

a feigned opposition to tho departure of the bride, who is placed on a horne and Jed threo times (note tho three uijfrtu, circles) round flic paternal hou«e, anil then taktu full gallop to the tent prepared for tho put pose, near tho dwelling of hor father-in-law. Ail the Tartars of tho neighbourhood repair to the wedding-feast, which consists of beasts and edibles. These go to the father of the bridegroom, and often recoup him the sum he has paid for the brido. Bather a shamp, one would th ink, of that selfish papa, did we not reflect that he will have to support his son and daughter, or at all events set them up with sheep and cattle from his flocks and herds..