Ladies' Column. Old Notions Concerning Bridesmaids.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2009, 23 May 1885, Page 6 (Supplement)

Ladies' Column. Old Notions Concerning Bridesmaids.

A riiKAHiwi and graceful usage whioh still retains its time-honored placo in our marriage ceremonies is the appointment of bridesmaids. Indeed, these daintily-attired attendants on the bride have an Additional interest when we recollect that they can boast of a somewhat eventful and romantic history. Thui, their oflice is, in all probability, a survival of the early primitive praotioe of marriage by capture, when the lady's friends resisted her being seized and carried off Various traces of thin oustom may be found here and there throughout the country in some of our village weddings, where a mock oontrst between the friends of the bride and bridegroom forms part of the day'n proceedj ingß. Sir W. Soott, it may be remembered, in describing the marriage of Lucy Ashton, in the " Bride of Lammermoor," probably alludes to the cußtora of protecting the brido in the following speech of the boy bridesman, Henry Ashton :— " I am to be bride's man, and ride before jou to the kirk, and all our kith, kin, and allies, and all Buoklaw's, are to be mounted and in order, and I am to have a sword, belt, and a dagger." In some parts of the county of Durham, the bridal party ib escorted to churoh by men armed with guns, whioh they fire again and again olose to the ears of the bride tnd bridesmaids. At Guisborough, in Cleveland, theno guns, adds Mr. • Henderson, in his " Folk-lore of the Northern Counties" (1879, p. .38;, are fired over the heads of the newlymarried couple all the way from churoh. There can be no doubt that this firing of guns is a survival of the fighting whiob really happened in primitive times, when marriage by otpture was in force. In this country, as far back as the days of the Anglo-Saxons, bridesmaids attended the bride at the wedding ceremony, although in later times they seem to have escorted the bridegroom, his friends waiting on the bride. Ab recently, for instance, as the middle of the last century, this was the popular mode of procedure, an illustration of which is given in the " Collier's Wedding " : — " Two lusty lads, well-dressed and strong, Stept out to lead the bride along ; And two young maids of equal size As soon the bridegroom's hands surprise." In Beaumont and Fletoher'a " Soornful Lady " we have a further allusion to this practice : — " Where thesn two arms enoompassed with the hands of bachelors to lead me to the ohuroh ; " and in the old " History of John Newohombe, the Wealthy Clothier of Newbery," we have a graphio aooount of how his bride was " led to ohuroh between two sweot boys, with bride-laoes and rosemary tied about their silken sleeves." At the marriage of Philip Herbert and Lady Susan, at Whitehall, in the reign of James 1., two noblemen escorted the bride to churoh ; and Elizabeth Stuart was oonduoted to the altar by two of the Palatine's bachelor friends. Spenser, again, in bis oharming pioture of an Elizabethan bridal, "The Wedding of the Medway and the Thames," gives the bride for her attendants two bridesmaids and two bridepages : " On her two pretty bridesmaids did attend, Whioh on her waited, things amiss to mend And her before there paced pages twain, Both clad in oolors like, and like away." The oustom, of oourse, varied in different localities, and thus Waldron, writing of a Manx wedding, says :—": — " They have bridemen and bridesmaids, who lead the young oouplo, as in England, only with this difference, that the former have oaier wands in their hands as an emblem of superiority." On her return from ohuroh, the bride was generally escorted by two married persons; and Polydore Virgil, who wrote in the time of Henry the Eighth, informs vi that a third married man preceded the bride, bearing instead of a torch a vessel of silver or gold. This was popularly known as the " bride-cup," in whioh it waH customary to plaoe a sprig of rosemary. A» a remuneration for their services on this happy oooasion, those who led the bride to and from ohuroh received from her a pair of gloves daring the wedding feast : a custom whioh apparently was at one time extended to all the guests, for Pepya, writing in the year 1063, tells us that he was at a wedding, and had " two pairs of gloves, hko all the rest.' Again, instead of being so many 'graceful ornaments at the marriage ceremony, as nowadays, the bridesmaids in olden times had various duties assigned to them. Thus, one of their principal tasks was dressing the bride on her wedding morning, when any omission in her toilet was laid to their oharge. At a wedding, too, where it was arranged that the bride should be followed by a numerous train of her lady friends, it was the first bridesmaid's duty to play the part of a drill-mistress : " sizing" them, says Mr. Jeaffreson, in his " Brides and Bridals," so that " girli of the same height walked togethor, and no pair in the prooesflion was followed by a taller oouple." She wbi also expeoted to iee that each bridesmaid was not only duly provided with a sprig of rosemary, or a floral posy pinned to the breaSt-foldi of her dress, but had a symbolical ohaplet in her band. In many parts of Germany it is still customary for the bridesmaids to bring th« myrtle wreath, whioh they have subscribed together to purchase on the nuptial eve, to the house of the bride, and to remov«»it from her head at the olose of the wedding day. After this has been done, the bride ii olindfolded, and the myrtle wreath being put into her hand, she tries to place it upon the head of one of her bridesmaids as they dance round her ; for, in aooordanoe with an old belief, whoever she crowns is sure to be married within a year from that date. As may be imagined, this ceremony ii the souroe of no small oxcitement, eaoh brideimaid being naturally anxious to follow the example of the bride. Referring once more to the bridal wreath and ohaplet, it is still a ourrent notion in many parts of our own country that the bride in removing these must take special oare that her bridesmaids throw away every pin. Not only is it aflirmed that misfortune will overtake the bride who retains even one pin used in her marriage toilet, but woe also to the bridesmaids if they keep any of them, as their prospects of marriage will thereby be materially lessened. Importance was formerly attached to the oolors whioh the brido wore on her wedding day. Thus, in an old book entitled the " Fifteen Comforts of Marriage," a bride and her bridesmaids are represented conversing together respecting the oolors to be used for the deooration of the bridal dress. It was finally decided, after various oolors had been rejected, " to mingle a gold tissue with grass green," this being considered symbolical of youthful jollity. Again, that the olHce of a bridesmaid wat in timos past not altogether a ntu qua non may Bo gathered from the faot that during the period of the wedding festivities, whioh often cxtendod over a week, the bridesmaid! were expeoted to be in attendanoo, and to do whatever they could to promote tyeir buooess. Then there was the oustom of "dinging the Btooking," at whioh the bridesmaids took a prominent lead — a ceremony to whioh no ■mall importance was attached. It has been made the subjeot of frequent allusion by our old writers, and one rhyme, describing a wedding, tells ui :—

" But still the stockings are to throw Some throw too high, and some too low, There's none oould hit the mark." Muson further informs us that if the bridegroom's mocking, thrown by one of the bridesmaids, fell upon his head, it was regarded us an omen that she herself would ■oon be married ; and a similar prognostic wan taken from the falling of the bride's stooking, thrown by one of the groomsmen. II wan the bridesmaids' duty, too, to present the bride with the "benediation posset," so called from the words uttered over it — a praotioe thus notioed by Herrick, in his " Hosperides": — " What short sweet prayers shall he said, And how the posset shall be made With oream of lilies, not «f kine, And maiden's blash for spiced wine." Suckling thus alludes to this ouitom — " In came the brideimaida with theposs«t, The bridegroom eat in apight." Onoe more, the bridesmaids were supposed to look after the bride's pecuniary interests. Thus, at the church porch, when the bridegroom produced the ring and other artioles relating to hit) marriage, the chief bridesmaid took charge of the " do w- purse," which was publicly given to the bride an an instalment of her pin-money. Horace Walpole, writing to Miss Berry in the year 1701, speaks of the dow-purse as a thing of the past, and writes as follows — " Our wedding ii over very properly, though with little ceremony, and nothing of ancient fashion but two bridesmaids. The endowing purse, I believe, has been left off since broad pieces were called in and melted down." It hati been pointed out, however, that a survival of this usage is preserved in Cumberland. The bridegroom provides himself with gold and crown pieoei, and when the serrice reaches the point, " with all tny worldly goods I thee endow," he takes the money, hands the clergyman his fee, and poura the rest into a handkerohief whioh the bridesmaid holds for the bride. In Scotland, the bridesmaid is popularly known as " the best maid," and one of her principal duties was to convey the bride'a presents on the wedding to her future home. Tht first article generally taken into the house was a vessel of salt, a portion of whiob was sprinkled over the floor, as a protection against the " evil eye." She aldo attended the bride when she called on her frieadu, and gave a personal invitation to her wed ding. Mr. W. Gregor, in his "Folk-lore of the Northeast of Scotland " (1881, p. 02), describing an old Scottish wedding, tells us — " After the church door had been opened, the beadle or bellman was in attendance to lead the bridegroom to the bride tteel : that is, the pew that was set apart for the use of those who were to be married. The bride was now led forth and placed beside him, and great care was used to have her placed at the proper side. To have placed her improperly would have been unlucky in the extremeNext to the bride stood her ' best-maid ' ; this office, though aooounted an honor, not being unattended with risk. Three times a bridesmaid was the inevitable prelude of remaining unmarried." Lastly, referring to the similar customs on the Continent, it appears that in many parts of Russia, the bride's attendant! are often middle-aged women. Thus, according to one authority, when the priest has tied the nuptial knot at the altar, th« olerk sprinklet on her head a handful of hops, after whioh " she is mu filed up, and led home by a certain number of old women." Sir John Can, noticing a Danish wedding procession whioh he saw one day, thue writes — " The fair heroine was proceeded by three girls in mob caps, decorated with little bits of gold and silver laoe, dressed in red jaokets, each with a hook in her hand, and followed by two old women with hooks also." In years past, marriages, we are told, in Spain were frequently attended with enormous expense, and one of the principal duties of the bridesmaid was to preside over the collection of bridal gifts, which were publicly displayed. Thus, to quote Lady Hamilton's words, in her " Marriage Customs " (1882, p 140), she enumerated " the articles, carefully pointed out what belonged to the bride, what she owed to the tenderness or vanity of her lover, and what was given to her by her parents, whose generosity was alwayi the greater from their knowing the public would be acquainted therewith." Indeed, in most cases the bride has from time immemorial had her lady attendants, but it must not be supposed that they wore always the elegantly- attired young ladies they are in our country. Wheicas nowadays they may be regarded as so many pretty and attractive appendages of the nuptial oere-mony—-symbols oftentimes of youth and beauty — they were formerly far less elaborately dressed.and were busily employed by the bride in making all the arrangements throughout the eventful season. — T. F. Thihelton Dyeii, in " Cahskl'b Magazine."