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Chinese Marriages.-Destiny.-Match-makers.-Fortune tellers consulted.Omens.- Betrothal Cards.- Food Presents.- Preparations for the Wedding.-Cake Omens.-Taking the Bride to the Bridegroom.-Compulsory Marriage.-Japanese Marriages.-Bridal Torches.-Marriages in India.Hindú Marriage Laws.-Racshasa.-Forms of Marriage.-Brahmin Marriages.-Omens.-Sattis.-Marriages at Goa.-At Canara and Kunkan.Among the Konds.-Wife-capture.-Malabar Marriages.-Marriages of the Nairs.-Banian Marriages.-Marriages at Bannaras.-At the Maldive Islands and Cambay.-At Ceylon.-Siamese Marriages.-Burmese Marriages. -Bengal Marriages.-Tonquin Marriages.-Neilgherry Marriages.-Wives lent.-Mocha Marriages.- Celebes Marriages. Amboina Marriages. — Javanese Marriages.-Symbols of Subjection.-Maroon Marriages.

THE

HE Chinese have an opinion that marriages are decreed by heaven, or, in other words, they have borrowed the notion that marriage goes by destiny from the Buddhists, who say that those who have been connected in a previous state of existence become united in this. The Chinese say that a certain deity, whom they call Yue-laou, the Old Man of the Moon, unites with a silken cord all predestined couples, after which nothing can prevent their union. Tohi, however, is said to have instituted marriage as a social custom.

Men are allowed to keep several concubines, but they are entirely dependent on the legitimate wife, who is always reckoned to be the most honorable. The semi-wives are frequently kept away from her house, and they are visited by her husband occasionally. The poorer people take their wives for an agreed term, and buy and sell them at

pleasure. Sometimes men repudiate their wives, and marry again every year. In the seventeenth century a common price paid for a wife was one hundred crowns. Among persons of distinction, a second marriage is not considered honorable for a woman, even though she should have been married only an hour.

The Chinese marry their children when very young, sometimes as soon as they are born. The marriage, which is a mere civil contract, is arranged by some go-between or match-maker on behalf of both parties, independent of the consent of the young couple, and they never see each other until the wedding day. Almost every Chinaman is married as soon as he has reached puberty. Persons bearing the same family name, although not related, are strictly interdicted from marrying each other.

The negotiation for a marriage is generally commenced by the family to which the intended bridegroom belongs. Doolittle, in his "Social Life of the Chinese," says, that the go-between is furnished with a card, stating the ancestral name, and the eight characters which denote the hour, day, month, and year of the birth of the candidate for matrimony. This card he takes to the family indicated, and tenders a proposal of marriage. If the parents of the girl, after instituting inquiries about the family making it, are willing to entertain the proposal, they consult a fortune-teller, who decides whether the betrothal would be auspicious. If a favorable decision is made, the go-between is furnished with a similar card, and the same consultation of a fortune-teller follows. If this fortune-teller pronounces favorably, and the two families agree in the details of the marriage, a formal assent is given to the betrothal. If, for the space of three days, while the betrothal is under consideration in each of the families, anything reckoned unlucky, such as the breaking of a bowl, or the losing of any article, should occur, the ne

gotiation would be broken off at once. The card during the three days is usually placed under the censer, standing in front of the ancestral tablets belonging to the family, and incense and candles are lighted before them.

The betrothal is not binding on the parties until a pasteboard card, something like a book cover, has been interchanged between them. "The family of the bridegroom provides two of these cards, one having a gilt dragon on it, and the other a gilt phoenix. On the inside of the former, the ancestral and given name of the boy's father, his own given name, and the characters which denote the precise time of his birth, the name of the go-between, and a few other particulars, are neatly written. There are also provided two long and large threads of red silk, and four large needles. Two of these needles are threaded upon one of the silk threads, one needle being at each end of the thread, and then the needles are stuck in a particular manner into the inside of that card, on the outside of which is the image of a dragon. The other card left blank, the other two needles, and the other red silk thread, together with the card already filled out with particulars relating to the family to which the lad belongs, and its needles and threads attached, are taken by the go-between to the family to which the girl belongs. This card is then filled out with particulars relating to the family of the girl, corresponding to the particulars already recorded in the other. The thread and needles are also similarly stuck into the card, having the phoenix on its outside. When this has been done, it is sent back to the family of the boy, which carefully keeps it as evidence of his engagement in marriage; the card having the dragon on it, and relating to the boy, being retained and preserved by the family of the girl, as proof of her betrothal. The writing on each of these documents is performed in front of the ancestral tablets of the family to which it re

lates, incense and candles having been lighted and placed in the customary positions before them. These cards having been thus exchanged by the families, the betrothment is consummated and legal. After this, neither party may break the engagement without the gravest of reasons."

The interval between betrothal and marriage varies frem a few months to many years. A fortunate day is selected for the celebration of the wedding, marriage being prohibited at certain times and seasons on account of their being unlucky. A few days before the day fixed, the family of the bridegroom "make a present of various articles of food and other things to the family of the bride, as a cock and a hen, a leg and foot of a pig, and of a goat, eight small cakes of bread, eight torches, three pairs of large red candles, a quantity of vermicelli, and several bunches of fire-crackers, and a variety of absurd symbolical foods, &c. Also, two or three days before the time fixed for the wedding, a red card is sent by the family of the bride to that of the bridegroom, stating what furniture will be furnished as the bride's dowry, and the number of loads."

"Usually, the day before the wedding, the bride has her hair done up in the style of married women of her class in society, and tries on the clothes she is to wear in the sedan, and for a time after she arrives at her future home on the morrow. This is an occasion of great interest to her family. Her parents invite their female relatives and friends to a feast at their house. She proceeds to light incense before the ancestral tablets belonging to her father's family, and to wor ship them for the last time before her marriage. She also kneels down before her parents, her grandparents, her uncles and aunts, and worships them in much the same manner as she and her husband will on the morrow worship his parents and grandparents, and the ancestral tablets belonging to his

family. On the occasion of the girl's trying on these clothes and worshipping the tablets and her parents, it is considered unpropitious that those of her female relatives and friends who are in mourning should be present." At one time, however, it was common in some parts of China for the parents to precede the weddings of their daughters by three days of mourning, as a sign that they were dead to each other, and the young friends of the intended bride sat and wept with her before she left her parental home for that of a stranger.

Very early on the morning of her marriage-day, the bride bathes, and, while she is doing so, music is played. Her breakfast consists, theoretically, of the fowl, vermicelli, and other things sent by the family of her affianced husband; but in fact she eats and drinks very little of anything during the day, according to a superstitious usage common to this people. Her theoretical breakfast on the articles sent to her is regarded as an omen of good. When the time arrives for her departure to her husband's home, she is painted, powdered, and scented; her head is completely covered with a thick veil, and she is dressed in yellow, the favorite national color; while her attendants, usually old maids or matrons, wear black clothes. She is then put into a covered sedan chair, which is adorned with festoons of flowers. The floor from her room to the chair is covered with red carpeting, so that her feet may not touch the ground. She takes her seat amid the sound of fire-crackers, music, and the lamentations of her family, who on this morning are required by custom, if not by real emotion, to indulge in grief.

"While seated in the sedan, but before she starts for her future home, her parents, or some members of her family, take a bed-quilt by its four corners, and, while holding it thus before the bridal chair, one of the bride's assistants tosses into the air, one by one, four bread cakes in such a manner that they will fall into the bed-quilt. These bread

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