Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/323

 Marriage Customs of the Bedii and Fellahm. 285

about ^25.) The sum varies from 20 to 80 napoleons. Out of 80, quite a usual price, about 30 go to the bride, 3 or 4 to the mother, 2 or 3 to the maternal uncle, and various smaller sums to other uncles, to brothers, sisters, etc., so that the father's share is somewhat reduced before it reaches him. The price among the Fellahin is usually paid, at least in part, in coin, and the rest may be in small cattle, wheat, olives, butter, etc. — not in camels or mares as among the Bedu. The price is often paid off by degrees during the engagement.

It will be observed that the bride has no part in the pre- liminaries. Rebecca, who was asked, — "Wilt thou go with this man?" belonged to a nomad race, and to the nobler desert life.

The fatilia, the opening Stira of the Koran, is repeated by a religious teacher, and the two are now legally husband and wife, though the wedding may not take place for some time. During this religious ceremony much evil may be effected by the ill-disposed, and various amulets, usually blue, are hung about the person of the bride. It is also a good plan to return home by a different route. One serious source of danger was but lately disclosed to me. If a person, while uttering curses, scatters flour upon the ground, it is almost as difficult to avert them as to collect the flour, and any one suspected of evil intentions should be carefully watched. Also the bridegroom should not step over water for seven days. At length the date for the marriage is fixed, and a week of festivity follows. The convenient season for Fellahin weddings is after the harvest, when they have leisure and ready money, but the actual date, among Moslems and Christians alike, is arranged after consultation with a sorcerer who consults the stars. These sorcerers are Nowar (gipsies) or Moghrabis (Moors) as a rule, though a few may be found in the towns.

All expenses of entertainment before the engagement and the marriage fall upon the bride's family. It is,