Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/331

 Marriage Customs of the Bedu and Fellahin. 293

she yields up her sword to him in sign that he is, for the future, her protector. Then with his long knife he removes the veil, and gives her a present of money, in gold or in silver niejidat according to his means, laying each piece against her forehead while the chief bridesmaid extends her long sleeve to catch them as they fall. Each piece is offered with the phrase, — " This is for the love I bear to thy father," to thy uncle, mother, etc., as the case may be. The father and mother, relatives, and friends, in turn, do the same. Her face is then washed, and the decorations removed and burnt.

Symbolic actions follow, varying with the district. In some places the bride sticks a piece of dough on the door- way, and sometimes upon her own forehead, in token that she is, according to popular derivation, the lady or loaf- giver of the house. In others she breaks a pomegranate upon the threshold, and throws the seeds into the house ; or a jar of water is placed upon her head, which she carries over the threshold, in allusion, again, to her future duties. This done, she slaps the bridegroom on the hand, and the parents and friends slap him on the back. I do not know whether this is the modern version of an ancient usage, not yet wholly extinct, though in modified form, by which the bridegroom felled his wife with a club in token of the sub- mission required of her ?

In some districts, again, a female sheep or goat is sacrificed by the bridegroom upon the roof, over the nuptial chamber. The bride is sprinkled with the blood.

The bridal pair are now placed upon a raised seat. Pots or bunches of sweet basil, clove pinks, or other sweet- smelling herbs, are laid near by, and supper for all guests is prepared at the bridegroom's cost. For seven days the bride does no work. Breakfast next morning is prepared by the bridesmaids, but during the whole week the house is not cleaned. To violate this rule would be to cause the dc;ith of one of the inmates. A festival diet, mainly of