Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/361

 Ceremonial Ciistovis of the British Gipsies. 339

immediately preceding the iiiarria;^e with tiie bride's mother, but, if this custom ever did exist, it was probably due to decadence rather than survival, for it is entirely contrary to the Gipsy view of chastity.

With three exceptions these British Gipsy marriage rites and all those that have been recorded for their kindred elsewhere''^ are restricted to one locality. The exceptions are, — the breaking of an earthen vessel, eating or drinking together, and the virginity test. The first two have only a limited currency, but the virginity test, which frequently accompanies other ceremonies, has been recorded for England, Scotland, South France, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Servia, and Egypt, "^ and also for a mixed band of European Gipsies who were in lioston in 1908. It seems to be genuinely, though not exclusively, Gips}', for, in addition to being almost universal among them, it accords well with the general tenor of their ceremonial customs. I am inclined to think that practically all their other marriage rites and ceremonies have been acquired by the Gipsies from the peoples with whom they have come in contact in Europe, or amongst whom they are now living.

If AI. van Gennep's view that the main point of marriage rites is to mark the transit from one status to another, from one family or clan to another, be accepted, then it follows that they will be of less importance amongst endogamous peoples, where there is little or no actual transit, than amongst others. There will therefore be more variation of rites, those that symbolize union will take the lead, and family custom will rule. If the Gipsies were originally

"•'Summarized in Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, N. S., vol. ii., PP- 34I-354-

'* Bataillard, " Les Gitanos d'Espagne et les Ciganos de Portugal" in Compte rendu de la 9* Session dit congrcs international d'authropologie (Lisbonne, 1880), pp. 501-5; G. H. Borrow, The Zimali (1841), vol. i., p. 340; R. Bright, Travels from Vienna through Loiver Hungary {JE^diwAiMX^, 1818), Appendix, p. Ixxiii. ; W. Simson, op. cit., pp. 261 el seq. ; Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society., O.S., vol. ii., p. 59, and vol. iii., p. 158.