Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/333

Rh Waksie, or best man, a boy dressed very much like himself.

I was told that the parents of the young couple were absent, as, according to the usual custom in this country, their presence is not expected at the wedding ceremony.

As we were returning to the carriage, I questioned Drahman concerning Javanese weddings and courtings, and was surprised to learn that the man and woman we had just seen were not yet married, though, according to the rites of the Mahomedan creed, they had been legally allied for nearly a whole week. The young couple were as yet only passing through a probational period, during which they live apart. Among the princes and the wealthy this separation sometimes continues three months, during which time the bridegroom meets his bride every afternoon, in the presence of a number of friends invited on such occasions, for whose entertainment music