Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 31.djvu/115

Rh get to like him; and if not, well, the misfortune is not so great, and it will then be time enough to seek for a divorce."

When the answer to the proposal has been a consent, then the compact is sealed by a feast, called the Brautvertrinken (bride-drinking), to which are invited only the nearest relations on either side, the places of honor at the head of the table being given to the two ambassadors who have transacted the business. A second banquet, of a more solemn nature, is held some four weeks later, after the rings have been exchanged in the presence of the pastor.

The 25th of November, the feast of St. Katherine, is in many districts the day selected for tying all these marriage-knots. When this is not the case, then the weddings take place in Carnival, oftenest in the week following the Sunday when the gospel of the marriage at Cana has been read in church, and Wednesday is considered the most lucky day for the purpose. The preparations for the great day occupy the best part of a week in every house which counts either a bride or a bridegroom amonsg its inmates. There are loaves and cakes of various sorts and shapes to be baked, fowls and pigs to be slaughtered—in wealthier houses even the sacrifice of a calf or ox is considered de rigueur for the wedding-feast; and when this is the case, the tongue is carefully removed, and, placed upon the best china plate, with a few laurel-leaves by way of decoration, is carried to the parsonage as the customary offering for the reverend Herr Vater (the pastor). The other needful provisions for the banquet are collected in the following simple manner: On the afternoon of the Sunday preceding the wedding, six young men belonging to the brotherhood are dispatched by the Altknecht from house to house, where, striking a resounding knock on each door, they make the village street re-echo with their cry, "Bringt Rahm!"—bring cream. This is an invitation which none durst refuse. All those who belong to that neighborhood are bound to send contributions in the shape of milk and cream, eggs or butter, lard or bacon, to the wedding-houses within their quarter. Every gift, even the smallest one of a couple of eggs, is received with thanks, and the bringer rewarded by a draught of wine.

Next day the women of both families assemble to bake the loaves for the wedding-feast; the future mother-in-law of the bride-elect keeping a sharp lookout on the girl, to note whether she acquit herself creditably of her household duties. This day is in fact a sort of final examination the bride has to pass through, in order to prove herself worthy of her new dignity; and woe to the maiden who is dilatory in mixing the dough or awkward in kneading the loaves! While this is going on, the young men have been to the forest to fetch wood; for it is a necessary condition that the wood for heating the oven where the wedding-loaves are baked should be brought in expressly for this occasion, even if there be small wood in plenty lying ready for use in the shed. The cart is gayly decorated with flowers and