Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 27.djvu/476

 12. The old rule at sacrifices was to have the vessels (only) of earthenware and gourds; and when the kings of the three dynasties instituted the (partaking of the) victim, those were the vessels employed. On the day after the marriage, the wife, having washed her hands, prepared and presented (a sucking-pig) to her husband's parents; and when they had done eating, she ate what was left,—as a mark of their special regard. They descended from the hall by the steps on the west, while she did so by those on the east;—so was she established in the wife's (or mistress's) place.

13. At the marriage ceremony, they did not employ music,—having reference to the feeling of solitariness and darkness (natural to the separation from parents). Music expresses the energy of the bright and expanding influence. There was no congratulation on marriage;—it indicates how (one generation of) men succeeds to another.