Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 6 1888.djvu/131

 Rh immunity from the blood-feud, or for some other political reasons; and in such cases the bride is rarely consulted. Love matches, however, are by no means uncommon: drawing water from the well and tending cattle in the jungle afford opportunities for frequent tête-à-tete, often continued for some months without the knowledge of the girl's relatives. Having made his choice, the man makes a formal demand for the girl's hand in marriage from her father or nearest male relative. If the offer be accepted, the proposer gives his future father-in-law two spears, a shield, a water-bottle (weisu), a prayerskin (musalla), and a rosary (tasbíh). The amount of dafa to be given to the girl's father is then fixed: it varies from ten to a hundred she-camels giving milk. If the man does not possess the required number of camels or cattle, he proceeds to loot them from some subtribe inferior to his own, or perhaps steals them from some of his own relatives.

Three months in the year, viz. Jumádu-l-Awwal, Jumadu-l-Akhir, and Rajab (in Somali—Rajal Dehe, Rajal Dambe, and Saboh), being considered inauspicious, no marriage ever takes place then. This appears to be another remnant of Pagan superstition.

Before the marriage the bridegroom employs a fortune-teller to read his fál, or fortune, by means of the rosary—what particular day and hour will be auspicious for the marriage, and whether he will have good luck or the reverse in his married life.

The marriage formula is recited by a kádhi, a pilgrim (Hajji), or any man with a little education. If none such be procurable, the bridegroom simply cuts a branch from an acacia or any thorny tree, and hangs it up in the nuptial gúrí (hut) provided by the bride's relatives. He then fetches her from her father's hut, accompanied by a crowd of young men and maidens dancing and singing. On reaching the new hut, the bride holds a goat or sheep in the doorway, while the bridegroom cuts its throat in the orthodox manner with his jambia (long knife). The bride dips her finger in the blood, smears it on her forehead, and ties a strip of the goat's skin round one wrist; and then enters the gúrí, stepping over the blood. The bridegroom follows her, also stepping over the blood, and is accompanied by some of his nearest male relatives.