How Foreign Fashions Have Invaded Them: Old Styles and New Modifications From away back in Biblical days when mama was instituted as a.sacrament it became thenceforward one of the most im portant events in the of a man and woman. Each country has its own custom that is hand led down through the years and tug custom varies only as the whole traditions of a country change.
Out here in the Far East it is especially interesting' to compare the marriage of the Chinese to our foreign marriage. Although behind all "the different kinds of pomp and ceremony is the same idea and thought.
The other day I saw a Chinese marriage done in foreign style. The bride wore a satin dress and trailing veil. The procession moved up the aisle: as the organist played Mendelssohn's. wedding mare First a little lower git] dressed in Gainty organdi dress with lips as red as cherries and a most impertfant expression on her face. Then the maid of honour, followed by the bride on the arm of the relative who was giving her away. Part of the yell covered her face. Another flower girl, the twin of the one Teading the party, brought up the year carving the long train of the As they met at the ter ordered a hymn to be sun; was sung in Chinese, but the tune sounded familar. Then the betrothal service was read and another hynn sung. The bride and bridegroom moved to the altar and after the ring ceremony the couple knelt and were blessed. At the door of the church the many friends threw ree, but the old shoes were not there. The church was decorated with many flowers and huge bands of red material were festooned about the ends of the pews. This te keep people from flocking the a When she reaches the home of the bridegroom the bride remains in the sedan chair until, arnist the firing of crackers, the beating of crums, the clanging of cymbals and the musie of the flute, she is carried four by the groom. The bride is drossed ina magnificent and gorgerously decorated costume and the room usually wears a long gown of lit blue silk covered by a makua (short jacket). She is then led into the main hall by an amah and, after having kowtowed (knelt down tind bowed three times) to her nev relatives, she arises and distributes cups of fea which have been poured out by her attendants. She is then led into an adjoining room where she begins to weep and bemoan the fact that she has left her paternal home. Should she be ill-treated at any time during her married crowds of her relatives come to the house of the groom and kick up such row that the bride is never ill-treated again, Tu military weddings the crossed' swords have been used in proper! foreign style. "Numerous marriages have the motor-ear decked with signs, old shoes, ete, but the most' outstanding thing are the huge ubies on the front of the car. The one representing the bride dressed in a veil and the one for th groom in the tall silk hat.
In spite of the foreign ceremony, the wedding feast is. inevitable. Everyone must bow to the bride and drink her health, she drinking with each one in return.
The National Government has men on the other.
This marriage is almost exactly ike our own, but. sometimes when a marriage is being performed in foreign style the relatives who do not approve meet the party at the church door with a brass band and many little children dressed fantastic dyes to drive the devils away and bring the newly married couple all-kinds of luck.
In the old style the bridegroom sends a chair to the home of th bride and, once she has entered thi chair she is not allowed to return to her home to live, though she may do s0 for a visit. Stories have been told of times up country during the Ditter cold weather of a freezing to death in this chair before the reaches the home of the bridegroom, prepared a special wedding cere-many for those who care to use it. 'This consists of the reading of the will of the late Dr. Sun Yat-sen, bows to the spirit of the late leader and the National and Kuomintang flags which are hung over the portrait of Dr. Sun. The master' of ceremonies reads certificates signed by the contracting parties showing that they are prepared each accept the other as his or her mate and to take no other during the thers life time. The bride and groom then sign certificates which are duly 4 witnessed by elders of their respective families and the go-betweens. They than bow thrice to the master of ceremonies, their relatives and the go-betweens after which the band strikes up and all ends.
Woorrex.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.