Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1888 — MARRIAGE IN INDIA. [ARTICLE]

MARRIAGE IN INDIA.

The Ceremony Through Which Boys and Girls Pass in their Land. Boston Herald The f ollowing is an abstract from a letter received a short time ago from India: “As I write there is a terrific din going on next door, which is made by natives that are celebrating the marriage of their children, who, to judge by looking at them, are about twelve years of age. The celebration was commenced last Tues iay;(to-day is Sunday), and it has been kept up day and night ever since. The music (?) is produced from an old keg with one head knocked out and covered with sheepskin,upon which they beat with their hands, which s called atom-tom. There is one other instiiiment in use which sounds very much like a bagpipe and a tambourine. There is no harmony in the sound they make and, in fact, all they eeem to want to do is to make a noise. This is tccompsnied by a chant by the females, which is very much like the sound a saw makes when it strikes a knotinalog. -11 is the custom of Indian parents to make a match for their children when they are born, and then, between the age of eleven find twelve, they celebrate the wedding with feasting and rejoicing, according to their means. Their parents will stint themselves for years before and after the event, so as to make a great show. After the ceremony the bride and bridgroom are separated and do not meet until they are of age, when, if the man does not like the woman, he is nnt compelled to live with her, but he must support her. But I am told that css3B are rare of the husband’s refusing to live with a wife of his parents’ choice. “The first intimation I had of the arrival of the bride and bridegroom was hearing a full brass band, whereupon I left this letter and went out to see the fun. First came 150 children, each carrying a lamp, and followed by thirty or forty men, who amused themselves by firing off fire-works. They were succeeded by the band, and directly behind this came what is called here a ‘pilekene.’ To get a good idea of what this latter article is, imagine a small pagoda with no sides. This was decorated with all kinds of silks and gold and silver trimmings, and with a lamp hung in every place in which it was pcchible to put one. This was born upon the shoulders of fourteen men, and inside sat the bridegroom, very richly dressed, with his parents.. At the door of the houre the procession stopped, where the lite of sprinkling him with rice was gone through, after whici he entered the house, where he rema ins for three days, and then he returns home to await bis coming of '